Theatre

Scottish Ballet's Romeo and Juliet

22 May 2008

NARRATIVE BALLET Theatre Royal Glasgow, Wed 4–Sat 7 Jun Big narrative ballets are filled with opulent sets and long drawn-out scenes – right? Not this time. Scottish Ballet has taken a different approach to Shakespeare’s tragic love story. Gone is the…

Mamma Mia!

27 Mar 2008

MUSICAL SECC, Glasgow, Tue 1–Sat 27 Apr Last time I saw Mamma Mia! I was sitting directly behind Fish out of Marillion. I mention this not to name drop. If I was that shallow, I’d point out that Bridget McConnell, Glasgow’s culture supremo, and her…

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…

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

2 Oct 2008

STAGE ADAPTATION Uninvited dinner guests can be a pain, especially when they arrive armed with a big appetite. But it’s unlikely any of the readers of The Tiger Who Came to Tea haven’t fantasised about just such an occurrence taking place in their…

Is This About Sex?

1 Aug 2007

Not just about sex, this play examines the societal confines of the modern world, exposing the inextricable issues of identity with sexuality and gender and of course sex itself.

Mary Poppins

18 Sep 2008

MUSICAL In 1964, when Mary Poppins opened at the cinema, it immediately amassed an army of fans. One woman, however, was distinctly unimpressed by the all-singing, all-dancing Disney adaptation – the novel’s author, PL Travers. Thirty years later…

Fireman Sam - To the Rescue!

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Fri 8-Sun 10 Sep

1 Sep 2006

Fireman Sam - To the Rescue! at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Preview of the year 2007

2007 is about the future. And about the past. It’

3 Jan 2007

THE FUTURE Cyberspace invaders We may not be flying around in hover cars or wearing spangly all-silver outfits, but thanks to the internet the future has truly arrived. And the revolution will continue apace in 2007, argues Suzanne Black. A…

Amy Lamé’s Mama Cass Family Singers

18 Oct 2007

THEATRE Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 25–Sat 27 Oct ‘I came up with the idea of a misremembered memoir which is what the show is,’ says Amy Lamé of her one-woman show Mama Cass Family Singers. ‘A lot of it is real, some of it’s made up, but it’s all…

Cherry Blossom

2 Oct 2008

MULTI-MEDIA PLAY Catherine Grosvenor’s Cherry Blossom is an impassioned attempt to represent the experience of Poles migrating to the West, while Lorne Campbell’s direction ensures that the play – performed in English and Polish – is understandable…

Fleeto

2 Oct 2008

NEW PLAY No doubt it’s Fleeto’s origins as a piece of lunchtime theatre in A Play, a Pie and a Pint that mean this revival by Glasgow’s V.amp is stripped back and elemental. The set amounts to nothing more than a table and a couple of chairs – and…

Akram Khan Dance Company and National Ballet of China: Bahok

22 May 2008

INDIAN/CONTEMPORARY/CHINESE DANCE Tramway, Glasgow, Thu 22 & Sat 23 May Bringing different cultures together has always been one of Akram Khan’s strengths. For the past ten years, the acclaimed dancer/choreographer has created an entirely new form of…

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…

Hamlet Solo

16 Aug 2007

To do justice to Hamlet is no easy task, but to render the Danish play as a one man performance is almost laughable in its ambition. There is, of course, the obvious novelty value to witnessing Hamlet being performed by one man. But Hamlet Solo is far…

Gerry Mulgrew - The Lesson

2 Oct 2008

Gerry Mulgrew is a smart director, but when he’s in the rehearsal room he prefers to work from instinct. ‘I respond to Peter Stein when he says a director should have unlimited enthusiasm and absolutely no idea of what he’s going to do,’ says the man…

Glasgay! - Tennessee Williams

18 Sep 2008

Some years ago, I attended a conference where a debate about the work of Tennessee Williams came very nearly to blows. The bone of contention involved Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, in which the character Brick confesses an attraction to a friend that surpasses…

