Reviews

Citizens Theatre, Glasgow - 29 April to 02 May 2009

“There’s more to football than football” states one of the characters in NLP Theatre Company’s production of Des Dillon’s play, Singing I’m No a Billy He’s a Tim; a humorous, often poignant, snapshot of the pervasive, sectarian divide which still exists within the west of Scotland. Read more »

Tron Theatre, Glasgow - 24 to 26 April 2009

A striking angel arrives on earth to visit an elderly woman and her son, who have been living in the forest to escape their transgressions. Before long, the angel and the son are married and with the arrival of their own child, they form a comfortable family unit. But the couple’s happiness quickly turns to miserable exile when the son is forced into military uniform and the innocent angel must sacrifice her body to save her infant and Mother-in law. Read more »

News

Tom McGrath, the Scottish playwright, poet and jazz pianist has died at the age of 68. He was diagnosed with cancer of the liver in 2007 and was still writing and listening to experimental jazz music at home until his peaceful death on Wednesday. Read more »

Scottish playwright Gregory Burke’s follow-up to his international hit Black Watch - which, among its myriad accolades won three of this year’s Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Play, for its belated London transfer last year at the Barbican (See News, 8 Mar 2009) – will receive its world premiere next week at Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, where Black Watch started its life care of the then fledgling National Theatre of Scotland in August 2006 during the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Read more »

Pete Townshend’s legendary rock opera Quadrophenia is to being brought to the stage for the first time, appearing across Scotland at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh (26 to 30 May 2009), King’s Theatre, Glasgow (02 to 06 June 2009) and His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen (18 to 22 August 2009).

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Gossip

The Walworth Farce, the play that Enda Walsh premiered at the Traverse Theatre at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, receives it London premiere next month at the National Theatre, where it joins the NT Cottesloe rep from 24 September 2008 (previews from 18 September). And there’s every chance that The New Electric Ballroom, the play that the Irishman has brought to the Traverse for this year’s Fringe, will follow the same route South.

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Budd Schulberg, the 95-year-old author of the Oscar-winning 1954 movie classic On the Waterfront, flew in to Edinburgh this past weekend for Saturday’s opening of Steven Berkoff’s new stage adaptation, which runs at the Pleasance Grand until 25 August 2008. Speaking to Whatsonstage.com, Schulberg said he was highly “impressed” with Berkoff’s stylised rendition of the story of New Jersey ex-prize fighter Terry Malloy. This version is, said Schulberg, “the best I’ve ever seen on stage”.

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Features

The King’s Theatre, Edinburgh was built in 1905 by Edinburgh builder, William Stewart Cruikshank. Andrew Carnegie laid the foundation stone and the Theatre was opened in 1906 with a performance of Cinderella and managed by A Stewart Cruikshank. Read more »

Susie Blake is playing the grumbling Gallic housekeeper, Berthe in Boeing Boeing at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow. Her career has included comedy with Victoria Wood, Russ Abbott and Jim Davidson, soap-operas as Beverley Unwin in Coronation Street, and theatre as a favourite cast member of Sir Alan Ayckbourn. She has recently played Madame Morrible in Wicked and Mother Lord in High Society. Read more »