Allan Radcliffe

Turner in January

6 Jan 2010

It’s the start of a new year, which means another chance to enjoy the annual display of JMW Turner watercolours at the National Galleries. The collection was bequeathed by Henry Vaughan, and the work ranges from early topographical wash drawings to the…

Cross-cutting

5 Jan 2010

This current exhibition at one of Edinburgh’s newest and most exciting galleries, Sierra Metro, brings together artists from across the UK to create a group showcase of contemporary film and video art. Cross-cutting features films from the eleven-strong…

Zorro

17 Dec 2009

Trust Visible Fictions – the hardest working, most innovative theatre company creating work for young folk and their grown-ups on the Scottish theatre scene – to be thinking most emphatically out of the box at this time of year. No snowflakes…

A Christmas Carol

17 Dec 2009

Dundee Rep have really pulled out all the stops for this year’s festive show. What’s particularly gratifying about James Brining’s production is that it succeeds in remaining faithful to the spirit and outline of Dickens’ iconic cautionary tale while…

Death Disco: DDNY

17 Dec 2009

Ring in the New Year in a New York state of mind as Death Disco heads for the Big Apple in the company of Erol Alkan, Aeroplane, Rex the Dog, Mark Moore, Sammy Jo and many more. The New York theme extends throughout the Arches, so expect Manhattan…

Carla Scott Fullerton: Breadthless Lines

17 Dec 2009

Fullerton’s exhibition of new work in the Glasgow Sculpture Studios’ project gallery and ambitious new outdoor sculpture marks the end of her Graduate Fellowship with GSS. Her work is shaped by her sensitivity to materials and often references…

Miss Thing - Nora Chassler

9 Dec 2009

(Two Ravens) Nora Chassler’s debut novel marks the arrival of a distinctive new voice onto the Scottish literary scene. Or perhaps that should be ‘voices’ as her novel is littered with first person accounts, ranging from the narration of the two…

Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates

4 Dec 2009

‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s panto tiiiime!’ The sense of excitement in the theatre is palpable long before the curtain rises. And no wonder: the dream team that brought us last year’s 3D thriller, Aladdin is about to spirit us off to…

Peter Pan

4 Dec 2009

JM Barrie’s children’s classic is so familiar that it’s tempting to simply sit back and let it wash over you while ticking off the key elements in a mental check-list: The large nursery with the open window in Kensington Gardens? Check. Flying on wires…

Keith Farquhar: Nudes in Colour

4 Dec 2009

Brand new venue Hyperground showcases new work by Edinburgh-based artist Farquhar over a single weekend. For each piece in the exhibition, a naked body has been painted, digitally photographed, then sent to a specialist workshop where the torso has been…

The Nutcracker

4 Dec 2009

Scottish Ballet’s triumphant production of the classic ballet with Tchaikovsky’s magnificent score returns for a three-month Scottish tour. The Nutcracker is choreographed by Ashley Page, whose contemporary retelling combines the fairy tale world with…

Loud & Proud

24 Nov 2009

Loud & Proud, Scotland’s LGBT choir, has come a long way in a short space of time. The a capella group, which performs its annual festive concert at the George Square Theatre this fortnight, started life as a ten-week singing course at the LGBT Centre…

Pantomine in Scotland

19 Nov 2009

As the panto season gets underway a new exhibition celebrating Scotland’s other national theatre embarks on a nationwide tour. Allan Radcliffe investigates

The Waltz of the Cold Wind

19 Nov 2009

Following its successful debut last summer as part of the Oran Mor A Play, a Pie and a Pint season, Paddy Cunneen’s enchanting romance, about a woman obsessed with recording and listening to sounds such as Antarctic winds and her own voice, returns for…

The Rocky Horror Show

13 Nov 2009

It’s time to do the Time Warp … yet again! For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, expect camp courting and frivolous fantasies in Richard O’Brien’s popular gender-bending musical starring David Bedella as Frank N Furter and the ubiquitous King of the Jungle…

Topdog / Underdog

Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 21 Nov

10 Nov 2009

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a fine example of the power that can be achieved with two actors and a single setting. Topdog / Underdog focuses on two African American brothers, Lincoln and Booth, who have very different ideas about…

Othello

Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 21 Nov

10 Nov 2009

Guy Hollands’ production of the Bard’s tragedy of racial hatred, jealousy and betrayal is a stripped-back version, starkly lit, with minimal staging, that returns the focus squarely to Shakespeare’s language. Thus, the most successful moments come about…

Is That Baby What / It’s Not Real, Love

10 Nov 2009

Edinburgh audiences are accustomed to theatre shows being presented in non-traditional spaces, not least during the Festival Fringe. But it’s particularly unusual to find a coffee bar that has its own in-house theatre company. Leith’s new coffee…

Visual Art hitlist

4 Nov 2009

Torsten Lauschmann: The Darker Ages Glasgow-based artist Lauschmann’s new body of work conjures up a cinematic experience that’s vivid and magical. Mary Mary, Glasgow, until Sat 21 Nov. David Austen: My love, I have been digging up my own…

Theatre hitlist

4 Nov 2009

Natura Morte World renowned dance company Derevo unites with St Peterburg theatre mavericks Akhe to create a spectacular premiere, which takes over every inch of the Arches. Arches, Glasgow, Tue 10–Sat 14 Nov. Othello Guy Hollands directs…

LGBT DVD round-up

30 Oct 2009

As winter edges ever closer, the temptation to batten down the hatches and spend the night in front of the box takes hold. As luck would have it there’s a batch of welcome re-releases and special editions of classic features and documentaries to keep…

The Dark Things

23 Oct 2009

Ursula Rani Sarma’s first full-length commission for the Traverse offers a fascinating commentary on contemporary attitudes to death, specifically as manifested in the confessional, commercial nature of contemporary art. The central focus of the piece…

Confessions of a Justified Sinner

23 Oct 2009

Fans of this touchstone of the Scottish literary canon can breathe fairly easy. Mark Thomson’s adaptation of James Hogg’s 1824 novel Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner pulls off the neat trick of being very faithful to the plot of the…

Mike Inglis: Shadows Fade

23 Oct 2009

Inglis’ installation of prints and human scale paste-ups explores spiritualism and attitudes to grief, death and loss through the stories of the artist’s great aunt, a spiritualist in a Fife mining village and his grandmother, who lost her first…

That Face

Andy Arnold revives this tale of dark family life

15 Oct 2009

Polly Stenham’s dark, unflattering portrait of a deeply dysfunctional upper middle class family made London theatre goers sit up and take notice on its premiere at the Royal Court in 2007. Andy Arnold’s decision to revive the piece, transferring the…