Writers: Andrea Pallaoro and Orlando Tirado Director: Andrea Pallaoro Monica , directed by Andrea Pallaoro, is a carefully crafted drama that delves into the complex dynamics of family, identity, and reconciliation. Trace Lysette performs in the lead role of Monica a transgender woman who returns to her Midwestern home to care for her estranged, terminally ill mother, Eugenia, portrayed with compelling depth by Ann Dowd. Set against a backdrop of longstanding abandonment and emotional turmoil, the film unfolds at a contemplative pace, allowing viewers to fully engage with Monica’s long and thought-filled journey. Nothing is rushed here, we are forced…
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Writer and Director: Yan-chi Mo Lai When pop music was in its infancy there was a cynical tendency to maximise profits by exploiting acts before their 15 minutes of fame expired. Films starring musicians were produced that had little artistic merit but served as a promotional device for the soundtrack record. One approaches Band Four wondering if the movie might fall into this exploitative genre as both stars, Kay Tse and Teddy Robin Kwan, are Cantopop musicians, and the latter co-composed the soundtrack with Day Tai. Cat (Kay Tse), lead singer and keyboardist of indie band Band Four, is coping…
Writer and Director: Paul Hendy Dancing star Kevin Clifton is a devilish delight in this exceptional festive feast as the Marlowe Theatre continues its legendary run of pantomimes, with this year’s production of Aladdin being yet another Christmas cracker. This is your typical pantomime version of Aladdin, where the titular character (played by Alistair So), seeks fortune in an attempt to win Princess Jasmine’s (Lauren Chia) hand in marriage. Alongside the pair are a fantastic ensemble cast, led by Marlowe Pantomime Dame stalwart Ben Roddy, and a returning Phil Gallagher (aka Mister Maker), who bring the audience along on a…
Writers: Laura Citarella and Laura Paredes Director: Laura Citarella Mystery drama, Trenque Lauquen (2022), a four-hour epic in two parts, is the work of Argentine director Laura Citarelle. At first its seem a slow, slow burn. Trenque Lauquen itself is a nondescript town in a nondescript part of in Argentina. In the first part it’s winter time and the surrounding landscape is flat and featureless. Two men are discussing something outside a petrol station. These are Rafael and Chicho. Rafael (Rafael Spregelburd) is a confident, somewhat unreliable older man who is married, but is searching for his missing girlfriend Laura.…
Writer and Director: Gordon Barr For theatres and venues which survived lockdowns, the prospect of closure is just as (if not more so) daunting. Bridging their promotion of the value of theatre, art and expression into the glittering hokum of the pantomime format, Bard in the Botanic’s Cinderella serves as a delightfully festive though frank reminder that for every fictitious villain looking for profit, there is a very actual and sinister presence of those who would slam the doors of a theatre closed for good – without a thought to the cultural value. Looking to save the Grand Fantasia Theatre from the…
Writer: Charles Dickens Adaptation: Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie Director: Andrew Panton Musical Director: Isaac Savage There was a time when we boxed it all away. Unsure if we would even ever open it again. We stored away plans and adventures as we waited for the world to make a move. And theatres worldwide shut away their sets and costumes, ideas and songs, characters, and magic with their fates left in the air. Some never recovering, their stories lost. But for others, boundless realms of imagination, talent, and beauty lay waiting: some seldom glimpsed by audiences before lockdowns forced them…
Writers: Pavel Šrut and Galina Miklínová based upon their books. Director: Galina Miklínová The Oddsockeaters stretches an old joke- why any household always has odd socks- over its entire running time. The answer to the question, according to writers Pavel Šrut and Galina Miklínová (who based the screenplay upon the children’s books they, respectively, write and illustrate) is that creatures, apparently invisible to all but highly eccentric humans, eat the socks working on the principle by not consuming the full pair they are sharing their food with us. There is a great deal included in the limited running time of…
Writer: Hans Christian Anderson Adaptation: Morna Young Director: Cora Bissett As the cold winds blow and chill to the bone, Edinburgh envelopes itself in a glittering robe of festive cheer once more as the Royal Lyceum revives its intended 2020 production from the frost-bitten earth for one stellar outing of Morna Young’s adaptation of The Snow Queen, directed by Cora Bissett. The story beats have the familiarity expected by audiences who enjoy the Hans Christian Anderson classic, and even a few reflective shimmers of more contemporary storytelling elements (Disney’s Frozen still has a vice-grip on younger audiences today). Young cleverly inserts a touching and well-weaved shift into a more environmental dynamic, gorgeously tied into…