Peter Forbes
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.
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.
A Number
★★★★☆ Human intelligence:
Philosophical questions that have puzzled us for centuries are given a contemporary yet timeless spin in A Number, presented by the Lyceum in partnership with the Edinburgh International Science Festival.
The James Plays
The James Plays Trilogy: ★★★★☆
Eighteen months after their first outing, the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of the James Plays trilogy remains a theatrical event worth anybody’s time and money.
James II: Day of the Innocents
★★★☆☆ Chilling
There’s a chilling tone to much of James II: Day of The Innocents. Quieter and more brooding than the plays which bookend it, it provides a necessary contrast, but is the least impressive of the three on its own terms.
