Author: Hugh Simpson
The Scent of Roses
★★★☆☆ Lacks urgency
The Scent of Roses, from writer-director Zinnie Harris at the Lyceum, features a top-notch cast and dialogue that often rings true regarding how self-delusion and self-evasion wreck our relationships with each other and the world around us. However, the production as a whole never truly ignites
PPP: Ten Things To Do Before You Die
★★★☆☆ Poignant performances
There is much to recommend in Dani Heron’s Ten Things To Do Before You Die, the latest Play, Pie and a Pint at the Traverse. Both humorous and emotional, the production manages to overcome drawbacks in its script.
PPP: Oscar
★★★★☆ Perfectly formed
A funny, touching and tremendously acted musical, Oscar by Brian James O’Sullivan heralds the welcome return of Oran Mor’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint to the Traverse.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Live at Leith Theatre
★★★☆☆ Mixed bag
There is much to recommend in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Live at Leith Theatre, which is due to be live-streamed into cinemas on Sunday 27 with as-live screenings on March 6.
The Dresser
★★★☆☆ Sterling performances
That The Dresser, a play dealing with that old cliché that ‘the show must go on’ should lose one of its two stars on opening night in Edinburgh is oddly fitting, if unfortunate.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
★★★★☆ Visually arresting
The touring production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the King’s is a real spectacle, reproducing the source material faithfully and showing considerable invention.
prism
★★★☆☆ Intriguing
prism, Production Lines’ latest venture into live, interactive online theatre, is very much a curate’s egg. Much of it is interesting and well played, but other parts are less well realised.
Legally Blonde – The Musical
★★★★☆ Sugar rush
Radiating the sheer enjoyment of being back in a theatre, Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group’s production of Legally Blonde-The Musical is huge in scale, excellently put together, and full of sugary goodness.
WILF
★★★☆☆ Encouragingly filthy
There is a pleasingly unruly feel to James Ley’s new play WILF, this year’s seasonably unseasonal offering from the Traverse. Full of heart, not to mention dialogue that would have given the Lord Chamberlain palpitations, it overcomes structural difficulties to produce a successful whole.
Christmas Dinner
★★★★☆ Touchingly funny
Christmas Dinner may be something of a stopgap as this year’s Lyceum show, but it proves a success in its own right. Amusing, energetic, and wearing its considerable profundity lightly, it should appeal to the widest possible audience.
