Devised by the company based on an idea by Christine Devaney Co-Directed by Christine Devaney, Maria Oller, and Jo Timmins Composer David Paul Jones From the moment you step into the Traverse foyer, it is clear that The Table is not a piece of theatre meant to be passively observed. Instead, audience members are immediately confronted by the cast and asked a deceptively simple question: “Who invited you?” Audiences are handed maps to navigate their way into the performance space. Some audience members are directed to enter via the stage itself and, as there are already performers on stage, the…
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/Director: Sharron Devine The Only Way Out Is In is a short (30 minutes) but very special experience currently on offer at a wooden pavilion in the Explorers Garden, Pitlochry Festival Theatre. I arrived with only a vague idea of what it might entail, feeling quite apprehensive as each show is performed to an audience of one. I’ve been in some small audiences in my time at the Edinburgh Fringe but never experienced being the sole focus of the performer’s attention. I was soon reassured by the welcoming smile of Sharron Devine, Dundee-born specialist in creating intimate, site-specific theatrical work.…
Writer: Douglas Maxwell Director: Sally Reid In 1995, two students meet at a party and make a pact: they will never touch, or if they do so just once, they must part as strangers. The impulsive and mercurial Iris believes that this will preserve ‘the charge’ between them and save them from inevitable staleness and sadness. Law student Robin reluctantly agrees. Iris has forgotten the encounter by the time her hangover lifts, but Robin holds tightly onto the memory until they meet again by chance, 30 years later. Writer Douglas Maxwell has an impressive track record of award-winning plays about…
Writer: Debbie Hannan Director: Laila Noble It was an apt choice by the team behind this hilarious and snappy play to welcome the audience into the venue to the sound of their best Girl Power playlist. It featured the biggest leading women in music of the past twenty years: from Ariana Grande to The Pussycat Dolls, everyone made the cut. This is an all-women show through and through; directed, written and expertly acted by Dani Heron, Laura Lovemore, and Anna Russell-Martin. They not only play the titular hens, but also the elusive bride, Coral, the godly Luna, and the walking…
The support for the evening is Gabriella Cilmi, the Australian singer who had the hit Sweet About Me in 2008. She is promoting her new album Pure Love and opens with its title track. She has an amazing voice and wonderful stage presence. Her song Too Far Gone is about being signed at the tender age of 13 and all the things the music industry expects of a female singer. It is a shame we have not heard more of her in the last 23 years since she was signed. Beverley Knight performs two sets and it is not just…
Reviewer: Sue Proudlove Artistic Director: Tory Dobrin Classical ballet is an art form that everyone recognises, whether or not they’ve ever seen it performed live. It’s all about grace, and athleticism, and artistry…and amazing costumes (especially the tutus). The ballerina long predates the Disney princess as an icon of femininity, and we all know snippets of the big tunes: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker. What Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (aka The Trocks) have done so brilliantly since the 1970s is subvert these familiar tropes while treating classical ballet’s venerable legacy with affection and respect. The company was…
Writer: Denise Mina Adaptor: Linda McLean Director: Dominic Hill Directed by Dominic Hill, The Long Drop marks the final opening night of the Citizens Theatre’s highly anticipated reopening season. Linda McLean’s adaptation of Denise Mina’s novel drops us into 1957 Glasgow and wastes no time drawing us in. It’s a darkly funny play that keeps the audience completely gripped. The play follows a tense, whisky-fuelled night shared by William Watt and Peter Manuel. Thick with cigarette smoke and half-truths, their uneasy back-and-forth moves through the streets like a game neither man can afford to lose. The tension is palpable, but…
Book: Linda Wooverton Music: Alan Menken Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Tim Rice Director: Gillian Murdoch This production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast by the Highland Youth Theatre group involves a cast of 30 young people, but this is not your average junior theatre performance, it has amazing sets, fabulous costumes, and very good acting. The lead role of Belle is played by Mia Carroll, with the Beast (Seb Kielczewski) and Gaston (Euan Gray) all being some of the older cast members. Every character is key to the story and they all come together and work seamlessly to produce an…