Maureen Beattie

Edinburgh CATS
Strong showing in noms for annual theatre awards:
Edinburgh companies and festivals make a strong showing in the shortlist for the 2016 Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, announced today, Monday 16 May.

Right Now
★★★★★ Discombobulating:
Taut, hilarious and shocking, Right Now – at the Traverse to May 7 – plays with farce and comedy before finding a dark corner of the psyche in which to settle.

Trilogy’s trio of Fringe Firsts
Quines get third Fringe First & Trav gets three:
Stellar Quines has won its third Fringe First for the Jennifer Tremblay trilogy of plays, with one going to The Deliverance.

The Deliverance
✭✭✭✭✩ Fertile soil:
Involving, dark, human poetry is in great supply in The Deliverance at Assembly Roxy. Stellar Quines’ presentation of the third part of the story that began with The List is a success in its own right, as well as a worthy successor to what has gone before.

The Carousel
✭✭✭✭✩ Stunningly performed
Impressive production values and impeccable acting are on display in The Carousel. Stellar Quines’ production at Traverse 2 of the second part of Jennifer Tremblay’s trilogy succeeds on its own terms but does not entirely fulfil the huge burden of expectations placed upon it.

Dear Scotland – Review
✭✭✭✭✩ Portrait of a mindset
Dear Scotland, You are a country of many fine actors, both young and old, a country with many ideas that have to be said and with many people who have the wit to say them. Now the NTS has found a stage on which this to happen.

First Look: Dear Scotland
It is half time at the press performances of Dear Scotland, the National Theatre of Scotland’s collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery. While we wait for Tour B to start, here are some photos of the show taken by Peter Dibdin.

Review – Dark Road
✭✭✭✩✩ Intriguing but imperfect:
An excellent cast and some intriguing ideas – which are not all fully realised – mark out the Dark Road of Ian Rankin and Mark Thomson’s collaboration, which runs at the Lyceum until October 19.

The Dark Road Rushes – four
Dark comedy: The fourth rehearsal-room blog from Jo Rush, AD on Dark Road, the collaboration between crime writer Ian Rankin and Lyceum artistic director Mark Thomson.