Archive for August, 2021
Pool (no water)
★★★☆☆ Patchy
Pool (no water) from New Celts and Oddly Ordinary reaches high in its intent. The end result is decidedly mixed, with elements that impress and others that infuriate.
Shook
★★★★☆ Stirring
There is a raw, aching vacuum at the heart of Shook from New Celts and Twisted Corners at theSpace Triplex. Not because anything is missing in a particularly well written and excellently acted play; instead, it reflects the emptiness of wasted lives in the young offenders it portrays.
Mills to Dance Base
Tony Mills follows Morag Deyes at Dance Base
Edinburgh’s Dance Base has announced Tony Mills, of Room 2 Manoeuvre, as its artistic director designate. He will take over from founding artistic director Morag Deyes MBE in 20 September, 2021.
Wish List
★★★★☆ Subtly political
Wish List is an urgently contemporary piece from New Celts and Bone Struck Theatre, dealing with young carers, mental health and the gig economy in a way that never preaches and is always beautifully human.
Smile (Like You’re Happy)
★★★☆☆ Diffuse
Smile (Like You’re Happy), New Celts and Sparkle Sarcasm’s production at theSpace Triplex, deals with modern and timeless concerns in a way that is often too scattergun to succeed but has considerable emotional resonance.
Medicine
★★★★★ Shattering
Medicine, Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival’s production for the International Festival at the Traverse, is a troubling, funny, emotionally devastating and brilliantly realised piece of theatre.
Fear of Roses
★★★★☆ Stylish
Fear of Roses, by Black Bat Productions at Assembly Roxy, is a crisp, intelligent and thoroughly rewarding three-hander.
Corpsing
★★★☆☆ Energetic
It is always pleasing to see play titles that are clear hostages to fortune, like New Celts and Red Rabbit’s Corpsing at theSpace Triplex. However, this is nothing to do with forgetting your lines, and everything to do with actual corpses.
Still
★★★☆☆ Tender
Still at the Traverse is in many ways a tough watch, with themes of death and loss offset by excellent performances and perceptive writing.
King’s Panto cast
Sleeping Beauty cast confirmed for King’s
Edinburgh’s panto triumvirate may be no more, but there will be a Gray on stage at the King’s this year, when panto giants Grant Stott and Allan Stewart are joined by Clare Gray in Sleeping Beauty.