Mr Loveday’s Little Outing

20 Aug 2008

This is an adaptation for the stage of Evelyn Waugh’s short story undertaken by the director and performed by a group of young confident actors and actresses bringing their very own show to The Fringe for the first time, and as such is an affirmation of…

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…

Don Juan

2 Oct 2008

CLASSIC John D is a 21st century mover and shaker. He sets up meetings with celebrities, has his photograph on billboards and indulges in high-profile charity work. He is all ego and, as played by Mark Springer, both charismatic and…

The Porcelain Project

2 Oct 2008

DANCE/VISUAL ART In the normal run of things, dancers rehearse, set-makers build and eventually the two elements come together. Not so with The Porcelain Project. The latest offering from Belgium’s Needcompany started life as an artwork by…

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…

Fleeto

29 Nov 2007

LUNCHTIME THEATRE Oran Mor, Glasgow, until Sat 1 Dec For a couple of decades now, the name Paddy Cunneen has been associated with quality music and soundscapes in Scottish drama. His work has travelled far beyond our borders, with a number of…

Something Wicked This Way Comes

2 Oct 2008

STAGE ADAPTATION With no budget to keep to, the human imagination can run wild in the best possible way. Which is why director Gill Robertson shied away from staging Something Wicked This Way Comes for so long. Ray Bradbury’s 1962 novel is filled…

Sunset Song

18 Sep 2008

Voted Scotland’s favourite novel after the publication of The List’s 100 Best Scottish Books of all Time in 2005, Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song is a work that soars above its set-text status. In the first in-house production by Aberdeen’s His…

Fleeto

4 Sep 2008

The perceived increase in knife crimes on the streets of Scotland is steadily raising awareness of a deadly culture creeping through the nation's young population. Knives continue to be used only in around eight percent of violent crimes, but it's the…

Breaker Morant

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

19 Jul 2007

After the success of Talk Radio, the Comedians Theatre Company returns to the Fringe with a hard-hitting courtroom drama. But as the Australian leads tell Steve Cramer, the play is not without its bawdy elements

Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray

Effective storytelling makes for an adaptation with impact

29 Aug 2008

In the closing moments of Dorian Gray, a bright light shines out into the audience, temporarily blinding us. Something most people aren't used to, but those who spend their life in the spotlight are all too familiar with. It's this -- the trappings of…

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…

Richard Alston Dance Company

1 Nov 2007

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 13 Nov Music – some choreographers can’t start work without it, while for others it’s the final piece in the jigsaw. But for Martin Lawrance, dancer and choreographer with Richard Alston Dance…

Romeo and Juliet

16 Aug 2007

Having finally got over Baz Luhrmann’s version, it feels like we can move on to a new approach to this popular, if flawed, old Shakespearean standby. If Peter Meineck’s version for Aquila doesn’t quite make for a new ‘standard’, it certainly…

Sunset Song

2 Oct 2008

ADAPTATION It was some time in the early-60s when His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, last produced a play of its own, barring the annual pantomime. To return to the fray with a ten-strong company and a mainstage tour after so long was ambitious but…

Mary Poppins

2 Oct 2008

At least one commentator has compared Sarah Palin, the American vice-presidential hopeful, to everyone’s favourite nanny. ‘This election isn’t about the issues any more,’ wrote Steven Wells in The Guardian recently. ‘It’s about America’s strange desire…

A Conversation with Edith Head

9 Aug 2007

Hollywood costume designer Edith Head worked on almost 500 films in her 54-year career. She dressed Mae West, Dorothy Lamour and Barbara Stanwyck in their most iconic outfits. She played with the big boys at Paramount (and later Universal) and her onyx…

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…

Romeo and Juliet - interview with Kevin Lennon

28 Feb 2008

By comparison to Shakespeare’s other great tragedies, there’s a certain snootiness on the part of literary critics about Romeo and Juliet. Certainly it’s early work, and shows a certain immaturity, but does it constantly need to be compared unfavourably…

Nightshade

19 Jun 2007

It’s an intriguing premise: commissioning seven of the most exciting young choreographers in Europe to create a striptease, working with real strip artists rather than professional dancers. Definitely worthy of a few good tabloid headlines . . .

