Theatre, Reviews
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The Maids
21 Jan 2013
Dynamic reworking of Jean Genet's most famous play from Citizens Theatre
It’s not often that you get to see both the writer and director appearing as themselves in a revival of a classic play – particularly when the playwright has been dead for over 25 years. But Stewart Laing’s reworking of The Maids for Citizens Theatre is…
The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish
17 May 2013
The theatre production, adapted from Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's book, is performed with gusto
Sitting in a dark room and keeping quiet for an hour isn’t for everyone – especially if you’re under ten. Promenade theatre solves that problem, with movement actively encouraged and the odd noise generally tolerated. So on that front, The Day I…
Hector MacMillan’s 40-year-old play The Sash remains relevant
15 May 2013
Scottish revival of MacMillan's play reminds us that sectarianism still survives
This revival of Hector MacMillan’s 40-year-old play feels bittersweet. While most playwrights might revel in the enduring appeal of their work, MacMillan has recently commented that he’d be happier if the sectarianism portrayed in The Sash was no longer…
Time and the Conways
18 Mar 2013
Impressive performances in production that delays arrival at play's key material
The nature of time, identity and fallibility lie at the heart of JB Priestley’s Time and the Conways, a new co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company and the Dundee Rep Ensemble. Directed by Jemima Levick, and first written and performed in…
Cinderella - Royal Lyceum
11 Dec 2012
A fair enough comedy, but by Lyceum standards this panto lacks magic and fully-formed ideas
Not many family Christmas shows begin with a girl scattering her mother’s ashes. The children behind me at the Lyceum’s seasonal offering, a little confused, gasped in wonder as Cinderella distributed the remains. They whispered, a little uncertainly…
Do You Nomi?
28 Feb 2013
Allan Greig and Grant Smeaton's contemplation of underground German performer Klaus Nomi
'People would ask "what is that?", not "who is that?"' says one of the narrative voices in co-creators Allan Greig and Grant Smeaton's contemplation of German electro-pop/opera performer Klaus Nomi. As famous for his outlandish costumes and make-up as…
Takin' Over the Asylum
19 Feb 2013
BAFTA-winning TV drama translates brilliantly for the stage
Aileen, a substantial young woman who would surely, in her native Glasgow, be called a barger, is controlling the remote control. The other inmates of this mental hospital – immediately recognisable by the mismatched chairs and door security system…
A Taste of Honey
22 Jan 2013
Much humour and poignancy in production of Shelagh Delaney' seminal kitchen sink play
As one of the first working class British playwrights to write about the world she knew, Shelagh Delaney mined the rhythms and humour of everyday speech to create dialogue that is still fresh to the ear more than 50 years on from the debut of her…
The Intergalactic Nemesis
15 May 2013
One third graphic novel, one third radio play and one third crazy! American live stage show is bound
Pitching itself as a marriage between a radio drama and gigantic comic book, The Intergalactic Nemesis inspires an air of fascination from the first look at the show’s poster. The basic premise is a script performed by three voice actors, against the…
Quiz Show
17 Apr 2013
Rob Drummond's game show-set drama is thunderingly powerful stuff
That Rob Drummond is a master of illusion will be known to anyone who has heard of his Fringe hit Bullet Catch, let alone seen it. In Quiz Show he flaunts that mastery with grace and articulacy. Here is a simple event. A quiz show called False! The…
High Society
17 Apr 2013
A clever and satisfying production of the musical best known as The Philadelphia Story
Easy on the eye and easy on the ears – despite a plot which exalts the uninhibited flaunting of wealth – this is a witty and effervescent revival of the Cole Porter favourite. High Society hits the stage running. A tightly drilled, black-and-white…
Doctor Faustus
17 Apr 2013
Dominic Hill and Colin Teevan's adaptation meshes the 16th-century poetry with modern day decadence
It turns out that there are several details the Elizabethan Christopher Marlowe left out of his play about the questing academic who sells his soul to the devil. Faustus was raised by a leopardskin-wearing slattern who fed him Haribo as he watched…
In An Alien Landscape
5 Feb 2013
New production from Birds of Paradise sheds light on the rare Sudden Artistic Output Syndrome
Danny Start's new play for Birds of Paradise Theatre Company is based on one of those true-life events so rich and strange it would be a sin not to turn it into art. One of Start's acquaintances experienced the rare Sudden Artistic Output Syndrome…
The Polar Bears Go Wild!
