Mark Thomas in England & Son – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Written by Ed Edwards Directed by Cressida Brown Tickets: £15.00 (Con. available) ★★★★ If it wasn’t for their admission, and the playwright's presence this evening at the Traverse, the idea that this is the first play Mark Thomas has performed that he has not written may have never occurred to audiences. They'd be proven right, … Continue reading Mark Thomas in England & Son – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh

Adapted by Jay Presson Allen Directed by Phil Wilkinson ★★★★ What a vibrant and darkly carried choice in Leitheatre’s final performance for 2024, with the grimly satirical and remarkably clever The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Utilising some exceptional characterisation and comedic beats, their staging of Jay Presson Allen’s 1966 play turns the charismatic English teacher … Continue reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh

Cinderella – The Byre Theatre, St. Andrews

Written & Directed by Gordon Barr Tickets from £19.00 ★★★★★ While the Dundee Rep’s A Christmas Carol reminds us of what we nearly lost in recent years, The Byre Theatre’s Christmas pantomime serves as a stark reminder that the prospect is still painfully real for venues up and down Scotland. For theatres and venues which survived lockdowns, … Continue reading Cinderella – The Byre Theatre, St. Andrews

Lear’s Fool – Bard in the Botanics

Written by David Henry Wilson Directed by Jennifer Dick ★★★★ The unknown fate of characters has plagued and enriched the texts of countless authors and storytellers for centuries. The immense power in the unexplored catapults sometimes small, seemingly inconsequential players into a new world ripe for the picking: where does Long John Silver wash ashore? … Continue reading Lear’s Fool – Bard in the Botanics

The Importance of Being Earnest – Bard in the Botanics

Written by Oscar Wilde Directed by Gordon Barr Designed by Heather Grace Currie ★★★★★ Dig out the finest silverware, prep those cucumber sandwiches, and for God’s sake, stop eating the muffins – The Importance of Being Earnest is the star of the season, and everyone will be looking for its hand if they’ve got any sense of … Continue reading The Importance of Being Earnest – Bard in the Botanics

Jekyll & Hyde – Bard in the Botanics

From the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Adapted and Directed by Jennifer Dick ★★★★ In its history, the Glasgow Botanics has long echoed with sonnets of Shakespeare throughout the summers; until now. But in the canny decision to move and acknowledge the absence of the Bard, the Botanics instead charter the melodramatic cobbles of a … Continue reading Jekyll & Hyde – Bard in the Botanics

Henry IV – Bard in the Botanics

Adapted and Directed by Gordon Barr From William Shakespeare ★★★★ Questions of the purpose, necessity, and our perplexing obsession with the ‘God-given right to rule’ hangs on the lips of the nation once more, as in a time of austerity and wide-spread ruinous inequality - the cost of regalia and crown continues to weigh heavy … Continue reading Henry IV – Bard in the Botanics

Snow White – Byre Theatre

Written and Directed by Gordon Barr Musical Direction by Andy Manning ★★★★ There’s a touching duality to this year's Byre Theatre production of Snow White, featuring a tag-line theme of re-writing our stories. Traditionally, pantos of old suffer the lop-sided representations of their fairy-tale foundations, swinging the opposite way to recover this ended in a … Continue reading Snow White – Byre Theatre