Posts Tagged ‘review’
Fringe: Who dictates the news in The Nights
If I were a playwright, I would like to write like Henry Naylor. Henry Naylor has been described, correctly, as ‘one of our best new playwrights’. He writes like Hemingway, not a word is wasted and he has that extraordinary ability to fill up the imagination without verbosity. The story deals with the shambolic fall-out…
Read MoreAn insightful guide to the secrets of Stirling
Stirling, while remaining a small settlement throughout the past, is not to be underestimated and holds huge significance in Scottish history. It has been associated with some of the most famous names in Scotland, including William Wallace and Mary Queen of Scots, with Stirling Castle housing almost every Scottish monarch. Secret Stirling gives a vivid…
Read MoreFringe: A Brexit comedy as funny as Brexit itself
Lolly Jones: I Believe in Merkels was advertised as comedy with niche burlesque. It was neither. The show consists of a series of TV news reports projected overhead on a screen of EU politicians and their commentary during the May years as Prime Minister. Between these Lolly Jones provides a hackneyed commentary as repeated and…
Read MoreFringe: High schools, musicals and acrobatics
Filament are a young troupe of talented dancers and acrobats – and they will get even better over time. The performance is more acrobatic physical theatre than circus. The theme is ‘coming of age’, rather High School Musical in storyline. The trials and tribulations of growing up are all there; geeky boy accepted into the…
Read MoreA look at Scottish trains which is the rail deal
The Scottish Rail Scene gives a whistle-stop tour of the railway services throughout Scotland. From the bustling scenes of Edinburgh’s Waverley or Glasgow Queen Street, to the more remote Highland outposts such as Mallaig or Kyle: John Jackson has visited, photographed and documented them all. Since he first set foot in Scotland in 1968, Jackson…
Read MoreFringe: Lucie Pohl offers a mixed bag of laughs
Okay, here’s a few things you should know about stand-up comedian Lucie Pohl. Firstly, she’s a short (5ft 1in) and hyperactively talented German-born New Yorker who dances like no-one’s watching and is inventively potty-mouthed. Despite being pint-sized, this failed former actor (her words) nevertheless exudes the sort of charisma which registers on Geiger counters. She…
Read MoreFringe: A timely reminder of historical horrors
A young woman rescues a drowning man on a beach in South America and the ensuing conversation between the two reveals the true nature of the man – and why he is what he is. This is not a play about the well documented mass murder and experimental atrocities committed by Josef Mengele, it is…
Read MoreFringe: Any job will do in entertaining Not Quite
Cassie Symes and Georgina Thomas are 2016 graduates from CENTRAL drama school. Not Quite is written and performed by the two artists. It is an amusing and well observed comedy about the absurdities of interviewing for that first tenuous grip on the job ladder. With pithy wit it regales us with their desperation for employment.…
Read MoreFringe: Bringing prohibition USA to Edinburgh
For those that don’t know the work of Damon Runyon he was a short story writer that encapsulated the prohibition era in America. His colourful characters were gangster and hustlers with wonderful 1930’s names such as Harry The Horse and Good Time Charlie. Runyon’s work is best known as the basis to the musical Guys…
Read MoreFringe: One man and his bagpipes with a sad end
Thunderstruck is a one man show written and performed by David Colvin who acted in the acclaimed play The Black Watch. David tells the story of Gordon Duncan and how this Highland genius bin cleaner of a bagpiper changed his life. Gordon Duncan was, like so many exceptionally talented musicians, gifted with both the classical…
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