Theatre and Previews

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…

Class Enemy

A different class

14 Aug 2008

When Nigel Williams’ Class Enemy made its debut at London’s Royal Court in 1978, hip hop was still a phenomenon of the American underground. It would never have occurred to a director to incorporate it into this portrayal of a bunch of teenagers in a…

Cirque du Soleil: Quidam

16 Apr 2009

Cirque du Soleil might be celebrating its 25th birthday this year, but the French-Canadian company, which has made a name for itself across the world with its foundation-shifting take on traditional circus acrobatics, shows no signs of lagging behind in…

Quadrophenia

14 May 2009

The current economic crisis has cast many minds back to the unemployment-wracked 1970s, so it’s perhaps apt that a new stage adaptation of The Who’s Quadrophenia – one of the decade’s most celebrated albums – is touring this year. Composed by The Who…

An Inspector Calls

19 Feb 2009

REVIVAL Before Oscar glory reached British director Stephen Daldry, he won plaudits at the English National Theatre in 1992 with a powerful re-imagining of JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls. The production won four Tony and three Olivier awards, and…

Orgy of Tolerance

2 Apr 2009

A quick glance at the poster for Jan Fabre’s latest show, Orgy of Tolerance tells you the Belgian artist clearly isn’t afraid to push people’s buttons. On it, a bearded, long-haired performer stands wearing Y-fronts, a gold-link chain and a crucifix…

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…

Swede Dreams - Britt Ekland

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

A true icon of the 60s and 70s, Britt Ekland has lived a life of glamour and glory. She tells Liz Joseph why she’s telling the Fringe her story and how she keeps from feeling her age.

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…

Foe play - Class Enemy

Edinburgh International Festival

22 Jul 2008

In times of both war and peace, Haris Pasovic has created crucial theatre. Malcolm Jack speaks to him about taking a story set in 1970s Brixton and plunging it into contemporary Sarajevo.

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…

The BFG

2 Apr 2009

PREVIEW STAGE ADAPTATION Nineteen years after his death, Roald Dahl remains as popular as ever with the bedtime crowd. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches – the list goes on, each of them bringing delight to…

Waiting for Godot

2 Apr 2009

CLASSIC The prospect of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen sharing a stage as the leads in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is both thrilling and slightly intimidating. The two thesps have known each other since the mid-1970s when they were members…

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…

Singin’ in the Rain - Long to rain over us

25 Jun 2009

Anna Millar looks forward to some old-school hoofing in Singin’ in the Rain

Educating Rita

5 Feb 2009

REVIVAL If there’s a consistent thread that runs through the work of Willy Russell, it’s the need for escape, usually from a stagnant class system that oppresses his protagonists. Yet his work is more nuanced, less moralistic than you might expect.

Early mourning - 4.48 Psychosis

Edinburgh International Festival

22 Jul 2008

Nine years ago, uncompromising playwright Sarah Kane ended her own life. In an old Warsaw variety theatre, Mark Fisher is shaken by a mesmerising staging of her final work.

Tony Blair: The Musical/Tony! The Blair Musical

1 Aug 2007

You knew it was coming! More colourful than Derry Irvine’s wallpaper, more expensive than a peerage, but a bit less fictional than the Weapons of Mass Destruction. Yes it’s the musical version of old Pinocchio’s political life. Or two versions, in fact…

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…

Quadrophenia

28 May 2009

The stage musical adaptation of the film of the landmark album by The Who, about a bloody Bank Holiday weekend battle between the Mods and the Rockers in Brighton at the height of their 1960s rivalry, is told from the point of view of teenage rebel…

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

24 Apr 2008

CONTEMPORARY CHINESE DANCE Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Fri 25 & Sat 26 Apr Since its formation in 2000, the Dance Consortium has brought us an array of international treats. From ballet to hip hop, the Consortium introduces diverse, innovative and…

JM Barrie: Peter Pan Man - a play by Anne Stenhouse

23 Jul 2009

Few lives could have been as dogged by mortality as that of JM Barrie. From his childhood, much of which he spent imitating his brother (who died in a bizarre skating accident), through his youth, and on to his latter days, those close to Barrie were in…

Heart of darkness

His Dark Materials

14 May 2009

Three novels, hundreds of characters and numerous parallel worlds – Philip Pullman’s imagination knows no bounds. Between them, Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass have captivated millions of readers worldwide. Fitting their…

Underneath The Arches

8 Jan 2009

Glasgow’s Arches, as anyone who’s worked there will tell you, is the sort of place that doesn’t so much defy your expectations as consistently confound them. Audiences might marvel at the sort of building that can stage a theatre show, art exhibition…

Romeo and Juliet

16 Oct 2008

CLASSIC Shakespeare’s enduring tale of star-crossed lovers and warring families has benefited from numerous treatments down the centuries, from faithful period settings to the gland-snapping musical adaptation of West Side Story and the exhilarating…

Slick

4 Sep 2008

Another chance to see Vox Motus' daft satire on cruelty, greed and casual violence, in which a Glasgow family discovers oil spurting from their toilet, fresh from its premiere at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Expect some funny gags and a novel…

Free Outgoing

True-life tale explores India’s traditional attitudes to sex

31 Jul 2008

It was a real-life incident that prompted Chennai-based playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar to write Free Outgoing, which depicts a country’s anger when an Indian schoolgirl is filmed with a boy in her classroom. ‘I heard the girl’s family migrated…

The Body Politic - The British Ambassador’s Belly Dancer

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

A story of prostitution, oppression and torture might not sound like fun, but throw in a bit of belly dancing and you have a Fringe hit. Steve Cramer talks to Craig Murray, formerly our man in Uzbekistan, about baring souls on stage.

