Byrne, who has died aged 83, used his life as a constant source of inspiration for exuberant plays and paintings If John Byrne had been known only for The Slab Boys, he would be considered o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AMHull TruckEliza Blair plays the puppet-child on an adventure of self-discovery in this slightly muddled yet well-performed version When Ivor MacAskill and Rosana Cade staged The Making of Pi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AMRoyal Lyceum, EdinburghYoung Gerda is sent on an epic quest across mythical Scotland by steam train, cross-country skis, fishing boat and unicorn in Morna Young’s version When the curtain …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:03AMTheatre by the Lake, KeswickRiches-to-rags tale is set against the backdrop of Indian independence, amplifying the injustice and adding extra texture to this rewarding show ‘I didn’t pro…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:02AMRoyal Court, Liverpool Traditional tale is recast as a daft quest across Europe, built on a giddy score powering through hits from Bon Jovi to Kraftwerk The dick jokes are, of course, inevit…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:32AMShe cast an armchair as Mr Bennet in a Pride and Prejudice reboot. Now Isobel McArthur’s been let loose on lusty romp The Fair Maid of the West. So is she worried about outraging mothbally…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:02PMNew version of the Anglo-Saxon epic features a massive cast of singers, actors and members of the community Ian McMillan is contemplating the greats who have gone before him. He is one of fi…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AMAs he stages Gary McNair’s twist on the tale of Pip, the director reflects on 16 years of spotting and developing raw talent while running the Tron Andy Arnold is a director with staying p…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:49PMQueen’s Hall arts centre, HexhamAn 83-year-old resident rails against the lack of liberty, settling herself on a bench outside and refusing to return despite legal threats and offers of ho…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AMRoyal Court, LiverpoolJames Graham’s funny and violent TV adaptation belies a sensitive study of male mental health, as right-wing economics hits a group of road layers’ lives The emotio…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:37AMNottingham PlayhouseWith excellent performances, Tom Wright’s play about the man who became a Victorian freakshow attraction is an at times uneasy mix of circus and polemic Entrances don�…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:49AMCurve, LeicesterThis staging of Kafka’s story is physically exciting, even tireless, but it hits an early peak of terror then has nowhere to go for two hours It is linguistically playful, …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:33AMOctagon theatre, BoltonIn Holly Race Roughan’s thrilling and dynamic production, Arthur Miller’s classic about a Brooklyn longshoreman and his family roils with primal passions If Arthur…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:33AMStephen Joseph theatre, ScarboroughAlan Ayckbourn has fun imagining the hazards of malfunctioning android lovers and misbehaving auto-maids – but there’s a deeper message too about human…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:33AMHis Majesty’s Theatre, AberdeenAll-female production tells Bram Stoker’s story from the perspective of women trying to escape patriarchy – it’s often urgent, but sometimes sucked of …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:43AMShakespeare North Playhouse, PrescotHorror-movie witches haunt the unhappy couple throughout this touring co-production. It’s one of many interesting ideas that are dropped too soon There …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:33AMPitlochry festival theatreIsla Cowan’s quietly intelligent new drama goes inside a three-way relationship and each person’s different attachments to their rural cottage retreat On the fa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:55AMPitlochry festival theatreAt a dinner party attended by a child ghost and a goading TV pundit warning of apocalypse, a middle-class literati find themselves on the brink of social upheaval P…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:49PMOn Edinburgh fringe stages, pop is eating itself with a series of pastiches and tributes that riff on TV hits and surreal celebrity reimaginings This review goes out in honour of Gerard Slev…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:13PMThe festival’s musicals this year range from theatrical introspection to a rip-roaring improvisation inspired by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash hit The world’s most popular musicals have o…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:33AMSummerhall, Edinburgh This brainy solo show follows Woof’s intuitive thinker, standing in to deliver a lecture for her hyper-rational neuroscientist husband And she starts off chatting to …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:49PMTwo inventive productions, Dimanche and Concerned Others, use puppetry and object-theatre to tackle vast environmental and social subjects Such is the enormity of the problems facing humanit…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:07AMC Aurora, EdinburghThe long-ago disappearance of a great-aunt is explored in Nishla Smith’s captivating performance, enhanced by hand-painted animations For decades, Nishla Smith’s famil…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:55PMAttachment: The Leech Show is a merry romp about an influential reviewer and sums up the industry’s paradoxical attitude to theatre criticism Advice has been circulating among fringe compa…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:07AMZoo Playground, EdinburghInspired by the work of Nobel-winning Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexievich, this is a disturbing but blackly funny piece Every performance of The Last of the So…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:07AMRoyal Lyceum, EdinburghDevastating testimonies from field hospitals, jungles and mountain outposts are performed verbatim-style in Tiago Rodrigues’s disquieting show It feels like an intru…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:13AMRoyal Lyceum, EdinburghObehi Janice’s one-woman show collects her adventures in the dating game but they don’t lead anywhere that interesting Obehi Janice had friends at school who, like…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:04AMTwo new shows at the festival question senses of hearing and sight in engaging and eccentric ways Seeing is believing, right? That is a phrase used repeatedly by Mamoru Iriguchi and co-star …
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:55AMImaginary friends, runaway horses and Roger McGough’s take on the Wind in the Willows are among the treats for younger audiences at the festival Summerhall, 11.30am, until 20 August Contin…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:07AMRoundabout @ Summerhall, EdinburghUpset by racist attacks in their town, a young couple attempt to get to know the culprits in Eve Leigh’s new play Anyone running a far-right festival woul…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:07PMTraverse theatre, EdinburghA high-school English teacher and his former star pupil meet in a brothel in Kieran Hurley’s new play With this uneven three-hander, Kieran Hurley has fielded tw…
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:49AM
