The brilliant, gifted ventriloquist Nina Conti may be better known these days for the ritual humiliation of audience members, as she gets people up onstage, slaps weird masks on them and makes them say ridiculous or filthy things, but back in the day, her act was much, much darker: a kind of psychological cleansing thatContinue reading “Her Master’s Voice: Nina Conti Says Goodbye”
Category Archives: Live theatre
Theatre Isn’t Yer Living Room!
If, as Dr Ramani Durvasala posits, we’re living in an age of massive entitlement and incivility, this could explain the rise in theatre bad behaviour. According to an article in The Guardian (published yesterday) there’s been a huge rise in violence, disruption, loud food consumption, etc. across the UK. Several actors and members of theatreContinue reading “Theatre Isn’t Yer Living Room!”
Watch With Mother?
I recently reviewed a gorgeous show at Tramway for Fjord Review, a lovely dance website I’ve been writing for since 2015. The show carried a trigger warning, which is fine by me. People have different sensitivities, and if you have kids, some material could be inappropriate or even offensive. Now, I’m not a pearl clutcherContinue reading “Watch With Mother?”
Edinburgh Festival Review: Pain and I (Audio)
Sarah Hopfinger’s Pain and I is an incredible piece, accessible to all, as it’s both a live dance performance and online auditory piece. Hopfinger’s audio piece, featuring gorgeous string arrangements from Alicia Jane Turner, is at once personal tone poem and mantra. Charting her long struggle with neurological pain and back pain, Hopfinger’s words areContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Review: Pain and I (Audio)”
Edinburgh Festival Preview: Americana- A Murder Ballad
This show, premiering at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, couldn’t have captured the zeitgeist more, as headlines about yet more mass shootings and the new firearms law in New York remain fresh in our minds . Written by leading Scottish playwright Morna Young and featuring music composed by Davey Anderson, the production from Pepperdine Scotland isContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Preview: Americana- A Murder Ballad”
Preview: Oceanallover – The Self Assembled, Drygate
Oceanallover are a brilliant, eccentric and visceral company who fuse performance art, dance, songs and pagan poetry. They’re an endlessly shapeshifting unit formed by Alex Rigg, not quite of this earth, yet rooted in nature. Now they’re taking their unique retrospective to Drygate on April 1st. In their own words … ” The first majorContinue reading “Preview: Oceanallover – The Self Assembled, Drygate”
Everyone Is (Not) A Critic
M’ colleague and friend Gareth K Vile once wrote a brilliant article on the role of the critic, citing the lack of quality, and waspishly gave tips such as “write in full sentences”. You would think that this would be a prerequisite, but as I wrote in our previous blog The Tempo House, the riseContinue reading “Everyone Is (Not) A Critic”
Interview: Carolyn Yates and Linda Duncan McLaughlin Talk ‘Gazing’
A powerful, challenging, provocative and funny new play, Gazing, looking at female representation and autonomy, has been inspired by Kim Ayres’ photography exhibition ‘Women over Fifty’. It starts on Saturday at Dumfries and Galloway’s DG Arts Festival. Ahead of its run this weekend, Lorna Irvine caught up with the creator, playwright Carolyn Yates, and castContinue reading “Interview: Carolyn Yates and Linda Duncan McLaughlin Talk ‘Gazing’”
NEUROSTAGES FESTIVAL
15 & 16 October 2021 – online and at the CCA, Glasgow A two-day festival of workshops, provocations, discussions, and performances curated by the Scottish Neurodiverse Performance Network (SNPN). NEUROSTAGES is a neurodivergent-led platform and space for artists and creatives, communities, individuals and industry professionals to find out more about either neurodiversity or performance. The NEUROSTAGES festival explores neurodivergent-made pathways, practices of solidarity and the potentialities of futuristic thinking in performance.Continue reading “NEUROSTAGES FESTIVAL”
Theatre Review: Krapp’s Last Tape/Go On, Tron Theatre
Go On Linda McLean’s plays are all about humanity in all its messy, smudgy forms, so it’s a fine companion piece to Beckett. Jane (Maureen Beattie) is training an Artificial Intelligence prototype, Jayne. One appears on a screen on a glowing cube, glugging down red wine in a suburban kitchen. The other is in personContinue reading “Theatre Review: Krapp’s Last Tape/Go On, Tron Theatre”
Hit The North 