Chess: The Musical

1 Sep 2010

A love triangle set amid the kings, queens and pawns of an international chess tournament in a cold war setting provides for much intrigue in the musical which gave us the hit song, ‘I Know Him So Well’. Directed by Craig Revel Horwood of Strictly Come…

Calendar Girls returns to Glasgow Theatre Royal

Elaine C Smith leads WI charity nude photo cast

5 Aug 2010

The show about the Women’s Institute fundraisers who stripped for a (tasteful) nude calendar returns with a cast headed by Elaine C Smith and featuring such well-kent faces as Denise Black, Jean Boht, Jennifer Ellison, Julia Hills, Rachel Lumberg, Ruth…

Diciembre finds dark humour in Chile's Pinochet years

Teatro en el Blanco go back to basics with politically engaging EIF production

16 Jul 2010

The Pinochet years continue to leave a deep scar on the Chilean psyche. Playwright Guillermo Calderón tells Mark Fisher why Diciembre tackles some dark memories but still finds humour in his nation’s tortured past

Inspector Sands - If That's All There Is

9 Mar 2010

If the maudlin humour and languid disenchantment of the Peggy Lee number ‘Is That All There Is?’ appeals to you, then this new piece which riffs an entire tepid kind of romance from Lieber and Stoller’s song should appeal. Inspector Sands’ debut…

Me Too – A Sideshow

12 Aug 2009

Dutch performer Ulrike Quade’s acclaimed work is an inspired blend of performance, puppetry, music and dance, all brought together to tell the bizarre story of Siamese twins Daisy and Violet, who have performed as a revue act since childhood alongside…

Ice Cream Man and the Jelly Incident

Fun with food for kids

30 Jul 2009

Writer Jonny Berliner certainly knows how to create an attention-grabbing show title. After the huge success of Dude! Where’s my Teddy Bear? – which went from Edinburgh sell-out in 2003/4 to runs at festivals nationwide, including Glastonbury…

Bard in the Botanics

11 Jun 2009

There are probably fewer people in Scotland more excited about the Met Office’s predicted heatwave this summer than Gordon Barr, artistic director of Bard in the Botanics, Glasgow’s annual outdoor Shakespeare festival. ‘I’m really keeping my fingers…

Off to see the wizard

13 Nov 2008

‘They’re big shoes to step into, aren’t they?’ says Helen McAlpine, about the specially-customised ruby slippers she’ll be wearing onstage in the Citizens’ Theatre’s Wizard of Oz. She’s not talking about her shoe size, either – as Dorothy Gale, McAlpine…

Blue

16 Oct 2008

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE While its existence in any sort of visual medium is an artistic victory, the ambition of Derek Jarman’s Blue becomes most apparent when you discover that he drummed up money for the film by staging it as a series of live…

Gerry Mulgrew - The Lesson

2 Oct 2008

Gerry Mulgrew is a smart director, but when he’s in the rehearsal room he prefers to work from instinct. ‘I respond to Peter Stein when he says a director should have unlimited enthusiasm and absolutely no idea of what he’s going to do,’ says the man…

5 Questions - Linda Marlowe

31 Jul 2008

Linda Marlowe is renowned for her mesmerising solo performances, from Berkoff’s Women to Believe. As she prepares to wow this year’s Fringe with The Time Step, she tap dances her way through our Q&A 5 words to describe The Time Step Wacky, cruel…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Edinburgh Fringe show based on 7th July 2005 London bombings

Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think of You addresses 7/7 London attacks

16 Jul 2010

Molly Naylor is nervous, she doesn’t mind admitting. That’s partly because her first ever one-woman Edinburgh Fringe show is nearing the end of its rehearsal period when I speak to her, and is about to be unleashed upon preview audiences within a matter…

Backbeat - Stuart Sutcliffe story comes to Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow

And the beat goes on

3 Feb 2010

This season’s major show at the Citizens Theatre is more than just a Beatles biopic. Writer/director Iain Softley explains why to Jonny Ensall

We Will Rock You

Steve Cramer sets his reservations to one side to make a positive case for the Queen musical

15 Oct 2009

It’s a very queer place indeed on the other side of the looking glass. Within weeks of the Conservative Party staking a claim to be the defenders of the poor and downtrodden, along comes a classic catalogue McMusical, which sets out its stall as the…

The Last Witch - Rona Munro

12 Aug 2009

Outside of panto season, it’s difficult to find a dramatist these days who’s keen to write about witches. While the idea of witchcraft might bring a certain primal frisson to some, and a sociological fascination to others, the contemporary theatre has…