The Manipulate Festival has returned to Edinburgh for its 19th edition, with a glorious first time collaboration with The Filmhouse to house their film events. Part of the festival was a collection of animated horror shorts from around the globe. Each had their own styles, providing an eclectic and exciting mix of new works for … Continue reading Review: Animated Horror Shorts (Manipulate Festival) – The Filmhouse, Edinburgh
Auntie Empire storms into Manipulate with Disaster Plan’s trademark blend of bouffon clowning, dark satire, and political bite. Led by Julia Taudevin and Kieran Hurley, the show casts Taudevin as a decaying, delusional Britannia figure inviting her “family” to revel in imperial nostalgia while confronting a far grimmer truth. Evolving through earlier versions as live‑gore cabaret, … Continue reading Have a Gander at Auntie Empire – Manipulate 2026
Lead Artist and Performed by Mamoru Iriguchi Co-Directed & Co-Designed by Fergus Dunnet Review by Dominic Corr Traverse Theatre (Manipulate Run) ★★★ A strikingly unique and compelling theatrical curiosity unfolds in Glasgow as Vanishing Point presents Size Matters, a production that stretches its central metaphor across an hour of inventive puppetry, shifting scale, and philosophical musing, landing … Continue reading Review: Size Matters – The Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
https://youtu.be/4WkDHuGpStg Created, Directed and Performed by Alex Harvey and Charlotte Mooney - Ockham’s Razor Choreography by Nathan Johnston Review by Marina Funcasta The Lowry ★★★★★ “This piece is a culmination of everything we have learned in the twenty four years we have spent working together. Lets begin: Day One.” Quite an opening. Charlotte Mooney takes off her … Continue reading Review: Ockham’s Razor: Collaborator – The Place, London
https://youtu.be/P12_dHXCzuU Performed and Devised by Sadiq Ali, Phoebe Knight, Jonah Russell Artistic Direction by Sadiq Ali Review by Marina Funcasta The Studio (Edinburgh run) ★★★★ Sadiq Ali Company stuns with their new show, Tell Me. Taking an HIV diagnosis as a starting point, we follow Grace, played with delicacy by Phoebe Knight, as she contends … Continue reading Review: Tell Me – The Place, London
The Manipulate Festival, Scotland's international festival of animation, film, movement, puppetry, and visual theatre returns for its ambitious 17th season. This year's festival will run from February 1st - 11th across multiple physical and online venues. The full programme can be found here. Next week, Edinburgh will host the return of one of the most … Continue reading Have a Gander – Manipulate Festival 2024
Produced by Vision Mechanics ★★★★★ A journalist, mother, gallery owner, wife, writer, child, and saviour of the world from giant reptiles – there’s a lot to take in during The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski, which translates the words and thoughts of one woman’s life, now living with dementia, and turn these glinting pieces of their … Continue reading The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinksi – Fruitmarket
Written by Ramesh Meyyappan Directed by Matthew Lenton ★★★★ The stream of productions which open themselves up to offer an insight into the lives of those living with dementia is becoming a more commonplace and tightly executed trend in Scottish theatre. A remarkably pure story of a love story of loss, and self-love, Raw Material … Continue reading Love Beyond (Act of Remembrance) – Traverse Theatre
Co-Created and Performed by Lucy Ireland and Jim Manganello Creative Production by Helen McIntosh ★★★ Just what is Vertigo anyhow? The film critic side wants to push for its tertiary genre as a psychological thriller, a romantic drama, and of course a tragedy. But when transitioning to the stage, MANIPULATE 2023’s second Hitchcock-inspired piece, Glasgow-based Shotput Theatre’s Ferguson … Continue reading Ferguson and Barton – The Studio
Created, Directed and Performed by Jiří Zeman and Martina Maurič Lazar Music by Milko Lazar ★★★★★ Things are never what they appear, and this evening – Ljubljana Puppet Theatre’s Moč (The Power) makes this quite clear. We’re caught off-guard by an overly zealous Jiří Zeman, who offers an introduction of sorts to the production. A playful, seven … Continue reading Moč (The Power) – Summerhall