Can’t Smile Without You

2 Oct 2008

OK, we’ve had the ABBA musical, the Queen musical, the Pet Shop Boys musical, the Rod Stewart musical and the Madness musical. So, what the theatre world really needs now is a stage extravaganza inspired by the life and work of that…

Cherry Blossom

18 Sep 2008

What does the word ‘collaboration’ make you think of? Director Lorne Campbell thought he knew until he tried it for himself. ‘You think of something cosy and cuddly,’ he says. ‘But this has been really hard. We’re still friends, still happy and excited…

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…

Fears eased over Festival performer visa crisis

8 May 2008

Fears that thousands of performers at the Edinburgh Festival would be prevented from entering the UK due to new immigration legislation have been eased with the introduction of a new type of visa. The Home Office has announced that visiting…

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…

Macbeth: Kill Bill Shakespeare

20 Sep 2007

As the Scottish king might ask: ‘What bloody man is that?’ Well it’s not quite William Shakespeare that’s for sure. Writer/director Malachi Bogdanov loves Shakespeare but he also loves the films of Quentin Tarantino. Describing Macbeth: Kill Bill…

Angels in America

8 May 2007

Theory without practice, like sex without love, is a pretty barren affair. But a combination, in both cases, is problematic in a secular age. This seems to be the bottom line of Tony Kushner’s mighty, epoch-defining epic, a sprawling theatrical poem of…

Tutti Frutti - feature

Cult fiction

12 Sep 2006

Sometimes, absence really does make the heart grow fonder. 19 years after it was shown on television, Tutti Frutti has come to occupy a very special place in Scotland’s collective memory. The exuberant, hilariously dark drama, written by the inimitable…

Cryptic Productions

2 Oct 2008

Cathie Boyd takes her research seriously. She wasn’t comfortable directing a modern opera set in the Caribbean without getting a proper sense of the place. So, at the start of this year, she took a trip to Haiti. ‘I wanted to know what Haiti looks and…

Foreskins Lament

21 Aug 2008

This dodgy production of New Zealand playwright Greg McGee's landmark 1980 play is played out in the locker room of a local rugby club changing room. A couple of really appalling performances and some less than inspired direction derail things. Still at…

Romeo and Juliet

8 May 2008

When the curtain falls on Scottish Ballet’s new production, it won’t just be the performers who deserve a round of applause. Sitting in the audience, it’s easy to forget the months of planning, preparation and perspiration that go into staging a…

Nederlands Dans Theater 1

10 Apr 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Apr Although Nederlands Dans Theater’s ever-excellent youth company paid us a visit in May 2007, it’s been almost two years since principal company NDT1’s memorable, award-winning…

Faustus

1 Nov 2007

NEW WORK Dundee Rep, Tue 13–Sat 17 Nov, then touring In general, the visual arts and theatre go together like garlic and custard. The theatre’s more outward-looking social vision, its concern with public issues, might seem to contrast with the…

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…

Offshore

2 Oct 2008

NEW PLAY It’s easy to imagine that the countryside exists without money. With all that fresh air, isn’t cash just a distraction? Of course, just as the wilderness is actually the result of centuries of industrial exploitation, so the rural population…

Arches LIVE!

