Theatre, Reviews

Nova Scotia

8 May 2008

NEW WORK Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 24 May Next time you’re trapped behind an oldie trying to use a cash point, quietly contemplating the benefits of euthanasia, you might want to reflect on Phil and Spanky, and buy yourself some patience.

The Wasp Factory

8 May 2008

REVIVAL Regal Theatre, Bathgate, Thu 15 May, then touring Our fractured, alienating and individualist society is bound to produce some disquieting anomalies among its youth. In a world where the first priority is self, our capacity to empathise with…

Educating Agnes

8 May 2008

NEW TRANSLATION Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, run ended; Perth Theatre until Fri 9 May When Molière’s L’école des femmes was translated as Let Wives Tak Tent by Robert Kemp in 1948, it set in motion a half-century tradition of Scottish reworkings of…

This is Our Youth

Ramshorn Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 10 May

7 May 2008

When the lights dimmed and ‘Juicebox’ by The Strokes filled the theatrical space, it became immediately clear that director James Keenan saw This Is Our Youth as a play rooted in contemporary New York. The choice of band is astute, as we follow three…

The Emperor’s New Kilt

24 Apr 2008

CHILDREN’S THEATRE Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Thu 24–Sat 26 Apr It’s hard to know who to praise most for this clever, funny and engaging show. There is not a single weak link to be found. The intelligent script blends humour, pathos and insightful…

Trumpets and Raspberries

24 Apr 2008

FARCE Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 10 May Farce is a form that seems to thrive on dangerous times. From the great war disillusionment and depression that saw Travers and Coward at their peaks, on to the social revolution of the 60s that…

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

24 Apr 2008

REVIVAL Dundee Rep, until Sat 26 Apr, then touring This popular modern fable focuses on introverted songbird Little Voice (Debbie Saloman), who retreats to her bedroom to escape the attentions of her boisterous mother, Mari Hoff (Elaine C Smith).

An Oak Tree

Seen at Arches Theatre Festival, run ended

11 Apr 2008

A slim blonde woman is standing on an almost bare stage. She has just been told that she is a 46-year-old man, and that her daughter is dead, and that she can’t get over it. This is who she will become. In each performance of the award winding play An…

Black Watch

10 Apr 2008

WORLD TOUR Rothes Hall, Glenrothes, until Sat 5 Apr, then touring While many Scots disagree with the continuing troop presence in Iraq, there remains an undeniable sense of pride in and anxiety for our troops overseas, and it’s this sense of a shared…

Heelie-go-Leerie

10 Apr 2008

CHILDREN’S THEATRE Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 11–Sun 13 Apr Clichéd though it sounds, kids often get more fun out of the box something comes in than the expensive product within. Imaginary play with cardboard tubes, dressing-up clothes and…

Mamma Mia!

10 Apr 2008

MUSICAL SECC, Glasgow, until Sat 27 Apr Truly global phenomena are becoming something of a cliché: there’s a McDonald’s on every street corner, a Nestlé product in every home, and a production of Mamma Mia! running in every country in the world…

Romeo and Juliet

27 Mar 2008

CLASSIC Dundee Rep until Sat 29 Mar Is Romeo and Juliet really ‘the greatest love story ever told’? The breathy publicity for Dundee Rep’s latest production, featuring young, beautiful, talented actors Hannah Donaldson and Kevin Lennon as the…

The Unconquered

27 Mar 2008

REVIVAL Dundee Rep, Thu 3–Sat 5 Apr then touring Perhaps the greatest education we can receive is a sudden reorientation of perspective, and Torben Betts’ play, here revived by Stellar Quines in preparation for a tour ending in New York, makes this…

Vanity Fair

27 Mar 2008

ADAPTATION Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 12 Apr Anyone watching the difficulties of our formerly all powerful financial sector over the last few months could not fail to be struck by some echoes in this production at the Lyceum. If you’re…

The Wall

13 Mar 2008

The anxieties and dilemmas of teenage life seems to be the theme of the moment in Scottish theatre. But it’s hard to imagine that they could be approached with such guile, deftness and warmth as in DC Jackson’s new play for Borderline and the…

Bailegangaire

13 Mar 2008

When an elderly loved one prefers to live in the memories of the past, it often falls to their children and grandchildren to care for them in the present. Such is the case in Andy Arnold’s swansong as artistic director of The Arches, as Tom Murphy’s…

