Posts Tagged ‘review’
The hour we knew nothing of each other
This was almost absurd in its ambition: nearly 100 members of the Edinburgh public play almost 500 parts, with dazzling costumes, and often bizarre props, and for 90 minutes, nobody speaks a word. It was a dadaesque town square with a succession of movements in and out and a variety of characters from the everyday…
Read MoreCreditors
I really wanted an interval. And I was not alone: one audience member, at the end of the first act, when the stage went dark, started to clap hesitantly before realising that they were all alone, and the lights went up again on stage. An hour and fifty minutes is not an eternity to sit…
Read MoreEugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin towers over the Russian literature of the 19th century, and Tchaikovsky’s decision to create an opera based on a text which is still widely read (and regularly re-read) by Russians today was highly audacious. It is a sign of Tchaikovsky’s brilliance that the Opera, rather than the novel in verse it was based…
Read MoreRhinoceros
[This is a #TwoReviews™ Review – Two different reviews of the same performance] #TwoReviews is a literary creation owned by EdinburghFestival.org Rhinoceros by Catherine Carnie Rhinoceros by James O’Brien For David Greig (Artistic Director of the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh) the morning after the Brexit referendum was a moment of discombobulation – he felt odd … “as odd…
Read MoreMr Blue Sky
Mr Blue Sky is a piece of stunning, vibrant and life-affirming theatre that had me horrified, aching, and laughing, and by the end, I felt like simply getting up and dancing. The raw (and sometimes dark) humour coming from the stage was like a bolt of electricity. Mr Blue Sky. Photograph by Andy Catlin. Image…
Read MoreThe Belle’s Stratagem
Oh, this is a gem. A pure, brilliant sparkling gem! This is glorious and hugely enjoyable. The Lyceum has restored a toweringly funny and important comedy to the stage, and it is something you must witness. The term ‘restoration comedy’ has been rewritten here to cement the reputation of along-neglected playwright Hannah Cowley and that…
Read MoreThe Lover
Brevity can aid clarity. The Lover was a short book, this is a relatively short theatre / dance performance, and this is a relatively short review. The Lover is beautiful: visually sparse but still both epic and intimate, with stunning physical moves and choreographed interaction, and a soundtrack that has has you aching to get…
Read MoreThe Arabian Nights
Christmas: Children. Stories. Magic. Farting Dogs. Chess Playing Monkeys. The Arabian Nights has it all, and it’s a delightful, beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable bit of theatre for all the family. The staging and scenery (and even some of the magical scenery changes) are quite spectacular, and the dialogue is fast, funny and spellbinding. It has all the…
Read MoreLa traviata – Scottish Opera
From the rambunctious drinking songs to the pathos of its tragic arias, the staging, costumes and pure flair of the performers in Verdi’s classic La traviata are a treat for the eyes and ears. This is a stunning, vibrant and gloriously staged performance that had Edinburgh’s opening night audience at the Festival Theatre in rapture…
Read MoreLove Song to Lavender Menace
The 1980s were definitely analogue. A bulky cassette player is prominent on the sparse but inventive set, and from time to time cassettes are thrown in, and we hit the play button. The story that unfolds is about the birth, life and ultimate death of a bookshop in the 1980s. On paper, it may sound…
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