Traverse, EdinburghAJ Taudevin's small-scale touring show takes the form of a 10-a-penny issue play. Produced in association with the Scottish Refugee Council, it's a single-set 75-minu…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:26PMDundee RepButterfly or moth? Swan or duck? Angel or vampire? The teenagers at the chilling heart of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel and its two film adaptations could go either way. They are a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:49PMDundee RepTom McGrath, the first editor of International Times, the founder of Glasgow's Third Eye Centre (now CCA) and a key supporter of several generations of Scottish playwrights, made a…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:12PMCitizens, GlasgowIf you didn't know better, you could think this evening was a single dose of the dazzlingly original Caryl Churchill rather than a double bill. When Seagulls begins, you're …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:39PMKing's theatre, EdinburghYou'd like to think The Sash had passed its sell-by date. It would be nice if, as it approaches its 40th anniversary, Hector MacMillan's taut domestic drama about se…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:16PMBeacon, Greenock For those of us who grew up watching Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, the idea of trading your old toys for someone else's carries a certain allure. After selected performances of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:18PMArches, GlasgowThe Arches' Platform 18 award is a barometer of what the next generation of theatre-makers is thinking. Where last year's recipients reflected on the legacy of Margaret Thatch…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:47PMRoyal Lyceum, EdinburghThe macaroons devoured by Nora Helmer in Ibsen's proto-feminist classic normally symbolise her infantilism. They are a childish indulgence, cute and frivolous, for a w…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:07PMTraverse, EdinburghFirst, we were outraged by the apparent crimes of Jimmy Savile. Then we felt betrayed: had the innocence of 1970s light entertainment been a sham? Behind the showbiz sheen…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:43PMBrae, ShetlandThere's plenty to be said against the motor car, but none of that is the concern of Ignition. Wils Wilson's extraordinary show for the National Theatre of Scotland and Shetland…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00PMRoyal Lyceum, EdinburghThanks to a flurry of co-productions between theatres in Scotland, Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum is currently associated with two top-quality ensembles. While Mark Thomson'…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:48PMCitizens, GlasgowWe're in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest territory – but instead of Jack Nicholson finding method in the madness, here we have Eddie, a hospital radio DJ, discovering the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:55PMTron, GlasgowYou couldn't fault this adaptation of Julia Donaldson's novel for being short of themes. In 90 minutes, it ticks off bereavement, child abuse, missing people, drug addiction, me…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:34PMBeacon, GreenockHalf an hour along the Clyde from Glasgow, the Beacon is a handsome new arts centre with a 500-seat main auditorium and a 100-seat studio. The artistic director of the �…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:37PMRoyal Lyceum, Edinburgh There is much that is extraordinary about Shelagh Delaney's debut play: that it was written by an 18-year-old after watching something by Terence Rattigan and thinkin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:33PMCitizens, GlasgowThe class war isn't over yet. Just ask the House of Commons catering staff whom MP Christopher Chope referred to as "servants" last week. Let's hope they don't react li…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:04PMCitizens, GlasgowAs pantos across the land ramp up the contrast, volume and colour, the Christmas show at the Citz is refreshingly austere. Against a backdrop of naked winter trees, this Sle…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:16PMDundee RepAt this time of year, even the more sober-minded shows play to the gallery with fart gags and slapstick. The distinguishing characteristic of Jemima Levick's production of The Snow…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:30PMTron, GlasgowWhen Charles Dickens conceived the character of Ebenezer Scrooge, it is unlikely that he had in mind a large woman in a spangly leotard, bejewelled shoulder pads and curly black…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:23PMArches, GlasgowIt's not so much the spirit of Christmas birth as of Easter resurrection that possesses this Hans Christian Andersen adaptation by Catherine Wheels. It begins, delightfully, i…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:56PMRoyal Lyceum, EdinburghIt's impressive enough that Johnny McKnight is writing, directing and starring in Aganeza Scrooge at Glasgow's Tron this season, but somehow he has also managed to fie…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:45AMOran Mor, GlasgowThey discovered Elvis, they discovered sex, they discovered material wealth. Now the baby boomers are discovering death. The results can be maudlin and introspective – but…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:15PMTraverse, EdinburghThe wag who described Morna Pearson as the Dr Dre of Scottish theatre was probably exaggerating. The Elgin-born playwright is no gangsta rapper, though you can't deny the …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:26PMRoyal Lyceum, EdinburghTowards the start of Shakespeare's comedy, the fairy queen Titania tells her lover Oberon how their quarrel has turned nature upside down. "The seasons alter…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:21PMTraverse, Edinburgh"I'm at home and I feel homesick," says the character of Kate Bane, explaining her unresolved anguish to the boyfriend who has come to meet her parents. Or rather, in Ella…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:59PMPlatform, GlasgowImagine a string quartet, but with actors instead of musicians. In place of a score, a set of overlapping monologues. As they riff on similar themes, they could be from a fa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:15PMGovanhill Baths, GlasgowEven a trip to the swimming baths is full of ritual. First comes the initiation ceremony of changing room, wire basket and wristband – just as it is here in Adrian …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:31PMCitizens, GlasgowShe enters in socks, tracksuit bottoms and faded grey T-shirt. Her blood-red hair is a shade away from the glossy surfaces of her fitted kitchen. Her son has just been dropp…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:44AMRoyal Lyceum, EdinburghCanadian playwright Michel Tremblay's Les Belles Sœurs, translated here as The Guid Sisters, is one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, remarkable on many leve…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:50PMHis Majesty's, AberdeenYou can imagine a stage adaptation of Robin Jenkins's sublime 1955 novel turning out like Of Mice and Men. Set during the second world war on a remote Highland estate,…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00PMTron, GlasgowYou couldn't accuse Sylvia Dow of being over-hasty. After a lifetime in arts administration, she has waited until her 70s to make her playwriting debut. There is nothing antiqua…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:38PM
