Reviews & features: Theatre
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Confessions of a Grindr Addict
16 Aug 2012
Conspiratorial reminiscences and anecdotes make up this compelling take on dating in the modern age
Felix is getting ready to go out for a date, his first in ages. For a long time he’s relied on meeting guys via location-based gay dating app Grindr, for not much more than, well, you know. The thought of an actual date, with the boy right there in…
MacBeth in Scots
16 Aug 2012
Dark and unsettling new take on a classic
While referred to as ‘The Scottish Play’ in theatrical circles, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a tale of ruthless ambition and the rise and fall of a tyrant has never been adapted for, or performed in, Scots. Robin Lorimer’s new version, which gives the Bard’s…
Rémy
16 Aug 2012
Vivid Napoleonic re-imagining written and performed by talented Claire Gaydon
On the strength of this, the first show produced under the banner of newly formed theatre company Everything I Own, writer/performer Claire Gaydon is a talent to keep an eye on. Her historical drama, which unfolds in the aftermath of Napoleon’s reign of…
The Fantasist
16 Aug 2012
Imaginative treatment of mental health
The visionary-idealist-romantic of the title is a French woman named Louise who is tormented by her bipolar disorder. As the show opens we find Louise in a hospital in England where she is receiving treatment. She’s got a good, caring nurse and a dear…
Strong Arm
16 Aug 2012
Thought-provoking look at transformation and self-betterment
At the age of 13, Roland Poland weighs 20 stone. In his early 20s, he’s a muscle god, pumped up on four-hour gym sessions, hourly protein shakes and arcane shark’s fin supplements. But in breaking himself so that he can grow even stronger, has he lost…
Simple Matters
16 Aug 2012
Clowning around becomes a comedy of errors despite clear talent
This international troop of clowns present mime and physical comedy and, though skilled, grossly misread the audience to a less than comedic effect. Relying on 'volunteers', interaction that could work with a boozy, up-for-it Saturday night crowd comes…
My Elevator Days
15 Aug 2012
Gentle play about old age and identity never loses sight of harsh reality
What do we leave behind in an ever-changing world? The old man in front of us will never get the 19 million Google results of Grace Kelly, with whom he shares a birthday, nor the blue plaque of the artist that goaded him as a child. Given his borderline…
Hand Over Fist
15 Aug 2012
Beautifully textured monologue about lost love and Alzheimer’s
Joanna Bending is devastatingly effective as Emily, an eerily child-like pensioner struggling to recount the events of her past as her memory of it slips away from her. In this one-woman show, Emily tells the story of a fateful night in the 1950s…
And the Girls in Their Sunday Dresses
15 Aug 2012
This post-Apartheid era Zakes Mda adaptation has universal resonance
With its absurdist humour and metaphorical meaning, this clever, funny, political play is like a South African version of Waiting for Godot. As with Beckett’s luckless protagonists, two women (brilliantly played by South African comedians Hlengiwe…
Poe’s Last Night
15 Aug 2012
Recitation of great works is strictly for Poe-heads
A self-professed work in progress, this one-man show is still not ready for public consumption. But isn't this sort of experimentation exactly what the Free Fringe should be doing? Dawn of the Dead actor David Crawford is not at his best as a rather…
Call Me!
