Author: Hugh Simpson
Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil
★★★☆☆ Human
The latest Sound Stage production from the Lyceum and Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil, is a funny and affecting tale of love and obsession set in the decaying heartlands of Scottish industry and football.
The Macbeths
★★★★☆ Bloody good
The Macbeths, the Citizens’ concentrated revision of Macbeth, supplies a charge that is so often missing in versions of the play.
The Mother Load
★★★★☆ Nuanced
The Mother Load by Lynda Radley, the latest in the Lyceum and Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Sound Stage series of audio presentations, is a warmly human and cleverly constructed piece.
Hindu Times
★★★☆☆ Fierce Originality:
Hindu Times – the latest audio offering from the Lyceum and Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Sound Stage – is a wildly original piece. Although cumbersome at times, it has a raucous energy that is frequently arresting.
Tennis Elbow
★★★★☆ Linguistic luxury
Thoroughly enjoyable on its own terms, Tennis Elbow – the latest offering from Pitlochry Festival Theatre and the Lyceum’s Soundstage – is a flawed but very funny piece.
A Space To Bless
★★★★☆ Invaluable
A Space to Bless, a series of meditations from Queen Jesus Productions filmed in St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, provides much-needed balm for the soul.
Smile
★★★☆☆ Sympathetic
Smile, Dundee Rep’s football-themed online offering, transfers to the screen to provide a satisfactory record of 2020’s successful play about the legendary Jim McLean.
Distance Remaining
★★★☆☆ Assured
There are some wonderful, and wonderfully human, performances in Distance Remaining. The three separate sections of the production ultimately fail to gel, but there is more than enough to sustain the interest.
Doppler: The Story So Far
★★★★☆ Illuminating:
Doppler: The Story So Far, a portrait of Grid Iron’s 2020 production of Doppler that never was, is an edifying, surprising and deeply human film.
Angela
★★★★☆ Poignantly perceptive
A touching and utterly personal piece of drama, Angela by Mark Ravenhill is a fitting first offering in the Lyceum and Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Sound Stage project in association with Naked Productions Ltd.
