Author: Hugh Simpson
History
★★★★★ Outstanding
History by Roy Williams is not only the best so far of the offerings on the Lyceum and Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Sound Stage audio platform, it must also have a claim to be the most essential of all the audio dramas provided by theatres in the last 18 months.
Playing With Books – the Yellow Door
…and other final Book Festival events by Hugh Simpson The last of this year’s Playing With Books events at the Book Festival was a singular piece. The Yellow Door was even more of a ‘work in progress’ than is usual for the strand as it is not yet even a book. Instead this was an […]
Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age
★★★☆☆ Mixed bag
Given the honour of closing the Edinburgh International Festival that so nearly never happened, Alan Cumming responds with his trademark gusto and skill. Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age at the Old College Quad is, however, an odd combination of the delightful and the infuriating.
Playing With Books – the Long Drop
..and other recent Book Festival events
The Book Festival continues in its new home at the Edinburgh College of Art on Lauriston Place, and also continues to offer events of interest to theatre-goers.
Jack Docherty – Nothing But
★★★★☆ Oddly serious
Jack Docherty – Nothing But in the Gilded Balloon Wine Bar showcases Fringe veteran Docherty, in a piece of deceptively serious dramatic monologue. It draws on his comic roots and showbiz history, but ends up delivering something more troubling and rewarding.
Slings and Arrows
★★★★☆ Hard hitting
There is raw emotion on display in Slings and Arrows, a disabled led dram from Raised Voices at theSpace@ Surgeons Hall – but there is also humour, stagecraft and real hope.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
★★★★☆ Genuine
The Return of Sherlock Holmes is an enjoyable and convincing entertainment at Gilded Balloon Teviot and another convincing literary adaptation from Nigel Miles-Thomas and Fringe Management.
Sophia
★★★☆☆ Revealing reminder
The conflicting demands of professional ambition and personal happiness are brought into stark focus in Sophia by Frances Poet.
SKANK
★★★★☆ Clever
SKANK at the Pleasance Courtyard is a thoroughly successful and engaging one-woman show that is smart, funny and unexpectedly touching.
Bytesize Theatre
★★★☆☆ Welcome
The lack of time to plan for live theatre at this year’s Fringe has not deterred the Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group. Bytesize Theatre is a collection of three new plays presented on the online Fringe Player. The three pieces are not all equally impressive, but each has intriguing elements.