15 Aug 2012
Accurate and amusing portrait of dating in the modern world
The interweaving lives and loves of three single girls and one new couple come together to create a scarily accurate portrait of dating in the modern world. Essentially split into two sections, there’s a interesting distinction between the early section…
Tenderpits
15 Aug 2012
Uncomfortable and alienating autobiographical show
A man dressed in a Where's Wally-style hat and a huge, dirty nappy serves dinner to two teddy bears. Surprisingly, this is the most accessible scene in Anthony Johnston's willfully obscure one-man show. Tenderpits is ostensibly autobiographical but…
Peter Straker’s Brel
15 Aug 2012
Belgian chanteur Brel’s life explored in song, costumes and storytelling
Jamaican born Peter Straker has been involved in British TV, music, and theatre for decades – he’s been in Doctor Who, collaborated with Freddie Mercury and starred in Hair and Phantom of the Opera amongst other things. In this latest show however, he…
2008: Macbeth
14 Aug 2012
Theatre of war re-imagined for the 21st century
The first we hear of Major Macbeth, he’s radio-ing in from his Scotland-52 helicopter saying he’s going to undertake a dangerous raid on Arab insurgents in an unnamed Middle Eastern country in defiance of his commander. The attack is successful, so we…
Caesarian Section – Essays on Suicide
14 Aug 2012
Polish company grapples with deeply human emotion elegantly and sensitively
With a title like Caesarian Section – Essays on Suicide, this production by Wroclaw-based company Theatre ZAR was never going to be a light undertaking. Yet despite it’s heavy subject matter – it is described as being about ‘suicidal compulsion and the…
Educating Ronnie
14 Aug 2012
Compelling true-life fable engagingly told
Joe Douglas’ day job may be that of professional theatre director, but his one-man show is based on a strand of his own life that’s far richer than anything he could have made up. The story dates back ten years to his gap year in Uganda. Alongside…
I Shall be Remembered – The Story of Madame de Pompadour
14 Aug 2012
All that glitters is not gold in one-dimensional take on a fascinating figure
The stage at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre has been dipped in gold. Glittering trinkets lie on gold-rimmed furniture and gold-framed paintings line the walls. This is the 18th century court of King Louis XV and the domain of his savvy…
Panning for Gold
14 Aug 2012
Well-conceived, simply staged play dealing with emotional trauma has fittingly dramatic climax
This heartfelt and heart-warming play unfolds at a support group where three young women meet with an older group leader and, over the course of a number of sessions, confront and attempt to deal with their related emotional problems. The cause of their…
The List
13 Aug 2012
Maureen Beattie delivers this bleakly poignant dramatic monologue from Stellar Quines
In 1916, American playwright Susan Glaspell wrote a one-act piece, Trifles, about two women using their intimate knowledge of the domestic sphere to hide clues right under the noses of a group of men investigating a murder. It may be nearly a century…
Through the Looking Screen
13 Aug 2012
A black tale of loneliness and log-ins
The experience of turning The Office into an operatic extravaganza for Comic Relief in 2009 clearly gave Anne Chmelewsky a taste for the comedic possibilities of a musical form normally associated with grim tragedy. But the ‘high heels and high Cs…
Desperately Seeking the Exit
13 Aug 2012
Witty and painfully honest one-man show
The birth, death and resurrection of a jukebox musical form the basis of self-confessed ‘Angloholic’ Peter Michael Marino’s new one-man show, Desperately Seeking the Exit, directed by John Clancy. Chronicling the creation, destruction and resurrection…
Flâneurs
13 Aug 2012
A walk on Edinburgh’s wild side
One can only hope that at least some of the ‘true’ events described in this one-woman show didn’t actually happen. According to young live art maker Jenna Watt, her close friend, Jeremy, was seriously assaulted in London, a large number of other friends…
Thin Ice
13 Aug 2012
Theatrical brain feast that holds the attention span
What sets Thin Ice apart is not so much its narrative – a disjointed love triangle between academics in the Arctic Circle – as its remarkable depth of thinking. Beneath the slight surface, it’s as dense and tightly packed as a glacier. What’s strange…
Educating Rita
13 Aug 2012
Polished but too safe version of the popular classic
You've probably read Educating Rita at school. If not, you've almost certainly seen the classic film, starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters. Willy Russell's play is still a key component in British popular culture. A new version, then, needs to be…
Inheritance Blues
13 Aug 2012
Devised comedy based around blues cover band almost hits the mark
You don't have to dig deep to see just how talented DugOut Theatre company is. Inheritance Blues revolves around blues cover band, Hot Air Ballues, who not only create rich music together but also share some cracking chemistry. I've no doubt this…