Shining City

13 Mar 2008

By now, the admirers and detractors of the work of Conor McPherson will have divided firmly into their separate groups. The author of such acclaimed pieces as St Nicholas and The Weir might be said to paint with words, not physicality, as most of his…

Waiting For Godot

28 Feb 2008

MODERN CLASSIC Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 8 Mar Our thirst for enquiry may be waning in an age when answers are so readily available at the click of a mouse. But the Citizens’ company’s production of Beckett’s masterpiece, perhaps the least…

Scottish Dance Theatre

28 Feb 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Glasgow Theatre Royal, Thu 28–Fri 29 Feb When dance works – and I mean really works – it’s not your eyes that tell you, but your heart. And that rush of adrenalin. Needless to say, it doesn’t happen very often – but with Liv Lorent…

6 Characters In Search Of An Author

28 Feb 2008

CLASSIC Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, until Sat 8 Mar, then touring We’ve all heard the stories about soap actors being approached and abused in the street, not for what they’ve done, but for the misdeeds of their characters. While we might chastise the…

Disney's High School Musical

28 Feb 2008

MUSICAL Playhouse, Edinburgh, until Sat 1 Mar If the cast-iron chastity, remarkable level of racial harmony and general abstemiousness of the teenagers represented in this stage version of the hit Disney Channel film don’t seem to ring true of the…

Static

28 Feb 2008

NEW WORK Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 23 Feb, then touring It sometimes takes a brush with death to remind people of the truly important things in life, the shock instantly cutting through the meaningless static that surrounds us. Evoking memories…

Great Expectations

14 Feb 2008

ADAPTATION Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Fri 15 & Sat 16 Feb; Paisley Arts Centre, Thu 21 Feb; MacRobert, Stirling, Tue 26 Feb Much of Charles Dickens’ most successful work draws on his own life experiences. Strange, then, that perhaps his most…

Clarinda

31 Jan 2008

MUSICAL If all the plays about Robert Burns produced over the last two decades were laid end to end, they’d surely build a bridge to Belgium, yet there’s still an appetite for such pieces at this time of year. And why not - there’s no shortage of…

Translations

31 Jan 2008

MODERN CLASSIC The astonishing achievement of Brian Friel’s 1980 reflection upon colonialism and its consequences, here produced with some style by Andy Arnold’s Arches company, is the subtlety with which it springs its trap. From a quiet beginning…

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

17 Jan 2008

MUSICAL Playhouse, Edinburgh, until Sat 19 Jan Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s enduring piece of theatrical bubblegum may have started life as a modest school production, but the atmosphere in the packed Playhouse auditorium is as feverish as a…

The Glass Menagerie

17 Jan 2008

MODERN CLASSIC Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 9 Feb For all its insight into character and human emotion, Tennessee Williams’ earliest hit is perhaps the least of his major plays, with the excesses of sentiment in the text too often…

Sleeping Beauty (King's Theatre, Glasgow)

13 Dec 2007

The pitch It’s time for Princess Beauty to put away childish things, say goodbye to her childhood friend Chester the Jester (aaawwww!) and get ready for some right royal action. Carrion the witch and Norval her son (or is he?) have other ideas, however…

Cinderella (Pavilion Theatre)

13 Dec 2007

The pitch Poor Cinders: Her life sucks — for one thing, her old boy has married the worst thing since C Difficile. Can she break away from her domestic bondage? Only with help from her friend Buttons and some heathen magic from her fairy godmother. Will…

The Wizard of Oz

13 Dec 2007

The Pitch If we aren’t in Kansas, Toto, Edinburgh makes for a pretty convincing substitute. Dorothy (Denise Hoey) moves from twister to twisted into the surreal world of Oz, where that absolute shoeligan the Wicked Witch of the West (Julie Austin) is…

Cinderella (Brunton Theatre)

13 Dec 2007

The Pitch With an utterly Hondless dad, two suspiciously virile sisters and buttons the besotted servant to contend with, Cinders has her hands full. The sisters, who already have access to more balls than you’d think, are determined to keep her away…

Jock and the Beanstalk

13 Dec 2007

The Pitch Somewhere in rural Scotland in days of yore, Jock (Iain Johnstone) has some issues. Perhaps the greatest of these is his flatulence, which takes no prisoners, regardless of his circumstances. But moreover he wouldn’t work in a barrel of yeast…

