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NEWS: SCOTTISH OPERA ANNOUNCES 2023/24 SEASON

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Scottish Opera has unveiled its 2023/24 Season, which includes a UK premiere, a Scottish premiere, a Scottish Opera Young Company double bill, and revivals of some of its most beloved productions. The Season promises to be a celebratory showcase of the power and beauty of opera.

Alex Reedijk, Scottish Opera General Director, said: ‘Following the ambition and achievement of our 60th Anniversary Season, we are thrilled to present a 61st Season of exciting premieres and cherished classics – performed across Scotland and continuing the Company’s reputation for high quality opera, artistic flexibility, and innovation.

‘Sir Thomas Allen’s much-loved, whimsical production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville returns this autumn and tours to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, and Aberdeen. Next is the UK premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Marx in London! directed by Stephen Barlow, a madcap comedy seeking to unearth the human side of the great theorist. To finish the Season, Verdi’s ever-popular La traviata returns in Sir David McVicar’s sumptuous production – adored around the world and now back home in Scotland.

‘Scottish Opera Young Company presents an innovative, immersive double bill of Henry McPherson’s Maud and Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley. Our partnership with Lammermuir Festival continues with Richard Strauss’ Daphne, which receives its Scottish premiere 85 years after its first performance. The French Collection offers the variety, innovation, and crowd-pleasing creations of France’s great composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Opera Highlights, Pop-up Opera, and schools projects travel to all corners of the country, continuing our unabated dedication to bringing opera to everyone in Scotland. This Season you can also see productions that began their lives at Scottish Opera around the world, from Cardiff to Vancouver.

‘While times are hard for all right now, we are hugely proud of the standards of work achieved over recent years. We are immensely grateful for the loyal support of everyone who makes our work possible, and we hope that you find much to enjoy and look forward to welcoming you soon.’

Stuart Stratford, Scottish Opera Music Director, added: ‘There is so much to look forward to in this new season. I am particularly delighted to present the Scottish premiere of Daphne, a rarely performed work by Richard Strauss. It shows the composer at the height of his powers, and the orchestration is not just about the sonic power of seventy instruments but the subtle blending of all the different colour palettes. The singing roles are as virtuosic as the orchestral writing.

‘Jonathan Dove is one of Britain’s most successful international composers, and his Marx in London! is a brilliant satirical take on one of history’s most iconic and divisive thinkers, which gives real human understanding to all of the protagonist’s idiosyncrasies. It has a really poignant conclusion, relevant to us all today.

‘We are also thrilled to be reviving The Barber of Seville, this time in English, which promises only to strengthen the riotous hilarity of this comic masterpiece. An incredible, first rate cast features in La traviata, originally directed by Sir David McVicar, whose production of Il trittico blew audiences away earlier this year.’

A truly international line-up of singers appears throughout the season. Making their debuts with the Company are Ross Cumming, Paul Hopwood, Inna Husieva, Claire Barnett-Jones, Jerome Knox, Innocent Masuku, Simone McIntosh, Ji-Min Park and Katy Thomson.

There are welcome return visits from Katherine Aitken, Orla Boylan, Francis Church, Alasdair Elliott, Anthony Gregory, Catriona Hewitson, Thomas D Hopkinson, Heather Ireson, Samuel Dale Johnson, Jessica Leary, Hye-Youn Lee, Monwabisi Lindi, Jamie MacDougall, Andrew McTaggart, William Morgan, Colin Murray, Shengzhi Ren, Lucy Schaufer, Lea Shaw, Paula Sides, David Stout, Roland Wood, and Dingle Yandell. 

 

Season 2023/24 Productions

Opening the season this September is the Scottish premiere of Richard Strauss’ Daphne. It forms part of the Opera in Concert series, curated by Scottish Opera Music Director, Stuart Stratford, who is passionate about introducing audiences to rarely performed works. Emma Jenkins (Opera Highlights 2022/23) directs this concert staging, featuring Hye-Youn Lee, Shengzhi Ren, Claire Barnett-Jones and Dingle Yandell, accompanied by The Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Originally premiered 85 years ago, this wistful one-act opera is loosely based on Greek mythology as told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Euripides’ The Bacchae. Performed first at Theatre Royal Glasgow, Daphne will then go to St Mary’s Parish Church in Haddington, in partnership with Lammermuir Festival, and to the Usher Hall in Edinburgh in December.

Daphne is supported by Friends of Scottish Opera and The Scottish Opera Endowment Trust.

