Tag Archives: Citizens Theatre Company

Writer:  John Byrne Director: Caroline Paterson Reviewer:  R G Balgray Successful sequels are difficult to achieve and when you look at any trilogy, the “middle” piece can often seem like the runt of the litter. That said, the Citizens team manages to blow up a storm in their new production of Cuttin' a Rug, the second of John Byrne’s Slab ...

Writer:  Richard Brinsley Sheridan Director: Dominic Hill Reviewer:  R G Balgray Difficulties abound in approaching Georgian drama without preconceptions: those powdered wigs, and convoluted manners, as the age of wit and decorum awaits the tsunami of cultural and social changes brought forth by the 19th Century. And The Rivals is firmly of its age too -  locked in a distant ...

Writer: Frank McGuinness Director: Jeremy Herrin Reviewer: R G Balgray Almost as soon as the lights come up, we are introduced to the febrile, urgent imaginings and memories of the older Kenneth Pyper. For this is the revival production of Frank McGuinness’s 1985 play, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme; and Pyper’s memories are of his fallen ...

Writer: Zinnie Harris Director: Dominic Hill Reviewer: R G Balgray Plays seem to come in threes this year (no jokes about Glasgow buses, please). Hot on the heels of the James Plays comes the Citizens and the National Theatre of Scotland’s modern production ofThe Oresteia. The doomed house of Atreus is reimagined by Zinnie Harris as This Restless House – ...

Writer: Samuel Beckett Director: Dominic Hill Reviewer: R G Balgray   Endgame, Beckett’s one act foray into those thoughts and moments before the final darkness, is seen by many as one of his masterpieces. It’s therefore given a suitably reverential treatment in the Citizens/HOME co-production at Glasgow Citizens Theatre; and a respectful, full house will have gone home satisfied that ...

Writer: John Byrne Director: David Hayman Reviewer: R. G. Balgray It must be difficult dealing with a classic of Scottish theatre: there are so few of them, in the first place, and this must play havoc with audience expectations. The temptation not to tamper must be huge. And with something like The Slab Boys, there’s the added factor – few ...

Writer: Steven Jeffreys Director: Dominic Hill Reviewer: R. G. Balgray Mention John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and it’s hard to avoid words like hedonism and lechery. A man of rare wit and ability, he was following the pathway of excess long before it became a Romantic cliché. So it might be tempting to expect something of a morality tale ...