Theatre and Previews

Simon Jones to star in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show - Live!

Neil Gaiman and Billy Boyd to perform cameo roles

15 May 2012

Life, the Universe and Everything are reimagined in a new stage production of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, touring to Glasgow’s Theatre Royal this month. Original cast members from the long-running radio series reunite, alongside…

Brian Conley to play Fagin in Oliver!

The new Cameron Mackintosh production is stopping at Edinburgh's Playhouse

15 May 2012

‘Cameron Mackintosh doesn’t do small,’ announces Brian Conley, his warm grin a lifetime away from the Fagin character he depicts in the Scots impressario’s successful revival of Oliver!. TV star Conley’s acclaimed turns in Jolson and Hairspray suggest a…

Gordon Barr on Bard in the Botanics 2012

The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It to be staged in Glasgow's Botanic Gardens

15 May 2012

This season, for us as we move into our second decade, is all about discovery, exploration and new horizons so we were looking for plays that tied in to those themes. The link to The Tempest is fairly clear but As You Like It covers some similar ground…

Irene MacDougall to play female Prospero in Dundee Rep's The Tempest

Caliban and Ariel also adapted as female roles in new production

15 May 2012

Irene MacDougall has been a member of the Dundee Rep ensemble since its inception, but 2012 will mark her first turn in The Tempest. Like Helen Mirren in Julie Taymor’s recent film of Shakespeare’s classic, MacDougall will play Prospero as a female. The…

Theatre and dance highlights of the West End Festival 2012

Featuring Pygmalion, Man of the House and Pulse 12

15 May 2012

At first glance, the theatre and dance programme for this year’s West End Festival looks a bit traditional as the team from A Play, a Pie and a Pint offers up Shaw and Jarry classics while The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet are brought back for the Bard…

Beckett double bill to be staged at The Citz

Director Dominic Hill discusses his productions of Krapp's Last Tape and Footfalls

15 May 2012

Following on from the success of his productions of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal and Shakespeare’s King Lear, Dominic Hill concludes his inaugural season at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre with a double bill of short plays by the great, Irish dramatist Samuel…

Blue Raincoat theatre company to tour Ionesco's The Chairs

Director Niall Henry discusses the fêted production

15 May 2012

After a five-year tug of war over rights, Sligo-based Blue Raincoat arrives in Scotland this month with its fêted production of Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs. Director Niall Henry, who co-founded the company in 1991, is thrilled about the tour and cites…

Claire Sweeney takes lead role in Educating Rita revival

The actress discusses Willy Russell's much-loved script

15 May 2012

Whether on stage or screen, few can forget Willy Russell’s young, earnest heroine, in Educating Rita, a working class girl hungry for education who finds herself under the tutelage of a lost, boozed up lecturer, searching for life beyond academia. For…

New production Lady M re-examines the Macbeth story

Mary McClusky discusses The Scottish Play's continuing relevance to modern audiences

16 Apr 2012

As artistic director of Scottish Youth Theatre and a frequent contributor to Oran Mor’s Classic Cuts season, Mary McCluskey is no stranger to slimming down a Shakespeare play to its essential components. And in the year of the World Shakespeare…

Visible Fictions to revive Zorro

The theatre company's popular swashbuckler to play at Scottish Youth Theatre

2 Feb 2012

In case you didn’t know, the word ‘zorro’ is Spanish for ‘fox’, and that’s exactly what this cunning fictional hero does – fox those around him, not just with his deeds but his entire persona. Starting life as a serial in a 1920s US magazine, the tales…

An Appointment with the Wicker Man

Robin Hardy’s 1973 classic to become the play-within-the-play for new NTS production

1 Feb 2012

‘There are many films that people would love to see adapted cleanly onto the stage,’ says Greg Hemphill, and if current trends are anything to go by, he looks to be right, ‘but when we discussed it with Vicky [Featherstone, National Theatre of Scotland…

Preview of 2012 - King Lear

New Citizens Theatre boss Dominic Hill brushes up his Shakespeare

6 Jan 2012

Take on the Citizens Theatre and you take on the past. Any artistic director of the Glasgow institution can only be aware of the building’s history. Opened as the Royal Princess’s Theatre in 1848, it became home to James Bridie’s Citizens’ company in…

The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon discusses theatre production Swallows and Amazons

