Ryan Fletcher
At the Book Festival
Theatrical life in Charlotte Square:
The Edinburgh international Book Festival continues to provide a commitment to theatrical elements as well as the customary squelchy grass and ice-cream cones.
Muriel Spark: Creme de la Creme
★★★★☆ Literary:
On the eve of the centenary of Muriel Spark’s birth, the Usher hall was packed for Muriel Spark: Creme de la Creme, an evening of readings, reminiscences and a performed reading of the Edinburgh-born author’s only play.
Cuttin’ A Rug
✭✭✭✭✩ Cuts like mustard:
Fizzing with energy and wisecracking brio, the Citizens Theatre’s production of John Byrne’s Cuttin’ A Rug – at the King’s till Saturday – also has a careful and deep humanity.
Milk
★★☆☆☆ Disconnected:
The premiere of Ross Dunsmore’s Milk at the Traverse is well acted and carefully staged. However, it never overcomes an unsatisfactory construction.
PPP: Prom
★★★☆☆ Lively
Sparky energy and interesting observations abound in Oliver Emanuel’s Prom, the latest A Play, A Pie and A Pint offering at the Traverse.
The Driver’s Seat
✭✭✭✩✩ Fury and fear:
The National Theatre of Scotland’s adaptation of Muriel Spark’s The Driver’s Seat has a righteous fury, combined with a drive born out of cleverly harnessed technology and a tight ensemble.
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 – Confessions of a Justified Sinner
★★★★☆
SCOTLAND’S darkest history is dragged into the light of the Lyceum stage in this new adaptation of James Hogg’s bitter, twisted and murderous Confessions of a Justified Sinner.
