Writer: Mai Stacey Director: Mai Stacey Sasha and her friends accept a free holiday at her uncle’s country house in the summer of 1998, a time when it seemed that things could only get better. Only they don’t. Once Sasha’s uncle (Joe McCloskey) is established as a misogynist and sexual predator things go rapidly downhill. We’re straight into big old creepy house tropes as Sasha (Abbie Want), Henry (Finn Kennedy Macmillan), Cedric (Jamie Radcliffe) and Rose (Jessica Knight) try to figure out whether to stay or go. We’re soon plunged into a messed-up murder mystery when Uncle Ernest’s body is…
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.
This is the first time I’ve caught the long-running Austentatious, which has been a popular fixture at the Edinburgh Fringe since 2012, when it began in a free venue above a pub. Nowadays it commands a rather grand venue, the McEwan Hall, although the ornate interior is largely hidden by black drapes and raked seating. A sell-out crowd obviously included some long-time fans, who had come prepared with suggestions of titles for the company to pick from. Today’s selection was ‘Heated Gentry’, and with no apparent preparation, collaboration or panic among the cast, off we went. Not only are the…
Writer: D H Lawrence Adaptor: Ben Mills-Wood Director: Simon Ravenhill It was a relief to get out into daylight and fresh air at the end of 45 minutes in the company of The Prussian Officer, but that is a compliment to the dark and claustrophobic world created by this production by Blue Orange Arts. Lawrence’s short story, written in 1914, examines the relationship between a young orderly and his captain. Thrown together in the pressure cooker of military preparations, initial wariness turns into a dangerous obsession on the part of the officer. The younger man has a life outside, and…
Writer: Conor Kelly O’Brien Director: Conor Kelly O’Brien A drama company’s attempts to bring Ulysses, James Joyce’s impossible to adapt and equally impossible to read novel, to the stage is the premise of this show from Scranton Fringe Festival and The New Vintage Ensemble. Opening as the company try and perform a scene that no-one other than the director understands, it quickly shifts to a debate about the merits of the novel and then to an honest and humorous pastiche of every drama company that has ever had massive ambitions for a Fringe show that may be out of kilter…
The Traveling Wilburys were a “supergroup” made up of five music legends: Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and George Harrison. This tribute experience of their music is led by Paul Hopkins and has been touring for eleven years. He himself is now older than the Big O, who he plays, was when he passed away as are many of the musicians and indeed the audience. However the songs they play are classics that should live on forever. This is a very well put together production with some wonderful songs from through the years, not just the albums…
A Scottish magic society will stage an exhibition charting 100 years of magic as part of its centenary celebrations. Aberdeen Magical Society’s centenary exhibition will run from August 17 to September 7 2026 at Aberdeen Arts Centre. The free-to-view exhibition charts the society’s progress from its founding in 1926 to the present day. Aberdeen Magical Society committee member Nicolas Maulet MMC has curated the exhibition. “I can’t wait for people to uncover the amazing history of Aberdeen Magical Society during the exhibition at Aberdeen Arts Centre,” he said. “For over 100 years, Aberdeen Magical Society has promoted the art of…
The cast has been announced for 1984, a new adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian classic, adapted by Chris Hannan and directed by Dominic Hill. This co-production between Citizens Theatre, Dundee Rep Theatre and The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh opens in Glasgow on 29 August before touring across Scotland. One of the defining novels of the 20th century, Orwell’s 1984 is a chilling vision of a society built on fear and the manipulation of truth. At its heart is the story of Winston Smith and Julia, whose dangerous love affair sparks an act of rebellion in a world designed to crush hope. Dominic Hill,…
At the annual Edinburgh Comedy Awards Movers and Shakers Lunch, Nica Burns CBE today announced that Emma Brünjes steps up to Executive Director of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Having taken over the then-embryonic Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 1984, Nica has since grown them into the UK’s most prestigious honours in live comedy, widely known as ‘the Oscars of comedy’. Nica has led the Awards through many changes of sponsor and stepped in several times to sponsor them herself when needed, as the most committed champion of new comedic talent for over four decades. Under her direction, the Edinburgh Comedy Awards…