The musical is to be directed by War Horse's Tom Morris

6 Jan 2012

‘I don’t think of myself as much of a collaborator...’ muses Neil Hannon. A chuckle follows, the irony of his statement kicking in. When he’s not being frontman to The Divine Comedy, the Northern Irish pop star has written music for Father Ted and…

Interview: Simon Hart, artistic director of the Manipulate Visual Theatre Festival

Highlights of the 2012 theatre and puppetry festival programme

19 Dec 2011

What can we expect from this year’s Manipulate programme? A great festival with an eclectic international mix: of stylish and sophisticated object theatre, digital projections, animations – and lots of water – in the Theatre Sans Soucis’ Hamletmachine…

The Captain’s Collection

Matthew Zajac of Dogstar Theatre to play Gaelic music preservationist Captain Simon Fraser

19 Dec 2011

The latest production from Inverness-based company Dogstar is a rich tale about a composer and former British Army officer who courts fame by publishing his volumes of Highland music. The piece, which is being performed in Glasgow as part of Celtic…

Lost Sock Princess

A puppet theatre performance that lets you join in – all you need is an odd sock

13 Dec 2011

Try as you might to wash and dry them together, socks have a way of parting company somewhere between the laundry basket and underwear drawer. It’s at that point you need the Lost Sock Princess to help you reunite the estranged pair. Or do you? One…

Writer Donna Rutherford on KIN, an exploration of parent-child relations

Change in family dynamics as children reach middle age

28 Oct 2011

In a project started in 2010 as a collaboration between the CCA and NHS in Glasgow Clyde, ‘listening posts’ were placed in doctors’ waiting rooms, which played soundbites of conversations between parents and their older children. The snippets are taken…

Grant Smeaton on Martin O'Connor's Ch Ch Changes at part of Glasgay! 2011

The writer and actor on his upcoming one-man show

21 Oct 2011

What drew you to Martin O’Connor’s script for Ch Ch Changes? I’ve been thinking about doing a one-man show for a long time. Never done one before. The nearest was the solo performance I did in Spend a Penny at the Arches a few years ago where my…

Director John Binnie on aerial production Mind Walking

The Tanika Gupta-penned play deals with issues of death, age and vulnerability

21 Oct 2011

Tanika Gupta’s new play Mind Walking is like an ‘Asian King Lear’, according to its director, John Binnie. In it, a 74-year-old Indian man, having lived in Britain for all of his adult life, reverts to his native tongue in old age. Combing a…

Revival of David Harrower's Blackbird coming to the Tron

Pilot Theatre's production will star George Costigan and Charlie Covell

21 Oct 2011

David Harrower’s Olivier Award-winning Blackbird is among the Scottish playwright’s most acclaimed works, but six years after its Edinburgh International Festival debut it remains a controversial one. Inspired by the real life crimes of Toby Studebaker…

Theatre director Vicky Featherstone discusses Abi Morgan-penned drama 27

The play examines themes of aging, loneliness, faith and science

20 Oct 2011

‘You’re such a journalist,’ says Vicky Featherstone when I ask her whether 27 is going to ruffle feathers among scientists and Christians. The play is, after all, about a crisis of faith in a convent provoked by a scientist’s request to study the nuns…

One-woman theatremaker Lisa Nicoll returns with Home Run

The play deals with the drug addiction and recovery of Scottish women

20 Oct 2011

‘You train as an actress, writer, director or producer for years, but meeting real people and telling real stories is what makes really great theatre,’ says Lisa Nicoll, the one-woman theatre-making machine behind 2008’s Acceptance and short film ‘Truth…

Interview - Amy Lamé’s Unhappy Birthday

Morrissey at your birthday party? Glasgay! performer Amy Lamé wants to make it happen

17 Oct 2011

Steven Patrick Morrissey. Icon. Owner of the best baritone in the biz. Vegetarian, animal rights activist and moulder of the most vertigo-inducing quiff since Johnny Bravo? Yes, yes, yes. But warm, approachable, fan-embracing performer who would jump…

Liz Lochhead discusses her new play, Edwin Morgan's Dreams – and Other Nightmares

The new production will premiere at this year's Glasgay! festival

21 Sep 2011

It’s a sprightly Liz Lochhead who comes into Edinburgh’s Urban Angel for a breakfast coffee – latte with an extra shot – in the midst of a typically whirlwind calendar of deadlines, poetry readings and confabs with theatre directors. This summer she had…

Director Stewart Laing on The Salon Project

Immersive theatre project hopes to recreate the intellectual gatherings of late 19th century Paris

