Maureen Beattie
PPP: Disfunction
★★☆☆☆ Confusing
Disfunction by Kate Bowen and directed by Lu Kemp, the last in the Traverse’s current season of Òran Mór’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint, is a lively but ultimately puzzling piece.
The Scent of Roses
★★★☆☆ Lacks urgency
The Scent of Roses, from writer-director Zinnie Harris at the Lyceum, features a top-notch cast and dialogue that often rings true regarding how self-delusion and self-evasion wreck our relationships with each other and the world around us. However, the production as a whole never truly ignites
Covid delays Lyceum show
The Scent of Roses opening delayed a week
The cast and company of the new Zinnie Harris play, The Scent of Roses, has been effected by Covid, delaying the play’s opening by a week.
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.
Meet Jan Black
★★★☆☆ multi-layered
The end of Lockdown is in sight and Jan Black is back on stage; Maureen Beattie stars in Johnny McKnight’s multi-layered new play for Wonder Fools live-streamed from the Ayr Gaiety.
The Twenty Five
Full cast of Knives in Hens announced:
The full cast of 25 actresses taking on the role of Young Woman in the concert reading of David Harrower’s Knives in Hens at the Lyceum on Tuesday 11 June 2019 has been revealed.
A Spark of Philosophy
Muriel Spark at the Book Festival:
This year’s Book Festival has featured several events designed to appeal to the theatre-goer which cross over with the strand celebrating the centenary of the birth of Edinburgh’s own Muriel Spark.
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.
The Winter’s Tale
★★★☆☆ Layered:
Lucid and engaging, the Lyceum’s Scottish-set production of The Winter’s Tale has much to recommend it, even if it does not quite convince.
Knives in Hens
A Concert Reading from Pearlfisher
At the beginning of this one-off concert reading of Knives in Hens in memory of Pauline Knowles, playwright David Harrower related a telling anecdote about Pauline and the play in which she originated the central character.