18 Sep 2008

Although billed as a theatre festival, the Arches’ annual celebration of performers who are ‘determined to subvert and surprise’ is just as likely to delight art-lovers, many of the events crossing the boundary between performance and installation. One…

The Terrible Infants

Edible dark fairytales

21 Aug 2008

There are no happy endings in this collection of delectably dark fairytales: cannibal boy Tumb eats his mum, the unloved Thingummyboy evaporates and fibber Tilly grows a tail that lengthens with every tall tale she delivers. Writer Oliver Lansley’s…

The Idiot Colony

Beautiful, shocking indictment of an all-too recent past

7 Aug 2008

The opening scene of this intense, beautifully constructed piece of physical theatre lingers, unsettlingly, for days afterwards. Three girlish figures in pretty white dresses, perfectly in sync with each other, sway to a ragtime number, their faces…

Painted Eggs

22 May 2008

THEATRE St Bride’s Centre, Edinburgh, Thu 29–Sat 31 May Gay-themed theatre is a rare beast, but drama based around the experience of transsexuals is even more exceptional. This fortnight, The Luvvies, Scotland’s LGBT community theatre company, are set…

Glasgay! announces Tennessee Williams Festival

1 May 2008

The Glasgow-based LGBT festival Glasgay! has announced a new Tennessee Williams Festival for Autumn 2008, to commemorate the author on the 25th anniversary of his death. Among the events scheduled for the Williams Festival are four UK premieres of…

Scottish Dance Theatre

14 Feb 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Dundee Rep, Thu 21–Sat 23 Feb, then touring. When dance and music come together, it’s usually a fusion of creative sources – a symbiotic partnership of composer and choreographer. But when artistic director, Janet Smith commissioned…

Rambert Dance Company

1 Nov 2007

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 7–Fri 9 Nov Grace, finesse and refinement – three things every Rambert dancer has at their disposal. But the arrival of Australian choreographer, Garry Stewart this summer, turned the company on…

Macbeth

18 Sep 2008

CLASSIC On the surface, Lucy Pitman-Wallace’s Macbeth is set up brilliantly. Set in medieval Scotland – as opposed to modern gun-slinging versions – we see a wild, desolate land; large wooden beams rising into the air, creating a fortress around…

Macbeth

4 Sep 2008

The last time Liam Brennan starred as Macbeth it was in a modern-day interpretation in Musselburgh in which the soldiers wore khaki, news was conveyed by TV screen, and when the thane of Cawdor heard bells it was the sound of his mobile. Ten years…

Sunset Song

4 Sep 2008

Director Kenny Ireland is looking to instil some pride in the nation's literary heritage by bringing Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic tale of community, national identity and sexual awakening back to the stage. Set in an early 20th century farming…

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

4 Sep 2008

It's been 54 years since Seven Brides for Seven Brothers set a new bar for Hollywood big screen productions, but, as a new national tour of the musical suggests, it's still undergoing numerous theatrical reincarnations. What exactly is it about this…

I Went To The House But Did Not Enter

edfest.tv - video

1 Sep 2008

Three iconic 20th century texts, the theatrical genius of Heiner Goebbels and the virtuosic vocal talents of the Hilliard Ensemble, specialists in both medieval and contemporary music

Kiddy-Fiddler on the Roof

edfest.tv - video

27 Aug 2008

At Townsville Comprehensive, teacher Arnold Finkler is falsely accused of molestation and chased by an enraged mob of parents.

Another Side of the Mirror

21 Aug 2008

Lynn Ruth Miller returns to the Fringe to perform another chapter in her fascinating life. Now nearly 75 years old, she presents her memories to us with joy and candour. From anecdotes about her Romanian grandmother to her long battles with illness…

Fawn

A muddled monologue

21 Aug 2008

While perhaps the simplest form of theatre to stage, the monologue is not the easiest to pull off successfully. Fawn, a fantastical narrative about a girl transported from a forest into a netherworld of alternative realities, never quite rises to the…

Heartbreak Soup

Two little boys…

14 Aug 2008

Cuddy is lying on a hospital bed, waiting. For what, we don't know, but as the play unfolds a heartbreaking story emerges of a childhood led in slow motion, due to a congenital heart defect. Which all sounds very serious and tragic - and is, of course…

The Murder Monologues

14 Aug 2008

There are few things more grating in the theatre than a bad American accent. This set of monologues sports not one but two, with both actors mangling the impact of their respective lines, veering from what initially sounds like a Russian twang to…

Hippos in the Shower

7 Aug 2008

Taxi driver George and his strange musical crew sing of life's wonders and weirdnesses in this eccentric, psychedelic and silly piece of entertainment.

