Theatre

Kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley at this year's Fringe

The Glasgow comedy queen Jane Godley answer 5 questions

30 Jul 2010

Glasgow comedy queen Janey Godley has pushed all her blue material aside to team up with daughter Ashley Storrie for their kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley. She tells us why we should go along. Give five reasons why people should come and see…

Tuck into the Fringe - five shows you can watch while you eat

See it all without missing a meal

30 Jul 2010

We have compiled a list of shows that you can watch while also being served some delicious shows. Don't miss your dinner without also seeing a show!

Norrington to step in for EIF concert

Conductor to replace Sir Charles Mackeras for Idommeneo performance

30 Jul 2010

Following the sad news last month that Sir Charles Mackerras had passed away, the Edinburgh International Festival has announced that Sir Roger Norrington will now conduct the performance of Idomeneo with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Fri 20 Aug.

Rhythm Drum & Dance

High-energy show comes to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre

30 Jul 2010

We needed a lie down just after watching the YouTube trailer for this one. A high-energy, high drama drum show which began as a 20-minute show in Berlin (and has since expanded to tour around Europe) – this is a celebration of rhythms. And the RD&D…

The Edinburgh Fringe shows taking human trafficking as a theme

Roadkill and Lost Boy amongst Fringe shows telling refugees' stories

29 Jul 2010

A celebrity endorsement works wonders for your box office and all power to Shatterbox for getting Emma Thompson to put her name to its production of Fair Trade. But that show is only the most high profile in an unprecedented wave of Fringe productions…

Little Black Bastard deals with horrific Australian childhood

Noel Tovey puts disturbing past of poverty and crime on stage

29 Jul 2010

It is the ultimate rags to riches story. Yet the tale Noel Tovey tells about himself is more distressing than any version of Cinderella. It is a narrative that shocked even his closest friends when he chose to tell it to the world in Little Black…

Five of the best interactive musical shows at the Fringe

29 Jul 2010

Baby Wants Candy: The Full Band Improvised Musical A veteran of four sell-out seasons at the Fringe Baby Wants Candy returns to show the young musical pretenders how it’s done. The premise is simple: the audience shout out potential titles and the…

Tall Stories' Twinkle Twonkle secretly teaching kids

Mixing nursery rhymes and adventure with astronomy and science

29 Jul 2010

Known for their respectful and highly entertaining adaptations of popular picture books The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom, sometimes Tall Stories just like to do their own thing. And, as shows like The Snow Dragon and Them with Tails demonstrated…

The Last Miner gives children a history lesson

Underground puppetry tells story from the coal era

29 Jul 2010

Once a vibrant industry, British coal mining has been relegated to museum shelves and miner’s memories. But through its atmospheric new show, Tortoise in a Nutshell aims to evoke the feeling of life underground. ‘There’s something almost mythical in…

Penguin brings interactive puppetry to the Fringe

Polly Dunbar's children books translate easily to stage

29 Jul 2010

When writer and puppeteer Polly Dunbar creates her picture books, she’s got one eye on the page – and the other on the stage. ‘Although I’m not directly thinking of puppets whilst writing,’ she says, ‘I do keep performance in mind. Picture books are…

Wee Willie Gray brings musical storytelling to the Fringe

Andy Cannon's homage to Scotland's Robert Burns

29 Jul 2010

As his witty homage to Robert Burns, Oor Rabbie and re-working of Tam O’Shanter ably proved, Andy Cannon knows a thing or two about Scotland’s bard. Teaming up once again with musician Wendy Weatherby, Cannon is taking on yet another Burns poem, Wee…

White brings a show for toddlers to the festival

Understanding how childrens' minds work

29 Jul 2010

White is a show borne out of an understanding of, and fascination with, the way toddlers’ minds work. Co-creators and performers Andy Manley and Ian Cameron have kept the story and language simple, while the set has been built with award-winning…

Reel-to-Real: The Movies Musical aims for a spectacular show of the best of the genre

Show promises intense live multi-media entertainment

27 Jul 2010

Producer Simone Genatt Haft is utterly convincing in selling Reel-to-Real, the show she and business partner Marc Routh are bringing to this year’s Fringe, and it sounds like she has every reason to be. ‘This is probably the most intense live…

Derevo bring 'real theatre' back to Edinburgh Fringe with Harlekin

Fringe favourites return – and this time it’s war!

