Dug Campbell
Dangerous Corner
★★★★☆ Absorbing
The Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group’s production of J.B. Priestley’s Dangerous Corner, upstairs at the Assembly Roxy until Saturday, is a tense affair, well staged and compelling.
Around the World in 80 Days
★★★☆☆ Enjoyable
Arkle’s Around the World in 80 Days, at the Royal Scots Club in Fringe Week Two, is a straightforward piece of family-friendly theatre. Inventive and committed, it has its drawbacks, but is always fun.
Macbeth & Dunsinane
Macbeth: ★★★☆☆ Speedy
Dunsinane: ★★★★☆ Bloody
A Necessary Cat have done it again – bringing a powerful double helping of a Shakespeare starter and Shakespeare-adjacent main course to the Fringe in which the whole is better the sum of its parts.
The Fastest Clock in the Universe
★★★★☆ Febrile
EGTG drill down deep into the vicious heart of Philip Ridley’s The Fastest Clock in the Universe, in a production at the Assembly Roxy which never goes quite where you expect it to.
Cyrano de Bergerac
★★★★☆ Unexpectedly touching
There is an almost wilfully uneven quality to Arkle’s Cyrano de Bergerac at the Hill Street Theatre, but – eschewing much of the heroic bombast that is usually associated with the play – it manages to be convincing and affecting.
Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather
★★★☆☆ Well-turned
Amidst the noise, rituals and trappings of pantomime and Christmas, Strawmoddie’s take on Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather provides a welcome parody of our seasonal excess, at the Pleasance Theatre to Sunday.
Chalk
★★★★☆ Well observed
The UK premiere of Walt McGough’s Chalk from the Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group, upstairs at the Assembly Roxy, lacks a little in apocalyptic intensity – but convinces in its evocation of human relationships.
Apocalypse beyond the line
EGTG revive Walt McGough’s Chalk
Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group return this coming week with a revival of American playwright Walt McGough’s intense, 2015 sci-fi fable, Chalk, upstairs at the Assembly Roxy from Wed 8 to Sat 11 November 2023.
Hamlet / Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
★★★☆☆ Pacy and ★★★★☆ Slick
New Edinburgh amateur company Necessary Cat make their debut performances for the last week only of the fringe with the elegantly twinned pairing of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
Copenhagen
★★★★☆ Stimulating and engaging
In Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen at the Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group tackle a difficult, sometimes impenetrable, play with intelligence and skill.