Peter Pan

13 Dec 2007

The Pitch It’s not only posh kids from Bloomsbury who get to go flying with the boy who never grows old, now it’s regular kids from Glasgow who hear the tap on their fifth floor window and set off for an awfully big adventure. While the parents go to an…

St Nicholas

29 Nov 2007

ONE MAN SHOW Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre, Peebles, Thu 13 Dec, then touring. Reviewed at Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow) Critics may well shift awkwardly in their seats during this piece, and it’s nothing to do with the hard benches in the Citz…

White Christmas

29 Nov 2007

MUSICAL Edinburgh Playhouse, until Sat 8 Dec Starring in a soap opera can leave you typecast forever. So it’s testament to Craig McLachlan’s ability that in White Christmas he’s most definitely Bob Wallace, ex-soldier turned performer – and not…

A Sheep Called Skye

29 Nov 2007

CHILDREN’S THEATRE Duns Volunteer Hall, Langtongate, Sat 1 Dec, then touring If the question of identity plagues people throughout their adult life, it might seem a good idea to get a start on resolving the problem early on. This seems the central…

Endgame

15 Nov 2007

MODERN CLASSIC Arches, Glasgow, Wed 21–Fri 23 Nov, then touring There are so many expectations attached to Beckett’s masterpiece, be it existential, political, comedic or other in intent, that it’s hard to see how it can be approached without a…

The Pearlfisher

15 Nov 2007

NEW WORK Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, run ended Philip Howard’s final production as the Traverse’s artistic director might be seen to characterise much of his sterling work there over the last decade. His swansong with Iain F MacLeod’s gentle, but…

The Producers

15 Nov 2007

MUSICAL King’s Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 17 November It’s a rule of thumb that celebrities cast in touring musicals to pull in floating punters will require some degree of propping up by the singing/dancing pros in the company. Certainly…

They Make These Noises

15 Nov 2007

NEW PLAY Arches, Glasgow, until Fri 16 Nov The noises in question emanate from the rumbling stomachs of the old boys living in a godforsaken hostel where the theft of a splash of milk can lead to a bloody stabbing. This is where Brian Ferguson’s…

A Midsummer Night's Dream

1 Nov 2007

CLASSIC King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, run ended Since its premiere in New Delhi in April 2006, Tim Supple’s multilingual Dream seems to have conquered the resistance of every audience it has played to. Its first (though surely not last) appearance in…

Desire Under The Elms

1 Nov 2007

MODERN CLASSIC Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 17 Nov O’Neill’s 1925 experiment in modern tragedy has been acclaimed as a powerful, elemental drama, so it might ill-behove me to question its status. But Jeremy Raison’s production at the Citz…

Living Quarters

1 Nov 2007

UK PREMIERE Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 17 Nov Anyone who has lived beyond a certain age may be confronted with memories of decisions taken in earlier life that are destined to haunt them, and be they something done to another or to…

Molly Sweeney

1 Nov 2007

REVIVAL Dervaig Hall, Fri 9 Nov, then touring For the eponymous middle-aged woman (Cara Kelly) in Brian Friel’s play the rituals of everyday life are suddenly and irreversibly disrupted when, having been blind for her entire life, her sight is…

Only The Men

1 Nov 2007

NEW WORK Touring A play that deals with the emotional intricacies of father-son relationships is certainly nothing new. Reeling and Writhing’s new work inspired by the landscape and history of remote Sanna Bay in Ardnamurchan, explores the issues…

Optical Identity

1 Nov 2007

MUSIC THEATRE Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Thu 1 Nov, then touring Ambience is all very well as a concept, but if one is to create atmosphere, something needs to happen in it. This, in a way, was the problem for the ambient music scene a few years back…

Meeting Joe Strummer

18 Oct 2007

REVIVAL Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Sat 27 Nov, then touring That hoary old chestnut about when political compromise becomes sell out is at the centre of this amiable little fable, at least as much as the tragic punk rebel of the title. In this…

The Car Man

18 Oct 2007

DANCE THEATRE Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 30 Oct–Sat 3 Nov The small town of Harmony, USA has two things in abundance – heat and hormones. Both of which drive the town’s spirited young folk to acts of lust, infidelity and violence. Originally…

Blood Brothers

18 Oct 2007

MUSICAL Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 27 Oct There’s no flying car, singing animals or pyrotechnics, yet Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, which explores class, poverty and unemployment, remains one of our longest running musicals. Just…

