Author: Hugh Simpson
The Pride
★★★☆☆ Involving:
The Pride, the debut production by Different Works at the Assembly Roxy, is very good at showing how the repressive urge for conformity destroys everyone, not just those who are seen as ‘different’.
The Last Ship
★★★☆☆ Heartfelt:
There are plenty of memorable tunes to match the high production values of Northern Stage’s The Last Ship, at the Festival Theatre until Saturday then touring to Glasgow.
Love From a Stranger
★★★☆☆ Deep waters:
Dark undercurrents flow beneath the surface of Fiery Angel and the Royal and Derngate, Northampton’s touring production of Love From a Stranger, at the King’s until Saturday.
The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other
★★★★☆ Contains multitudes:
Dizzying in its invention and almost ludicrously ambitious in scope, The Hour we Knew Nothing Of Each Other at the Lyceum is undoubtedly uneven but always intriguing.
Sherlock Holmes: The Final Curtain
★★☆☆☆ Undemanding:
A lavish staging and some spirited performances cannot redeem a thin script in the Theatre Royal Bath and Kenny Wax’s touring production of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Curtain, at the King’s until Saturday.
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.