21 Sep 2011

Show us the man or woman who isn’t even a little excited by the thought of dressing up and becoming someone else for the night, and we’ll show you a liar. Now best known as a director, but originally a designer, Untitled Projects’ director Stewart Laing…

Days of Wine and Roses

Kenny Miller of Theatre Jezebel is set to restage Owen McCafferty's Belfast-set adaptation

21 Sep 2011

JP Miller’s dark 1958 television drama, which marries the subjects of alcoholism and dependency, is bravely re-imagined by Owen McCafferty’s 2005 adaptation, in which the central lovers are Belfast natives relocated to London. In the piece the naive…

Apocalypse (A Glamorously Ugly Cabaret)

Catherine Gillard and Peter Clerke of Benchtours embark on a cabaret adventure

21 Sep 2011

Two years after they folded their lauded theatre company, benchtours, Catherine Gillard and Peter Clerke are touring with a new outfit: Occasional Cabaret. Apocalypse, their first full-length production, is developed from a two-week residency at…

Calum’s Road

Real life-inspired drama about road-building on Raasay

21 Sep 2011

It’s been nearly 40 years since Calum MacLeod single-handedly built a much-needed stretch of road on Northern Raasay, after decades of unsuccessfully campaigning the local council to do so themselves. Now, this inspirational islander is the subject of a…

Saturday Night

Matthew Lenton and Vanishing Point further explore the themes of 2009's Interiors

13 Sep 2011

In 2009, one play dominated the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland. Picking up the gongs for best director, ensemble and production, Interiors by Glasgow’s Vanishing Point was a performance of startling originality. Inspired by a play by Maurice…

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

Theatre director Phillip Breen discusses forthcoming adaptation of Peter Nichols' play

13 Sep 2011

Phillip Breen is only 32, but already he has the honour of straddling three regimes at the Citz. Straight out of university in 2003, he was taken on by Philip Prowse to direct The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, returning at the invitation of Jeremy…

2011 Arches Live! theatre programme is biggest yet

Over 30 performances of challenging theatre and live art

24 Aug 2011

As Edinburgh’s yearly festivities wind down, Glasgow’s Arches steps up with another packed out schedule of new, challenging theatre and live art. Often regarded as a platform for exciting young Scottish artists, 2011’s Arches Live! programme is the…

Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off

Lyceum and Dundee Rep co-production of Liz Lochhead's classic

24 Aug 2011

For director Tony Cownie and the cast of the Lyceum and Dundee Rep Ensemble’s new co-production of Liz Lochhead’s 1987 Scots classic, the Edinburgh Festival is over. Already they’ve had Lochhead in to give advice on pronunciations and, in the middle of…

Theatre production Jasmine Gwangju celebrates South Korean democracy

The Gwangju uprising in 1980 explored in Edinburgh Fringe show

10 Aug 2011

‘Pfweee! Pfweeeeeeeeeee!’ Jun-tae Kim is recreating the noise of fighter jets swooping over the South Korean city of Gwangju. It was 18 May 1980 and he was a young geography teacher, on the streets with thousands of other students and citizens…

The personal connection I feel to the character of Medea

Nadira Janikova presents Edinburgh Fringe production of classic work

10 Aug 2011

Medea represents a huge challenge for any actress: trying to convey on stage the power of somebody who is a demigod; and finding the human side of somebody who commits the most unnatural and terrible of all crimes – the murder of their own…

Edinburgh arts institution the Forest Cafe gears up for its final Fringe

Edinburgh's rough and ready creative hub closing down

10 Aug 2011

Many Edinburgh-dwellers agree that it will be a sad day when the Forest Café finally closes its doors at the end of this summer. The rough and ready creative hub will be badly missed, but at least it’s staying open long enough for the Forest Fringe to…

Interview: Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan

Artists talk about The Indirect Exchange of Uncertain Value exhibition

3 Aug 2011

It sounds like the (thankfully unpublished) wheezy plotlines to one of Anthony Buckeridge’s Jennings... adventures. Posh Edinburgh private school – one time cradle to dastardly turncoat bullies – gets taken over by bohemian artists with a hidden agenda.

