Fifty years after his death, Pablo Picasso is back, warning us, 'You are lucky that I am already dead'! I'd say Amen to that, for the portrait writer Terry D'Alfonso paints (sorry bout the pun) and the pictures conjured up on stage, both literally and…
When it comes to Greek mythology I am totally ignorant. So I was way out of my comfort zone when I decided to take a look at this new work, featuring 11 actors from across Canada, the UK, Malta and beyond. God Catcher reimagines the…
Only last week he was getting rave reviews in London’s West End! Now he’s back for the last time with the solo show he co-wrote and premiered at the Fringe in 2014. Jeffrey Holland proves he is much more than Spike, the camp comedian he…
I have to admit that when I first heard about this musical I wasn’t impressed. I couldn’t begin to imagine how songs could be sung about such a tragedy. But, obviously, that’s why I don’t write musicals! And where have I been, not to know…
Iain McClure has been writing plays ‘on and off’ for the past 40 years But he is also a child psychiatrist, and after coming away from the world premiere of his latest play, I felt like I needed counselling! There are no holds barred in…
I can’t think of anyone who hasn’t seen the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, starring Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, and its sequel. Not to mention the TV series which involved celebrities travelling to India to see if they’d like to retire there. Deborah…
Shows based around a band’s songs can sometimes be lacking in any real content; the storylines vacuous and the characters unconvincing. Not so in this powerhouse of Scottishness. And I’m not talking tartan and shortbread! Runrig’s name has been synonymous with the best of Scottish…
When Scottish writer and performer Gary McNair told Billy Connolly he wanted to make a show about him, he said, ‘Can you not wait till I’m deid?’ But McNair needed him to know just how much he matters to Scotland. And so he set off…
Russian literature is hardly the stuff of fun and frolicking (and the f-word)! But in the hands of Scottish playwright and actor Lesley Hart, Leo Tolstoy’s epic story explodes into the 21st century with much mirth and madness, together, inevitably, with not a little misery.…
Neil Gaiman is a writer of ‘fantastic fiction’ whose characters find the Holy Grail in an Oxfam shop, encounter comedic lover Harlequin in a diner or sit next to a god on a plane. So we’re prepared for anything when this National Theatre production begins…