Scotsman.com - Performing Arts Feed

Theatre review: First Love, Edinburgh

Sat, 25 May 2013 02:48:14 GMT

OF ALL the theatre companies in all the world, the Gare St Lazare Players of Ireland, founded in 1997, surely have the clearest mission.

Comedy review: Dylan Moran, Inverness

Sat, 25 May 2013 02:45:07 GMT

WHEN railing against one’s own mortality and flailing against the onward march of civilisation are your default settings, even a spluttering work in progress from a comic as gifted as Dylan Moran is richly entertaining.

Interview: Ruthie Henshall’s show must go on

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:06:06 GMT

She’s been an all singing, all dancing musical theatre star for 27 years, but Ruthie Henshall has always spoken honestly about the tough times. The key, she says, is finding a balance

Livingston Players bring Blackfriars Wynd to stage

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:05:56 GMT

The Livingston Players may perform in West Lothian, but their latest production has its heart set firmly in the Capital.

Review: Highland Fling, Edinburgh

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:59:29 GMT

AS the house lights dim and a chorus of Hey Donald Where’s Your Troosers? gives way to throbbing techno beats, the tone of Highland Fling is immediately established.

Sir Roger Moore to make debut Edinburgh appearance

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:06:16 GMT

Sir Roger Moore today announced he will make his first stage appearance in Edinburgh later this year, as he took a cheeky pop at fellow James Bond actor Sir Sean Connery.

Back to basics for Scottish Opera?

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:43:09 GMT

Scottish Opera’s new season is short on big productions, but in revisiting its roots it’s hoping for a ‘leaner, fitter’ fresh start

Theatre reviews: The 39 Steps | The Importance of Being Earnest | Mortal Memories

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:17:47 GMT

The foibles and mores of the past are a rich seam from which to mine humour, as a revival of Patrick Barlow’s Buchan adaptation amply demonstrates

Voguing and house music’s politically radical past

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:13:58 GMT

House music and voguing are more politically radical than you might think. Kirstin Innes on a festival where clubbing rubs shoulders with transgender theory and the avant garde

500 dancers take part in Sunshine on Leith filming

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:38:08 GMT

THE sun may have been shining but it was over the Leith boundary as over 500 dancers took part in filming today for upcoming musical Sunshine on Leith outside the National Gallery of Scotland.

Theatre review: The 39 steps, Edinburgh

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:51:20 GMT

THE 39 Steps has four actors playing 139 characters in 100 minutes. Quite how many Hitchcock gags are embedded in the script, however, is a question only opening stage act Mr Memory may be able to answer.

Morecambe and Wise writer Eddie Braben dies

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:49:01 GMT

Comedy writer Eddie Braben, the “third man” behind the success of Morecambe and Wise, died yesterday at the age of 82.

Massacre play set for Edinburgh

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:25:20 GMT

A CONTROVERSIAL play, partly inspired by the Anders Breivik massacre, will be shown in Norway after its premiere in Edinburgh.

Michael Fry: Wagner remains meister of controversy

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:37:12 GMT

On the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth, opinion remains deeply divided over whether the quality of his music outweighs his unpalatable views on Jews, writes Michael Fry

Gary Mackay talks of appearance in The Thirty Nine Steps

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:40:47 GMT

EASTER Road, or to be precise, an old church hall off Easter Road, is where Gary Mackay made his stage debut. The actor, who attended Leith Walk Primary and Drummond High, was eight at the time.

Madama Butterfly fluttering back to Scotland

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:16:38 GMT

SCOTTISH Opera will stage productions of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Mozart’s Don Giovanni in its 2013-14 season.

10 things to do in Scotland this week

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:15:21 GMT

THIS week’s top events across Scotland, including the Perth Festival of the Arts, the Knockengorroch World Ceildih, the Burns an’ a’ That festival and the Electric Frog weekender.

Dance review: Sutra, Edinburgh

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:32:07 GMT

AS ONE visually striking moment melts into the next, you start to realise that Sutra is as much a piece of visual art as it is performance. Which, given that the set was designed by British sculptor Antony Gormley, makes perfect sense.

Opera review: Simon Boccanegra, Perth Festival

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:37:42 GMT

Was English Touring Opera wise to take on such a dark and weighty chunk of Verdi as Simon Boccanegra? On last night’s evidence in Perth – a tail-end performance in this current Spring tour – it seems to have bitten off slightly more than it can chew.

The ‘lesbian’ teacher scandal that shook society

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:08:24 GMT

IT WAS a salacious scandal that rocked the upper echelons of 19th-century Edinburgh society to the core. Two female teachers at an exclusive boarding school for girls had their careers ruined after being accused by a pupil of having an affair.