Alma Mater - One-person experience blending film and promenade theatre

Sneak preview of what might well be the future of the Fringe show

26 Jul 2011

In the vast sun-drenched glass-ceilinged foyer of Glasgow’s Briggait, there’s a room within a room -- a rudimentary windowless wooden box of about 18 cubic metres. It might resemble a wonkily-constructed homemade garden shed, but it’s the collapsible…

Doris Day Can Fuck Off - Greg McLaren interview

2011 Edinburgh Festival show based on singing to strangers

26 Jul 2011

It’s a sunny Saturday in Stoke Newington, North London, and I’m competing in my very first ‘allotment Olympics’. Specifically, a shot putt event that swaps the usual metal balls for hefty, organic potatoes. The games have been organised by Stoke…

Theatre picks for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011

20 Jul 2011

A Celebration of Harold Pinter A starry triumvirate of elements conspires to make this one of the hottest tickets on the Fringe. Hollywood star John Malkovich directs British actor Julian Sands in a loving tribute to the late Nobel winner, drawing on…

Four site-specific shows to catch at Edinburgh 2011

What Remains and You Once Said Yes among highlights

20 Jul 2011

What Remains. Theatre company Grid Iron celebrates ten years on the Fringe with this eerie piece set in the bowels of Edinburgh University. Music comes courtesy of composer David Paul Jones. Even in Edinburgh/Glasgow Poet Ishbel McFarlane takes the…

Edinburgh Festival of Politics 2011 - Highlights

Richard Holloway, Sarah Boyack and David Greig among highlights

8 Jul 2011

The Festival of Politics may be one of the junior members of the August fraternity, but it just keeps coming of age. An array of events, speakers and themes are on the agenda this year with technology and the upheavals across north Africa and the Middle…

Theatre, music and dance highlights from the 2011 Edinburgh International Festival

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Semiramide and King Lear among picks

7 Jul 2011

The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) has been a benchmark for quality and innovation in the performing arts since its inauguration nearly 65 years ago. This year artistic director Jonathan Mills builds his programme around the multi-faceted…

Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut

Morag Fullarton's classic compact, lunch-hour friendly show

15 Jun 2011

It’s nothing new of course, but the Oran Mor has been incubating many a theatrical hit in its lunchtime theatre slot of late, and the latest to make the jump into the evening hours and bigger stages is Morag Fullarton’s Casablanca: The Gin Joint…

Siobhan Davies Dance: Rotor

Experimental cross-artform dance from nine commissioned artists

15 Jun 2011

‘I hate the word inspiration,’ says Siobhan Davies. Which may seem ironic, given how inspirational she has been to budding young dancers and choreographers over the years. But for Davies, inspiration implies a light bulb moment, when something just…

Interview: Celebrity choreographer Arlene Phillips

Strictly Come Dancing judge on her inspirations and what she looks for

15 Jun 2011

The producer of Midnight Tango, which stars Strictly Come Dancing’s Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace talks about her life in dance What made you want to be a choreographer? I became a choreographer by chance. Dancing was always my first love, and it…

The theatre shows to look out for at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011

Dance Marathon, Ten Plagues and Tuesdays at Tescos among highlights

9 Jun 2011

As ever the theatre programme of this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe is overflowing with keen ideas, exciting stories and risk-taking. The Traverse Theatre maintains its position as the beating heart of the Fringe, with Dominic Hill’s final programme…

Generation

Glasgow theatre company Glas(s) Performance looks at the political views of today's teenagers

27 May 2011

Following swiftly on from a winter of discontent that was nowhere more pronounced than among our nation’s young people, comes a new show from Glasgow company Glas(s) Performance looking at the perspectives of today’s 17- and 18-year-olds on life, the…

Knives in Hens

Belgian theatremaker Lies Pauwels adapts David Harrower's pre-industrial drama

27 May 2011

Until a few months ago, Lies Pauwels had never read Knives in Hens, David Harrower’s pre-industrial tale of a woman’s progress from ignorance to literacy. Now, the Belgian theatremaker is directing a new National Theatre of Scotland production of the…

Spring Awakening

Frank Wedekind's controversial play given the music treatment by theatre company Sell a Door

27 May 2011

Frank Wedekind’s original German language play caused a stir throughout the early 1900s due to its hard-hitting themes and liberal attitudes towards the problems teenagers face growing up. The 2006 rock musical adaptation doesn’t stray far from this…

Entre Nous

A showcase of physical theatre by Adam Smith College diploma graduates

27 May 2011

Fife’s Adam Smith College has recently been criticised for the planned closure of its theatre arts courses but its Diploma in Physical Theatre, based in Glasgow, is in rude health as its graduation show Entre Nous will prove later this month. Now in its…