Cyrano

18 Oct 2007

CLASSIC Dundee Rep, Fri 19 & Sat 20 Oct Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac is not obvious source material for a children’s show. Yes, the big nose is funny, but the story is shot through with brutal death and a mean streak of self-loathing; the…

Antigone

18 Oct 2007

CLASSIC Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 27 Oct In March 2003, 41% of British people were opposed to the Iraq war, taking to the streets in protest, however this did little to break Blair’s resolve. Over four years later and with Iraq still in…

Peer Gynt

4 Oct 2007

For as long as people question their identity, pondering who they are and what role they play in the world, Peer Gynt will occupy a prominent place in the culture. It would, indeed become still more notable were all productions of Ibsen’s classic of…

The Winter's Tale

4 Oct 2007

Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, until Sat 20 Oct CLASSIC So much of Shakespeare’s work examines the disparity between the rational, ordered world, governed by laws and etiquettes long since agreed and more pre-rational, primal urges and experiences, but…

Hamlet

4 Oct 2007

The widespread belief that society is in deep moral decline is hardly unique to our age – indeed, there have been few times in history when this wasn’t a preoccupation of the public at large. What makes our society a little more unique, and renders Guy…

Beneath You Spider Girls Are Everywhere

4 Oct 2007

A report from the National Consumer Council warned that by the age of ten, many children have become brand aware shoppers and labels can become a dangerous obsession. Birds of Paradise’s latest production examines this phenomenon basing their latest…

Rupture

4 Oct 2007

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 6 Oct NEW WORK I suppose that in a society obsessed with surveillance and security there’s bound to be a certain level of paranoia among our citizenry, and this itself can turn into neurosis. This certainly…

The Algebra of Freedom

20 Sep 2007

It’s not often we’re called upon to be sympathetic to the police officers who mistakenly killed Jean Charles de Menezes on the London Underground in July 2005. Nor are we expected to find time for those fundamentalists who prefer the bomb to the ballot…

Mabou Mines Dollhouse

6 Sep 2007

Bad taste is always a good defence in the theatre of the last few decades. With it, we can reappraise all the conventional attitudes that accrue in both art and society. This, presumably, is the starting point for Mabou Mines DollHouse, a kind of vulgar…

Ae Fond Kiss

Greer Ogston

23 Aug 2007

Not to be confused with the 2004 film of the same name, Anne-Marie di Mambro’s play focuses on an awkward teen, Zed, who arrives for his birthday present – an hour with Lola. But Lola is not quite what he expected, in more ways than one. This tender…

Babble

23 Aug 2007

A monologue based on the Jorge Luis Borges short story ‘The Library of Babel’, Babble focuses on a secluded librarian’s (Jonathan Clarkson) quest for the answers to all life’s puzzles in his stacks of books. Though the fundamental ideas behind the play…

Best Western

23 Aug 2007

Although listed under comedy and written/directed by Fringe favourite, comedian Rich Hall, Best Western is far from a light-hearted romp. It looks at two interlinking families in a middle America Motel, where the owners are being forced to sell and the…

Bomber’s Row

23 Aug 2007

In a maximum security prison in Colorado, three of the most dangerous terrorist bombers alive mix with a Cuban drug lord. From their cages in an exercise yard they converse, then a female barber with a secret cuts their hair. Based on true events and…

Breaker Morant

23 Aug 2007

Kenneth Ross’ great Australian tale of official injustice still feels powerful in the telling. In it, three Australian officers are put on trial for the murder of prisoners in the dog days of the second Boer War. Great courage is shown in the face of…

Can of Worms

23 Aug 2007

When a government minister is pictured committing an act he’d rather keep under wraps, can he keep the evidence hidden? And will his aide keep quiet? Dealing with torture, scandal and government cover-ups, all through the unlikely medium of slapstick…

Canadian Bartender at Butlins

23 Aug 2007

If the basic purpose of theatre is to tell a story (and an entertaining one at that), then TJ Dawe has it covered. Recounting the experiences of a summer working at a holiday camp, this monologue has the feel of a fireside ghost story, interspersed with…

Certified Male

23 Aug 2007

The mini-career resurrection of Les Dennis continues in this comic caper, which asks just what it means to be a modern man, as a terminally ill company executive, with a new perspective on life, takes three of his employees on a think-tank holiday.

