Reviews
Electric Contact – A Jazz Tribute to Tom McGrath
★★★★★ Explored:
Three Thomases – Tom, Tommie and Tam – got the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s retrospective tribute to the late, great Tom McGrath off to a belter of a start on Friday night.
A Night at the Cinema in 1914
★★★☆☆ Charming:
Varied and constantly intriguing, A Night at the Cinema in 1914 provides both historical perspective and live entertainment.
This Story of Yours
Rehearsed reading:
The theatre element of the Edinburgh International Film Festival got off to a cracking start on Thursday, with This Story of Yours the first of three one-off rehearsed script readings in Traverse 1.
Little Shop of Horrors
★★★☆☆ Midsummer fun:
There’s bundles of fun and bonkers B-movie mayhem in Little Shop of Horrors, the debut musical from TBC Productions, which is at the Studio on Potterrow to Saturday.
Death of a Salesman
★★★★☆ Haunting
A quiet profundity burns at the heart of the Royal and Derngate, Northampton’s touring production of Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman at the King’s. Largely eschewing the showy and portentous, it is anchored by a couple of outstanding performances.
Stories of the Sea
★★★★☆ Factual:
There’s a braw bundle of insight to be had in Citadel Arts Group’s double bill of plays that explore some of the varying aspects of the women of Leith’s relationships with the sea.
Shackleton
★★★☆☆ Committed
There is an undeniable poetic charm to Blue Raincoat’s Shackleton, at the Traverse to Friday and touring to the Tron next week.
The Diary of Anne Frank
★★★★☆ Necessary:
Combining delicacy, steel and emotional truth, Edinburgh People’s Theatre’s production of The Diary of Anne Frank is both timely and accomplished.
Shirley Valentine
★★★☆☆ Vibrant:
Raw, potent and very real, Jodie Prenger’s performance in Shirley Valentine at the King’s and on tour, is a class act.
EICF Opening Weekend
★★★★☆ Imagination reigns:
The Edinburgh International Children’s Festival kicked off in splendid form this year, with an opening weekend of unusual and quirky offerings at the national Museum of Scotland.
