Lunchtime Theatre
PPP: Margaret Saves Scotland
★★☆☆☆ Sugary:
Margaret Saves Scotland, the latest offering in the Play, A Pie and A Pint season, marks the return of Val McDermid to the stage. Anyone expecting a taut and bloody crime thriller, however, should be warned that this is a low-key piece, wistful and almost wilfully slight.
PPP: Rachel’s Cousins
★★★★☆ Clever comedy:
Upbeat and often very funny indeed, Rachel’s Cousins, this week’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint lunchtime theatre at the Traverse, doesn’t allow the prospect of cancer to get in its way.
PPP: McGonagall’s Chronicles
★★★★☆ Cheerful complexity:
Gary McNair’s McGonagall’s Chronicles, the first in the new series of A Play, A Pie and a Pint at the Traverse, is a winningly daffy confection. While it may not treat its subject entirely fairly, it does at least show him unusual sympathy.
PPP: Love and Death in Govan and Hyndland
★★★☆☆ Recognisable
Excellent acting and directing distinguish Love and Death in Govan and Hyndland, the latest Play, Pie and a Pint offering at the Traverse. In the end, however, the play treads overly familiar ground.
PPP: His Final Bow
★★★★☆ Bonne bouche:
Theatre is all about stories and performance, but when the two turn in on themselves, things get messy and out of control – as His Final Bow, this week’s lunchtime theatre at the Traverse shows.
PPP: Channelling Jabez
★★★☆☆ Frothy:
Channelling Jabez, the latest A Play, A Pie and A Pint production at the Traverse, is a charmingly inconsequential story that is cleverly staged and strangely attractive.
PPP: One Thinks of It All as a Dream
★★★☆☆ Mixed bag:
There is an odd combination of the poetic and the straightforward to One Thinks of It All as a Dream, the latest Play, Pie and a Pint lunchtime theatre at the Traverse.
PPP: Ring Road
★★★★☆ Ring of truth:
Ring Road, the last in the current Play, Pie and a Pint season at the Traverse, is a bittersweet affair. Anita Vettesse’s poignantly funny, well-crafted script benefits from some stand-out performances.
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.
PPP Billy (The Days of Howling)
★★★★☆ Heart-rending:
With a whisper of snow and the haunting of an idea, the latest instalment of A Play, A Pie and a Pint spins in and out of the Traverse leaving a rare desolation in its wake.
