Theatre

Stonewall

9 Aug 2007

Doubtless huge progress has been made regarding gay rights in recent decades but there are still reports of gay people being persecuted across the world.

Class Enemy

A different class

14 Aug 2008

When Nigel Williams’ Class Enemy made its debut at London’s Royal Court in 1978, hip hop was still a phenomenon of the American underground. It would never have occurred to a director to incorporate it into this portrayal of a bunch of teenagers in a…

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.

The best free and cheap things to do in Glasgow and Edinburgh

Visit a library, go for a walk, bake a cake or see some cheap theatre

21 Jan 2011

Beat the January blues with these guaranteed pick-me-ups, suggested by our writers and some friends of The List. They’re all free, or cost just a few quid, so you’ll come out of winter with your bank balance intact and a smile on your face

Orgy of Tolerance

2 Apr 2009

A quick glance at the poster for Jan Fabre’s latest show, Orgy of Tolerance tells you the Belgian artist clearly isn’t afraid to push people’s buttons. On it, a bearded, long-haired performer stands wearing Y-fronts, a gold-link chain and a crucifix…

Interview: Zach Braff, writer, director and star of All New People

The Scrubs and Garden State star discusses his new theatre production

2 Feb 2012

‘I’m still Jenny from the block,’ says Zach Braff after a moment’s reflection. ‘Even now I feel a bit underground in the acting world.’ For those who enjoyed Braff (and 20 million viewers around the world did) as the lovable JD in US comedy drama…

An Appointment with the Wicker Man

Robin Hardy’s 1973 classic to become the play-within-the-play for new NTS production

1 Feb 2012

‘There are many films that people would love to see adapted cleanly onto the stage,’ says Greg Hemphill, and if current trends are anything to go by, he looks to be right, ‘but when we discussed it with Vicky [Featherstone, National Theatre of Scotland…

Sea Wall

Pray silence for an exquisite performance

8 Aug 2009

Alex does not voice the cruellest words he ever spoke. We don’t actually hear the dreadful phrase he utters to his father-in-law. But we can imagine it. Playwright Simon Stephens is too subtle a craftsman to allow his central character to blurt it out…

Quadrophenia

14 May 2009

The current economic crisis has cast many minds back to the unemployment-wracked 1970s, so it’s perhaps apt that a new stage adaptation of The Who’s Quadrophenia – one of the decade’s most celebrated albums – is touring this year. Composed by The Who…

Zach Braff: Ten things you might not know

The star of Scrubs, Garden State and All New People also voices the US Andrex puppy

2 Feb 2012

1 He is the youngest of four children. He has two brothers, Adam and Joshua, and a sister, Shoshanna. His mother and father are divorced and have both remarried. He says he now spends Thanksgiving with his ‘four parents’. 2 He had an ‘American…

Interview: Choreographer Christine Devaney

Artistic director of Scottish contemporary dance company Curious Seed

1 Feb 2012

Christine Devaney, artistic director of Scottish contemporary dance company Curious Seed, tells us all about her new production, PUSH What made you want to be a choreographer? I’ve honestly never thought ‘I want to be a choreographer’, but I knew I…

A-Team - The Musical

22 Jul 2009

Pity the poor fool who misses out on scoring a ticket to this musical version of the legendary 80s TV adventure series about a quartet of ex-crack commandos-turned-mercenaries. So, can Faceman hold a tune? How are Hannibal’s harmonies? What’s BA’s…

Cirque du Soleil: Quidam

16 Apr 2009

Cirque du Soleil might be celebrating its 25th birthday this year, but the French-Canadian company, which has made a name for itself across the world with its foundation-shifting take on traditional circus acrobatics, shows no signs of lagging behind in…

Fame

22 Jan 2009

MUSICAL Running through the list of musical numbers in the programme your heart slowly starts to sink. Clearly the creators of this stage version of Fame couldn’t afford the copyright to songs from either the film or TV versions. What, no…

A brief history of Tennessee Williams

1 Oct 2008

The life of Tennessee Williams reads like one of his plays. Born in Columbus, Mississippi, his childhood was marred by an illness that paralysed his legs for two years, a period during which his mother gave him a typewriter and encouraged him to write.