Paperweight

Near-silent play explores the soul vacuum of office life

31 Jul 2008

‘We want to create something so dense that when people watch it everyone has an immediate response, or a response that trickles down a couple of days later while they’re still thinking about it,’ says Sébastien Lawson of theatre company Top Of The…

Les Parents Terribles

19 Jun 2008

REVIVAL Dundee Rep, until Sat 21 Jun The repression of our natural sexual urges was, in Freud’s view, a necessary step in the production of a civilised society. Mention this along with his theories on the Oedipus complex, and you can expect…

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…

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

13 Dec 2007

Much as there’s grumbling about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals across the theatre world, it’s hard to deny their bankability. As the years pass, there might also be a certain nostalgia for such monolithic star vehicles as Joseph and the Amazing…

Blood Country & Rehearsal Room 12

15 Nov 2007

NEW WORK Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 22–Sat 24 & Thu 29 Nov There’s always been something boysie about the best of Douglas Maxwell’s work, with such pieces as Our Bad Magnet and Decky Does a Bronco depicting all-male casts exploring the rites…

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…

The hot young things of Scottish theatre

6 Sep 2007

Who: Hannah Donaldson, 23, who graduated this year from RSAMD What : Will be playing the lead role in the Tron’s production of Antigone, directed by David Levine, and can also be seen in the upcoming series of Rebus. Sunny, pretty and immediately…

POPPEA

16 Aug 2007

One of the most powerful leaders in the world abuses his position by having an affair and ignoring the will of the people – it’s a concept as familiar today as it was 2000 years ago for the Romans, on whose machinations Claudio Monteverdi based his…

Fuerzabruta

1 Aug 2007

With its mix of acrobatics, dance, theatre and club, Fuerzabruta is impossible to define. Claire Prentice visits South America for a sneak preview. The DJ whacks up the volume on the decks and suddenly the whole audience erupts. Fifteen hundred people…

A Conversation With Edith Head

1 Aug 2007

If you’re a film fan you’ll have recognised the superhero outfitter Edna Mode in the Pixar animation The Incredibles as an affectionate caricature of the legendary Hollywood costume designer Edith Head, who’s the subject of this one-woman show. If not…

Shadow of a Gunman, The

The Shadow of a Gunman

13 Nov 2006

CLASSIC The temptation with Sean O’Casey’s celebrated Dublin trilogy, which began with The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) and continued with Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough and the Stars (1926), is to present them as knock-about Oirish comedies…

Mother Courage and Her Children

4 Sep 2008

One of the neglected aspects of Mother Courage and Her Children, Brecht's great condemnation of capitalism as it is manifested in war, is its humour. There's a certain dark perversity to Brecht's story, which depicts a mother inadvertently sacrificing…

Call Me If You Feel Too Happy

edfest.tv - video

26 Aug 2008

Bipolar is a buzzword in celebrity chic, but what if you're not on the A-List?

