Grace Gilbert
Conspiracy
★★★★★ Bureaucratic nightmare
Conspiracy, a co-production between Edinburgh-based grassroots companies Strawmoddie and RFT, is a chilling and almost obscenely mundane account of the Wannsee Conference, held in a Berlin suburb in January 1942.
Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather
★★★☆☆ Well-turned
Amidst the noise, rituals and trappings of pantomime and Christmas, Strawmoddie’s take on Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather provides a welcome parody of our seasonal excess, at the Pleasance Theatre to Sunday.
Hay Fever
★★★☆☆ Lightly hilarious
Every family has their foibles, but the Bliss family are next-level eccentric in Noel Coward’s delicious comedy Hay Fever – brought to the Assembly Roxy by EGTG for four performances only.
Bug
★★★★☆ Twisted romance
Set in a motel room somewhere in America, Bug begins like a twisted tale of romance but ends as a case study of how conspiracy, paranoia and wild theories can escalate into all-encompassing self-destructive philosophies.
Bytesize Theatre
★★★☆☆ Welcome
The lack of time to plan for live theatre at this year’s Fringe has not deterred the Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group. Bytesize Theatre is a collection of three new plays presented on the online Fringe Player. The three pieces are not all equally impressive, but each has intriguing elements.
The Shakespeares – Scenes From a Marriage
★★★☆☆ Yesteryear once more:
Storyboard Theatre’s The Shakespeares – Scenes from a Marriage goes over the well-trodden ground of the private life of that writer from Stratford. Even if nothing new surfaces, there is enough interesting acting to hold the attention.
Lest We Forget
★★★☆☆ Reflective:
There is a kernel of emotional and poetic truth to Lest We Forget, the latest offering from writer-director James Beagon and Aulos Productions in the Studio at St Augustines. However, its effect is dissipated in a reworking of familiar themes and a setting that fails to do justice to its ambition.
Women of the Mourning Fields
★★★★☆ Ambitious history:
History is told by the writers, not the participants. That’s the message at the heart of this fascinating piece from Aulos Productions in which the forgotten women of Rome finally have their say.
A Touch of Danger
★★★☆☆ Satisfying thriller:
Short on genuine thrills but consistently enjoyable, the Edinburgh Makars’ production of Francis Durbridge’s A Touch of Danger is a somewhat contrived thriller made more interesting by considered performances.