Britt Ekland: Britt on Britt

A Swedish sexagenarian’s exploits

14 Aug 2008

‘Who is Britt Ekland?’ So the former Bond girl and one-time wife of Peter Sellers begins her frank and surprisingly funny whistle stop tour of her enchantingly colourful life. Offering glimpses of the young starlet who entranced the likes of Rod Stewart…

Early mourning - 4.48 Psychosis

Edinburgh International Festival

22 Jul 2008

Nine years ago, uncompromising playwright Sarah Kane ended her own life. In an old Warsaw variety theatre, Mark Fisher is shaken by a mesmerising staging of her final work.

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

Experimental but playful sound installation

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.…

Mwana is a new play from Glasgow-based Ankur Productions

Debut play from Tawona Sithole examines culture of Zimbabwe

1 Feb 2012

Mwana is a salad boy. It’s a Zimbabwean joke, what people who live in the country and eat a heavy, starchy diet call the urban lettuce-munchers. Despite this dietary preference Mwana comes to Glasgow to study and Tawona Sithole’s play takes his return…

The Infamous Brothers Davenport

Captures excitement of Victorian public séance but makes for unsatisfactory theatre

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…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

The King and I - Ramon Tikaram interview

The Eastenders star set for role of King in Rodgers and Hammerstein musical

15 Nov 2011

He’s played conflicted bisexual courier Ferdy in This Life, portrayed a tyrant in controversial dub punk opera Gaddafi and recently returned to Albert Square as the ruthless but charming father of Amira in Eastenders. Seldom one to resist a…

Frances Ruffelle: Beneath the Dress

Cheeky, sexy and surprising cabaret-esque show

23 Aug 2010

Given Ruffelle’s showbiz background – she’s the daughter of London theatre school founder Sylvia Young and a Tony Award-winning star of West End and Broadway musicals such as Les Misérables and Chicago – it’s unsurprising that her cabaret-esque Fringe…

Morecambe

Show-stopping comic tribute

10 Aug 2009

This funny-sad account of the life and death of the man who was dubbed Britain’s ‘comedian of the century’ is already a big hit with Fringe crowds. It’s fair to assume that the prospect of seeing the late, great Eric Morecambe brought back to life on…

Quadrophenia

28 May 2009

The stage musical adaptation of the film of the landmark album by The Who, about a bloody Bank Holiday weekend battle between the Mods and the Rockers in Brighton at the height of their 1960s rivalry, is told from the point of view of teenage rebel…

Our House

3 Jul 2008

MUSICAL Theatre Royal, Glasgow, until Sat 5 Jul; Playhouse, Edinburgh, Mon 7–Sat 12 Jul Following in the footsteps of popular jukebox musicals Mamma Mia! and We Will Rock You, comes this effort from writer Tim Firth (Calendar Girls), featuring the…

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…

Swallows and Amazons

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

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…

Nakedness and nudity at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The Naked Busker and lap dancing photography exhibition among highlights

20 Jul 2011

It may get the moral minority’s g-string in a twist, but nudity and Edinburgh go hand in hand. Here are some naked highlights. Pot of Dreams - Jannica Honey & Holly Davidson Photographic Exhibition. The multifaceted human aspects of Edinburgh’s lap…

How to find work at the Edinburgh Festival 2011

How to find a job at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011

3 Jun 2011

Thousands of people descend upon Edinburgh at this time of year for the start of festival season and now is the time to begin your search for a job within the buzzing excitement. In a study carried out last year it found that 71% of volunteers had an…

Spring Awakening unites Douglas Maxwell, Grid Iron and Traverse

Frank Wedekind's attack on sexually-oppressive culture relocated from Germany to Calvinist Scotland

3 Nov 2010

Boldly returning to Frank Wedekind’s original play in the wake of the enormous success of the Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening, Douglas Maxwell, together with Grid Iron and the Traverse, has created a fresh, creative and relevant new adaptation…

