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Theatre and Reviews

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Raydale Dower - Cryptic Nights at CCA, Glasgow, Thu 2 Feb 2012

Raydale Dower - Cryptic Nights at CCA, Glasgow, Thu 2 Feb 2012

Experimental but playful sound installation

(3 stars)8 Feb 2012

The title of Raydale Dower's new 'spatial sound composition' speaks volumes about the former Uncle John & Whitelock bassist and current Tut Vu Vu clarinettist and sonic architect's methodology.…

Swallows and Amazons

Swallows and Amazons

Slick, spirited musical play with Neil Hannon score grasps essence of original

(4 stars)2 Feb 2012

The four children of the Walker family, aged 12 to 7, are given permission by their naval father to set off alone on the sailing dinghy Swallow to camp on an uninhabited island on Coniston Water in the Lake District. Their imaginations let loose, they…

The Infamous Brothers Davenport

The Infamous Brothers Davenport

Captures excitement of Victorian public séance but makes for unsatisfactory theatre

(3 stars)1 Feb 2012

Some 52 members of the crew on this co-production between Vox Motus and the Lyceum were required to sign secrecy clauses, so it’s no surprise that the show has its fair share of ‘how-did-they-do-that’ moments. In one scene, a table rises from the ground…

The King and I

The King and I

This stylish production of the musical classic can't disguise the script's patronising tone

(3 stars)6 Jan 2012

Like most of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s quintet of hit musicals, the deceptively light surface action in The King and I struggles to keep the lid on the problematic themes rumbling away underneath. Where the culture clash between prim, feisty governess…

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel (Platform, Glasgow)

Magical and truly unpatronising update of the Grimm Brothers' classic

(4 stars)21 Dec 2011

If the Grimm Brothers had grown up in Easterhouse, their version of the cannibalistic horror story for kids, Hansel and Gretel, might have turned out slightly differently. In Platform’s magical, and truly unpatronising 2011 update, Gretel (Becki…

The Lost Sock Princess

The Lost Sock Princess

Puppet Lab's festive show for under-sevens is infectious, interactive fun

(4 stars)19 Dec 2011

Ever wondered what happens to your socks when they disappear from the washing machine? Puppet Lab provides some highly persuasive answers to this conundrum in a big-hearted entertainment pitched at children under the age of seven. The show kicks off in…

The Tree of Knowledge

The Tree of Knowledge

David Hume and Adam Smith point out obvious pitfalls of 21st century life

(3 stars)12 Dec 2011

The central conceit of Jo Clifford’s new play is an interesting one. Two influential figures from 18th century Scotland find themselves in early 21st century Edinburgh, surveying the world they helped create. The witty lines flow thick and fast, as…

Cinderella

Cinderella (Dundee Rep)

Witty script, excellent performances and bold lack of concern for tradition

(4 stars)12 Dec 2011

Writer Phil Porter has taken perhaps the best-loved of all festive tales, pulled it apart and reassembled it with a bold lack of concern for tradition. Yes, folks, this is Cinderella but not as we know it. For starters, this version is set on a…

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty

King’s Theatre panto sends everyone home happy

(3 stars)9 Dec 2011

As much a part of the Glaswegian festive season as green and blue santa hats, the King’s Theatre panto looks like an institution defiant of change. So it is refreshing to find a new face, Arron Usher as Jimmy Jingles the Jester, going through the…

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow)

Musical theatre of dry ice, flashing lights and belting numbers

(3 stars)9 Dec 2011

The Citz, of recent years, have taken their festive shows down a musical theatre route and Alan McHugh’s Hansel and Gretel ticks all the genre’s boxes. Older audience members may prefer a quirkier Christmas production but the dry ice, flashing lights…

Cinderella

Cinderella (King's Theatre, Edinburgh)

Panto dream time Allan Stewart, Andy Gray, Grant Stott and Paul Elliot strike gold once again

(4 stars)8 Dec 2011

The great strength of the King’s panto, year upon year, is its ability to hook audiences of all ages and tastes. The script, co-written by Paul Elliott and everyone’s favourite dame, Allan Stewart, features great dollops of slapstick and toilet humour…

Rudolf

Rudolf

The Arches strike again with imaginative alt.panto starring Ross Allan and Rob Evans

(4 stars)7 Dec 2011

For the last couple of years, The Arches have offered an offbeat alternative to the traditional panto – and this year’s Rudolf is no exception. The classic reindeer tale (red nosed fella, rejected by society, wins out in the end by saving Christmas) is…