Closing Time

23 Aug 2007

The present conflict in Iraq may dominate both news and Fringe agendas but, lest we forget, away from the cameras and newspaper columns, hundreds of conflicts continue to rage on all four corners of the globe. Alongside death, it is human dispersion…

Corpus Christi

23 Aug 2007

Terrence McNally’s controversial retelling of the New Testament places Jesus in 50s Texas and involves the son of God in a sexual relationship with Judas, whose consequent jealously results in the betrayal. Despite slick direction and clever ensemble…

Debbie Does Dallas - The Musical

23 Aug 2007

There’s a very fine line between a send-up of a ropey cultural item and something that’s just plain ropey. Almost from its shrill opening bars it becomes crystal clear that Debbie Does Dallas – The Musical has crossed the line. The fundamental…

Dogfight

23 Aug 2007

Serial streaker, Mark Roberts, narrowly avoided an Asbo for his ‘performance’ at the Ryder cup. Thankfully, a judge with a sense of humour and an ounce of brain power dismissed the case but it’s this legislating against the insignificant things while…

Escaping Hamlet

23 Aug 2007

Is life predetermined, or do we have an input into our own destiny? This is the primary question asked by this fantastical reworking of Hamlet. Keeping the basic plot of the prince who discovers that his uncle killed his father and seeks revenge, this…

Fatboy

David Laing

23 Aug 2007

With our current culture of consumerism and our seemingly endless desire to rid the planet of its natural resources, there is unlikely to be a more fitting or biting satire at this year’s Fringe than John Clancy’s Fatboy. An updated version of Alfred…

Funeral Games

23 Aug 2007

Not to be confused with the Joe Orton play, this friendly little physical theatre piece focuses on a young undertaker forced to look after his demanding father. His brother, a wee bovver boy comes on a visit, and various fakings of death, and real…

Game Theory

23 Aug 2007

At the end of a war with some resemblance to the Yugoslavian conflict, a succession of scenarios unfolds. Three government officials negotiate fruitlessly over responsibility and territory, a woman returns to her abandoned, vandalised home with her two…

Game?

23 Aug 2007

If you’ve ever been to a dinner party and wanted to scream in frustration then this creative company, Tangled Feet, have the play for you. What begins as a get together to welcome the neighbours soon morphs into a sharp, surreal insight into the…

Get Your War On

23 Aug 2007

“I’m not very analytical. You know I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about why I do things”, honest words from President Bush, as he spells out his failings to the electorate and yet they still voted him in for a second term. Join the Rude…

Mantra

23 Aug 2007

Does everything happen for a reason or are some things just tragic, inexplicable accidents? This age-old conundrum is explored by Katy Wix in Mantra, which examines the long-term effects of one such tragic accident on her relationship, and almost drives…

Mouse

23 Aug 2007

Proctor finds hiding behind his computer screen and solving problems from afar the best way to get through life, so how will he respond when he is forced to step up to the mark? A man in a black suit on a bare stage will struggle to hold an audience’s…

On Wonderland

23 Aug 2007

'If I’m not the same, the next question is: “Who in the world am I?”’. So said Alice when she fell down the rabbit hole and wound up in Wonderland, in the novel from which this play’s central character Moia’s (Kerry-Jayne Wilson) condition, micropsia…

Phaedre

23 Aug 2007

Stuffy studio venue after stuffy studio venue can drive the average Festival–goer mad, so why not escape the city for the rugged ramparts of the medieval Craigmillar Castle, where Racine’s classic Phaedre comes to life through skulls, sword fights and…

Planting the Dunk Botanic Gardens

23 Aug 2007

David Malikoff’s monologue amounts to a brief exposition of the history of Dunk Island near the great Barrier reef, followed by the story, told in the form of a prose poem by Mark O’Connor, of O’Connor’s struggle to create a garden in the jungle…

Scarborough

23 Aug 2007

An ever controversial issue, teacher/pupil relationships are by no means a novel subject matter, but you will rarely have experienced a performance quite so up close and personal as Scarborough. The audience line the walls of a very intimate seedy hotel…

Sheepskin

23 Aug 2007

As sheep farmer Jeremy struggles to protect his flock from a foot and mouth outbreak, God comes to him in a Moses-like moment and promises to protect the sheep if he is obeyed. It’s a relatively dry subject that transformed here into a journey into the…

