Theatre
What Girls Are Made Of
★★★★★ Joyous:
Bursting with emotion and tuneful energy, the return to the Traverse of What Girls Are Made Of is a thing of wonder.
Prescription For Murder
★★★☆☆ Pleasing:
Prescription For Murder, from the Edinburgh Makars at the Church Hill Theatre, is one of those odd English crime dramas that provide more reassurance than apprehension.
PPP: Chic Murray: A Funny Place For A Window
★★★★☆ Fitting tribute:
As you might expect, there are plenty of laughs in Chic Murray: A Funny Place For A Window. What is less expected is a touching and beautifully acted love story.
Stones In His Pockets
★★★☆☆ Clever:
There’s plenty of life and bundles of irony in the latest production of Marie Jones’ magnificent two-hander, Stones In His Pockets, which is at the King’s all week as part of a major UK tour.
White
★★★★☆ Layered:
Comic, brutal and certainly confrontational, the UK premiere of James Ijames’ White at St Cecelia’s Hall delivers a well-judged prod at the often unguarded underbelly of white liberal self-satisfaction.
The Cemetery Club
★★★★☆ Gravely good:
The Cemetery Club is a low-key, deeply traditional play, but in the hands of Edinburgh People’s Theatre it has a gentle resonance that is rather affecting.
Ulster American
★★★★☆ Hard Hitting:
Trailing clouds of glory from 2018, David Ireland’s Ulster American has returned to the Traverse with a bang. If it is not quite as good as some have said, it is still impressive – and certainly is impressively nasty.
Double immersion
No bystanders in immersive show:
Edinburgh’s innovative Civil Disobedience marks LGBT History month with a three night run at Assembly Roxy – to Saturday 23 Feb – of its part drag, part interactive cabaret, part provocation: Jock Tamson’s Bairns.
Art
★★★★☆ Sparkling:
Art, at the King’s until Saturday, is everything a high-profile touring show should be – a carefully thought out, well-directed production of a hit play featuring a big-name cast at the top of their game.
Dear Brutus
★★★★☆ Old world charm:
Threepenny Theatricals’ Dear Brutus at the Church Hill is a resolutely odd piece, hugely uneven in tone, but discharged with such grace and skill that is compulsively watchable.
