Theatre, Profile

The rising stars of Scottish theatre

Interviews with Helen Darbyshire, Gary McNair, Gemma McElhinney, Katy Wilson and Scott Fletcher

Helen Darbyshire Age: 22 Where will I know her from? She’s on Dundee Rep’s graduate scheme, which gives a year-long contract to promising actors straight out of college. Brought up in nearby Cupar, she introduced herself to Dundee audiences in a minor…

Interview - Joe Bone from Bane

The noir shows that have stalked the Edinburgh Fringe for three years

Joe Bone is a busy man. A few years back, he created the hard-boiled character Bruce Bane in the wake of a spate of old detective movies he'd been watching. Fast forward to 2011, and Bane has taken on a life of his own, spawning three stage shows, a…

Interactive theatre at the Fringe

Yasmin Sulaiman talks to Adrian Howells about crossing the third wall

While site-specific productions such as the public toilets-set Waiting for Godot might have chins wagging, interactive shows promise to provide the more meaningful experiences in 2009.

David Leddy - in context

The theatrical experimentalist explores what makes good men do bad things

As writer/director David Leddy’s body of work grows, certain recurring themes become apparent. This is common enough to all writers, but what marks Leddy out is a kind of largesse of spirit to his work, a generosity about the people portrayed that…

Man for all seasons - Phil Nichol at the Fringe

Mark Fisher finds Phil Nichol mining two rich seams of comedy at this year’s Fringe

One is a Restoration farce typically performed by seasoned rep actors on grand proscenium-arch stages. The other is a scabrous heist comedy in which a middle-management executive is kidnapped in a Fife factory.

Belt Up bring Tartuffe and Trial to the Fringe

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

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.

Gregory Burke: Hoors

Gregory Burke feels more mellow, more at home with himself than the thirtysomething who entered the public domain with the premiere of Gagarin Way in 2001. At that time there was a sense of a man dazzled by the sudden attention the play brought him.

Copenhagen: Quantum leap

One of the hallmarks of success in almost any profession is precision. It is this attention to detail that first strikes me about Tom Mannion. Forgetting the tram-inspired chaos of Princes Street, I arrive late at Edinburgh’s Blue Blazer and meet him…

Moira's five ways to ensure you survive the festival

'Falkirk's hardest woman' hands out tips on surviving the Fringe

Being on tour can be a stressful business, what with staying away from home, forgetting your lines onstage and, erm, setting off the fire alarm in the venue. Scotland’s newest stage superstar, Moira, shares her tips on how to survive a fortnight at the…

Club Noir and Scottish Opera collaborate on A Night At The Opera

Burlesque night prepare for unlikely pairing

Henry Northmore talks to the burlesque night as they prepare for one of this festival’s most unlikely collaborations

Camille O’Sullivan talks about her show Chameleon

The Irish chanteuse talks G&Ts, Scooby Doo and more

The first time I set foot in Edinburgh for the Fringe was 2004. I was supposed to perform at the Wigwam Tent, but at the last moment the venue went bankrupt — I was saved by the lovely Speigeltent who took my show and also put me in the great new show…

Gyles Brandreth - middle-aged, ex-MP, author, and Fringe show stalwart

British author-cum-broadcaster-cum-Fringe show stalwart Gyles Brandreth talks about the highs and lows of his festival fortunes. "Edinburgh is a parallel universe. We do things differently here. I was a middle-aged, ex-MP with a tragic comb-over and…

Fringe 2010 cabaret offerings are as colourful as ever

Smoke & Mirrors, Alan Cumming and The Crack

From pared down to jazz-hands up, this year’s variety and cabaret offerings are as colourful as ever. Anna Millar meets the makers to find out why we just can’t get enough It’s a certain man who can shimmy from club door whore to straight-talking…

Rose and Bones: Spirit and Stones

Glasgow’s Tramway has always been a venue that dares to be different. So it stands to reason that its in-house artists’ collective takes a unique approach to integrated work. Co-ordinated by Rachel Clive, the Theatre Arts Group is a coming together of…

Bourne to be wild - Mark Ravenhill interview

New show based on flamboyant gay theatre icon Bette Bourne

Mark Ravenhill is making a habit of redefining what a Fringe play can be. Two years ago, his Ravenhill for Breakfast offered ever growing crowds a chance to see a daily changing programme of short plays written almost as fast as they could be performed…

Pornography - Simon Stephens interview

Shock values - Traverse Theatre

As the Traverse embarks on its first Edinburgh Festival Fringe season under the artistic directorship of Dominic Hill, Steve Cramer talks to acclaimed dramatist Simon Stephens, writer of Pornography, about 7/7 and a new definition of the pornographic

Barbara Rafferty discusses Lark, Clark and the Puppet Handy

The show also stars Sean Scanlan and Frank Gallagher

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…

Glaswegian theatre and arts collective Flatrate

Rob Jones and Stephen Redman from team behind Initial Itch

Flatrate are a Glasgow-based theatre and arts collective run primarily by theatre graduate Rob Jones and writer Stephen Redman. Their modus operandi is supporting local artists whilst also staging interesting, stripped-back productions on next to no…

Step inside a payphone booth for a spot of storytelling

The Invisible Dot provides audiences with a new form of entertainment

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…

Mini Profile: Vive Le Cabaret

What’s that then? That would be a nightly cabaret show, hosted by Des O’Connor. Seriously? Mister Take Your Pick? Des & Mel Des O’ Connor is coming to the Fringe? Actually, no. ‘It’s not the orange-faced one off the telly,’ points out Vive Le…

Roadkill - Cora Bissett interview

The shocking realities of human trafficking come under the spotlight in a new off piece of work. Anna Millar meets its maker

In vino veritas: Grid Iron's Barflies

Steve Cramer meets the team behind Barflies, Grid Iron’s new piece about drinking and creativity

‘An alcoholic is someone you don’t like who drinks as much as you.’ Dylan Thomas’s observation about alcohol abuse and the selective moralism that goes with it, seems an apt way in to the new show from Grid Iron in which the work of another tippler…

Precious Little Talent

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

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.

Surviving the Fringe - Richard Fry

Fringe veteran Richard Fry is performing in a pair of shows in Edinburgh this year. Here he gives up his essential guide to surviving the world’s biggest arts festival