Sir Thomas Allen’s riotous production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, designed by Simon Higlett, opens in October at Theatre Royal Glasgow. First seen in 2007, this is the third time Scottish Opera has presented this delightful comedy, and it tours to Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen. Stuart Stratford conducts Samuel Dale Johnson (Eugene Onegin and Pagliacci 2018) as the titular barber, with Anthony Gregory (Anthropocene 2019) and Simone McIntosh as Count Almaviva and Rosina. Also joining the cast are David Stout (Nixon in China 2020) as Doctor Bartolo, Dingle Yandell (Thérèse 2022) as Don Basilio and Inna Husieva as Berta.

This revival is sung in an English translation by Amanda Holden (Falstaff 2021), and tells the story of barber and fixer, Figaro, who is enlisted by Count Almaviva to woo the beautiful Rosina. However, he first has to deal with Rosina’s guardian Doctor Bartolo who keeps her under lock and key with the intent of marrying her himself.

The Barber of Seville is supported by The Scottish Opera Syndicate.

In February 2024, the UK premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Marx in London! takes place at Theatre Royal Glasgow, before transferring to Edinburgh. The production is directed by Stephen Barlow (who last worked with the Company on Dove’s Flight), with libretto by Charles Hart, and set designs by Yannis Thavoris.

David Parry conducts Roland Wood (Il trittico 2023) as Karl Marx, alongside Paula Sides and William Morgan, last seen together in 2022 in Scottish Opera’s five-star production of Candide. They are joined by Orla Boylan (Breaking the Waves 2020) Lucy Schaufer (The Diary of One Who Disappeared 2020), Alasdair Elliot (The Miserly Knight 2022), Jamie MacDougall (Il trittico 2023) and Paul Hopwood.

Originally written for the 200th Anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth, Marx in London! is set in 1871 over the course of a single summer’s day, and is an examination of the philosopher’s more human side. The spectre of communism might be haunting Europe, but Marx’s demons are far more mundane and closer to home, and his personal life is in chaos. Watched by a spy, chased by debt collectors, harried by his family (legitimate and not), and rescued repeatedly from financial ruin by Friedrich Engels, audiences can expect a madcap production filled with zany humour.

Marx in London! is supported by The Alexander Gibson Circle and Scottish Opera’s New Commissions Circle.

Audiences in Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh have the chance to experience a revival of Sir David McVicar’s La traviata in May and June 2024. This treasured production, which began life at Scottish Opera in 2008, has frequently been seen at the houses of co-producers Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Welsh National Opera.

Stuart Stratford conducts Hye-Youn Lee (Carmen 2023) in the role of courtesan Violetta Valéry who throws herself into a doomed love affair with the idealistic Alfredo, sung by Ji-Min Park. Set in hedonistic Paris during the Belle Époque, the luscious design of this devastating Verdi tragedy is by Tanya McCallin. Reviving Sir David McVicar’s original production is director is Leo Castaldi.

La traviata is supported by Scottish Opera’s ‘Play a Supporting Role’ Appeal.

In March 2024, Stuart Stratford conducts The French Collection. Few cities saw as much innovation and creative output in opera as Paris did during the 19th century. With three major opera houses and composers from France and further abroad vying for a coveted premiere at one (or more) of them, French opera contains a vast variety of musical and dramatic styles as its artists pushed boundaries on stage and in the pit. This concert includes excerpts from some of the era’s grandest and most beloved operas as well as its rarer gems that deserve a second hearing, including works by Georges Bizet, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet.

The Orchestra of Scottish Opera captures the vivacity and grandeur of this uniquely brilliant musical epoch, accompanying a first rate group of singers to be announced later this year. This night of romance, drama and beautiful music will be performed in Caird Hall, Dundee and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

The French Collection is supported by Friends of Scottish Opera and The Scottish Opera Endowment Trust.

 

Opera Highlights

Opera Highlights goes on the road again visiting 35 venues around Scotland, in a vibrant new production directed by Laura Attridge (The Miserly Knight and Mavra 2022) with designs by the internationally renowned Ana Inés Jabares-Pita.

The troupe of talented singers performing in this one-of-a-kind show are Katy Thomson, Katherine Aitken, Innocent Masuku and Jerome Knox in the autumn production, which travels to Giffnock, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Strathmiglo, Newtonmore, Lossiemouth, Ardross, Thurso, Lochinver, Arisaig, Seil Island, Tillicoultry, Glasgow, Dumfries, Crawfordjohn, Maybole, and Musselburgh.

In the spring, Scottish Opera’s 2023/24 Emerging, and Associate, Artists Inna Husieva, Lea Shaw, Monwabisi Lindi and Ross Cumming tour to Greenock, Stirling, Ardrishaig, Blairgowrie, Peterhead, Aboyne, Strathpeffer, Tongue, Stornoway, Poolewe, Dornie, Ballachulish, Tobermory, Johnstone, Middleton, Duns, St Andrews and Largs.