Barbara Rafferty discusses Lark, Clark and the Puppet Handy

The show also stars Sean Scanlan and Frank Gallagher

27 May 2011

What made you want to be an actor? My mother was a cinema usherette so I went to the movies and was hooked. It was another world I wanted to be a part of. First and foremost I am an actor but when I was asked to direct a show, My Name is Margaret…

Dead Man's Cell Phone

Director Stasi Schaeffer brings Sarah Ruhl's play to Scotland

27 May 2011

A women picks up a cell phone left in a diner, and, after realising that the man it belonged to has died, finds herself pulled into the world he left behind, reconciling fractured relationships and making her own connections along the way. Written by…

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011 - sneak preview

Liberace, Finnish a capella groups and iPad fairy tales just some of the coming attractions

23 May 2011

Whether it’s origami genitalia, homosexual deities or political commentary on the Lockerbie bombing, Edinburgh’s Fringe seldom arrives with a whimper but rather a ruddy great roar. June sees the official launch of 2011’s line-up, but we thought we…

Festival of Museums set for nationwide celebration of Scotland’s culture in May 2011

Music, storytelling and period fashion among highlights of new festival

1 May 2011

From the Groam House Museum in Ross-shire and Portsoy Bothy in Banffshire, to the Annan Museum in Dumfries and Galloway, the Festival of Museums features an eclectic and colourful range of concerts, talks, workshops, performances and exhibitions taking…

Stage Whispers: playwright Nicola McCartney discusses her new play Miracle, staging as part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint

25 Apr 2011

What was the inspiration for your new play, Miracle? I have been thinking and writing a lot over recent years about real life icons, and who they were before they become who they became. I received an SAC Writer’s Bursary in 2005 to write the original…

Preview: Dennis Kelly's After the End to be staged by both the Citz and Dundee Rep

25 Apr 2011

When actors Jonathan Dunn and Nicola Daley take their final curtain call in June, they will say goodbye to After the End. But fear not. After the end of that After the End, it will be time for another After the End. That’s because, in a rare moment…

Easter Revelry event at Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle hosts a weekend of family events this Easter

21 Apr 2011

The Easter Revelry event at Edinburgh Castle takes place on Sat 23 - Mon 25 April, and includes historically-themed activities that'll appeal to all the family. Kramis the wizard will perform magic tricks to amuse and amaze you, while Sir Hugo Sofboiled…

Mayfesto to focus on Celtic nations for 2011

Playwrights David Harrower and David Ireland and director Leann O'Kasi share their views

20 Apr 2011

Last year’s inaugural Mayfesto – a theatre festival that aims to showcase politically-themed work at Glasgow’s Tron – took the problems of the Middle East as its overarching theme. This year, Artistic Director Andy Arnold has opted for a more local…

Jemima Levick and Jo Clifford adapt Tolstoy's Anna Karenina for the Dundee Rep

20 Apr 2011

Jemima Levick is what you might call a safe pair of hands – a fact borne witness to by a string of well-received shows at Dundee Rep and an armful of awards from her freelance days. Couple that reputation with a classic novel and a script by Jo Clifford…

Mark O'Rowe's lyrical and violent play Terminus to be revived at the Citz

The drama pairs Tarantino-esque clashes with rhyming monolgues

20 Apr 2011

Wondering what would happen if someone fell from one of the many construction cranes looming over Dublin at the time, writer/director Mark O’Rowe set himself a challenge by starting his play Terminus at the height of the action and let his imagination…

Tramway Family Day: Alice in Wonderland

The Glasgow arts venue celebrates Lewis Carrol's most famous creation

14 Apr 2011

When young Alice sips from a bottle marked ‘drink me’ in Lewis Carroll’s well-loved tale, Alice in Wonderland, a remarkable change occurs. Which is one of the reasons the team at Tramway was inspired to base its latest Family Day around this most…

Election night entertainment - Unholyrood, Welcome to the Hotel Caledonia and Mayfesto: It's a Dead Liberty!

