Scotland Theater Reviews Page 21

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: SOPHIE SANTOS… IS CODEPENDENT, Underbelly, Bristo Square
by Kat Mokrynski - August 12, 2023

Have you ever been through a breakup? Did that breakup happen while you were trying to give each other some “space” through long distance? Are you currently living in the house next to your ex’s parents, who are trying to be nice but want you to leave? Sophie Santos is ready to tell us all about it ...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: LUCAS O'NEIL: EMOTIONAL MAN, Just The Tonic At The Caves
by Kat Mokrynski - August 10, 2023

A girl with sunflowers in her eyes. A cabin with a view of your mother’s grave. The disorder known as optimism. Not subjects you would expect from your average comedian. But Lucas O’Neil is no average comedian, as proven in his brilliant new show, Lucas O’Neil: Emotional Man. ...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: PHILIPP KOSTELECKY: DADDY'S HOME, The Stand Comedy Club 2
by Kat Mokrynski - August 10, 2023

What do you look for in a potential partner? Someone who loves to relax at home? Someone who knows what they’re doing in life? Someone with a happy family? If so, you and Philipp Kostelecky don’t have much in common. ...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: DEUTERONOMY, ZOO Southside
by Cindy Marcolina - August 09, 2023

Funny and distinctively Beckettian, Deuteronomy is about everything and nothing. The two men tackle the meaning of life, eternal damnation, and heavenly salvation the same way they discuss the differences between apples and peaches....

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: NOT OUR CRIME, STILL OUR SENTENCE, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose
by Cindy Marcolina - August 09, 2023

Ambling between cheaply crafted stock characters and expanding only the lesser interesting ones, the project needs work desperately. The topic has the potential to make for a provocative and arresting comic drama about the fallout of the system, but, so far, it doesn’t show it....

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: PLEASURE LITTLE TREASURE, Underbelly Cowgate
by Cindy Marcolina - August 09, 2023

At this stage, it might be a bit wobbly, but promises great potential. It’s a portrait of toxic masculinity and female empowerment, a personal reflection of the horrors experienced during the regime. Mostly, it’s genuinely amusing. Alminas spins a yarn full of peculiar characters and relentless soci...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: ALONE, Assembly George Square Studios
by Cindy Marcolina - August 09, 2023

Written and directed by Luke Thornborough, this production hails from New Zealand with wit and charm, offering a bleak look into survival. After empty chit-chat about embarrassing music and food, the two characters dig into spirituality and science. Kat Glass and Courtney Bassett give stellar perfor...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: KLANGHAUS: DARKROOM, Summerhall
by Cindy Marcolina - August 09, 2023

It’s so rare to be surrounded by the complete absence of light, that part alone is a treat in itself. Truthfully, it’s slightly alarming at the start, but once you relax into it, you’ll come to appreciate all the different elements that make the production and the absolute brilliance of the company....

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: ÎLE, Pleasance Courtyard
by Cindy Marcolina - August 09, 2023

A collection of funny characters accompanies Sophie as she discovers her where she comes from. Directed by Rob van Vuuren and boasting a number of awards in their native country, Île is a good-hearted look at what makes us, us....

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: 17 MINUTES, Gilded Balloon
by L Gourley - August 08, 2023

17 Minutes is a well-crafted and emotional piece, elevated by its attention to detail in both stage design and in the cast’s performance as they bring a devastated community and fraught relationships to life. Rubens’ slow spiral as he copes with the consequences of his choices is paced to perfection...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: BLUE, Assembly George Square
by Mary Baillie - August 08, 2023

A minimalist set and tiny venue require extraordinary actors, and Michael Matthews’ Blue absolutely delivers....

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: CHILD OF SUNDAY, Laughing Horse @ The Counting House
by Fiona Scott - August 08, 2023

Hailing from Australia, Elisa Riddington brings her solo show, Child of Sunday, to the Edinburgh Fringe as part of the Free Fringe programme. The backdrop of the show on entry is a cross-shaped stained glass window with light pouring through. ...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: STUART GOLDSMITH: SPOILERS, Monkey Barrel
by Fiona Scott - August 08, 2023

Everyone has a part to play in the fight against the climate crisis, even comedians, Stuart Goldsmith argues. His lighthearted hour at the Monkey Barrel gently encourages the audience to consider the climate and their everyday actions....