27 Jul 2010

‘We just enjoy being in a city where there are more street artists than pedestrians,’ says Anton Adasinskiy, director, performer and founder member of Derevo, one of the most lauded companies to come to the Fringe in the last decade, on his decision to…

Operation Greenfield examines the complications of being a teenager

Risky theatre from Little Bulb’s latest Fringe show

27 Jul 2010

It may sound counter-intuitive, but in an environment like the Fringe, where envelopes are being pushed and boundaries broken in every second venue, a degree of restraint can be the best way to stand out. Little Bulb don’t claim that their folksy tales…

My Romantic History addresses tendency for nostalgia in personal history

Acclaimed Scottish dramatist Daniel Jackson returns with contemporary relationship drama

27 Jul 2010

Perhaps the most interesting contemporary twist on the love story this Fringe will come from the ever-reliable Daniel Jackson. The acclaimed Scottish dramatist is already an old hand at such fare, with the likes of The Wall and The Ducky proving his…

Imperial Fizz delivers comedic take on Hollywood films of the 30s

David Calvitto returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with Brian Parks play

27 Jul 2010

‘It certainly gets into the blood. I’ve performed in ten of the last 11 festivals and this will be my 14th show in those ten years,’ says US actor David Calvitto of his return to the Edinburgh Fringe. ‘While others have been preparing for their…

Whole Lotta Hamlet at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010

Linda Marlowe's five favourite versions of Shakespeare’s text

27 Jul 2010

Director Grigori Kozintsev’s film of Hamlet Made in Soviet Russia in 1964 and starring Innokenty Smoktunovsky as Hamlet, this version is a visual masterpiece with magnificent black and white photography and a dramatic score by composer Dmitri…

Edinburgh Fringe 2010: Guide to survival and reproduction

Baba Brinkman’s top tips on how to survive and reproduce this August

27 Jul 2010

1: To survive, avoid socialising. Meeting people is the best way to catch a disease, drinking will strain your voice box, and staying up late will leave you tired and unpresentable for your shows. To reproduce, stay out until dawn every night without…

More Light Please delivers emotional take on economic migration

One-woman Fringe show drawn from experience of moving from Poland to Ireland

27 Jul 2010

Natalia Kostrzewa is sitting in the courtyard of Warsaw’s Teatr Praga, enjoying the early evening air. She’s just performed her one-woman show, More Light Please, drawn from her experiences of moving to Ireland, and is delighted to have delivered it in…

Freefall captures mood of bewilderment moments before death

Dublin theatre group's Fringe show captures mood of the times

27 Jul 2010

It would be misleading to say the latest play by Dublin’s Corn Exchange was about the credit crunch, the collapse of the Celtic Tiger and the scandals within the Catholic church, but those events were playing out when Freefall was created last year and…

Hot Mess takes modern angst theatre into the nightclub

Experimental look at contemporary relationships from hot young playwright

27 Jul 2010

Despite feeling increasing pressure to give in and follow every other hot young thing to London, playwright Ella Hickson doesn’t want to leave Edinburgh behind. A graduate of Edinburgh University, Hickson wrote and directed her breakthrough Fringe play…

Bunny

New writing exploring race and class tensions in modern Britain

27 Jul 2010

We hear a lot about the violence and tensions of inner city life, yet in many respects a nation’s temperature is taken through its small and medium-sized towns. Dramatist Jack Thorne certainly thinks so, and his new play uses his hometown of Luton to…

While You Lie preview

Playwright Sam Holcroft talks to Kirstin Innes about the eagerly awaited follow-up to her searing de

26 Jul 2010

‘What would happen if we started being completely honest with each other, right now?’ asks Sam Holcroft. ‘You could tell me everything you’ve heard about this me and this play; I could tell you exactly what I think of The List. What would happen to that…

Belt Up

Acclaimed audience-centric company returns to the Fringe with nine shows

26 Jul 2010

Remember that unruly rabble that spent last August squatting in C Soco? The ones that kept partying and fighting the nights away with hordes of strangers? Well, they’re back, and this time they’re really making themselves at home.

