SCOTLAND THEATER REVIEWS

At this stage, it might be a bit wobbly, but promises great potential. It’s a portrait of toxic masculinity and female empowerment, a personal reflection of the horrors experienced during the regime. Mostly, it’s genuinely amusing. Alminas spins a yarn full of peculiar characters and relentless ...

Written and directed by Luke Thornborough, this production hails from New Zealand with wit and charm, offering a bleak look into survival. After empty chit-chat about embarrassing music and food, the two characters dig into spirituality and science. Kat Glass and Courtney Bassett give stellar perfor...

It’s so rare to be surrounded by the complete absence of light, that part alone is a treat in itself. Truthfully, it’s slightly alarming at the start, but once you relax into it, you’ll come to appreciate all the different elements that make the production and the absolute brilliance of the co...

A collection of funny characters accompanies Sophie as she discovers her where she comes from. Directed by Rob van Vuuren and boasting a number of awards in their native country, Île is a good-hearted look at what makes us, us....

17 Minutes is a well-crafted and emotional piece, elevated by its attention to detail in both stage design and in the cast’s performance as they bring a devastated community and fraught relationships to life. Rubens’ slow spiral as he copes with the consequences of his choices is paced to perfec...

A minimalist set and tiny venue require extraordinary actors, and Michael Matthews’ Blue absolutely delivers....

Hailing from Australia, Elisa Riddington brings her solo show, Child of Sunday, to the Edinburgh Fringe as part of the Free Fringe programme. The backdrop of the show on entry is a cross-shaped stained glass window with light pouring through. ...

Everyone has a part to play in the fight against the climate crisis, even comedians, Stuart Goldsmith argues. His lighthearted hour at the Monkey Barrel gently encourages the audience to consider the climate and their everyday actions....

It’s hard to believe there are any origin stories that haven’t been explored yet at this stage given the success of previous shows such as Unfortunate at multiple Fringe venues, but there is still one, tiny tale to be told: that of a certain fairy from JM Barrie’s Peter Pan and how she end...

Big Fish is one of two shows presented by students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The musical is an adaptation of the 1998 Daniel Wallace novel and 2003 Tim Burton film of the same name. The screenwriter John August then worked with composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa to adapt the piece for th...

As bass blasts through the speakers of the cave-like intimate theatre, Elle Dillon-Reams bursts onstage in a sequined jumpsuit, limbs pulsing in time to the rhythms. HoneyBEE, a solo performance combining spoken word, dance, gig theatre, physical theatre, and storytelling maintains this electric fes...

Abridged from Eileen Atkins’s play, the four-hander shows the visceral longing shared by the two women. With strands of personal letters and diary entries, they cross the thin lines between admiration, affection, and attraction....

The Titanic has been in the news quite a lot this year with its endlessly fascinating, tragic story. When a third-class passenger accosts the chairman of the White Star Line as he tries to spot his family on the quay before the crossing, an unlikely friendship starts. One a reverent from Scotland, t...

Pretentiously meta and absolutely bland, the piece is a paceless trudge. While the character alludes to sexual misconduct, by the end we still don’t know what happened. It’s not suspenseful, it’s merely frustrating. ...

Truly Siskind-Weiss’s father died when she was ten years old. Since then, her life has been divided by that watershed. In a tender monologue where she tries to make sense of death, Siskind-Weiss mourns the person she could have been. Grown up too quickly but still treated like a child, she now yea...

It’s all a bit chaotic and disorganised narratively, with an unfortunate lack of poetry in the text itself. While Malseed takes an individual approach to her story, she doesn’t really say much of what lies behind the events. Belfast is painted like a dangerous city, but the causes for that are l...

What did our critic think of OH MY HEART, OH MY HOME at Summerhall?...

It’s Midsummer’s Eve, and a young man is ready to plunge into the Thames to make his sacrifice. As we stand alongside him, we dive into British mythology and pagan beliefs as he goes on a journey defined by backhandedly bitter irony. Nathaniel Jones writes an ancient fable suspended in time, add...

A deeply intimate performance by Robyn Hunter peels off the layers of bereavement and explores the reactive coping mechanisms we get wrapped up in. With effortless observational humour and a sadness only broken by bitterness, the piece unravels the fragmentation of the grieving experience through th...

A young detective works against the clock as she questions a suspect who looks like the least likely person to be linked to a murder. He's a devoted son, a successful businessman and a respectable member of society. But as the minutes tick away, the detective starts to suspect that all is not what i...

Otto & Astrid’s Joint Solo Project is a fun show that will have you clapping and singing along to their songs. While it has a slow beginning and an uncertain middle, it certainly has a strong ending with some great musicianship and a delightful rock and roll vibe. ...

What’s the worst date you’ve ever had? Can you remember the exact date it happened and recount the evening in every detail? Sasha Ellen can, and she’s going to tell you all about it! Sasha Ellen: When Life Gives You Ellens, Make Ellenade is a stand-up show in which Ellen takes us through her r...

Blues and Burlesque is the perfect antidote if you’re searching for a decadent night of fun in the midst of some global turmoil. After all, there’s nothing like a Charleston to distract from the apocalypse....

Trauma-based dark humour is plentiful in modern comedy – as Krystal Evans says herself, making comedy out of tragedy is the best way to take the power back from it – but none do it quite like The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp, Krystal Evans' debut hour at the Fringe....

It’s a very American coming-of-age story. The script follows all the correct beats and the direction tackles the necessary points for it to be a well-paced and flowing piece of theatre, but the characters are walking clichés. Everything is done abnormally by the book, including the performances b...