Emma Doran may have broken out on TikTok but WhatsApp is her spiritual home. Embarking on her first UK tour, the breezily frank Dubliner relishes a conspiratorial gossip and doesn’t really go in for discretion. Breakdowns, one-night stands, even the spectre of child abduction, if Doran is privy to it in the communal chat, it’s gleefully shared on stage. To a degree, she’s living vicariously through others. After recently turning 40, she can’t throw herself into nocturnal revelry like she used to. And Dilemma is coloured by nostalgia and an appealing lack of guilt about her wilder days, her efforts…
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.
Writer: Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler Music: Joe Stilgoe Lyrics: Joe Stilgoe Adaptors: David Greig and Jackie Crichton Director: Katie Beard This vibrant adaptation of the popular picture book is a delight from start to finish and will captivate young audience members and charm their families. The bright costumes and versatile set evoke the original illustrations while putting a unique spin on each design, making it easy to recognise everything in the production. It’s obvious that a lot of care has been taken with small details, from the prop work and puppetry to including a real smoking chimney on the…
From the moment this Australian comedian bounded on to the stage (quite literally) he engaged the audience fully. Bearing in mind the wide audience demographic at this performance, that was no mean feat and the show quickly rose to great heights. The humour flew thick and fast, covering almost every topic imaginable (and some quite unexpected) thus showcasing his own individual style of wry humour and sardonic wit. This award-winning comedy genius readily responded to audience reaction, was often side-tracked, which, in turn, led to more insightful observation on real life. He was obviously eager to share his life experiences,…
Writers: Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre, Tricia Paoluccio Music and Lyrics: Dolly Parton, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jack Clement, Bob Carlisle, Randy Thomas, Frieda Parton, Mark Anderson and The Bee Gees Additional Material: Jonathan Harvey Director: Gabriel Barre Failed, would-be comedian Kevin (Steven Webb) is on the wrong side of 40 and doesn’t have his troubles to seek. Failing at work, as well as relationships, he’s currently confined to the attic of his childhood home as he isolates with his parents during the COVID lockdown (yes, we are now sufficiently removed from the pandemic to have comedy musicals set during it).…
It’s quite a flex to begin a gig by revealing that the reason it was postponed from earlier in the year is that you were shooting a prominent role in a big television drama in Australia. And yet this is a show that finds Lloyd Griffith at his most vulnerable, with the second big disclosure of the night coming when he removes his cap to show his tentatively resurgent hair, the recovery shoots of his recent transplant. Having appeared in Ted Lasso and starring in the aforementioned Death In Paradise spin-off, Return To Paradise, Griffiths is on the cusp of…
Story & Lyrics: Isla Cowan Music, Lyrics & Arrangements: Andy McGregor Directors: Isla Cowan & Andy McGregor Choreographer: Chris Stuart Wilson Musical Director: Alan Penman Sound Design: Fraser Milroy Dramaturg: Debbie Hannan A new musical about the proposed, controversial disposal of oil company Shell’s Brent Spar oil storage facility in 1995 has inspired Glasgow theatre company Sleeping Warrior’s latest musical. The demise of the giant, rusting, yellow monolith rising 135 meters above the North Sea sparked a global media storm, prompting both public and political protest that included the boycotting of Shell petrol stations, physical assaults, and an arson attack…
Book, Music & Lyrics: Irene Sankoff & David Hein Director: Christopher Ashley The unlikeliest of source materials have provided the most fruitful works in musical theatre in the past decade: the wives of Henry VIII in Six, a founding father of the US in Hamilton and a teenage character in a Shakespeare tragedy in & Juliet. Come From Away, now on its first UK tour, has as its source, the consequences of the grounding of all flights in the aftermath of 9/11. As unlikely a premise as it is, it has proved to be a phenomenal word-wide success. In the…
Writers: Ian Rankin & Simon Reade Director: Loveday Ingram A dinner party isn’t quite John Rebus’ normal environment. Certainly not one in a swanky Edinburgh town house. The newly retired Detective Inspector is here as a plus one to his ‘friend’ lawyer Stephanie Jeffries (Abigail Thaw). Wheeler dealer host Paul Goodwin (Neil McKinven) and his wife Harriet (Teresa Banham) have staged a murder mystery game for the amusement of their guests – maybe not so much amusement for Rebus. The fellow dinner guests include dodgy casino owner Jack Fleming (Billy Hartman) and his young, social media influencer girlfriend Candida Jones…