The Exorcist can still provide its share of shocks

On its original cinematic release, The Exorcist became one of the most shocking films of the 1970s. Whilst it’s hard to replicate 1973 sensibilities in 2019, The Excorcist stage production, currently at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow, still manages to pull of a few moments that make it uncomfortable viewing. But let’s rewind a little.…

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The Gathering is celebrating Scotch whisky

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s week-long celebration of its Leith origins concludes this weekend. The festival, known as The Gathering, runs until Sunday 8 September at The Vaults and other iconic Leith venues. The Gathering encapsulates what it means to be a member of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, with a jam-packed week of fun-filled…

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Any Dream Will Do in another superb run of Joseph

There’s a good reason why Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat keeps coming back again and again – it’s a damn good musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s hit, based on a Bible story, is the show that keeps bouncing back, with a new cast, time and again. There’s a high-profile version currently performing…

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Fringe: No place to Hyde in a great one man show

Michael Tonkin-Jones is a busy performer – in this one man show,Hyde and Seek, he demonstrates considerable skill, playing all the characters, he sings, is a puppet master and dances too. The play is based on Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and narrated by Albert, the stage door manager of a theatre who is…

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Fringe: 360 All Stars – loud, exciting and energetic

Hands up anyone over the age of 25 who knows what these are: B-Boy, Basketball free styling, BMX flatlanding, roue cyr wheel, beatbox and looping live? Well, these are all part of this exciting production by 360 All Stars. All stars they are too, each of the above disciplines is represented by a world champion,…

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Fringe: An early show that’s worth getting up for

White Girls is one of the earlier shows of the day and well worth setting your alarm clock to make sure you go. The show tells the tale of naive voluntourism within the Calais Jungle refugee camp. This could have turned into a political rant at the incompetence and uselessness of global governments. It wasn’t,…

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Fringe: 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…

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New play marks the life of a Scottish rugby icon

A new play celebrating the life of the rugby commentating legend Bill McLaren is to be launched soon. Bill McLaren: The Voice of Rugby tells the love story between Bill, his wife Bette, the Scottish Borders and the game of rugby. Presented by award-winning Hawick-based theatre company Firebrand, Bill McLaren: The Voice of Rugby will…

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Fringe: 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…

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When DNA, Brexit, history and diversity collide

Debuting at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe is TERRAtory, a dual timeline modern play with a tribal twist. Essex girls with DNA tests results, tribal chiefs and conquistadors coming ashore at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Writer Elissa Nicholson’s TERRAtory is set in a 21st century Essex laden with political bias, campaign trail ethnic and cultural…

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