Company Chordelia: Les Amoureux

19 Mar 2009

DANCE THEATRE The late novelist Angela Carter’s 1979 book of fairytale-derived short stories The Bloody Chamber has led to a number of adaptations, the latest of which is a rich blend of dance, physical theatre and opera. Choreographed by Kally…

Pornography - Simon Stephens interview

Shock values - Traverse Theatre

17 Jul 2008

As the Traverse embarks on its first Edinburgh Festival Fringe season under the artistic directorship of Dominic Hill, Steve Cramer talks to acclaimed dramatist Simon Stephens, writer of Pornography, about 7/7 and a new definition of the pornographic

Edinburgh theatre show Rose stars Art Malik and daughter Kiera

Play by Hywel John set for 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

20 Jul 2011

Art Malik is no stranger to the stage, despite being better known for his film and TV roles – which range from a psychotic terrorist in 1994 Hollywood blockbuster True Lies to a heartthrob anaesthetist in hospital drama Holby City. Over the past 30…

The best upcoming theatre shows in Scotland for Spring 2011

A guide to the unmissable shows in theatreland til June

4 Mar 2011

Girl X On tour, 4 March–20 April Brilliant Belgian director Pol Heyvaert, who directed Aalst for the National Theatre of Scotland, hooks up with Glasgow actor Robert Softley for a provocative play based on the controversial case of Ashley X, a girl…

Out of the Strong is latest work by Richard Alston Dance Company

Abstract contemporary dance, now with characterisation and Prokofiev

3 Nov 2010

For decades, Richard Alston has been one of Britain’s finest exponents of abstract contemporary dance. Now, however, it would seem he’s also rather good at telling a story. Alston first dipped his toe in narrative waters in 2009, with Scottish…

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…

The BFG

2 Apr 2009

PREVIEW STAGE ADAPTATION Nineteen years after his death, Roald Dahl remains as popular as ever with the bedtime crowd. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches – the list goes on, each of them bringing delight to…

Scotland The Great - Nine Inch Will Please a Lady

22 Jan 2009

The Burnsian band I am in, with Malcolm Ross and my brother Russel, The Bum-Clocks, has a version of ‘Nine Inch’, a witty ditty in celebration of quantity. We usually locate it in our mash-up of the poetry of Burns and Iggy Pop which kicks off with ‘A…

Simon Callow - A Festival Dickens

A rich performance of moving, entertaining tales

21 Aug 2008

Having taken his celebrated one-man show The Mystery of Charles Dickens around the world, British thesp Simon Callow is no stranger to the Victorian writer and philanthropist. Here, Callow performs his second solo Dickens show under the sure-handed…

Nederlands Dans Theater 2

19 Jun 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Fri 20 & Sat 21 Jun Given the enormous influence Jirí Kylián has had over Nederlands Dans Theater during the past 30 years, it should come as no surprise that even when he’s not there, his presence is felt.

The King and I

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

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…

The Hot 100 2011: 100-50

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

100: Gordon Ferris. Kilmarnock crime author makes good. The already packed Scottish crime writing field has finally found a bit of elbow room for another burgeoning talent. Joining the likes of Rankin, Brookmyre, McDermid and co is this Ayrshire-born…

Futureproof

A fairly unshocking freak show

17 Aug 2011

In the world of the freak show there is, Lynda Radley’s play informs us, a hierarchy. At the top are the ‘reals’ – people like bearded lady Countess Marketa (Irene Macdougall), Siamese twins Lillie and Millie (Ashley Smith and Nicola Roy, mirroring each…

Blood Brothers – review

X Factor alumnus Niki Evans a revelation in Willy Russell favourite

17 Mar 2011

Willy Russell’s long-running and popular musical about class, superstition and the nature/nurture debate has featured a host of sparkling chanteuses in the central role of Mrs Johnstone, notably Barbara Dixon, Carole King and four of the Nolan sisters.

