. . . despite my ignorance when it comes to ballet, I expected that I’d still enjoy it . . . Writing this review has made me feel rather uncultured, particularly in the face of many other great reviews, but I suppose not everybody likes the same thing. After all, Nijinsky’s balletic interpretation of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring got booed off the stage, so it’s probably a good thing to divide one’s audience.
Read MoreThis piece is presented by Traverse Theatre Company, who were established over 50 years ago to extend the essence of the Edinburgh Festival and nurture emerging talent. The play certainly fits in that spirit and I can see how it would work well in a small, dark pub room watched by an eager festival audience but it loses something of that atmosphere in the bigger more formal space of Tobacco Factory Theatres.
Read More
The great, dark, looming presence of the black cross – stage height – against a blood red background seemed to herald the doing away with nods and winks as far as the play’s religious content was concerned. This was an unambiguous statement. Here was Big Brother about to do his worst.
Read More
Grand operas on tour can be great unwieldy monsters, hugely expensive to stage and with eye-watering ticket prices to match. Not so where Pop-Up Opera are concerned, for they specialise in making opera more accessible and welcoming to a wider audience than is normally associated with this ‘elitist’ art form. Less grand perhaps, but a great deal more user-friendly.
Read More
In a bar near The Old Vic a THEATRE BUFF is chatting to his friend, an ageing and slightly conservative DRAMATURG for a touring theatre company.
D: Madame Bovary, a play you say?
TB: That’s right.
D: Not possible. She’s a wonderful literary creation I’ll grant you, but it’s all internal, her thoughts and emotions, she hardly says a word.
Read More
Breach Theatre Company describe themselves as performance makers crossing disciplines and mashing media. Credit should go to the directors and producers of this piece for their use of video, lighting and staging; all of which are deftly blended to produce an ambitious and unnerving analysis of the events of 30 years ago, which still have a bearing on our lives today.
Read More