Suspicious Package preview

Interactive iPod noir where not everything is black and white

26 Jul 2010

Why watch a Fringe show when, for a small fee, you can star in one? Direct from a sell-out run in New York, Suspicious Package is an ‘interactive iPod noir’ which invites you to do just that. ‘I wanted to do a show where each person that turns up could…

The Vanishing Horizon preview

Idle Motion takes you on a journey through the gateway to the globe

26 Jul 2010

On the face of it, a show by some recent Oxford graduates, about... some recent Oxford graduates who attend a book group doesn’t sound like particularly special or unusual Fringe fare. However, Borges and I, by young physical theatre company Idle Motion…

Bette/Cavett preview

70s television and Holywood royalty come to the stage in Grant Smeaton’s acclaimed show

26 Jul 2010

When you go to the theatre – unless you’ve bought tickets for a multimedia extravaganza – you don’t generally expect to watch television. So you might be surprised at being pulled through the TV screen to become part of the live studio audience watching…

Five TV stars appearing at the Fringe

Simon Callow, Abi Titmuss and Clive Russell swap small screen for festival stage

26 Jul 2010

Simon Callow -- The much-loved thespian, writer and theatre director returns to the Fringe with new one-man show Shakespeare the Man From Stratford, which brings the Bard and his characters to vivid life.

Bud Take the Wheel I Feel a Song Coming On preview

Lyrical generation gap drama from tipped young writer

26 Jul 2010

Bud Take the Wheel... is the eagerly anticipated new work from Clara Brennan, whose short play Rain garnered much praise on its Fringe debut in 2008. Brennan’s new full-length piece may have a mouthful of a title but her graceful writing style promises…

Wolf

Richly atmospheric exploration of human-wolf relations

26 Jul 2010

Inspired by current proposals to reintroduce wolves into the Scottish highlands (the last wolf north of the border was killed back in 1769), the debut production by director Kath Burlinson’s Authentic Artistic Collective (drawing performers from Cirque…

The Sum Of It All...

Storytelling to the fore in melancholic, stimulating multimedia extravaganza

26 Jul 2010

Anomic is a brand new company, never before seen at the Fringe – but the style of the company’s debut, The Sum Of It All..., will ring some bells for Zoo regulars. Dan Shorten, Anomic’s artistic director, was also a co-founder of Precarious, and the…

Poignant preview

A bold, imaginative retelling of three Argentinean tales

26 Jul 2010

As if getting into bed in the dark with strangers wasn’t intriguing enough, Micaela Tettamanti’s 45-minute show Poignant features one of the smallest audiences on the Fringe (only four are admitted at any one time) and has no actors or stage to speak of.

30 top shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010

The List's pick of the Edinburgh Festival programme

23 Jul 2010

From Turner Prize-winning Martin Creed and New York theatre experimentalists The Wooster Group to former wild child Storm Large and promising newcomer Jonny Sweet, this is The List's pick of August’s entertainment.

Susan Calman, Stephen K Amos and Bette/Cavett at Fringe 2010

LGBT Edinburgh Fringe Highlights

23 Jul 2010

The List’s LGBT section is about to take a well-earned break (returning in September, folks), but before we head off on our holidays, there’s just time to let you know about some of the gay-friendly stuff that’s appearing at a Fringe Festival near you…

Fringe performers: How to bribe your way to success in Edinburgh 2010

Bizarre promotional merchandise (or nice food) ensures coverage

23 Jul 2010

Chances are you’ll do just about anything to publicise your show. Luckily for you, The List isn’t interested in sexual favours or cash incentives (non-sequential bills in an unmarked envelope, ta). Instead, we’re jonesing for some bizarre promotional…

Orkestra Del Sol and Julie Fowlis visit Fringe by the Sea

Fun-for-all-the-family events come to North Berwick

22 Jul 2010

There are many things that come to mind when you hear the words ‘North Berwick’. Maybe golfing, maybe the seaside, maybe that brilliant sweet shop, The Sugar Mountain, on the High Street. But for five days in August, an added incentive to visit is the…

How to get more for your money at the Edinburgh Fringe

19 Jul 2010

For the second year running we’re all counting the pennies and trying to get the most fun we can for each pound – and the Edinburgh festival can be a great way to have a summer break without denting the bank balance too much. Here’s our guide to saving…

New York stories: The Sun Also Rises and Vieux Carré hit Edinburgh 2010

Elevator Repair Service and Wooster Group head up International Festival

16 Jul 2010

If the world of theatre was like a finely crafted china shop, then two very impressive bulls are preparing to charge at this year’s International Festival. As leaders of the experimental pack, Elevator Repair Service and the Wooster Group perform, not…

