The Scotsman 11 June 2022

This summer’s Bard in the Botanics season has been hit by two intriguing coincidences. Both are the result of the pandemic and both made the company think twice.

The first is to do with The Tempest. The Glasgow company is staging Shakespeare’s late play in the Kibble Palace glasshouse in a stripped-down version for just four actors. Is will be adapted and directed by Nicole Cooper, who has been thinking about the idea for at least four years.

The intention was to stage it in 2020, but then two things happened. First came Covid-19, which we all know about. Second came the Tron Theatre’s all-female production of the same play last year. And who landed the lead role of Prospero, the wise old conjurer ruling over an empty island? Why, none other than Cooper herself. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).