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…

The Elves and the Shoemaker

10 Mar 2010

An Easter treat for children and young people, courtesy of the Dundee Rep ensemble. This adaptation of the classic Grimm Brothers’ tale, about the penniless shoemaker and his wife who discover an exquisite pair of shoes waiting for them when they wake…

One Man Lord of the Rings

Baffling speeded-up Middle Earth affair

10 Aug 2009

The trend for cutting down and speeding up plays/films/text kicked off with the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and Charlie Ross is a veteran of the subgenre, having brought his One Man Star Wars to the Fringe in previous years. Dressed in a sturdy boiler…

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe department

27 Nov 2008

As a child, Kirstin Innes always wanted to go to Narnia. Instead, she got the next best thing: a whole day backstage at the Lyceum Theatre as they try and bring that world to life.

Off to see the wizard

13 Nov 2008

‘They’re big shoes to step into, aren’t they?’ says Helen McAlpine, about the specially-customised ruby slippers she’ll be wearing onstage in the Citizens’ Theatre’s Wizard of Oz. She’s not talking about her shoe size, either – as Dorothy Gale, McAlpine…

Romeo and Juliet

16 Oct 2008

CLASSIC Shakespeare’s enduring tale of star-crossed lovers and warring families has benefited from numerous treatments down the centuries, from faithful period settings to the gland-snapping musical adaptation of West Side Story and the exhilarating…

Noises Off

18 Sep 2008

REVIVAL Bringing farce to the fore, Michael Frayn’s 80s parody is touring once again, revealing the merry antics of a second-rate theatre company both on and off stage as it struggles with its ludicrous sex comedy, Nothing On. Nestling at the core…

Tracy Beaker

Tracy Beaker Gets Real

26 Mar 2007

MUSICAL THEATRE She’s rude, inconsiderate, bolshy and the bane of many parents’ lives. Tracy Beaker may be a fictional creation, but her cheeky expressions - both facial and verbal - have been embraced by pre-pubescents across the…

Visible Fictions to revive Zorro

The theatre company's popular swashbuckler to play at Scottish Youth Theatre

2 Feb 2012

In case you didn’t know, the word ‘zorro’ is Spanish for ‘fox’, and that’s exactly what this cunning fictional hero does – fox those around him, not just with his deeds but his entire persona. Starting life as a serial in a 1920s US magazine, the tales…

Double Nugget combines shows Marymassacre and Seven Year Itch

Random Accomplice take two duet plays on tour

1 Feb 2012

With hits like Little Johnny’s Big Gay Wedding and last year’s Smalltown, Random Accomplice have proved themselves to be one of Scotland’s best-loved theatre groups. Now, they’ve revived 2008’s Marymassacre and 2009’s Seven Year Itch in a touring double…

Theatre critic Mark Fisher on the Shakespeare productions planned for 2012

Alan Cumming, David Hayman and more to stage the Bard next year

13 Dec 2011

In 1964, the Polish critic Jan Kott published Shakespeare, our Contemporary. The book caused a stir for framing a long-dead playwright through the lens of 20th century totalitarianism. Director Peter Brook was delighted to find a commentator who could…

The Missing

Powerful performance of Andrew O'Hagan's non-fiction script across several platforms

21 Sep 2011

Part memoir, part investigative journalism, Scottish writer Andrew O’Hagan’s powerful non-fiction work doesn’t easily fit into any generic pigeon hole. It is fitting, then, that this stage adaptation of The Missing is accompanied by complementary art…

Stage whispers: Fringe performer Martha Wollner on her first Fringe

Sense of community experienced at first Fringe

24 Aug 2011

‘First Fringe?’ That’s what old festival hands kept asking, followed by advice on how to build audiences: get sleep, see shows and, as one producer put it, ‘Generally gird your loins!’ But upon arrival, our ensemble began to experience something…

The rising stars of Scottish theatre

Interviews with Helen Darbyshire, Gary McNair, Gemma McElhinney, Katy Wilson and Scott Fletcher

7 Mar 2011

Helen Darbyshire Age: 22 Where will I know her from? She’s on Dundee Rep’s graduate scheme, which gives a year-long contract to promising actors straight out of college. Brought up in nearby Cupar, she introduced herself to Dundee audiences in a minor…

Pornography takes centre stage at Fringe 2010

Steve Cramer's Festival blog

23 Aug 2010

There are three steps down into the auditorium at the Traverse St Stephens. It’s not entirely at random that I warn you. As I entered said space I failed to spot this natty architectural folly, and launched myself, instead of into Apples, into thin air.