The sex-themed shows that turn Edinburgh into sin city during August

Pole dancers, prostitutes and rampant bedhoppers at the 2010 Fringe

16 Jul 2010

'Coming back from seeing the second Sex and the City film,’ says live artist Bryony Kimmings, ‘I was absolutely disgusted.’ And she’s not the only one groaning about the latest instalment of this once groundbreaking explicit comedy about the sexual…

Diciembre finds dark humour in Chile's Pinochet years

Teatro en el Blanco go back to basics with politically engaging EIF production

16 Jul 2010

The Pinochet years continue to leave a deep scar on the Chilean psyche. Playwright Guillermo Calderón tells Mark Fisher why Diciembre tackles some dark memories but still finds humour in his nation’s tortured past

The Gospel at Colonus promises rousing theatre experience

EIF soul and gospel take on Sophocles' tragedy sure to impress

16 Jul 2010

If there’s a more roof-raising theatre experience at the entire festival, never mind just at the International end of things, we can’t wait to hear about it. Lee Breuer and Bob Telson’s The Gospel at Colonus merges rock’n’roll, soul and gospel to fire…

Beautiful Burnout unites physical theatre with world of boxing

Frantic Assembly and National Theatre of Scotland collaboration

16 Jul 2010

Marking the first co-production between Frantic Assembly and the National Theatre of Scotland, this piece of highly physical theatre has been written by Bryony Lavery whose past credits include A Wedding Story, Breathing Underwater and Her Aching Heart.

Edinburgh Fringe show based on 7th July 2005 London bombings

Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think of You addresses 7/7 London attacks

16 Jul 2010

Molly Naylor is nervous, she doesn’t mind admitting. That’s partly because her first ever one-woman Edinburgh Fringe show is nearing the end of its rehearsal period when I speak to her, and is about to be unleashed upon preview audiences within a matter…

Macbeth for kids aims to charm the Edinburgh crowds

Just Macbeth takes Shakespeare to children

16 Jul 2010

Macbeth for kids: you’ve got to be joking? How on earth do you make the Bard’s bloodiest play palatable for wee ones? The apparent inappropriateness of staging the infamous Scottish play for young audiences, however, perfectly suits the remit of…

David Leddy's Sub Rosa

Gothic late-night promenade through Masonic lodge

16 Jul 2010

This gothic Victorian promenade show takes a small audience on a late-night tour of a Masonic lodge. Ghosts lead you through hidden rooms and into derelict corners, the darkness beyond getting more profound as the intensity of your anxiety rises with…

Edinburgh Festival 2010: More Fringe show highlights

Some of the shows to look out for at the Fringe

16 Jul 2010

With over 2,400 shows to choose from at this years Fringe festival, it's all to easy to succumb to the paradox of choice. Here we present our picks for some of the smaller shows that are worth looking out for.

Further Edinburgh International Festival highlights 2010

16 Jul 2010

Montezuma Carl Heinrich Graun’s opera about the Aztec leader who welcomed Spanish adventurers into his kingdom only for them to quickly get tore into the plundering and subjugation explores the clash of two very different worldviews. King’s Theatre…

Ontroerend Goed bring Teenage Riot to the Edinburgh Fringe

Renowned Belgian theatre group explores teenage angst

15 Jul 2010

Everyone who visits Alexander Devriendt in the rehearsal room says he must be crazy. He is 33 years old, yet he thrives on working with the most exuberant of teenagers. ‘It’s not about wanting to stay young, I don’t think about it,’ says the Belgian…

Pedal Pusher examines truth of Tour de France cyclists

Edinburgh Fringe drama tells story of competitive cycling casualties

15 Jul 2010

Sporting achievement is notoriously tricky to turn into theatre, doubly so if it’s the world of cycling. Roland Smith tells Thom Dibdin that a cinema classic inspired Pedal Pusher

An overview of the 2010 Edinburgh Festivals and their directors

What to expect from Edinburgh in August

15 Jul 2010

Nowhere does a festival quite like Edinburgh, and even with the film folk having long moved out of August, there is more than plenty going on for lovers of art, literature, comedy, theatre, kids entertainment, music, dance and military displays. The…

Five theatre shows from the continent at the Edinburgh Fringe

15 Jul 2010

More Light Please Polish actor Natalia Kostrzewa stars in her own one-woman play (co-written by Jerzy Lach) about economic migration. The production by Teatr Praga is in English and features music by the Tiger Lillies. New Town Theatre, George…

Five sport shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010

15 Jul 2010

From football and tennis to rugby and the Olympics, these shows go for the win.

