David Rankine
To Save the Sea
★★★★☆ Defiant hope
Sleeping Warrior Theatre Company presents To Save the Sea at the Traverse and on a Scottish tour, a new musical capturing the efforts of Greenpeace environmental activists to prevent the disposal of Shell’s Brent Spar oil storage facility at sea in 1995.
Kidnapped
★★★★★ Rattling adventure
Isobel McArthur has excelled herself in her latest adaptation of a classic story to the stage, this time giving Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped a music-filled, comic and heartfelt makeover.
The Last Witch
★★★★☆ Hard as rock:
There is a visceral compulsion to Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Firebrand’s The Last Witch at the Traverse. While apparently telling of a disappeared world, its evocations of fears, suspicions and power imbalances are worryingly contemporary.
The Last Bordello
★★★★☆ Sharp:
There is nothing straightforward about David Leddy’s The Last Bordello for his Fire Exit company, which is at the Traverse to Saturday.
Book Festival Round-up
The view from Charlotte Square:
The Book Festival continues to explore the interface between literature and performance in a way that is refreshing and risk-taking. If it does not always come off, that is certainly a price worth paying.
PPP: Mischief
★★★★☆ Substantial:
There is a real emotional heft to Mischief, the latest Play, Pie and a Pint production at the Traverse, aided by impressive performances and noteworthy direction.
