 Return to the high life
ANNOUNCED this morning is the news that Alan Cumming is making a guest appearance in the National Theatre of Scotland's Staging the Nation series. The star of Broadway, Hollywood and Kelvinside Young People's Amateur Dramatic Art Society is to make a 90-minute appearance at the King's Theatre, Glasgow, giving a whistle-stop tour of the history of music hall, variety and panto in Scotland. Panto, Variety and the Scottish People is a free but ticketed event on Saturday 26 November at 12.30pm. "Being away from Scotland makes you question what it is that makes you Scottish, and when it comes to acting I realise that my performance style is very different to my colleagues elsewhere in the world," says Cumming. "Our whole way of breaking through the fourth wall, indeed never even countenancing its existence, is all derived from our culture that is steeped in variety and music hall and panto. My Staging the Nation event is an attempt to demonstrate that and to look back at where it might all have come from and to see its impact on theatre in Scotland today." Click here for a taste of what he means.  Pie-eyed
SCOTLAND'S international successes continue apace. Still in New York, Sarah Jessica Parker has seen Catherine Wheels' White for a second time as she promised, as well as checking out the same company's Pondlife McGurk wiith husband Matthew Broderick. Meanwhile in Philadelphia, a company called Tiny Dynamite has set up its own A Play, a Pie and a Pint season in Fergies Pub, which apparently serves "traditional British pies served up with a proper pint", and is already on its second short season. Alan Bissett's The Ching Room is among the plays produced so far (pictured in its Glasgow production). Map makingAS part of her review of Scottish theatre funded by Creative Scotland, Christine Hamilton is trying to build a "map of the professional links and relationships which underpin the way theatre in Scotland works". To help her do that, she's asking theatre professionals to complete an online survey here. The more surveys she gets, the fuller a picture she'll be able to paint. Completed surveys will be entered into a draw to win £50 Amazon vouchers.  STG night
IN spite of the closure of the Ramshorn Theatre, Strathclyde Theatre Group is carrying on regardless, reinventing itself as a peripatetic company and currently staging a production of The Crucible at the Cottier Theatre. As if that wasn't enough to be getting on with, the company has been taking on all comers in the Sky Arts Stagestruck competition. It has reached the semi-final, which will take place on Sunday when the company will perform two scenes from King Lear at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. You can see the company's audition piece here. OPENING SOON The Kiss, A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Oran Mor, Glasgow, Nov 14–19 Pass the Spoon, Magnetic North, Tramway, Glasgow, Nov 17–19 LAST CHANCE TO SEE Watching the Detective, A Play, a Pie and a Pint, on tour, Sep 26–Oct 1 and Nov 8–12 Glasgay, Glasgow, Oct 15–Nov 12 A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Citizens, Glasgow, Oct 19–Nov 12 27, NTS, Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, Oct 21–Nov 12 Whisky Galore – A Musical!, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Oct 21–Nov 12 Spain, Glasgay! , Citizens, Glasgow, Oct 25–Nov 12 Ch Ch Changes, Glasgay! , Citizens, Glasgow, Oct 25–Nov 12 Glue Boy Blues, Derek McLuckie, Tron, Glasgow, Nov 2–12 Southern Freud Chicken, Liminal Theatre, Word of Mouth Café, Edinburgh, Nov 3, 4, & 10–12 The Murder of Geoffrey Robbins, A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Oran Mor, Glasgow, Nov 7–12 |  |
| 
4 November 2011 The Guardian TruantBy John Retallack. A National Theatre of Scotland/Company of Angels review. 
1 November 2011 Northings By Shona McKee McNeil and Ian Hammond Brown. A Pitlochry Festival Theatre review. 
31 October 2011 Northings The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine BeanBy Shonna Reppe. A Catherine Wheeels theatre review. 
28 October 2011 The Guardian 27By Abi Morgan. A National Theatre of Scotland/Royal Lyceum Theatre review. 
25 October The Guardian A Day in the Death of Joe EggBy Peter Nichols. A Citizens Theatre review. 
10 October 2011 Northings By JC Marshall. A Visible Fictions review. 
4 October 2011 The Guardian Calum's RoadBy David Harrower (from the book by Roger Hutchinson). A Communicado/National Theatre of Scotland review 
4 October 2011 Northings By Gerry Mulgrew (adapted from stories told by Duncan Williamson). A Communicado/National Theatre of Scotland review 
22 September 2011 The Guardian By Ena Lamont Stewart. A National Theatre of Scotland review. |