Edinburgh Festival anniversaries in 2010

15 Jul 2010

Anniversaries abound at this years festival, not least the the Comedy Awards and Assembly Rooms, both of which celebrate their 30th years.

Five site specific shows at the Edinburgh Fringe

15 Jul 2010

Running on Air Join quirky and charming comedian Laura Mugridge in her vintage campervan and be one of five travellers on a poignant journey through life, love and domesticity. There’s also a spot of fell running and a performance in front of a giant…

Seven shows featuring doctors at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010

15 Jul 2010

Dr George Ryegold, Dr Peter Lovatt, Doc Brown, Doctor Brown, Dr Bunhead, Dr Ettrick-Hogg and Doctor Faustus. Are any of these medically-monikered acts for real?

Valhalla!

14 Jul 2010

Paul Rudnick’s Valhalla! interweaves the coming-of-age stories of notoriously eccentric 19th century monarch Ludwig II of Bavaria (Johnny McKnight) and a teenage tearaway named James Avery (Mark Prendergast) growing up in 1930s redneck Texas. While the…

George’s Marvellous Medicine and enduring appeal of Roald Dahl’s work

14 Jul 2010

As a brand new adaptation of George’s Marvellous Medicine arrives in Glasgow David Pollock talks to director Neal Foster about the enduring appeal of Roald Dahl’s work ‘The main secret to adapting Roald Dahl is that he doesn’t censor himself and he…

LGBT highlights from Edinburgh Fringe 2010

14 Jul 2010

The List’s LGBT section is about to take a well-earned break (returning in September, folks), but before we head off on our holidays, there’s just time to let you know about some of the gay-friendly stuff that’s appearing at a Fringe Festival near you…

Fifty Edinburgh Fringe shows for a fiver

13 Jul 2010

The economy may be in the stink-hole, but Julia Correia and Allan Radcliffe help stretch your pennies with this round-up of Fringe theatre shows for a fiver

The Memory of Water explores the complexities and humour of grief

5 Jul 2010

A good many plays have exploited the emotional state of people at funerals over the years, but few so well as Shelagh Stephenson in her West End hit of 1996. Not since David Storey’s rather more earnest In Celebration has the existential crisis brought…

Steel Magnolias

Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 10 Jul

5 Jul 2010

Robert Harling’s comedy-drama about a group of lifelong female friends in Louisiana has enjoyed endless revivals since its mid-80s premiere, largely thanks to the popularity of the film adaptation, which provided plumb roles for such Hollywood grande…

King Lear

Botanic Gardens, Glasgow, until Sat 10 Jul

2 Jul 2010

As is so often the case with outdoor performances, an audience’s ultimate enjoyment of this first show in Bard in the Botanics’ 2010 season might be more a matter of projection than performance. While some of the parts require – and are afforded – a…

A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Dumfries among outdoor theatre highlights for 2010

2 Jul 2010

The theatre season may be winding down in the Central Belt as we await the arrival of Edinburgh’s Festivals, but further afield there’s a rich selection of plays and performances for the outdoor theatre lover. The beautiful landscape and mild climate of…

Surge physical theatre festival brings The Venus Labyrinth to Glasgow

30 Jun 2010

If you spot something which defies description hovering around Glasgow city centre during the last weekend in July, chances are it’s Conflux at work. Set up in 2009 to support Scottish physical theatre, street arts and circus, Conflux is about to hold…

King Lear, Queen Margaret, Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus - Bard in the Botanics 2010

24 Jun 2010

‘Every new play I’m approaching is what keeps me excited by this job,’ says Gordon Barr, artistic director of Bard in the Botanics, Glasgow’s outdoor Shakespeare festival. ‘Each of Shakespeare’s plays brings new challenges and opportunities because…

Tam Dean Burn and White Horse Collective at Arches' New Works New Worlds festival

24 Jun 2010

For several years now, the Arches’ New Works New Worlds festival has produced alternative views of both art and the world, and the signs are that Glasgow audiences are increasingly aware of it as a place to go for ideas that swim outside the…

Upstage Theatre Company performs Robert Harling's Steel Magnolias

24 Jun 2010

Upstage Theatre Company performs Robert Harling’s heart-rending drama – well-known from the film starring Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton. Let your emotions run away with themselves as the staff and customers of a Louisiana beauty parlour remain…

Tron Theatre summer production sets sail for Valhalla!