13 Apr 2011

Perhaps injustices tend to hit harder when they’re closer to home; perhaps there’s just more meat; but periods of Tory government do tend to galvanize our satirists and create new relevance for political theatre. You may have noticed stirrings…

Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival promises a quality homegrown line-up alongside the usual groundbreaking international work

13 Apr 2011

The Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival has always featured quality children’s theatre from both home and abroad. But while international talent has never been in short supply, Scottish-based companies worthy of inclusion were initially thin on the…

Liz Lochead translation Educating Agnes explores universal themes

Scotland's Makar translates Moliere's The School for Wives into Scots

24 Mar 2011

Following on from the success of Tartuffe in 1985 and Miseryguts (nee The Misanthrope) in 2002, Scotland’s new makar Liz Lochhead will return once more here to translating the work of the 17th century French satirist Moliere into Scots, with the…

Philip Pullman's Clockwork adapted by Visible Fictions and Scottish Opera

Fairytale novel set for stage adaptation and Scottish tour

24 Mar 2011

When Visible Fictions’ and Scottish Opera’s re-working of Clockwork opens this month, it will be the fifth stage adaptation of the book in seven years. Philip Pullman’s fairytale novel, known for its complex story within a story, clearly lights a flame…

Shaun the Sheep goes solo in Shaun's Big Show

Author David Wood helps transition from screen to stage

21 Mar 2011

There’s no higher accolade for a character, then to get your own spin-off. Cheers led to Frasier, Friends to Joey, and Family Guy gave birth to The Cleveland Show. But who would have thought, when A Close Shave premiered in 1995, that a skinny legged…

Theatre writer and performer Clare Duffy's new show about money

Platform 18: Money - The Game Show

18 Mar 2011

What drew you to the subject of money for your new show? I was amazed by the enormity of the financial crisis in 2008. I hadn’t really realised before that money might actually stop working on a global scale. Of course I was glad that it didn’t! But it…

Rona Munro’s play Pandas set for Traverse Spring Summer season

Romantic comedy explores links with China through three couples

18 Mar 2011

Just a few weeks after Rona Munro’s Pandas was revealed as part of the Traverse’s Spring Summer season, Edinburgh Zoo announced that it would soon be home to the first pair of giant pandas to live in the UK for 17 years. The timing may have been…

Ivan and the Dogs explores notion of feral children

Theatre piece based on true story of Ivan Mishukov

18 Mar 2011

You wait 18 months for a play about feral children, then two come along at once. Not since NIE’s My Life with the Dogs in the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe have we heard the true story of Ivan Mishukov, a four-year old boy from Moscow who lived with a pack of…

Six Black Candles revives adaptation of Des Dillon novel

Revenge story from writer of Singin’ I’m No’ a Billy, He’s a Tim

18 Mar 2011

'I see myself as the Bruce Springsteen of Scottish writers,’ says Des Dillon with a smile. ‘I write about a certain class of people – white trash, basically – and I write about them in simple language, using hardly any words to create powerful images.

Dancing at Lughnasa story of five sisters rural in 1936 Donegal

Citizens run marks 21st anniversary of Brian Friel's hit play

18 Mar 2011

When The Original Theatre Company’s version of Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa arrives at the Citizens Theatre in April, it will mark the 21st anniversary of its very first performance. ‘We hope that’s it’s going to really speak to people in Glasgow,…

Contemporary dance festival New Territories 2011

Artistic director Nikki Milican talks us through the highlights

4 Mar 2011

As the New Territories festival continues apace, we asked artistic director Nikki Milican to take us on a whistle-stop tour of the main stage dance productions. First up is a double-bill from Louise Lecavalier, a former dancer with Canadian outfit…

The best upcoming theatre shows in Scotland for Spring 2011

A guide to the unmissable shows in theatreland til June

4 Mar 2011

Girl X On tour, 4 March–20 April Brilliant Belgian director Pol Heyvaert, who directed Aalst for the National Theatre of Scotland, hooks up with Glasgow actor Robert Softley for a provocative play based on the controversial case of Ashley X, a girl…

New show Caged from Catherine Wheels

Theatre company adapt Beauty and the Beast with a non-Disney outlook

4 Mar 2011

What’s in a name? Seemingly a great deal when it comes to selling a show, as Catherine Wheels theatre company discovered when they started work on their new fairytale adaptation, Caged. ‘We were originally going to call it Beauty and the Beast,…

Northern Ballet production of Cleopatra tours UK

A preview of the new dance production from the acclaimed company

4 Mar 2011

From Peter Pan to Dangerous Liaisons, Northern Ballet (formerly Northern Ballet Theatre) knows how to turn a good book into a great dance. With new production, Cleopatra, however, the company is heading into uncharted territory. For, while the movers…

Magnetic North's Wild Life explores idea of modern day feral child

Playwright Pamela Carter's play inspired by ‘Wild Boy of Aveyron’

