Nightlands
The Guardian 5 August 2022 Who exactly is the enemy currently laying waste to Ukraine? There was a time the answer would have been easy. Those of us who grew…
Little Women and Little Women
The Guardian 29 July 2022 It has turned into a summer of Little Women. Three years after film-maker Greta Gerwig raised the profile of Louisa May Alcott’s novel, Mark Adamo’s…
The Stamping Ground
The Guardian 20 July 2022 Turns out the qualities that made Runrig one of Scotland’s biggest bands are also a perfect match for the musical. The heart-on-sleeve passions, the windswept…
Around the World in 80 Days
The Guardian 14 July 2022 A big plus point in going outdoors to stage Jules Verne’s escapade is you have room aplenty to tether a hot-air balloon. The one that…
Underwood Lane
The Guardian 8 July 2022 John Byrne is not a playwright you associate with jukebox musicals. The Slab Boys author – who, as a painter, is being celebrated in a…
Goldilocks Goes to Greece
The Guardian 6 July 2022 If you must insist on a summer panto, then Greece is as good a destination as any. It also works for alliteration. And that is…
Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Lipstick, Ketchup and Blood
The Guardian 13 June 2022 At first, you assume Lesley Hart’s play is a straight adaptation of A Study in Scarlet, the first of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels about Sherlock…
Laurel and Hardy
The Guardian 8 June 2022 Movie director Leo McCarey has a proposal for producer Hal Roach. He has seen Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel acting in the same silent short,…
Noises Off
The Guardian 5 June 2022 The actors in Noises Off have to play two parts. And they have to play them three times. First, in Michael Frayn’s 40-year-old farce-within-a-farce, they…
Sunshine on Leith
The Guardian 2 June 2022 We’ve romped most of the way through Life With You, the title track from the Proclaimers’ seventh album, when the lead actors fade out of…