Dundee Rep take on Peter Schaffer's pony tale Equus

18 Feb 2010

It’s not entirely down to Daniel Radcliffe’s torso that Peter Schaffer’s 1973 work Equus is undergoing something of a renaissance, but it was certainly the prospect of naked boy wizard that reignited interest in the play. It’s the kind of interest that…

Faust

Dark, thrilling and unsettling adaptation of Goethe’s classic

20 Aug 2009

Surely one of the Edinburgh International Festival’s most ambitious projects, Silviu Purcarete’s grand adaptation of Faust takes over, and fills, the huge warehouse space at Ingleston’s Royal Highland Centre. Based on Goethe’s treatment of the German…

Ice Cream Man and the Jelly Incident

Fun with food for kids

30 Jul 2009

Writer Jonny Berliner certainly knows how to create an attention-grabbing show title. After the huge success of Dude! Where’s my Teddy Bear? – which went from Edinburgh sell-out in 2003/4 to runs at festivals nationwide, including Glastonbury…

Edinburgh Festival Fringe theatre highlights for a fiver

20 Jul 2009

Short of cash but trying to squeeze in as much festival action as physically possible? Fear not! Our inflation-busting guide presents fifty preview shows for a mere five of your Scottish bank notes

Jane Austen's Guide to Pornography

Another serving of thoughtful, energetic filth from Out Cast Theatre

20 Jul 2009

Out Cast Theatre, Australia's oldest gay theatre company, delighted Fringe-goers last year with their filthy yet poignant comedy, The Adventures of Butt Boy and Tigger. In 2009, they're returning with Jane Austen's Guide to Pornography, in which a…

Silviu Purcărete’s 'Faust'

The veteran Romanian director tackles Goethe

13 Jul 2009

Silviu Purcărete doesn’t do things by halves. Last time the veteran Romanian director was in Edinburgh was almost two decades ago with a version of Ubu Rex. The production was a massive take on Alfred Jarry’s absurdist classic. Since then he brought a…

The Garden of Adrian

11 Jun 2009

NEW WORK There can be few performers with the immense personal charm of Adrian Howells. His is a theatrical presence that inspires trust, and deservedly so. Perhaps only Howells could carry off this latest piece of performance, which involves a…

Underneath The Arches

8 Jan 2009

Glasgow’s Arches, as anyone who’s worked there will tell you, is the sort of place that doesn’t so much defy your expectations as consistently confound them. Audiences might marvel at the sort of building that can stage a theatre show, art exhibition…

Cockroach

30 Oct 2008

It sneaks up on you unexpectedly, this full-length debut by Sam Holcroft. At first, she gives the impression of writing a lightweight comedy of high school life; all cat-fights, smashed windows and detentions. But something is afoot in the biology…

Janis Claxton Dance Company

16 Oct 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE The last time we saw Janis Claxton, she was looking rather sodden in a rainy enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo. Not that the weather dampened her spirits – Claxton’s group show, Enclosure 44 – Humans was a huge success at this year’s…

How to bribe your way to Fringe success

The List payola blog

6 Aug 2008

Every year, thousands of performer flock to the Edinburgh Fringe in order to showcase their talent and kickstart a career in the performing arts. Unfortunately, there's so may other blighters doing the same that it's hard to make yourself heard above…

Cirque du Soleil

27 Mar 2008

CIRCUS SECC, Glasgow, Wed 9 & Thu 10 Apr Think Cirque du Soleil, think big top, flying acrobats and crazy make-up. Well, the last two are still there, but Delirium sees the Canadian circus troupe crank it up a gear. Having sold out in 55 cities…

Mark Fisher on The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide

Theatre critic's book of essential advice to aspiring Fringe performers

1 Feb 2012

1 Choosing a title takes ages It’s as straightforward as they come, yet The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide was a title born of months of discussion. The subtitle, How to Make Your Show a Success, was arrived at no quicker. My editor couldn’t believe…

