Review
It’s a Wonderful Life
★★★☆☆ Half-life:
They say your life flashes before you before you die and that’s certainly the impression left by Floating Brick Theatre’s version of It’s a Wonderful Life at the Storytelling Centre this week.
Flutter
★★★★☆ Charming:
The return of Tortoise in a Nutshell’s charming winter wonderland, Flutter, creates a world of possibilities where the creativity of children takes centre stage – all it takes is a little bit of snow and a lot of imagination.
Aladdin
★★★★☆ Magical:
Aladdin is Edinburgh People’s Theatre’s 67th consecutive pantomime but there is nothing tired about it. There may be baggy elements, but these are more than overcome by attention to comic detail, awareness of what really makes a panto and sheer good fun.
Creeping Beauty
★★★★☆ Fairy dust:
In the midst of panto season, Edinburgh’s Pretty Knickers grassroots company get their mitts on the genre, give it a twist the traditionals and plump it slap back down in the 21st century as Creeping Beauty.
The Lion King
★★★★☆ Visual Feast:
Visually arresting, the touring production of The Lion King which is booked into the Playhouse until March 2020, wants for nothing in terms of spectacle or budget.
I Can Go Anywhere
★★☆☆☆ Uneven two-hander:
A good premise is overshadowed by a lumbering script in Douglas Maxwell’s exploration of identity and belonging, I Can Go Anywhere, at the Traverse Theatre as part of Edinburgh’s Christmas to 21 December.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
★★★★☆ Spectacular:
Goldilocks And The Three Bears, this year’s King’s pantomime, is an odd creation in many ways, but it retains enough of the tried and tested formulas to convince – to say nothing of good old-fashioned variety stardust.
Hairspray
★★★★☆ Energetic:
The Balerno Theatre Company go back to Baltimore in the swinging 60s for their uplifting and energetic production of Hairspray at the Church Hill Theatre to Saturday.
Strange Tales
★★★☆☆ Cultural collision:
There are certainly moments of magic in Strange Tales, the Christmas co-production between Grid Iron and the Traverse, but they are too few and far between.
An Edinburgh Christmas Carol
★★★☆☆ Comedy overshadows pathos:
An Edinburgh Christmas Carol, the Lyceum’s Christmas re-invention of Dickens, is a full-on comic display that is undoubtedly pleasing despite apparently missing some important points.
