Thursday 02 September 2010
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Festival Theatre

20 articles, sorted by name / date

The Adventures of Mr Broucek »

John Graham-Hall and Claire Wild in The Adventures of Mr Broucek

*****
Scottish Opera's latest effort, Janacek's The Adventures of Mr Broucek, is a bizarre and beautiful headspin. In a Gulliver's Travels-meets-The Wizard of Oz-meets-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas style adventure story, we see our hero ascend through the h...

Fri 14 May 2010 by Jonathan Goat | Read more »

Romeo & Juliet »

Romeo & Juliet

****
Pacy, streamlined, and stripped of the frequently irritating nurse, Scottish Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet provides an urgent and affecting retelling of the great love story. Dramaturg Willem Bruls and choreographer Krzysztof Pastor radically alter...

Fri 14 May 2010 by Henry Roe | Read more »

La Boheme »

Avi Klemberg and Celine Byrne in La Boheme

*****
Maybe it’s just the election fever currently sweeping the country, but it seems quite credible to read Scottish Opera’s most recent double bill as a rather progressive political statement. After last week's Mr Broucek, with its sustained c...

Thu 13 May 2010 by Jonathan Goat | Read more »

The Hobbit »

Peter Howe and Christopher Robbie in The Hobbit

*
The Hobbit is a Vanessa Ford Productions stage adaptation of Tolkien’s famous novel, a prequel to The Lord of the Rings which introduces many of the central characters, settings and themes, all of which are of course familiar to today’s aud...

Tue 20 Apr 2010 by Alexandra Wingate | Read more »

The Secret of Sherlock Holmes »

Peter Egan and Philip Franks in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes

***
For all the devilish hounds, imperiled heiresses and dastardly criminals, it's the relationship between the great detective and his long-suffering flatmate that provides the impetus for Arthur Conan Doyle's famous Sherlock Holmes stories. Jeremy Paul's...

Sun 18 Apr 2010 by Henry Roe | Read more »

Traces »

Traces

****
The threat of a sudden and inescapable disaster that could wipe out all mankind, is a theme that has recurred over the years in various forms, from John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids to the more recent Hollywood blockbuster, 2012. But now the...

Wed 17 Feb 2010 by Amy Taylor | Read more »

Porgy and Bess »

Porgy and Bess

****
Last week, Cape Town Opera brought their highly-polished production of Gershswin's Porgy & Bess, an opera that finds the romance and violence of high tragedy in the everyday life of Catfish Row, to the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. The powerful story...

Wed 11 Nov 2009 by Jonathan Goat | Read more »

Scottish Ballet 40th anniversary tour »

Scottish Ballet 40th Anniversary Tour

****
Scottish Ballet's celebration of its 40th birthday arrived in Edinburgh last week with a varied and versatile evening exemplifying creative director Ashley Page's rejuvenation of the company; that old cliché-ridden chestnut of tradition and expe...

Wed 28 Oct 2009 by Jonathan Goat | Read more »

Mendelssohn's 'Elijah' »

****
There are advantages to small venues, but it’s refreshing to see the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in the grand surroundings of the Festival Theatre. Something about this venue, so rarely inhabited by the SCO, gives the ensemble a new dimension toni...

Sun 08 Feb 2009 by Sarah Mitchell | Read more »

RSNO: Beethoven symphony no. 5 »

****
Rossini - William Tell Overture Respighi - Adagio and Variations Haydn - Cello Concerto No 1 Beethoven - Symphony no 5 Beethoven's fifth is certain to pack out any concert hall. Freed from the constraints of the bottom line, conductor Roberto Abbado&m...

Mon 26 Jan 2009 by Sarah Mitchell | Read more »

The Corstorphine Road Nativity »

The Costorphine Road Nativity

***
The Primary Three nativity is being held in Corstorphine Road Primary—lines are fluffed, props are tumbling, and a stick insect called Andy Murray is on the loose. Thankfully, this is not an opening-night hell for the Festival Theatre: all is com...

Tue 20 Jan 2009 by Jennifer Blyth | Read more »

Sleeping Beauty »

****
Scottish Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty—the brain-child of Ashley Page and Antony McDonald—is in its second year of touring the UK. The familiar fairy tale has been given an invigorating re-telling, set against the classical compositions of...

Sun 11 Jan 2009 by Claire L Jarvis | Read more »

La Traviata »

La Traviata

****
Scottish Opera’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata is a veritable feast for the eyes and ears, providing feats of operatic superiority, a lavish set and affecting, emotional performances. This timeless tale concerns the forbidden love betw...

Tue 09 Dec 2008 by Anna Fenton | Read more »

Can't Smile Without You »

'Can't Smile Without You'

**
Sometimes one enters a theatrical show with a completely open mind; at other times it is with a conviction that the show in question is going to be bad – but there is a subtle difference, and a gratification, in finding out whether it will be &ls...

Sun 26 Oct 2008 by Claire L Jarvis | Read more »

Carousel »

Lesley Garrett & Carousel

***
Carousel, the second of the acclaimed musical collaborations between Rodgers and Hammerstein, tells of the turbulent relationship between day-dreaming Julie Jordan (Alexandra Silber) and Billy Bigelow (Jeremiah James), a brooding carousel worker. After...

Mon 13 Oct 2008 by Claire L Jarvis | Read more »

Scottish Ballet: Autumn Season 2008 »

***
Ashley Page, artistic director of the Scottish National Ballet, opens his Autumn season via the public address system. He's asking for assistance in raising £400,000 to help re-locate the ballet to its new home at Glasgow's Tramway. In return, he...

Thu 02 Oct 2008 by Ella Hickson | Read more »

Come with us now on a journey through time and space... »

The Mighty Boosh

****
“How does it feel to be number one, Edinburgh?” Noel Fielding asks the packed Festival Theatre audience. A wall of deafening screams is his reply, which can probably be interpreted as a positive response. It's fitting that the Mighty Boosh have ch...

Fri 19 Sep 2008 by Chris McCall | Read more »

Theatrical by convention »

The Penny Dreadfuls: Aeneas Faversham Forever

Edinburgh's busy seasonThe Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe may be over but there’s no rest for the keen theatregoer. The Lyceum Theatre opens its 08/09 season on Friday 12th September with its production of Macb...

Fri 19 Sep 2008 by Lucy Jackson | Read more »

Lloyd-Webber's lost musical »

Shona Lyndsay & David Essex

****
Aspects of Love is one of the lesser known of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's musicals and as it focuses on the darker side of love—envy and adultery—it is easy to see why: Starlight Express it ain't. Of all the aspects of love, it is love's conqueri...

Thu 14 Feb 2008 by Rosie Hedger | Read more »

Rambert Dance Company prove they're still one of the best »

Rambert Dance Company's expressive movements captured in a moment.

****
Rambert have the reputation of being one of the best dance companies in Britain, and their World View Tour 2007 is everything contemporary dance ought to be: emotional, theatrical, and accessible to a lay audience. The evening's programme consists of f...

Mon 03 Dec 2007 by Colleen Patterson | Read more »

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