Theatre, Previews and Anna Millar

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…

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…

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 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…

Step inside a payphone booth for a spot of storytelling

The Invisible Dot provides audiences with a new form of entertainment

12 Aug 2010

What with the Fringe being the Fringe, it’s only right and proper that some of this year’s shows should crop up in the most unlikely of places. And so it is that The Invisible Dot have brought four old British Telecom payphone booths to this year’s…

Merrill Grant: A Twentieth Century Fox

A cabaret homage to silver-screen greats

5 Aug 2010

With her Southern twang, strawberry-blonde hair, beaming smile and can-do attitude, Merrill Grant is the epitome of a 1930s belle. Which is just jim-dandy, given the cabaret act she’s bringing to this year’s Fringe. Inspired by her love of Shirley…

Poignant preview

A bold, imaginative retelling of three Argentinean tales

26 Jul 2010

As if getting into bed in the dark with strangers wasn’t intriguing enough, Micaela Tettamanti’s 45-minute show Poignant features one of the smallest audiences on the Fringe (only four are admitted at any one time) and has no actors or stage to speak of.

Tron Theatre summer production sets sail for Valhalla!

23 Jun 2010

Theatre-goers beware: reality will leave the building for artistic director Andy Arnold’s latest summer production. Following on from last year’s darkly comic Cooking With Elvis, Valhalla! looks similarly offbeat, replete as it is with magic swans…

John Adams and Lee Breuer among Edinburgh International Festival 2010 highlights

22 Mar 2010

As the programme is launched for this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, we cast an eye over the highlights

Mayfesto: Something Old, Something New

25 Feb 2010

Inspired by the long-gone Glasgow theatre of the same age, the Tron’s Mayfesto season is hoping to capture some of its namesake’s former glory. The brainchild of artistic director, Andy Arnold, it plans to celebrate often politically-charged new plays…

Anguish With Posie

6 Jan 2010

Fans of spoken word night DiScomBoBuLate will be no stranger to Ian Macpherson’s ability to wax lyrical. A creative powerhouse for writers, actors, comics and directors, the night helped provide the inspiration for Macpherson’s upcoming play, Anguish…

Belt Up bring Tartuffe and Trial to the Fringe

The award-winning physical theatre company provide an inspired spin on some enduring classics

23 Jul 2009

If the Fringe is about anything, it’s about an inexhaustible ability to surprise an audience, whether it be with a crazy venue space, a thrilling new script or a suitably memorable performance. Step forward - Belt Up.

Precious Little Talent

Playwright Ella Hickson is living proof that Scotland’s got talent. She meets Anna Millar.

23 Jul 2009

It may be the title of her latest show, but Precious Little Talent is not a description you could apply to last year's Fringe darling, Ella Hickson. 2009 should be her year again.

Alice Through the Looking Glass

9 Jul 2009

With Tim Burton and Johnny Depp set to re-imagine Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for the silver screen, Lewis Carroll’s fantastical tales are firmly back in the public eye. So rich is Carroll’s storytelling that, since its publication in the 19th…

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

Polish theatre

Poles apart

31 Jul 2008

Sitting in a picturesque café in the heart of Warsaw – Poland’s capital and largest city – it’s easy to forget the turbulent history that has shaped this country’s place in the world today. The city has long had a reputation as a vibrant playground…

Hard times - Gladder to be Gay?

Festival of Politics

22 Jul 2008

Simon Callow is heading our way with both Stonewall and Dickens on his mind. Anna Millar chats to one of theatre’s hardest working men about his love of acting and support for gay rights Mere minutes out of London rehearsals for The Magic Flute and…

Leith Festival announces line up

8 May 2008

Leith provided further evidence of its status as one of the city's most vibrant areas with the launch of its annual festival. Organisers revealed that the Leith Festival would showcase its trademark brew of home grown talent, alongside big name…