West Yorkshire theatre company Northern Broadsides is to be praised for presenting Dostoyevsky’s massive tome in small venues with just three actors. It ended its current tour in Edinburgh at capitaltheatres’ intimate Studio Theatre, with a capacity of just 160, allowing audiences an almost immersive…
This play has much to commend it. To start with, it’s a Royal Shakespeare Company production, directed by the RSC’s co-artistic director Tamara Harvey. And I’ve long been a fan of its leading lady Kara Tointon. It has also been based on W Somerset Maugham’s…
Fans of a good whodunit stylishly presented may well agree with a particular little Belgian detective when he says, ‘Shakespeare is not at all bad but he’s no Agatha Christie’! Hercule Poirot speaks this line in Ken Ludwig’s adaption of Death on the Nile, and…
The Lyceum Theatre itself has a starring role in its latest production! With the stalls removed and raked seating on the stage, Rae Smith has created an exciting space for David Nicholls’ iconic story to unfold, giving audiences the chance to feel part of the…
Any actor playing Inspector Morse has an impossible job to do. No-one can fill the shoes of John Thaw, who played the Oxford-based policeman between 1987 and 2000, nor can any playwright replicate the writings of his creator, Colin Dexter. All these years later, as…
As life on earth appears to be breaking down all around us, H G Wells’ dystopian classic no longer seems to be a sci-fi fantasy. While in 1898 he was responding to the devastating results of colonialism and the terrifying development of modern warfare, 126…
Not many people can say they’ve shared a Burns Supper with the man himself. But that is what’s on offer at one of Edinburgh’s most prestigious addresses this week. The audience sits at the dinner table with theatremaker, educator, writer and performer James Clements, who…
Each year I believe capitaltheatres’ panto can’t be bettered. And each year I am proved wrong! This year’s production, with a set from the London Palladium, really is an assault on your senses. From the moment it explodes into life, it’s like being catapulted into…
The hour-long plays which are part of A Play, A Pie and a Pint can often be overlooked, just because they have equal billing with a lunchtime pie and a pint! I’m as guilty as the next person for not putting them in my diary,…
When Fallen Angels was last performed, 25 years ago, I remember interviewing the leading ladies – both big names – but their performances didn’t stay with me. This production, however, I will most certainly remember. Under Christopher Luscombe’s meticulous direction, Noel Coward’s biting wit comes…