When writer and director Isobel McArthur was commissioned to produce an adaptation of Jane Austenās Pride and Prejudice, it came with a word of warning: make sure it connects with a Glasgow audience. The advice must have worked not only for a...
Following the likes of Rebecca, Brief Encounter and Malory Towers, Emily BrontĆ«ās Wuthering Heights is the latest literary work to get the Emma Rice treatment, and arguably it wears it best of all. Wuthering Heights The passion, wildness and...
Anyone for snot macaroni and toenail ice-cream? Paul Thomason experiences the gross-out fun of watching David Walliams’ story live on stage. Less than a week after children all over the land have been going to school dressed as one of many of...
Jeremy Sams, adapter and director of this stage version of the popular 1970s sitcom The Good Life, points out how current the central clash of ideas seems to be. On the one hand, we have careerist Gerry (played here by Dominic Rowan) and his...
Portraying a beloved public figure is a risk for any actor but when it comes to Princess Diana, it seems like a poisoned chalice. There have been several soapy TV versions of her sadly short life, featuring actresses looking coy, and cocking their...
As Hope Mill Theatreās Executive Director William Whelton observes in his programme notes, the journey to bring their production of Rent to the stage has been a difficult one. Originally scheduled for performance in the summer, national lockdown and...
After seven months with no live theatre, it felt like a miracle to be part of the audience that gathered outside The Lowry on a dark October evening to watch Dr Bloodās Old Travelling Show. Imitating the Dogās new touring work ā created with the...
Set in the mid 1980s, Kevin Elyotās My Night with Reg tells interacting stories of six gay men living in London. The play was first produced a decade later and thanks to the Green Carnation Company is now enjoying a revival. The entire play is set...
The first thing that strikes you about this National Theatre of Scotland production is Simon Kennyās set, the centrepiece a 30-foot high wooden picture frame, with the top corner a wild, untreated tree branch. Initially, this appears to be something...
One of the most remarkable theatre productions Iāve seen in recent years was Feelgood Theatreās Macbeth, staged in Heaton Park 10 years ago, and which coincided with a week of torrential rain; performing in a muddy pool in damp costumes sorely...