Hilary Davies
Bytesize Theatre
★★★☆☆ Welcome
The lack of time to plan for live theatre at this year’s Fringe has not deterred the Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group. Bytesize Theatre is a collection of three new plays presented on the online Fringe Player. The three pieces are not all equally impressive, but each has intriguing elements.
Cadaver Synod
★★★☆☆ Gore of yore:
Cadaver Synod is an engaging historical comedy-horror from RFT at the Sweet Grassmarket that crosses boundaries of genre and taste with equal relish.
Women in Parliament
★★☆☆☆ Attic Crude:
Crude on several levels, amateur company Athens of the North’s project to stage Andrew Wilson’s new translation of Aristophanes’ Women In Parliament is both fascinating and infuriating.
The Lark
★★★★☆ Fiery:
There is fire in the belly of EGTG’s telling of The Lark – Jean Anouilh’s take on the story of Joan of Arc – at Bellfield in Portobello to Saturday.
All About My Mother
★★★☆☆ Ambitious:
Clever in its staging and ambitious in scope, the EGTG’s Scottish premiere of All About My Mother, at the Roxy to Saturday, provides plenty to satisfy but a certain amount of confusion along the way.
Macbeth
★★☆☆☆ Darkly modest:
The Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Company take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth at Assembly Roxy this week, in a production which leans into all the horror and gore the tragedy reveals.
Volpone
★★★★☆ Ruthless:
The Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group bring Ben Johnson’s comedy, Volpone, to life and new audiences in a hilarious version of the tale about just how far people will go to be rich.
Leitheatre win One Acts
SCDA One Act Festival Winners Announced:
Leitheatre has won the Edinburgh and District round of the SCDA one act play festival with a production of Evelyn Hood’s A Wake for Donald.
The Rose and Crown
★★★☆☆ Mysterious:
Assiduously performed, and building up an air of mystery, The Rose and Crown has much about it that is striking.
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.
