theatreSCOTLAND

SCOTTISH THEATRE REVIEWS AND ARTICLES

The Guardian 11 June 2013

Some Other Mother

By AJ Taudevin. A Refugee Week Scotland production

AJ TAUDEVIN small-scale touring show takes the form of a 10-a-penny issue play. Produced in association with the Scottish Refugee Council, it's a single-set 75-minute drama about a mother and her 10-year-old daughter who have escaped persecution in a "broken" west African country and found themselves in the relative safety of a Glasgow tower block in sore need of renovation. There's black mould on the walls and community spirit has been bulldozed out of existence. Life, as one of the neighbours says, is "one long symphony of fuck". We duly meet the well-meaning but ineffectual social worker and discover that the boorish loud-mouth of a neighbour actually has a heart of gold.

The Guardian 9 June 2013

Let the Right One In

By John Ajvide Lindqvist adapted by Jack Thorne. A National Theatre of Sctoland production

BUTTERFLY or moth? Swan or duck? Angel or vampire? The teenagers at the chilling heart of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel and its two film adaptations could go either way. They are at that formative point in adolescence, before their first kiss, when they are ripe with potential and burdened with uncertainty. The mysterious Eli, both youthful and ageless, is magnetically attractive yet neither male nor female. The mesmerised Oskar, eager to be moulded, thinks he would accept this erotic creature whatever its gender.

The Scotsman 6 June 2013

What the Critics' Awards says about Scottish theatre

YOU might imagine the judging of the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (Cats) to be a bit of a stitch-up. If you didn't know better, you'd say the dozen or so reviewers simply nod through their pet favourites then head off to the pub. That's not the case at all (apart from the bit about the pub).That's not the case at all (apart from the bit about the pub). Drawing up the shortlist for the ten awards is an exhaustive process that takes a whole day to complete. Everyone's voice counts and everyone's voice is different. I write from experience. As one of the judges, I may arrive in the morning convinced one show or another will brook no opposition, only to find a quite different picture emerging as the day's discussions progress. The final shortlist is as revelatory to us as it is to the rest of the world.

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