Writer: Paul Hendy Set Design: Lee Newby Director: Paul Hendy If it’s a tribute act to these titans of comedy you’re looking for then this is not that. Paul Hendy’s The Last Laugh is a carefully and lovingly crafted examination of the comedy and the personalities beyond the TV screens. These are three very different people, two natural funny men (Eric Morecambe and Tommy Cooper) and one a scientific creator of his craft Bob Monkhouse), Hendy gives us pause for thought at the price of being loved and lauded by the British public. That said, there are plenty of laughs.…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Scotland
The Reviews Hub - Scotland
The Scotland team is under the editorship of Lauren Humphreys. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. We aim to review all professional types of theatre, whether that be Commercial, Repertory or Fringe as well as Comedy, Music, Gigs etc.
Since it’s inception, Ballet Nights has been playing to packed audiences in London, at venues as diverse as Cadogan Hall and The Ministry of Sound. Delivering intriguing pieces by both established international ballet stars and rising talent, each incarnation is innovatively curated by former Scottish Ballet soloist Jamiel Devernay-Laurence. Tonight Devernay-Laurence returns triumphant to his former home, centre stage at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal. Ballet Nights Glasgow continues with the intention of creating a new ballet tradition, bringing in new audiences to the dance world and delivering opportunity for young dancers as well as allowing ballet devotees the chance to see some…
Book: Ronald Hanmer and Phil Park Music: Sammy Fain Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster Writer: James O’Hanlan Adaptor: Charles K Freeman Director: Nikolai Foster and Co-Director and Choreographer Nick Winston Much-loved West End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher brings her boundless energy and effortless vocals to Glasgow this week as the indomitable Calamity Jane. The eternal classic is playing to packed houses on this current UK tour and its easy to see why. The phenomenal cast and the whip-cracking pace the show gallops along at under the direction of Nikolai Foster ensure this is a production packed with highlights. The…
Composer: Rachel Sullivan Libretto: Rachel Sullivan Directors: Rachel Sullivan & Hannah Siddiqui Conductor: Chloe Lu Ye Rachel Sullivan’s Bertha a “shopera” (an opera staged in a shop, in this case in Glasgow’s expansive Buchanan Galleries) uses Bertha Rochester (née Mason) from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre as its inspiration. Bertha redefines the story of Edward Rochester’s “mad” wife in the attic, shining a contemporary, more understanding light on Bertha. Who symptoms modern interpreters of the story have identified as Huntington’s Disease. This innovative work was staged and rehearsed in a remarkable four days. Running at an economical one hour, it provides…
Original Writer: C. S. Lewis Original Writer in the Room: Adam Peck Music: Barnaby Race and Benji Bower Director: Michael Fentiman Bringing C. S. Lewis’ epic Christian allegory to the stage would seem at first glance to be a monumental, if not impossible undertaking. This production first saw life in 2017 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, devised by the original company with writer in the room Adam Peck. Significantly edited, it still retains all the fundamental elements of Lewis’ original story, charting the wartime adventures of the Pevensie children, evacuated to the (in this case Scottish) countryside to live with…
Director & Choreographer: Matthew Bourne Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Designer: Lez Brotherston Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake first burst to life on stage in 1995, changing the face of classical dance forever. This modern classic has been breaking records in the thirty years since. Retaining, but re-ordering Tchaikovsky’s original 1875/1876 score, this innovative re-telling of the story hangs on it perfectly. The music is fundamentally beautiful whichever order it is played and perfectly fits whatever era this ballet is set in. This imaginative take injects a vitality, freshness and relevance to the story along with his trademark wit. In Bourne’s hands…
Josh Glanc’s shows have grown increasingly abstract and thematically untethered over time, making them endearingly daft above all else. Family Man once again finds the Australian playfully exploring masculinity and vulnerability to an extent, with plenty of music, good-natured, unthreatening audience participation and leftfield shaggy dog stories. With its repeated, supposed restarts and premature endings, reprises and variations on a core of original songs, there’s the faintest suggestion of structural cleverness. Yet only superficially, it’s really just a hodge-podge of silly set-pieces, and no less appealing for that. Nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award, the show suffers a bit on…
With the impending return of Ted Lasso, the sitcom that brought him international fame and two Emmy nominations, alongside his appearance in the upcoming celebrity version of The Traitors, Nick Mohammed’s career seems to be in fine fettle. Sure, there’s been the occasional blip, such as his widely panned spot at last year’s BAFTA Awards, an inexplicably misjudged booking that he reclaims the narrative on here to a degree. Having his cake and eating it, he discloses the trying circumstances behind the disaster, while also picking over every crumb of his humiliation for self-deprecating impact. Otherwise at the height of…