Five questions: Jill Gascoine

21 Aug 2008

Currently enjoying a successful run playing the suicidal mother of four estranged daughters in Sister Cities at the Gilded Balloon, star of The Gentle Touch and CATS Eyes Jill Gascoine turns her talents to our Q&A 4 shows you’re looking forward to…

We All Fall Down

Playing with the Plague

14 Aug 2008

Who'd have thought the Black Death could be so much fun? Or that a tale with such a strong moral heart could be so full of laughs and silliness? The story of two 17th century villages both blighted with the plague, the show explores the selfish and…

Boys of the Empire

High-camp boy’s own comedy deserves six of the best

14 Aug 2008

This self-consciously silly, satirical stab at the boy’s own adventure wants to be Just William with a nod towards The History Boys by way of Michael Palin’s Ripping Yarns. Set between an English boarding school in the late 1930s, and the newly re-named…

Medusa’s Snakes: The Aftermath

14 Aug 2008

Posing the question of what happened to Medusa’s snakes after her death, this play introduces us to Monstrous and Sinclair who, rooted to the decapitated head, plot how to take vengeance for their ‘lady’. The inventive costumes and set cannot compensate…

No Place for Dreams

Don't wake the volcano

14 Aug 2008

Brief Candle Theatre makes its Fringe debut with No Place For Dreams, a show by Paul Whitfield that boasts a lot of energy, but is altogether too austere. On a volcanic island filled with Spray-Riders, Wind-Eaters and Fire and Soil people, we meet Loam…

Nederlands Dans Theater 2

5 Jun 2008

CONTEMPORARY DANCE Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Tue 10 & Wed 11 Jun Many people claim to find inspiration from above. But French choreographer, Medhi Walerski looked skyward for more practical reasons – the clouds. Creating his debut work for…

Swindle and Death

5 Jun 2008

NEW WORK Tron, Glasgow, Wed 11–Sat 14 Jun; Byre, St Andrews, Mon 16–Fri 20 Jun There’s a long history of plays by Scottish writers about the Scottish theatre, and too often these pieces become mired in self referential jokes. While Peter Arnott’s new…

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…

Edinburgh Festivals Forum appoints Susan Rice as Chair

24 Apr 2008

The Edinburgh Festivals Forum, the commission set up to oversee the strategic development of Edinburgh's Festivals and to maintain the city's position as the pre-eminent festival city, has announced the appointment of Susan Rice as Chair. Rice, who…

Nova Scotia - John Byrne

24 Apr 2008

‘Thirty years! Thirty years!’ John Byrne is standing in the middle of Victoria Street in Edinburgh, looking like one of his own drawings. Perfectly-sculpted, curled white quiff, battered layers of tweed and colour, thoroughly imposing, nicotine-stained…

A Drunk Woman Looks at the Thistle

10 Apr 2008

ADAPTATION Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 21–Sat 26 Apr Grappling with questions of Scottish identity, A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle is acknowledged as Hugh MacDiarmid’s finest work, and an integral part of the modern Scottish Renaissance movement. Now…

Eurobeat – Almost Eurovision

10 Apr 2008

MUSICAL King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 22–Sat 26 Apr The Eurovision Song Contest has always been a beast of wild contradictions. The annual competition is regular derided for its middle-of-the-road compositions, political voting and the never-ending…

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…

La La La Human Steps: Amjad

31 Jan 2008

MODERN BALLET They say a picture tells a thousand words, and the poster for La La La Human Steps’ latest show pretty much tells you all you need to know. Standing 20ft tall, male dancer Dominic Santia is wearing a sharp black suit and pointe shoes.

Scottish Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty

29 Nov 2007

CHRISTMAS BALLET Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Tue 11–Sat 29 Dec Since his arrival at Scottish Ballet, Ashley Page has been like a Christmas cracker – when his festive shows open, you never know what you’ll find inside. Both The Nutcracker and Cinderella…

Peter Dineen - Interview by a vampire

15 Nov 2007

Today the critic is often viewed as a vampire sucking the life out of the artist but it wasn’t alwsys thus. Alexander Pope, for instance, was perfectly able to balance his career as an essayist with that of a poet, with, in fact, the former being more…

Twelve days of Christmas - daily entertainment

15 Nov 2007

1 Norweigan Carol Concert Struggling to tap into the festive spirit? Awaken your seasonal senses at this sonorous evening of family carol singing with a Scandinavian slant. St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, Thu 22 Nov. 2 The Wizard of Oz The…