Author: Hugh Simpson
Art
★★★★☆ Sparkling:
Art, at the King’s until Saturday, is everything a high-profile touring show should be – a carefully thought out, well-directed production of a hit play featuring a big-name cast at the top of their game.
Dear Brutus
★★★★☆ Old world charm:
Threepenny Theatricals’ Dear Brutus at the Church Hill is a resolutely odd piece, hugely uneven in tone, but discharged with such grace and skill that is compulsively watchable.
Touching The Void
★★★★☆ Viscerally convincing:
There is a depth and grit to Touching The Void at the Lyceum that threatens to carry all before it.
The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven
★★★★★ Sublime:
Forget any controversy linked to The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven. It should be judged purely as a theatrical experience. On those terms, it is moving, profound and quite brilliantly executed.
Little Red Riding Hood
★★★★☆ Traditionally welcome:
There is a great deal in Little Red Riding Hood at the Church Hill Theatre that is involving, warm and funny.
Cinderella
★★★★☆ Sparkling:
Scottish Ballet’s Cinderella, back at the Festival Theatre this Christmas, is still a festive treat with huge reserves of charm and elegance.
Mouthpiece
★★★☆☆ Political emotion:
There is much to admire about the staging of Mouthpiece at the Traverse, and even more about how it is acted. In the end, however, the play tantalises rather than delivers.
Wendy and Peter Pan
★★★★☆ Magic:
Old and new collide in Wendy and Peter Pan, a beautifully staged Lyceum Christmas production that combines originality with fidelity to the spirit of a much-loved classic.
Nativity! The Musical
★★★★☆ Unstoppable:
Nativity! The Musical, at the Festival Theatre until Sunday, is an unashamedly cheesy romp that bears little serious examination, but whose energy and sugary optimism will brook no argument.
Rambert: Life is a Dream
★★★☆☆ Woozy poetry:
Rambert’s Life is a Dream, at the Festival Theatre to Saturday, is a peculiar, poetic piece that suffers from pulling in too many directions at once.
