Theatre
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New production of Mike Leigh play Abigail's Party tours UK
19 Feb 2013
Spectacular 1977 deconstruction of suburban aspiration
'It is a great period, the 70s,' laughs Martin Marquez, best known as Gino Primirola in TV's Hotel Babylon. 'It's far enough away now to appreciate -- I won't say its "style" -- but its fashion.' Marquez has the decade ringing around his head, as he is…
Priscilla Queen of the Desert UK tour 2013
20 Feb 2013
Stage version of 1994 film with Jason Donovan returning to role of drag queen Tick
When The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert hit cinema screens 20 years ago, the tale of three Aussie drag queens on an epic road trip, became a cult classic, its high-octane pop soundtrack and madcap wardrobe making it a star-spangled shoe-in…
New production of Anna Weiss by Rekindle Theatre
18 Mar 2013
Scott Cadenhead directs play exploring false memory syndrome
Ambiguity riffs and ripples around, deep inside Anna Weiss, Mike Cullen’s intense play about false memory syndrome. Last seen in Scotland at the Traverse in 1997, featuring Vicky Featherstone’s Scottish directorial debut, it won plaudits from all who…
JB Priestley’s Time and the Conways revived by Royal Lyceum and Dundee Rep
20 Feb 2013
The play, directed by Jemima Levick, depicts a Yorkshire family at two points in the 20th century
An Inspector Calls may be JB Priestley’s most performed work but Time and the Conways is widely regarded as his best -- and this year, it’s been revived in a co-production between the Royal Lyceum and Dundee Rep. One of Priestley’s ‘time plays’, it…
Kinetic art specialists Sharmanka stage A Man Came to a Woman
19 Feb 2013
USSR-set physical comedy farce satirises relationships between older people
Sex, when you get to a certain age, becomes problematic. Not the act itself, you understand, but its initiation: all those courting rituals can seem so dreadfully tedious. At least they are in Simon Zlotnikov's USSR-set A Man Came to a Woman, a surreal…
New Rob Drummond play Quiz Show staged at Traverse Theatre
18 Mar 2013
Ensemble work explores knowledge and truth
Rob Drummond thinks back to when he was a young boy, and he remembers his dad enjoying a steady diet of television quiz shows. They sucked him in too, and fed the inquisitive, exploring nature which would go on to mould his theatre craft. In a young but…
Dreamworks' Madagascar film reborn as kid-friendly stage show
26 Feb 2013
A musical version, Madagascar Live!, is coming to the SECC in March
A dancing lion, scheming penguins, a love-struck giraffe and a maniacal king lemur – there’s a lot going on in DreamWorks’ 2005 film, Madagascar. What you won’t find much of, however, is songs. But when a new stage version was being devised, a…
Traverse-commissioned play White Rose tells story of Lily Litvak
20 Feb 2013
Re-staging of Peter Arnott's 1985 play about female Soviet World War II fighter pilot
In 1985 the Traverse Theatre staged an intriguing studio play by an emerging young playwright by the name of Peter Arnott. White Rose told the story of Lily Litvak, World War II fighter pilot and decorated Hero of the Soviet Union. Nicknamed 'The White…
Siege Perilous production Too Long the Heart tackles the Troubles in Northern Ireland
20 Feb 2013
David Hutchison's play, directed by Andy Corelli, sees a fishing trip turn into hostage situation
Over the last decade, Siege Perilous has cemented itself as one of Edinburgh’s most exciting theatre companies. Their new offering, Too Long the Heart, concerns itself with the burden of the past in Northern Ireland, when a man holidaying in County Cork…
Takin' Over the Asylum
19 Feb 2013
BAFTA-winning TV drama translates brilliantly for the stage
Aileen, a substantial young woman who would surely, in her native Glasgow, be called a barger, is controlling the remote control. The other inmates of this mental hospital – immediately recognisable by the mismatched chairs and door security system…
A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity
19 Feb 2013
Douglas Maxwell play charts middle class woman who discovers richness of swearing
'I started off with the idea of calling someone ‘a cunt’ but meaning it nicely,’ says Douglas Maxwell of his new play, ‘and then I thought of people who just don’t swear. Theatre’s a sweary industry, working in it we assume that everyone swears, but…
New play Be Silent or Be Killed tells the true story of a terrorist encounter
17 Apr 2013
The play retells an eye-witness account of the 2008 Mumbai attacks
Hide and seek of the very deadliest kind awaited Bank of Scotland employee Roger Smith in 2008 while setting up a project in Mumbai. Just after dinner on his second day in India, terrorists invaded his hotel, hunting and killing any Westerner. Roger hid…
Davey Anderson discusses the upcoming New Plays from China strand
17 Apr 2013
The world premiere performances showcase the talents of three Chinese playwrights