Skolka

23 Aug 2007

Three mail order bride applicants sell themselves to the audience, and before you know it you’ve followed their life history and found out exactly how they ended up smiling at a camera in desperation. This physically enthralling piece draws you into the…

Subway

23 Aug 2007

Perhaps understandably, the number of people who feel pessimistic rather than optimistic about Britain’s future has grown exponentially over the last few years, according to a flurry of recent surveys. This smart and stylish production from Vanishing…

Superpatriots and Morons and Pregnant With Emotion

23 Aug 2007

This bill features two plays performed in rep, highlighting the current political situation in Zimbabwe. The first depicts Mugabe and his response to those who oppose him and the second a woman whose baby refuses to be born under the current…

Talking Heads

23 Aug 2007

Alan Bennett’s monologues, legendary for their television appearances in the 80s, also make for compelling viewing as theatre. Presented by Glasgay! and the Tron, there are five monologues in this series, which rotates as a double bill throughout the…

Tell

23 Aug 2007

This stylish piece depicts the abject loneliness of two peoples’ lives as they try to recapture former happiness in their own unique ways. Alfred recounts memories of his honeymoon in Paris while Vivien dreams of a garden of her own. The couple draws…

The Bitches' Ball

23 Aug 2007

The reputation of 18th century poet, novelist and original ‘It Girl’, Mary Robinson, has been eclipsed by the streams of celebrity femme fatales who came in her wake. Penny Dreadful’s well-choreographed production seeks to redress this injustice…

The Florists

23 Aug 2007

Take one florist with no flowers, a sad sack, his terminally ill sister and his mail-order bride, mix them all up in a fairly implausible, badly written script and you’ve got the premise of this bizarre and pointless comedy. If the play left out the…

The Importance of Shoes

23 Aug 2007

A story of obsession, infidelity and wondrous shoes, this piece uncovers the bad situations people can get into. With sharp, snappy dialogue exchanges the play stylishly skips along, light-heartedly exploring our faults and vices. Shoes become the…

The Man Across the Way

23 Aug 2007

Police are being given more money to conduct surveillance on suspected terrorists and the public are being asked to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity. It is understandable in the context of the war on terror but you have to wonder…

The Psychic Detective (And Those Disappeared)

23 Aug 2007

With the Scottish Arts council adopting ‘cultural entitlement’ as their current buzzword, local company, Benchtours’ solution to fulfilling funding criteria takes the form of a customised 40ft articulated truck, which, following its stint at the Fringe…

The Swingers

23 Aug 2007

This inventive mix of film and live performance is a comical romp about one couple’s foray into the seductive world of swinging. Film sequences are used to hilarious effect with perfect timing and some brilliant character acting. The German porno is a…

This Piece of Earth

23 Aug 2007

Such is the scale of the mighty historical narratives of any country, that eventually, be it the holocaust, the war in Iraq or the Armenian genocide, it’s difficult to convey the enormity of the tragedy in pure numbers. So just as we’ve seen the events…

Tony Blair – the Musical

23 Aug 2007

This slick production provides plenty of laughs and generous helpings of satire as it chronicles the achievements of the Blair premiership. A well-voiced and good-looking cast accompany the plethora of lyrically and musically impressive songs, providing…

Touch by Bill Dare

23 Aug 2007

Touch is a charmingly sweet play, though not sickeningly so. It’s about a meeting between two lonely souls in unusual circumstances. Their quirks and foibles somehow fit together in a case of opposites attract. The two characters, Emma (Lucinda…

Unnatural Acts

23 Aug 2007

Think of a cross between Gimme Gimme Gimme and a recent Coronation Street storyline and you’ve got the basic gist of this play. Marsha, a lonely thirtysomething, and Elliot, her gay flatmate, both want to bring meaning to their career and…

What’s Your Poison?

23 Aug 2007

An addiction to crystal meth devours the personalities of the young couple in William Chadwick’s play What’s Your Poison? The piece explores the couple’s reliance on someone, or something else, to get through life. While the abuse of drugs is no new…

Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath

23 Aug 2007

Edward Anthony’s play takes us back into a mock suburbia of the 50s to explore the last hours and recollections of the poet of the title, here renamed Esther. Ted Hughes, in turn, becomes Ned Pughes and, as in all Plathian accounts of his life with her…