Author: Hugh Simpson
Takin’ Over the Asylum
★★★★☆ Serious comedy:
‘We are loonies and we are proud’ declare the cast of Takin’ Over The Asylum – a statement that many will find a combination of over-worthiness and bad taste.
Ma, Pa and the Little Mouths
★★★★☆ Strange energy:
Reality is stretched to great effect in Ma, Pa and the Little Mouths at the Traverse. The Tron Theatre Company’s production in association with the National Theatre of Scotland is bleakly comic and thoroughly unpredictable.
The Homecoming
★★★☆☆ Reverent:
Fidelity to the text characterises Leitheatre’s The Homecoming at the Festival Theatre Studio. The result is a well-crafted production that could probably do with showing a little less respect.
Birdsong
★★★☆☆ Timely:
There is more than one large-scale depiction of World War One on stage in Edinburgh at the moment. While the juggernaut that is War Horse may cause Birdsong to be overshadowed, the returning touring production of Sebastian Faulks’s story at the King’s has much to recommend it.
Creditors
★★★★☆ Compellingly troubling:
Strikingly staged and worryingly contemporary, Creditors at the Lyceum is unsettling and difficult to ignore.
War Horse
★★★★★ Magnificent:
The National Theatre’s touring production of War Horse at the Festival Theatre is involving, emotional, visually spectacular and every bit as good as you have probably heard.
PPP: Margaret Saves Scotland
★★☆☆☆ Sugary:
Margaret Saves Scotland, the latest offering in the Play, A Pie and A Pint season, marks the return of Val McDermid to the stage. Anyone expecting a taut and bloody crime thriller, however, should be warned that this is a low-key piece, wistful and almost wilfully slight.
PPP: McGonagall’s Chronicles
★★★★☆ Cheerful complexity:
Gary McNair’s McGonagall’s Chronicles, the first in the new series of A Play, A Pie and a Pint at the Traverse, is a winningly daffy confection. While it may not treat its subject entirely fairly, it does at least show him unusual sympathy.
Ten Times Table
★★★★☆ Accomplished:
Ten Times Table, Edinburgh People’s Theatre’s first production of their 75th anniversary year, displays commendable skill and attention to detail in a production that is both funny and involving.
The Case of the Frightened Lady
★★☆☆☆ Static:
Reliable performances by a host of crowd-pleasing big TV names cannot quite redeem the disappointing script of The Case of the Frightened Lady.
