As a singer-songwriter, Karine Polwart has won many awards. But nothing prepared me for her gift as a storyteller. In Windblown she imagines what a palm, which has been contained in a glasshouse at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens for the last 200 years, is thinking…
The press release said this play was about ‘the onrushing climate apocalypse’. So, it’s no longer about climate change or even the climate crisis. It seems we are all doomed! And after seeing Flora Wilson Brown’s production I wonder what that ‘beautiful future’ is. Heaven?…
Lucie Barat began her show by asking for the lights to come back up and then addressed the audience directly. She told us, This is my story. It’s hard. Thereafter she brought forth all sorts of emotions in me? And questions? Was that a theatrical…
I wasn’t at all surprised to hear that Hot Mess is transferring to London after the Fringe. Its music and its performers are worthy of any West End stage. Again, it was no surprise that both performers, Danielle Steers and Tobias Turley, have both had…
Christmas has come early this year, and what a gift Johnny McKnight is giving us! McKnight has been a pantomime dame for more than 20 years and, in association with the National Theatre of Scotland (which is itself an endorsement), he takes us on an…
Tuesday 5th August 2025 Dad’s Army at the Maddermarket Theatre is a nostalgic and spirited celebration of one of Britain’s best-loved sitcoms, transformed affectionately for the stage. Directed by John Mangan, with production management by Joe Flatt, the production is a warm-hearted homage, bringing the…
Marianne wants to be taken seriously, Hattie just wants to get drunk and Emma wants a husband, but when arrogant aristocrat Chester arrives they decide to hold a fake seance, with unexpected results. It’s fun but a little exhausting, especially as some of the dialogue…
I have to confess I had never been to a secret cinema event before and didn’t really know what to expect, from the outset ‘Grease’ did not disappoint, as we were ushered through the ticket barriers we found ourselves in a fabulous 1950’s fairground complete…
For producer and champion of new writing Ellie Keel’s debut play stars not only Dawn Steele, star of the long-running TV series Monarch of the Glen, Wild at Heart and Holby City, but also James Robinson, whose first acting role was as the young William…
Ella’s life is a mess. She doesn’t take responsibility for anything. But deep down she wants to do the right thing, and when a plastic bottle from her schooldays turns up in Malaysia, doing the right thing includes recycling single use plastic. But in a…