Theatre, Reviews and Sarah Redhead

The Magic Tree

No magic here

21 Aug 2008

From the programme notes, Ursula Rani Sarma's play sounds a dark, yet passionate love story - which just goes to show how misleading a synopsis can be. The Magic Tree explores themes of murder and gang rape and how these experiences destroy lives…

The Bulging Seahorse and Other Grey Matters

21 Aug 2008

Root Experience explores the powerful dilemma of knowledge of impending death versus blissful ignorance. Using audience participation to shape certain scenes, the result is both amusing and thought-provoking. However, the plot lacks plausibility and…

Esoterica

No ordinary card

14 Aug 2008

The paradox of a culture that loves to see magic and the sixth sense at work, while refusing to believe in either of them, becomes particularly apparent when, sitting in a darkened room watching one man appear to read another man’s mind, your brain…

Torn Out Pages

14 Aug 2008

In her 60s youth, fear of shame kept child abuse hidden, but now Elaine (Susan McKenzie) wants to find out the truth from her mother’s ghost. While described as a comedy, the piece is in fact deeply moving as, complemented by music and video, each actor…

I Caught Crabs in Walberswick

14 Aug 2008

Joel Horwood’s hilarious play draws on that ever-amusing tendency of adolescents and parents to regard each other as alien life forms, while portraying one volatile friendship in Walberswick. A funky soundtrack, luminous stage and deadpan narration…

Ten Days . . . That Shook the Kitchen!

14 Aug 2008

A magazine article inspires misfit mum Ruth Rich (Ginny Davis) to conclude that a life of playground politics and petty parent jealousy is definitely not where she belongs. Davis’ monologue, presented in the clipped, matter of fact sentences of a diary…

Death By Chocolate

At least there's chocolate

7 Aug 2008

This interactive murder mystery looks great on paper. The audience, cast in the role of student police officers, are charged to sift through trays of evidence at a murder scene, interview the suspects, and solve the case. Not only is this a chance for…

Upstart Crows

7 Aug 2008

Young Pleasance performs Michael Punter's exploration of the life of Christopher Marlowe, and the writing that shook English theatre and politics. The energetic cast gives its all in elegant period costume, with Matt Jessup particularly likeable as…

The Positive Hour

7 Aug 2008

Braindead Theatre Company performs April de Angelis' play, which explores notions of happiness in a modern world that isn't quite the fulfilling place the women's movement thought it would be. The show gradually warms up to become a moving and absorbing…

Borough Market

7 Aug 2008

The tourists are rife in the city, but tragedy in a wealthy student flat reveals Edinburgh's dark side. Breaking Butterflies company shows potential in a brisk and cleverly structured show, full of dark humour.