Preview of 2012 - King Lear

New Citizens Theatre boss Dominic Hill brushes up his Shakespeare

6 Jan 2012

Take on the Citizens Theatre and you take on the past. Any artistic director of the Glasgow institution can only be aware of the building’s history. Opened as the Royal Princess’s Theatre in 1848, it became home to James Bridie’s Citizens’ company in…

Lost Sock Princess

A puppet theatre performance that lets you join in – all you need is an odd sock

13 Dec 2011

Try as you might to wash and dry them together, socks have a way of parting company somewhere between the laundry basket and underwear drawer. It’s at that point you need the Lost Sock Princess to help you reunite the estranged pair. Or do you? One…

Director Stewart Laing on The Salon Project

Immersive theatre project hopes to recreate the intellectual gatherings of late 19th century Paris

21 Sep 2011

Show us the man or woman who isn’t even a little excited by the thought of dressing up and becoming someone else for the night, and we’ll show you a liar. Now best known as a director, but originally a designer, Untitled Projects’ director Stewart Laing…

Fringe 2011 theatre blogs: Biding Time

Can we find alternative models for making theatre at the Fringe?

23 Aug 2011

Market’s crashing, Somalia’s starving and London’s burning; Are we fiddling in Edinburgh while Rome burns this August? It takes a mental leap to see any real connection between the Edinburgh fringe festival and the state of the wider world, except…

An Instinct for Kindness

Dignitas tale told with dignity

17 Aug 2011

Last year, Chris Larner accompanied his ex-wife Allyson to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland and watched as she drank a liquid that would swiftly end her life. Here, with just a simple chair as a prop, Larner recounts the days, weeks and years leading…

Edinburgh arts institution the Forest Cafe gears up for its final Fringe

Edinburgh's rough and ready creative hub closing down

10 Aug 2011

Many Edinburgh-dwellers agree that it will be a sad day when the Forest Café finally closes its doors at the end of this summer. The rough and ready creative hub will be badly missed, but at least it’s staying open long enough for the Forest Fringe to…

Interview - Joe Bone from Bane

The noir shows that have stalked the Edinburgh Fringe for three years

4 Aug 2011

Joe Bone is a busy man. A few years back, he created the hard-boiled character Bruce Bane in the wake of a spate of old detective movies he'd been watching. Fast forward to 2011, and Bane has taken on a life of his own, spawning three stage shows, a…

Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut

Morag Fullerton's stage adaptation is a charmingly chaotic classic

21 Jul 2011

It’s almost impossible to tell that the team behind Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut have not staged their increasingly lauded production in the Tron before tonight. Originating as part of Òran Mór’s Cult Classics series during its pint/pie-filled…

New production Girl X tackles ethics of Ashley X disability case

National Theatre of Scotland’s hard-hitting new play at Traverse

24 Feb 2011

About four years ago, performer and disability rights activist Robert Softley came to the National Theatre of Scotland with an unusual proposition. He’d been following the case of Ashley X, a pre-pubescent disabled girl in the US whose parents filed an…

A View from the Bridge set for Lyceum - Liam Brennan interview

Latest Arthur Miller play adapted by John Dove for Edinburgh theatre

3 Jan 2011

Since 2004’s Death of a Salesman, John Dove’s Arthur Miller productions have become something of a regular fixture at the Lyceum. His subsequent versions of All My Sons, The Price and The Man Who Had All the Luck won him plaudits and in January 2011, A…

The Secret Garden

Hopeful musical is a moving and witty production for modern audiences

15 Dec 2010

A musical about deep-rooted grief may seem an odd choice for a Christmas show, but somehow The Secret Garden manages to inject enough love and hope to rise above the misery. An imaginative set and some truly superb vocals also help turn Frances Hodgson…

Why Frank Wedekind's seminal play Spring Awakening still resonates

Grid Iron unleash new production at Traverse, Edinburgh

27 Oct 2010

Frank Wedekind’s seminal drama Spring Awakening has experienced a renaissance in recent years. The often banned 1891 play, which portrays 14-year-olds grappling with ideas of sexuality, death and religion in the prohibitive climate of late 19th century…