24 Feb 2011

From travelling freak shows to Channel 4’s sensationalistic Bodyshock series, voyeurism has long been a part of human nature, and the internet has only increased the opportunities for pointing and staring at those who stand out somehow from what our…

Just Checking charts bride-to-be whose OCD is getting the better of her

Very physical piece from Taggart actor

16 Feb 2011

For an actor, no job is for life. Not even when you’re the star of Britain’s longest running cop show. So when Blythe Duff (aka DI Jackie Reid) found herself in between series of Taggart in 2009, she thought it would be prudent to have another string to…

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice set for Dundee Rep

Classic Ugly Duckling story of a young person overcoming life’s obstacles

11 Feb 2011

It was good news for Helen Darbyshire when she checked in with the voice doctor. Before committing to the part of Little Voice in Jim Cartwright’s play, she wanted to be sure her vocal chords were up to the task. This is a character whose pathological…

Ailey 2 company carries an explosive amount of youthful vigour

American dance company set for King's Theatre, Glasgow

11 Feb 2011

When Alvin Ailey died in 1989, he left behind an incredible legacy. Not only had he created a remarkable body of works, and a company – Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – to perform them, but he had also looked to the future. As dancers mature and…

Anthony Neilson’s Penetrator set for Glasgow performances

New group Boxman Theatre tackle bold work at Tramway

11 Feb 2011

Since its 1993 Traverse debut, Anthony Neilson’s Penetrator has been held up as one of the Scottish playwright’s best works, its aggressive and unsettling atmosphere making it an early classic of what’s become known as ‘in-yer-face theatre’. It’s a bold…

Rob Drummond: Wrestling fuses pro wrestling, short film and theatre

Playwright, actor and director's play about a pacifist who decides to ‘man up’

26 Jan 2011

Those unfamiliar with choke slams and half nelsons may only associate wrestling with spandex, muscly men and the career salvation of Mickey Rourke. Yet playwright, actor and director Rob Drummond hopes to change that with his latest, and most ambitious…

Random Accomplice's Smalltown offers three plays by leading Scottish playwrights

New works by Douglas Maxwell, DC Jackson and Johnny McKnight

26 Jan 2011

Typical. You wait ages for a great new play to arrive and then three come along at once. As luck would have it the trio of plays that make up Random Accomplice’s latest production, Smalltown, have been crafted by three of Scotland’s leading young…

Rambert Dance Company comes to Edinburgh

Industry leading London troupe to serve up another triple bill this winter

26 Jan 2011

For many dance companies, the triple-bill is almost a guilty pleasure. Brought out once a year, it can’t hope to compete with the pulling power of a full-length narrative. Yet, throughout its history, Rambert Dance Company has served up triple bills as…

The Company Will Overlook a Moment of Madness

Adaptation of Rodolfo Santana's breakthrough play

26 Jan 2011

This Spring’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint season features a cross-city collaboration between Glasgow’s Oran Mor and the National Theatre of Scotland’s Reveal season at the Traverse in Edinburgh. Featuring five new adaptations of Latin American plays, it…

The Strange Undoing Of Prudencia Hart gives a voice to the Borders

The National Theatre of Scotland focuses on traditional Scottish pieces this season

26 Jan 2011

The National Theatre of Scotland’s just-announced season feels even more particularly Scottish than usual this year, with a number of pieces tapping into old traditions. Alongside the exciting looking revivals of classics like Knives in Hens and Men…

The Beckett Trilogy: Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable

The Gare St Lazare Players perform trilogy as 3-hour solo performance

14 Jan 2011

Samuel Beckett may be better-known for iconic plays like Waiting for Godot and Endgame but Irish theatre outfit Gare St Lazare Players have proved over the last 14 years that his lesser-known prose works have as much to offer when performed on stage.