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: TINK, Underbelly Clover
by Fiona Scott - August 08, 2023

It’s hard to believe there are any origin stories that haven’t been explored yet at this stage given the success of previous shows such as Unfortunate at multiple Fringe venues, but there is still one, tiny tale to be told: that of a certain fairy from JM Barrie’s Peter Pan and how she ended up so s...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: BIG FISH, Assembly Rooms, Music Hall
by Fiona Scott - August 08, 2023

Big Fish is one of two shows presented by students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The musical is an adaptation of the 1998 Daniel Wallace novel and 2003 Tim Burton film of the same name. The screenwriter John August then worked with composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa to adapt the piece for th...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: HONEYBEE, Pleasance Courtyard
by Katie Kirkpatrick - August 08, 2023

As bass blasts through the speakers of the cave-like intimate theatre, Elle Dillon-Reams bursts onstage in a sequined jumpsuit, limbs pulsing in time to the rhythms. HoneyBEE, a solo performance combining spoken word, dance, gig theatre, physical theatre, and storytelling maintains this electric fes...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: VITA AND VIRGINIA (ABRIDGED), TheSpace @ Niddry St
by Cindy Marcolina - August 08, 2023

Abridged from Eileen Atkins’s play, the four-hander shows the visceral longing shared by the two women. With strands of personal letters and diary entries, they cross the thin lines between admiration, affection, and attraction....

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: TITANIC: THE LAST HERO AND THE LAST COWARD, Charlotte Chapel
by Cindy Marcolina - August 08, 2023

The Titanic has been in the news quite a lot this year with its endlessly fascinating, tragic story. When a third-class passenger accosts the chairman of the White Star Line as he tries to spot his family on the quay before the crossing, an unlikely friendship starts. One a reverent from Scotland, t...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: THIS IS NOT A PLAY (IT'S A PATHETIC CRY FOR HELP), Assembly George Square Studios
by Cindy Marcolina - August 08, 2023

Pretentiously meta and absolutely bland, the piece is a paceless trudge. While the character alludes to sexual misconduct, by the end we still don’t know what happened. It’s not suspenseful, it’s merely frustrating. ...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: THE STRONGEST GIRL IN THE WORLD, Greenside @ Nicolson Square
by Cindy Marcolina - August 08, 2023

Truly Siskind-Weiss’s father died when she was ten years old. Since then, her life has been divided by that watershed. In a tender monologue where she tries to make sense of death, Siskind-Weiss mourns the person she could have been. Grown up too quickly but still treated like a child, she now yearn...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: THE HALF MOON, Pleasance Dome
by Cindy Marcolina - August 08, 2023

It’s all a bit chaotic and disorganised narratively, with an unfortunate lack of poetry in the text itself. While Malseed takes an individual approach to her story, she doesn’t really say much of what lies behind the events. Belfast is painted like a dangerous city, but the causes for that are left ...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: OH MY HEART, OH MY HOME, Summerhall
by Cindy Marcolina - August 08, 2023

What did our critic think of OH MY HEART, OH MY HOME at Summerhall?...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: SING, RIVER, Pleasance Courtyard
by Cindy Marcolina - August 08, 2023

It’s Midsummer’s Eve, and a young man is ready to plunge into the Thames to make his sacrifice. As we stand alongside him, we dive into British mythology and pagan beliefs as he goes on a journey defined by backhandedly bitter irony. Nathaniel Jones writes an ancient fable suspended in time, address...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERNOVA DE LOUTHERBERGH, TheSpace On The Mile
by Cindy Marcolina - August 08, 2023

A deeply intimate performance by Robyn Hunter peels off the layers of bereavement and explores the reactive coping mechanisms we get wrapped up in. With effortless observational humour and a sadness only broken by bitterness, the piece unravels the fragmentation of the grieving experience through th...

EDINBURGH 2023: Review: AN INTERROGATION, Summerhall
by Natalie O'Donoghue - August 08, 2023

A young detective works against the clock as she questions a suspect who looks like the least likely person to be linked to a murder. He's a devoted son, a successful businessman and a respectable member of society. But as the minutes tick away, the detective starts to suspect that all is not what i...