It’s not often that Scotland gets to see a Chinese world premiere before China does, but it’s about to happen three times. Joining forces with the National Theatre of Scotland, Glasgow’s lunchtime theatre season A Play, A Pie and a Pint is presenting a…
Theatremaker Amanda Monfrooe on the award-winning Poke and Wuthering Heights double bill
17 Apr 2013
The Platform 18 double bill partners Poke with the all-male Wuthering Heights, by Peter McMaster
With its prize of a fully-funded production at the Arches and the Traverse, the Arches Platform 18 Award is one of Scottish theatre’s most coveted accolades. Former recipients include Nic Green and Cora Bissett, and 2012 winners Amanda Monfrooe and…
Interview: Peggy Shaw - Queer theatre icon discusses her new show RUFF
22 Mar 2013
'My shows are a spectacular take on my queerness and uniqueness'
For those who don’t know about your work yet, who is Peggy Shaw? In general, my shows are a spectacular take on my queerness and uniqueness, placed in ‘normal’ society from my own perspective. I write my shows from my body; from all parts of my body…
Behaviour festival features work by five of Scotland’s rising stars in Scottish theatre
19 Mar 2013
New work from Gary McNair, Claire Cunningham, Rob Drummond, Nic Green and Kieran Hurley
Five of Scotland’s most promising theatre makers have each been cultivating an intriguing new show, as part of the National Theatre of Scotland and The Arches’ Auteurs Project. Ahead of their first outings at the Behaviour festival, Mark Fisher asks…
Mind Walking fuses text with aerial work to explore Alzheimer’s
19 Mar 2013
New piece written by Tanika Gupta for BandBazi theatre tours UK
One of the cruel tricks that dementia plays on its sufferers is the misconception that they’re living in a bygone era. Coming face to face with this in a care home inspired choreographer Philippa Vafadari to tackle the subject with her Brighton-based…
New Citizens Theatre production of Doctor Faustus
18 Mar 2013
Production features female Mephistopheles played by Siobhan Redmond
‘There’s something incredibly timeless about the story of the man who sells his soul to the Devil,’ says Citizens Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill, who is staging Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus in a co-production between the Citz and West…
Buzzcut 2013 is a five-day festival of live art and performance in Glasgow
18 Mar 2013
Highlights include work by Eilidh MacAskill, Andy Field and Catherine Street
Buzzcut is a five-day festival of live art and performance founded in Glasgow by Nick Anderson and Rosana Cade. Here they explain about the most youthful addition to the city’s experimental arts scene and its second year. What’s the thinking behind this…
Time and the Conways
18 Mar 2013
Impressive performances in production that delays arrival at play's key material
The nature of time, identity and fallibility lie at the heart of JB Priestley’s Time and the Conways, a new co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company and the Dundee Rep Ensemble. Directed by Jemima Levick, and first written and performed in…
Production of April in Paris from Perth Theatre and the Tron
18 Mar 2013
John Godber's bittersweet comedy was written 21 years ago
It’s been 21 years since acclaimed playwright John Godber wrote April in Paris, his bittersweet comedy about Bet and Al, a frustrated married couple from Hull who win a trip to the French capital. But the play still feels relevant today. ‘I got a real…
New production of Molière short comedies by Lung Ha’s Theatre Company
18 Mar 2013
Group adapt The Seductive Countess and The Flying Doctor
As artistic director of Lung Ha’s Theatre Company, Maria Oller has set out to achieve the Edinburgh-based group’s stated objective of becoming ‘a leading theatre company for people with learning disabilities, in Scotland and internationally’. One way in…
Do You Nomi?
28 Feb 2013
Allan Greig and Grant Smeaton's contemplation of underground German performer Klaus Nomi
'People would ask "what is that?", not "who is that?"' says one of the narrative voices in co-creators Allan Greig and Grant Smeaton's contemplation of German electro-pop/opera performer Klaus Nomi. As famous for his outlandish costumes and make-up as…
Janis Claxton Dance stage new show Chaos and Contingency
19 Feb 2013
Dance piece performed in museums in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh
If anybody knows how to work a location, it’s Janis Claxton. All those who saw her company take up residence in an Edinburgh Zoo enclosure in 2008 and 2011 will testify to that. Now Claxton is back, and taking over some of Scotland’s finest cultural…
In An Alien Landscape
5 Feb 2013
New production from Birds of Paradise sheds light on the rare Sudden Artistic Output Syndrome
Danny Start's new play for Birds of Paradise Theatre Company is based on one of those true-life events so rich and strange it would be a sin not to turn it into art. One of Start's acquaintances experienced the rare Sudden Artistic Output Syndrome…
