Theatre Review: The Odd Couple

By Émer O’Toole Half Wits, Webster’s Theatre New theatre group, Half Wits’ take on Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple proves a friendship can be just as infuriating as a marriage. The time is 1965, the place: New York, and Oscar Madison’s pigsty of an apartment is everything you would expect from a stereotypical bachelor: left-over rubbish from …

Theatre Review: Rope

By Émer O'Toole Alfred Hitchcock described Rope as an “experiment that didn’t work out,” and he was happy to see it kept out of release for nearly 30 years. Gary Hurr's take on the whodunit in reverse at Webster's Theatre blends Hitchcock's 1948 film with Patrick Hamilton's original play. Hamilton's 1929 thriller which he claimed was nothing more than "a De Quinceyish essay in the macabre", was originally set …

Interview: Former Hector Bizerk frontman Louie John Lowis takes his talents to the stage

By Niall Christie Loud, brash and often provocative, former Hector Bizerk MC Louie John Lowis is back, this time tackling one of Scotland’s salient issues with a slightly unfamiliar medium. Arriving at the Platform Theatre after a slow and tentative wander through, what looked to be through my unfamiliar, Dundonian eyes, deepest, darkest Easterhouse, I’m …

Fringe 2017: Award-winning feminist play, Mouthpiece, comes to Edinburgh (video)

By Tara Fitzpatrick Mouthpiece, by Quote Unquote Collective, is a devised performance from Canadian theatre makers Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava. Having won 'Best New Canadian Play' at the Toronto Theatre Critics Award for 2016/17, the two-woman show is performing at Summerhall's CanadaHub as part of the Edinburgh Fringe 2017. The play follows one woman …

Fringe 2017: Alan Bissett revisits his ‘hardest woman in Falkirk’ with (More) Moira Monologues

By Tara Fitzpatrick Alan Bissett is off duty. Temporarily. We meet in Glasgow as he prepares for the Fringe premiere of (More) Moira Monologues, the sequel or update to his hit 2009 one-man (or one-woman) show about a loud, chatty, working-class Falkirk woman, getting things off her chest. He is enjoying a post-rehearsal wine and …

Fringe 2017: Spilt Milk debut explores the complexities of adulthood

By Tara Fitzpatrick “There are all these books on "Adulting" now, it’s become such a buzzword.” The cast of Spilt Milk are explaining the title of their Fringe debut. “Adulting” is a verb relating to any action associated with adulthood: paying bills, navigating relationships, renting a flat, cooking. The term alludes to the notion that …

Fringe 2017: Portraying the Refugee Crisis in The Sky is Safe by Dogstar Theatre Company

By Tara Fitzpatrick The Syrian refugee crisis has fallen off our news channels lately. This is despite the number of people fleeing the conflict having risen past five million this year, according to the UN. However, where the news cycle may have moved on – temporarily - to different issues, many performances at this year’s …

Fringe 2017 Recommendations (Video)

By Tara Fitzpatrick As the Edinburgh Fringe kicks starts its 70th year, we put together a preview guide of some of the many performances worth taking note of. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjQ6owsQpWQ&t=1s

Theatre Review: This Restless House

By Emer O'Toole National Theatre of Scotland, Citizen's Theatre, now- 9 September  This Restless House,  Zinnie Harris’ update of The Oresteia — Aeschylus' 2500 year old three part drama about the troubled young house of Argos — is available in two parts or, for the brave, as one four hour long epic. Harris' reworking of the Greek drama to a …

June and Winter: Picks of the Week

By Tara Fitzpatrick and Niall Christie Our rundown of the music releasing, films screening, shows performing, books to read and events happening in the week ahead. Film: Atomic Blonde (released July 28) Charlize Theron stars in this Cold War action-thriller directed by David Leitch. The film follows Lorraine Broughton (Theron) an undercover MI6 spy sent …