10 Jan 2013
Charming, imaginative show for younger children from Fish and Game
Who says you need a cast of thousands, pyrotechnics, 3D projections and a troupe of dancing local children to create a successful Christmas show? Fish and Game's new piece for under-sixes features just two performers, a few props and a simple set, but…
The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society
17 Dec 2012
Feel-good show mixing broad comedy strokes with narrative tomfoolery
Doyle is the father of arch-rationalist Sherlock Holmes yet he also believed fervently in the supernatural. Peepolykus play these two opposing worldviews against each other in a feel-good show that mixes broad comedy strokes with narrative tomfoolery…
Cinderella
13 Dec 2012
Karen Dunbar, Jenny Douglas, Kieran Brown and Des Clarke head up Glasgow's King’s Theatre panto
For all the conflicting needs of a commercial pantomime show – slapstick and continual visual flair for the kids; just enough of a sense of structure and bite for the adults with them; ropey jokes and song and dance routines (here, to pop hits like…
Aladdin and Wee Jeannie
13 Dec 2012
Excellent banter and hilarious ad-libbing in 2012 Òran Mór panto
It’s A Politicised Panto, A Pint and A Precariously Poised Pie at Òran Mór this Christmas. One’s pastry encrusted comestible is on one’s lap as the tables have been taken down to make way for the additional punters drawn by the promise of Dave Anderson…
The Snow Queen
13 Dec 2012
Dundee Rep’s adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale features just the right balance of fun and
After last year’s reimagining of Cinderella, which transported the action of the Grimm fairy tale to a houseboat populated by retired magicians, Dundee Rep ensemble has gone back to basics with a straightforward but nonetheless captivating take on…
Mother Goose
13 Dec 2012
Allan Stewart, Andy Gray and Grant Stott head up 2012 King's Theatre panto
As traditional as turkey, tinsel and forcing a jolly grin to get you through the season, the only festive trio you’ll need this Christmas (three wise men? what three wise men?), Allan Stewart, Andy Gray and Grant Stott, return to the King’s for their…
Puss in Boots
13 Dec 2012
Musselburgh panto ripe with juicily rewritten songs and local references
Puss comes to Musselburgh in a pantomime that has just about everything you could wish for: a genuine sweetie shower (one of the few left); songs ancient and modern; a great dame; and references so local that you won’t get them unless you live in EH21.
The Ugly Duckling
13 Dec 2012
Catherine Wheels 2012 panto is witty, inventive and charming
You start noticing the yellow ducks on the tables in the bar. They follow you down the corridor and are projected on the wall as you enter the theatre. At first you think they’re cute, but when you meet them again in this Catherine Wheels/Arches…
Aganeza Scrooge
11 Dec 2012
Johnny McKnight's (nearly) all-female panto is an uproarious flick of the Vs to Scottish theatre
The Tron panto has always had a cheeky disregard for every other Christmas show in town, but 2012 will be remembered as the year it declared outright war on Scottish theatre. Johnny McKnight’s uproarious demolition job on Dickens manages also to…
Cinderella - macrobert
11 Dec 2012
A few tweaks and this postmodern panto, penned by Johnny McKnight, could fly
Johnny McKnight’s sparkling Christmas offering at macrobert may be missing the man himself, but it launches straight into the postmodern Pantosphere setting now familiar to local audiences. Here, the Ugly Sisters, Fi Fi (a sneering Jagger-esque…
Sleeping Beauty
10 Dec 2012
Bold, irreverent take on a classic tale with moments of dark Gothic horror
Most of Europe is under the kosh of austerity measures but you can rely on the Citz to come to the rescue of her cash-strapped audience with a bold new initiative, offering a pair of pantos for the price of one. At least, that's the feeling you're left…
Dirty Dancing
6 Dec 2012
Straightforward stage recreation of the hit 80s film, boosted by an excellent live band
There are some iconic moments that never get old. No matter how many times you see Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey finally crack ‘the lift’ at the end of Dirty Dancing, it always brings a thrill, and possibly a wee tear to the eye. Had the…
