Lyceum
The Arabian Nights
★★★★☆ Ravishing:
Beautiful to look at and clever enough to know when to be stupid, The Arabian Nights at the Lyceum is genuine family Christmas entertainment.
Cockpit
★★★★☆ Necessary:
There are huge and troubling resonances throughout the Lyceum’s startling Cockpit. Fascinating staging and committed performances make for a thoroughly vital production – albeit one that falls tantalisingly short of greatness.
What Shadows
★★★☆☆ Puzzling:
There is a delicate romanticism to What Shadows that is at odds with its subject matter. An excellent central performance and high production values cannot ever quite overcome some problematic elements.
Rhinoceros
★★★★☆ Wild:
The EIF’s Rhinoceros is a thoroughly contemporary take on a modern classic, combining knockabout comedy with a deep consideration of human society.
Iron deficiency
Perf cancelled as Lyceum safety curtain sticks
The Lyceum theatre’s safety curtain stuck on Friday night, during the interval of the Summer on Stage young company’s double bill, so we reviewed Danny 306 twice.
Danny 306 + Me 4eva
★★★☆☆ Comic highs:
Capturing much of the whimsy and regret of David Greig’s 1999 play for young people, the younger of the Lyceum’s Summer on Stage companies make a descent fist of Danny 306 + Me 4eva.
Glory on Earth
★★★☆☆ Accomplished:
Extreme care has been lavished on the Lyceum’s Glory on Earth. It has a clarity to its storytelling and performances, backed up by some excellent staging, but never engages the heart or mind as fully as it promises.
Charlie Sonata
★★★☆☆ Emotionally messy:
Time, change, dependence and human frailty are explored with emotion in the world premiere of Charlie Sonata at the Lyceum.
A Number
★★★★☆ Human intelligence:
Philosophical questions that have puzzled us for centuries are given a contemporary yet timeless spin in A Number, presented by the Lyceum in partnership with the Edinburgh International Science Festival.
Hay Fever
★★★☆☆ Too cool:
Solidly acted but only sporadically funny, the Lyceum and the Citizens Theatre co-production of Hay Fever is entirely serviceable but all too forgettable.
