Dario Dalla Costa
Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather
★★★☆☆ Well-turned
Amidst the noise, rituals and trappings of pantomime and Christmas, Strawmoddie’s take on Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather provides a welcome parody of our seasonal excess, at the Pleasance Theatre to Sunday.
A Comedy of Tenors
★★★★☆ Ludicrous
The Edinburgh Makars sail through the old-fashioned farce of A Comedy of Tenors at The Royal Scots Club with about as much pace, timing and sheer energy as you could hope.
The Taming of the Shrew
★★★☆☆ Suspiciously old-fashioned
The Edinburgh Makars’ production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, at the Church Hill until Friday, is an apparently traditional version of the play which may well be more quietly subversive than many modern revisions.
Perfect Wedding
★★★★★ Practically perfect:
Perfect Wedding, the Edinburgh Makars’ production at the Royal Scots, is an object lesson in how to put on a farce.
Neighbourhood Watch
★★★☆☆ Stately:
There is a comic and political bite to the Edinburgh Makars’ Neighbourhood Watch that gives it as much impact as other Alan Ayckbourn productions of twice the length and many times the budget.
The Collector
★★☆☆☆ Puzzling:
Despite being well acted and staged with commitment, Arkle’s The Collector at the Royal Scots Club has only limited emotional impact.
The Game’s Afoot
✭✭✭✩✩ Elementary but entertaining:
There is solid, well-crafted entertainment in The Edinburgh Makars’ production of The Game’s Afoot or Holmes For The Holidays. Genuine thrills and spills are in short supply, but great pains have been taken to make a rewarding whole.
Fringe afoot for Makars
Makars audition for fringe:
The Edinburgh Makars have announced that their fringe production in 2015 will be The Game’s Afoot, or Holmes for the Holidays by Ken Ludvig.
Relatively Speaking
✭✭✭✩✩ Relatively successful
Slick, humorous and effective, the Edinburgh Makars’ production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking can be counted as a success even if it never quite manages to locate the darker streak that characterises his work.
The Astronaut’s Chair – Review
✭✭✭✩✩ Breathing thin air
Stepping out over the edge of the atmosphere into space might be a dream for most, but it is one which high-flying aviator Renee Coburg feels is already within her grasp.