23 Jun 2010

Theatre-goers beware: reality will leave the building for artistic director Andy Arnold’s latest summer production. Following on from last year’s darkly comic Cooking With Elvis, Valhalla! looks similarly offbeat, replete as it is with magic swans…

Edinburgh International Magic Festival joins city's roster

18 Jun 2010

The first ever Edinburgh International Magic Festival, running between 7 - 11 July 2010, promises to situate the crowds 'inches away' from the action. Top illusionists, hypnotists and mind readers will descend, as if by magic, upon the city for five…

We Are Spartaki

18 Jun 2010

A play for 55p? You’d need to go a long way, arguably beyond this continent, to see that kind of value every day. Now admittedly, you have to pay a fiver (if you haven’t a concession) to see nine, and all are performed in 55 minutes, but still, that’s…

The Caretaker

16 Jun 2010

London Classic Theatre have toured a startling array of productions ranging from Marivaux’s early 18th century comedy of manners The Double Inconstancy to contemporary classics by Patrick Marber and Martin McDonagh. But it was to Harold Pinter’s The…

Nick Cave reading in Edinburgh at Canongate literary cabaret night Irregular

16 Jun 2010

Ladiezangenulmen! Mr! Nick! Cave! Canongate pull off something of a coup with an appearance by the Lord of Darkness at their literary cabaret night. Thanking their lucky stars that they’re on this line-up are writer David Whitehouse and musician Jed…

Will You Be My Guinea Pig?

16 Jun 2010

Edinburgh-based company Starcatchers works in partnership with arts organisations, venues, artists and child care settings to develop performing arts experiences for children aged 0-4. This latest innovative multi-dimensional piece has been developed by…

Roadkill - Cora Bissett interview

10 Jun 2010

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

Neighbourhoods, Watch! - Leith Festival Vs West End Festival

10 Jun 2010

In the East corner, Edinburgh’s Leith Festival! In the West corner, Glasgow’s West End Festival! Kirstin Innes adjudicates the battle of the community fests.

Taylor Mac set for Arches show

10 Jun 2010

Taylor Mac is a once-seen, never forgotten sort of an act. His previous spell at the Edinburgh Fringe – and indeed the Arches – was met with plaudits and gongs galore. Denying any clichéd ticking of boxes, Mac’s gregarious hat-trick as performance…

Rose and Bones: Spirit and Stones

9 Jun 2010

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…

May 2010 News Roundup

28 May 2010

The final phase of a seven year project to convert a former military building in Edinburgh into an arts venue will be completed this month, following a £750,000 renovation. Multi-arts venue Out of the Blue, on Dalmeny Street, offers studio and…

Edinburgh festivals line-ups announced

28 May 2010

Whatever your cultural poison, Edinburgh’s festival circuit has it covered

A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle

28 May 2010

Made up of over 2,500 lines, Hugh MacDiarmid’s A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle can safely be labelled a long poem. Written in Scots, its length gives ample opportunity for MacDiarmid’s 1926 stream of consciousness to explore a wide array of topics…

Sweeney Todd

28 May 2010

In too many of its retellings, the story of the demon barber of Fleet Street is a juvenile gore-fest that is all gothic thrill and little substance. Not so here. Stephen Sondheim’s majestic through-composed musical takes its cue from a stage adaptation…

Macbeth at Traquair

28 May 2010

It’s summertime, which may or may not mean the arrival of blue skies and sunshine, but most certainly spells the onset of the outdoor Shakespeare season. Leading the pack is the annual celebration of the Bard at beautiful Traquair House in Innerleithen…

Little Johnny’s Big Gay Wedding

28 May 2010

Fans of Johnny McKnight’s five-year search for ‘the one’ are cordially invited to a theatre show with a difference this fortnight. Little Johnny’s Big Gay Wedding casts you the audience as the guests at the nuptials, where you’ll be rubbing shoulders…