A View from the Bridge set for Lyceum - Liam Brennan interview

Latest Arthur Miller play adapted by John Dove for Edinburgh theatre

3 Jan 2011

Since 2004’s Death of a Salesman, John Dove’s Arthur Miller productions have become something of a regular fixture at the Lyceum. His subsequent versions of All My Sons, The Price and The Man Who Had All the Luck won him plaudits and in January 2011, A…

Simon Crowther’s new comedy The Ushers aims to capture essence of 1996

Paisley-set production directed by Raindog's Stuart Davids

3 Jan 2011

The phrase ‘period drama’ is more likely to bring to mind a play set in Regency England or 18th century Paris than Paisley in the 1990s. Yet, Simon Crowther’s new comedy The Ushers, which follows a group of young characters as they deal with leaving…

Your Own - Your Very Own - Old Time Music Hall

Strathclyde Theatre Group perform a riotous mix of comedy, send ups and classic music hall standards

30 Nov 2010

The festive season is well underway, but if you’re not a fan of traditional pantos why not check out an altogether different form of Christmas entertainment. Strathclyde Theatre Group are once again donning the mantle of the Celebrated Gaslight Gaieties…

Stage musical The Secret Garden stars Siobhan Redmond

Cross-generational appeal of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel makes for ideal festive show

23 Nov 2010

It’s a century since the publication of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, but this seminal work of children’s literature has only grown in stature through time. The tale of Mary, an orphaned girl who seeks refuge in a blooming hidden garden…

National Theatre hit The Habit of Art set for Glasgow Theatre Royal

Alan Bennett’s play explores artistic relationship between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten

15 Nov 2010

From Picasso’s vaguely prurient late work, to Yeats’ references to tits and bums in his later poems, great artists have often taken great pleasure in alarming their audiences by entering into a second childhood with alarming sexual references. In Alan…

Dadafest International Scotland showcases work by deaf and disabled practitioners

The changing attitudes towards deaf and disabled arts companies

15 Nov 2010

Disability is perhaps the last remaining taboo when it comes to positive representation in the arts, and it’s only in recent years that disability and deaf arts practitioners have been recognised for the rich contribution they make to the UK’s cultural…

Simon Starling’s Project for a Masquerade

Complex sculptural meditation features a star-studded cast

3 Nov 2010

The pan-global plot of Simon Starling’s latest work is as labyrinthine as a Cold War spy thriller. The quiet elegance of the GSA-trained 2005 Turner Prize winner’s Project for a Masquerade (Hiroshima) / Mirror Room similarly references both real and…

Lucy Prebble's play Enron deals with financial crisis

Celebrated play on UK tour, including run at King's Theatre, Edinburgh

3 Nov 2010

At last year’s Edinburgh Festival, only the National Theatre of Scotland’s Caledonia, an enjoyable if not completely successful production based around the Darien misadventure of the late 17th century, addressed the current financial crisis. The reason…

Out of the Strong is latest work by Richard Alston Dance Company

Abstract contemporary dance, now with characterisation and Prokofiev

3 Nov 2010

For decades, Richard Alston has been one of Britain’s finest exponents of abstract contemporary dance. Now, however, it would seem he’s also rather good at telling a story. Alston first dipped his toe in narrative waters in 2009, with Scottish…

Third Person: Bonnie and Clyde Redux

Proto-type Theatre's newest work told through two actors and an overhead projector.

3 Nov 2010

This might be their first full-length show in Scotland but Proto-type Theatre are no strangers to Glasgow. The company, founded in 1997 in New York City, enjoyed a brief residency at the CCA before establishing its current home in Lancaster in 2006.

Dance show Disgo blurs between audience and performer

Traverse play relies heavily on audience participation

3 Nov 2010

What do you think about when you’re on the dancefloor? Be it in a dimly lit nightclub or at a family wedding, chances are something’s running through your mind. That’s the question Fleur Darkin asked hundreds of people when researching her company’s…

Why Frank Wedekind's seminal play Spring Awakening still resonates

Grid Iron unleash new production at Traverse, Edinburgh

27 Oct 2010

Frank Wedekind’s seminal drama Spring Awakening has experienced a renaissance in recent years. The often banned 1891 play, which portrays 14-year-olds grappling with ideas of sexuality, death and religion in the prohibitive climate of late 19th century…

New Lyceum production of The Importance of Being Earnest

Production follows on from Romeo and Juliet

27 Oct 2010

The Importance of Being Earnest arrives hot on the heels of the Lyceum’s recent production of Romeo and Juliet, and is employing virtually the same cast and the same set. Director Mark Thomson is excited at the prospect of getting his teeth into Wilde’s…

Zoë Strachan and Louise Welsh collaborate on Panic Patterns at Glasgay! 2010

First collaboration from writing pair

8 Oct 2010

Award-winning writers Zoë Strachan and Louise Welsh live together and are in a long-term relationship, but until recently they’d never collaborated. Glasgay! director Steven Thomson asked if they’d be prepared to change that by co-penning a play for…