How a bumper programme at the Traverse Theatre in 1985 changed Scottish culture

25 years of The List

23 Sep 2010

1985 was a landmark year for The Traverse theatre. Peter Arnott, Chris Hannan and Jo Clifford recall working there to Mark Fisher

Roadkill, The Author and 30 Days to Space worthy 2010 festival winners

Steve Cramer's Festival blog

7 Sep 2010

I know it’s not quite over, but with respect to the last couple of shows of the International Festival, now might be the time for the Festival’s final report card. This year’s Festival, if it has shown some good work, still creates the uneasy feeling of…

Myth of the far-left agenda in Alastair Beaton's Caledonia

Steve Cramer's Festival blog

1 Sep 2010

In my last blog, I accused many of the companies engaging in the Fringe of lacking courage, and I’m sticking by it. You can always tell when there’s a political elephant in the room at a fringe, since invariably the more pusillanimous companies visiting…

Why The Sun Also Rises is the least successful transatlantic crossing since Titanic

Steve Cramer's Festival blog

19 Aug 2010

I suppose the one compensation of sitting through the unforgivable The Sun Also Rises at the Lyceum was that it provided a little relief from the endless prurient sex obsessions of the Traverse next door, where one leaves every other show with the…

An Evening with Dementia

Solo show raises big questions of our future with intelligence and understated humour

19 Aug 2010

With an ever increasing portion of the British population living longer lives, the unfortunate condition of dementia is an issue which more and more families, as well as society at large, are faced with. Complex, often life altering changes are required…

The Lasses, O

Scots narrative by the Scottish Bard’s women

19 Aug 2010

Janet Paisley re-animates a spectre from the hearts and minds of all those who were raised in Scotland or study its literary history, Robert Burns. Through the testimonies of five women close to him (midwife, storyteller, mother-in-law, smuggler and…

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Hitler and the Nazis - with jokes

19 Aug 2010

Bertolt Brecht wrote his comedy satire over three weeks in 1941 having fled to Finland and waiting for entry documents to the US. An in-your-face parody of Hitler's power-grab, petty Chicago mobsters stand in for the dictator and his Nazi friends as we…

Sex emerging as theme running through 2010 Edinburgh Fringe theatre

Steve Cramer's Festival blog

13 Aug 2010

My first significant encounter this fringe, a week ago as I write, occurred at the door of the Traverse theatre with Jane Ellis, my esteemed fellow hack and wife of another much beloved colleague, Mark Fisher. As I made to enter the building, she seized…

Mysterious Skin boils Heim's novel

Bleakly powerful adaptation of bestselling novel

8 Aug 2010

This disarming exploration of sexuality, desire and childhood abuse is based on the acclaimed novel by Scott Heim, which was turned into the equally well-received movie adaptation by maverick filmmaker Gregg Araki.

Five hirsute gents tickling our fancies (and chins) this month

Look out for these bearded men at this year's Festivals

5 Aug 2010

Phil Kay Furry Fringe veteran Kay makes no fewer than four fuzzy-faced appearances this year. His kids’ show Gimme Your Left Shoe makes a welcome return; there’s a solo show in the evening called In Tweed; a late-night radio show titled RadioFree; and…

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…

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…

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

10 Feb 2010

‘Someone said to me once that Ireland just skipped the 20th century and went from the 19th to the 21st,’ muses Scottish-born, Irish-bred actress Cara Kelly when asked about the ‘Irishness’ of her current role, in Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of…

The Sound of Music

26 Jan 2010

There is a moment, quite near the end of this mostly jolly musical, when Nazi Germany comes to Edinburgh. The hairs stand up on the back of your neck, and it’s almost possible to imagine what life under the swastika was really like. Other than that…

Little Red Riding Hood

9 Dec 2009

It’s perhaps understandable, given the venue, that this version of the classic fairy tale comes across as a very Glasgow indie Christmas show. Alasdair Macrae, Mary Gapinski and Ewan Donald narrate the story in soft Jackanory-style accents, while…