Scotland
Counting and Cracking, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - ambitious, powerful, but sadly under-attendedSaturday, 13 August 2022
First, a bit of housekeeping. Maybe it was the three-and-a-half-hour duration, or maybe the unfamiliar Sri Lankan subject matter, or maybe even the very un-festival-like hot weather that put people off an evening inside Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre.... Read more... |
Shetland, Series 7, BBC One review - Douglas Henshall is back for the last time as Jimmy PerezFriday, 12 August 2022
The last couple of series of Shetland (BBC One) brought the previously much-loved series alarmingly close to shark-jumping territory, converting the remote and thinly-populated Shetland archipelago into a war zone teeming with people-trafficking... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2022 reviews: Temping / Work.txtFriday, 12 August 2022
Temping, Assembly George Square Studios ★★★★Sarah Jane is away in Hawaii. But don’t worry – she’s left plenty of instructions for your day temping in the actuaries’ office, checking voicemails, answering emails, updating spreadsheets. After all, it’... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2022 reviews: Every Word was Once an Animal / Tim Crouch: Truth’s a Dog Must to KennelThursday, 11 August 2022
Every Word was Once an Animal, Zoo Southside ★★★★Ghent-based theatre company Ontroerend Goed have been prodding and provoking Fringe audiences for years, sometimes forcefully – as in 2001’s controversial, confrontational, crowd-baiting Audience – or... Read more... |
Burn, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - bold, risky, sometimes bafflingMonday, 08 August 2022
In retrospect, all the clues were there. A star actor embarking on a new performance genre; a fresh reappraisal of one of Scotland’s cultural icons; a hi-tech production of sumptuous video and prop trickery; a dance score from a major name in new... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2022 reviews: Boy / Intruder|IntruzMonday, 08 August 2022
Boy, Summerhall ★★★★ Nature or nurture? It’s the perennial question behind so much in human development – and the central issue, too, behind Carly Wijs’s very moving Boy for Flemish theatre company De Roovers at Summerhall.Twins Brian and Bruce had... Read more... |
Haim, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - charismatic siblings personable as everMonday, 18 July 2022
Sweetness never lasts too long at a Haim gig. No sooner had Alana Haim, the youngest of the Californian siblings, finished a speech about her delight about being back in Glasgow by announcing she was going to “smell the f****** roses” then bass-... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the East Neuk Festival 2022 - on Cloud Nine for five days of the greatest music-makingTuesday, 05 July 2022
Last year’s relatively slimline East Neuk Festival felt like a feast in time of plague. This July everything was back to full strength in numerous venues, with the most remarkable line-up, and the greatest single day of concerts, I feel certain, ENF... Read more... |
Harry Styles, Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow review - pop prince lets the music do the talkingMonday, 13 June 2022
A guessing game could be played prior to Harry Styles taking to the stage at this gig, the first night of his UK tour and, as he later noted, his first stadium show as a solo act. There were ripples of excitement whenever anyone was near the stage... Read more... |
Bloc Party, Barrowland, Glasgow review - falling back on past glories brings a jubilant responseMonday, 06 June 2022
As Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke noted at one point in this gig, his band have now been visiting Glasgow for nearly two decades. Yet few of the shows played in that 18 year span, which have touched upon nearly all of the city’s main music venues,... Read more... |
My Chemical Romance, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - caring, sharing emo kings holler to the heavensWednesday, 01 June 2022
It is a testament to the enduring appeal of My Chemical Romance that this show was credited with having sold the most tickets in the OVO Hydro’s history, and yet still formed one of the group’s smaller dates on the UK leg of their reunion tour.Then... Read more... |
Charli XCX, O2 Academy, Glasgow review - sweat-drenched pop amid feverish atmosphereTuesday, 17 May 2022
“This town makes me sweat”, declared Charlotte Aitchison at one point in this set, as she took a brief breather between songs. The 29-year-old should have tried being in the audience, for this was a sweat-drenched evening right from the opening... Read more... |
