https://youtu.be/vCpeYT6FwFg Written and Directed by Gordon Barr Review by Dominic Corr The Byre Theatre ★★★★ What’s the use in wishes, when all your festive hopes are granted by the Byre Theatre once more, this time for a more local spin on the classic Arabian tale: Aladdin. A riotous, tightly knit pantomime bursting with humour, strong … Continue reading Review: Aladdin – The Byre Theatre, St.Andrews
Directed by Abigail Harper Musical Direction by Joe Atkinson and Kieron Moore Music by Frank Wildhorn Book by Leslie Bricusse Lyrics by Frank Wildhorn, Leslie Bricusse and Steve Cuden Review by Andrew Joseph ★★★★★ The University of St Andrews’ Musical Theatre Society took on the epic Gothic musical Jekyll and Hyde, telling the haunting story of … Continue reading Review: Jekyll and Hyde – The Byre Theatre, St. Andrews
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
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
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
Directed by Joe Atkinson and Kylie Lam Produced by Iain Cunningham Review by Ben Connaughton ★★★★★ The University of St Andrews’ Musical Theatre Society, or MusT, took a creative detour from their programme of book musicals to perform a one-night, one-act concert which charted the history of musical theatre: A Chronicle in Concert. The unique … Continue reading A Chronicle in Concert – Laidlaw Music Centre, St. Andrews
Music by Arthur Sullivan Libretto by W.S. Gilbert Directed by Hannah Spencer ★★★ The University of St Andrews’ Gilbert and Sullivan Society returned to the Byre Theatre with The Gondoliers. Sullivan’s score is complex and beautiful, and Gilbert’s storyline is deliciously convoluted. Many years ago, two brothers, Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri, were mixed up at birth … Continue reading The Gondoliers – The Byre Theatre, St. Andrews
Written and Directed by Andy McGregor Lyrics by Andy McGregor and Isla Cowan Review by Ben Connaughton ★★★★★ Music is at the heart of Battery Park. This makes sense, as it’s a production which documents the rise and fall of the titular (and fictional) Britpop band; this is less a musical – I didn’t see any kick … Continue reading Battery Park – The Byre Theatre
Choreography by Lewys Holt Choreographic Assistance/Photography and Film by Eleanor Sikorski Produced by Perfectly Serviceable and Discerning Nights Review by Ben Connaughton ★★★★ In front of a long, shimmering curtain stands a microphone and a laptop: they don’t offer much protection for those who have found the courage to sing in front of perfect strangers. … Continue reading Empty Orchestra – Byre Theatre
https://youtu.be/raqEXET3Yx8 Written and Directed by Izzy Gray ★★★★ Our fascination with the one thing we cannot control, death, leads to various stories twisting themselves into the gaps history leaves blank. It’s a powerful thing to craft a tale, to take autonomy over someone’s life and death – for millennia we can’t help but complete an … Continue reading Keepers of the Light – The Studio
