Traverse
Same Team – A Street Soccer Story
★★★★☆ Exhilarating
Same Team – A Street Soccer Story, the Traverse’s December production, may be short on tinsel – but in its thought-provoking and frequently exuberant nature, it is peculiarly apposite for the season.
Mark Thomas in England & Son
★★★★☆ Ferocious
Mark Thomas’s performance in England & Son, allied to an unflinching piece of writing, has a rare intensity. The Fringe First winner is now on tour to the Traverse until Saturday.
Dead Dad Dog
★★★★☆ Welcome revival
John McKay’s 1988 hit comedy Dead Dad Dog returns to the Traverse threatening to be a period piece, but turns out to have a great deal still to say – and is still pretty funny.
The Grandmothers Grimm
★★★★☆ Hallowe’en treat
Some Kind of Theatre’s bold feminist drama The Grandmothers Grimm explores the role of women in the creation of the Brothers Grimm’s famous anthology and acknowledges the unknown voices behind the tales.
Battery Park
★★★★☆ Musically convincing
Battery Park, the touring production from Sleeping Warrior and the Beacon Arts Centre at the Traverse for two nights only, is a gripping and tuneful piece of theatre.
PPP: Disfunction
★★☆☆☆ Confusing
Disfunction by Kate Bowen and directed by Lu Kemp, the last in the Traverse’s current season of Òran Mór’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint, is a lively but ultimately puzzling piece.
Woman Walking
★★★☆☆ Moving
Woman Walking from Sylvian Productions, which is ending a short Scottish tour at the Traverse, is a rich and ruminative exploration of loss and the power of nature.
I, Daniel Blake
★★★★☆ Furiously sad
The human tragedy and deep political conviction that distinguished the film of I, Daniel Blake are still very much there in the stage adaptation, touring to the Traverse this week only.
PPP: Meetings With The Monk
★★★★☆ Imaginative possibilities
Meetings With The Monk, the latest Play, Pie and a Pint from Òran Mór and the Traverse, is a beautifully considered and tremendously well-staged play.
And… And… And…
★★★★☆ Captures the essence
Strange Town Touring Company’s And… And… And… takes time out from its tour round Edinburgh’s schools, to play the Traverse for two nights only, proving that Isla Cowan’s script is worth a wider audience.