Doubt: A Parable

20 May 2010

As extensive allegations of child abuse within the Catholic Church continue to simmer in the headlines, Theatre Jezebel is set to challenge audiences with a portrayal of accusation that is altogether more troubling in its ambiguity. John Patrick…

The Woman in Black

19 May 2010

‘I think the trick is that it’s so simple.’ Actor Peter Bramhill’s explanation is as good as any I’ve heard for the phenomenal success of The Woman in Black. Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s celebrated ghost story has been a frequent…

Traverse Theatre take on Linda McLean's Any Given Day

18 May 2010

When you’ve spent time and energy creating something new, you don’t hand it over to just anybody. Fortunately for Linda McLean, her new play Any Given Day is being looked after by what she herself calls a ‘dream team’. Performed by the Traverse Theatre…

Gin and Tonic and Passing Trains

18 May 2010

Dickens’ noted short story ‘The Signal-Man’ has passed into the canon as one of the major ghost stories of the 19th century, adapted frequently in film and television versions over the decades since. But Ramesh Meyyappan’s version eschews ghostly…

Coconut Badger

18 May 2010

The story of how Glasgow writer Mark MacNicol mounted a production of his first play, with no budget and no support, is an inspiration for anyone who has tried to break into the arts and been frustrated. MacNicol originally tried pitching his play…

Imaginate Children's Theatre Festival 2010

14 May 2010

They’re having fun now, but the three merry dancers seen here are about to discover the old adage ‘two’s company, three’s a crowd’. It all ends happily, however, in this lively show from Netherlands-based company De Stilte, aptly entitled Madcap.

From the West Bank

14 May 2010

These three short plays (two world premieres by David Greig and a revival of a work by Franca Rame) are sparse, clean and simply presented. The pared-back staging, language and performances from Cora Bissett, Ewan Donald and Benny Young (all three of…

Betrayed

14 May 2010

There’s little that’s cut and dried about the Iraq war, and current attempts to explain and attribute blame for its follies – Paul Greengrass’ movie Green Zone for example – often choose to overlook the stickier parts of the mess. George Packer’s…

Siege Perilous present Suspicious Minds at GRV

14 May 2010

It may be 33 years since Elvis shuffled off his mortal coil, but his sequinned spirit lives on, making regular appearances in theatre, film and cabaret. The King haunts the latest piece of new writing brought to the stage by Edinburgh-based theatre…

Sound & Fury bring submariner 2009 Fringe hit Kursk to UK stages

14 May 2010

Following on from its successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009, Sound & Fury return to Scotland and the Tramway with this powerful, award-winning recreation of the Russian submarine disaster of August 2000. Created in collaboration with former…

Catherine Wheels’ Hansel and Gretel nominated

14 May 2010

Catherine Wheels’ production of Hansel and Gretel at the New Victory on Broadway has been nominated for two Drama Desk Awards: one for Unique Theatrical Experience and one for Karen Tennent for Best Design. The Edinburgh-based company took the show to…

Hairspray

6 May 2010

The excitement is palpable even before the curtain rises. Hairspray rushes into Glasgow on a juggernaut of advance excitement thanks to the hugely popular, award-winning Broadway and West End productions and the subsequent film adaptation. The Clyde…

Blue Raincoat bring The Third Policeman to Glasgow's Tron Theatre

6 May 2010

Flann O’Brien’s novel, The Third Policeman is intriguing for its capacity to weave the extraordinary from the banal. Its representation of mid-20th century Irish rural life takes its central, unnamed character on a journey through recognisable fields…

Random Dance: Entity

6 May 2010

A good costume can do wonders for a performance, but sometimes in the dance world, less can most definitely be more. Very little material was sacrificed for Wayne McGregor’s 2008 work, Entity, with the dancers clad in something akin to underpants and…

Dundee Rep bring Stephen Sondheim Sweeney Todd's musical to the stage

4 May 2010

There’s little heroism to be found in a tale of murder and cannibalism, but Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at least attempts to find some rationale for the actions of the titular killer in tragedy and…

National Theatre of Scotland presents Peter Pan

4 May 2010

It’s hard to know who the National Theatre of Scotland’s target audience is for this much anticipated production of Peter Pan. Certainly not families with children who, drawn by the title, will head to this in their droves and inevitably be…