Mister Merlin

Mister Merlin

The Weegie-centric Tron panto continues to entertain despite uncertain future

(3 stars)7 Dec 2011

Renowned for their particularly weegie take on a festive tale, the Tron may sadly be unable to continue their affordable Christmas shows due to the loss of their corporate sponsor. Unless they find another, the theatre will need to raise £20,000 a year…

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

Dickens' festive spook story is given a compelling and creepy outing by Graham McLaren

(4 stars)7 Dec 2011

Scrooge and Marley’s gloomy office. Dangerous cables loop across the ceiling, piles of dusty papers fill the walls. As we enter in twos and threes to a whooping, fussing welcome, Scrooge himself – a grizzled figure in shrunken tailcoat and slippers…

Jackie and the Beanstalk

Jackie and the Beanstalk

Johnny McKnight's panto manages to entertain while challenging traditional gender roles

(4 stars)7 Dec 2011

According to panto dame Dott Von Trott, things have got so bad in the austerity-stricken pantosphere that ‘parents in Bridge of Allan have started firing their nannies and learning their own kids’ names’. Serious times indeed, and there’s something…

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

Stuart Paterson's 'children's play' is enjoyable but lacks the energy of true panto

(3 stars)6 Dec 2011

The basic story is so simple it’s mythic: girl meets beast, they fall in love, beast turns into boy. Stuart Paterson’s venerable adaptation is a tad more complicated. There are ugly sisters (as if a titular ugly character weren’t enough), played with…

Top Hat

Top Hat

Loving tribute to the Fred'n'Ginger classic, starring Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen

(4 stars)24 Nov 2011

According to legend, screen hoofer Fred Astaire was such a perfectionist that, during the 40th take of a scene from Swing Time (1936), his partner Ginger Rogers’ feet started to bleed through her satin slippers. In this stage adaptation of one of…

South Pacific

South Pacific

New York revival with refreshing emphasis on character in Rodgers and Hammerstein classic

(4 stars)15 Nov 2011

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Pulitzer-winning musical set in and around a US naval base during World War II includes so many songs that have become standards that the plot seems almost surplus to requirements. You can almost feel the smiles of recognition…

The Little Match Girl Passion

The Little Match Girl Passion

Movements surplus to requirements in David Lang's fragmented, overlapping score

(3 stars)15 Nov 2011

Amid Victorian clutter – ram’s skull, case of butterflies, mangy toy dog on wheels – four comfortable-looking individuals in deconstructed versions of period dress sing the story of a barefoot lass selling matches on a freezing night. Above them, the…

The Crucible

The Crucible

Stiff performances and lethargic pace dog Arthur Miller classic

(2 stars)15 Nov 2011

Pored over by students across the globe and regularly revived, Arthur Miler’s The Crucible is an audacious choice as Strathclyde Theatre Group’s first production as an independent company following the closure of the Ramshorn Theatre earlier in the year…

27

27

Abi Morgan explores tensions between faith and science in a fascinating but frustrating new play

(3 stars)3 Nov 2011

The tensions that lie beneath the serene surface of convent life have proved fertile territory for writers and dramatists down the years, from Powell and Pressburger’s psychological horror Black Narcissus to Muriel Spark’s Watergate satire The Abbess of…

Dr Marigold & Mr Chops

Dr Marigold & Mr Chops

Great but high-cholesterol fun starring Simon Callow

(3 stars)2 Nov 2011

There's an old Yiddish showtune called ‘What can you mach? S'is Amerika’ (‘What can you do? It's America’), which comes to mind during this entertaining but frustrating show. It's not Simon Callow's fault. Performing two monologues by Charles Dickens…

James Corden continues touring success of One Man, Two Guv'nors

James Corden continues touring success of One Man, Two Guv'nors

National Theatre show treats audiences, but reveals craft behind magic

(4 stars)27 Oct 2011

One Man, Two Guv’nors is no longer a play that needs much of an introduction. It’s one of the most critically and commercially successful productions of the 21st century, now on tour from the National Theatre, and gathering more momentum, column inches…

The Salon Project

The Salon Project

An interesting stab at reviving the art of critical discussion, undermined by technology

(3 stars)21 Oct 2011

‘A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge.’ So says Wikipedia – the significant choice of source that The Salon Project uses to define…

Saturday Night - Tramway, Glasgow, Sat 8 Oct 2011

Saturday Night - Tramway, Glasgow, Sat 8 Oct 2011

Vanishing Point's Interiors follow-up explores similar themes but lacks direction

(3 stars)21 Oct 2011

Vanishing Point’s lovely, imaginative 2009 work, Interiors, revolved around a disparate group of characters at a dinner party. As the audience were cast in the role of voyeurs spying through lit windows the scene was played out in complete silence, the…

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