Accompanying them on piano are Music Directors Toby Hession (autumn) and James Longford (spring).

Opera Highlights is supported by Friends of Scottish Opera, Forteviot Charitable Trust and Jimmie Cairncross Charitable Trust.

 

Scottish Opera Young Company

This July at Scottish Opera’s Production Studios in Glasgow, Barrfields Theatre in Largs and Stirling’s Albert Halls, four immersive performances of Henry McPherson’s Maud, and Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley, will be performed by Scottish Opera’s Young Company, directed by Flora Emily Thomson.  Aged 17 to 21, the 11 members of the Company rehearse throughout the year with Artistic Director Chris Gray, who also conducts, to present this thought-provoking double bill, which moves between centuries. The operas are connected by a single Hebridean-inspired set, designed by Finlay McLay.

Maud, by composer, improviser and teacher, Henry McPherson, is a modern retelling of a traditional folk tale. It received its premiere in 2018 at Glasgow’s SWG3 as a winner of Scottish Opera’s Opera Sparks competition.

It is performed alongside composer Kurt Weill’s and librettist Arnold Sundgaard’s magical and menacing folk-inspired opera Down in the Valley, a bittersweet coming-of-age tale showing the light and darkness of one claustrophobic community.

Scottish Opera Young Company offers young singers a unique and practical introduction to the world of opera and the chance to develop their talent through a year-long programme, working with a range of opera professionals. The Company most recently premiered Gareth Williams’ and Johnny McKnight’s acclaimed production of Rubble last summer.

Maud and Down in the Valley are supported by Scottish Opera’s New Commissions Circle, Scottish Opera’s Education Angels, the Leverhulme Trust, Professor Richard Rose and Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust.

 

Pop-up Opera

This summer Scottish Opera’s popular Pop-up Opera tour kicks off on 27 May at the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival, with 30-minute shows for all the family, including A Little Bit of Die Fledermaus and A Little Bit of Eugene Onegin.

Experience opera on a miniature scale with performances brought to life by a storyteller, singers, instrumentalists, narration and colourful illustrations. Touring to Sanquhar, Moniaive, Linlithgow, Blantyre, Springburn, Stornoway, Dornoch, Strathpeffer, Cruden Bay and Dundee, schoolchildren can also look forward to the tour popping up in primary schools across these locations for free performances of Puffy MacPuffer and the Crabbit Canals, which has narration by Allan Dunn, music and lyrics by Marion Christie and illustrations by Iain Piercy.

An ideal opportunity for anyone new to opera to try a taster of these classics by Strauss II and Tchaikovsky, a series of colourful illustrations help guide audiences through the plot. Cleverly re-scored by Scottish Opera’s former Head of Music, Derek Clark, they are performed by storyteller Allan Dunn alongside singers Jessica Leary and Andrew McTaggart, cellists Andrew Drummond Huggan and Sonia Cromarty, and guitarists Sasha Savaloni and Ian Watt (Ainadamar 2022).

Pop-up Opera is supported by Friends of Scottish Opera and JTH Charitable Trust.

 

Emerging Artists

The Scottish Opera Emerging Artists programme offers young talent a period of full-time work with the Company to help launch their careers. This season they include returning mezzo-soprano Lea Shaw (Il trittico 2023) as Associate Artist, along with Ukrainian soprano Inna Husieva, South African tenor Monwabisi Lindi, and Scottish baritone Ross Cumming. The costume trainee and repetiteur are still to be announced.

Emerging Artist singers perform in a number of this season’s productions and tours, and in recitals at the University of Glasgow and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. They are supported by Scottish Opera’s Emerging Artist Benefactors and Elizabeth Salvesen.

 

Scottish Opera Education and Outreach

In spring and summer 2024, the ever-popular Primary Schools Tour for children in primaries five to seven is the newly created show Vikings! The Quest for the Dragon’s Treasure. Vikings! can be facilitated with an in-person workshop day led by Scottish Opera teaching artists, with full rental of props and costumes, or entirely within the classroom by teachers themselves. In both, teachers receive materials in advance.

How The Dragon Was Made is an interactive performance project for all 27 Confucius Institute classroom hub schools, designed to explore Chinese culture and language through music and visual arts. Senior primary classes use the digital resources to create their own performances that introduce one of China’s most ancient folk tales to the youngest pupils.

This year, Scottish Opera also offers teaching resources for Secondary School pupils. Having worked alongside Largs Academy to develop the materials suitable for young people, The Elixir of Love: Three Ways to Stage an Opera is a free teaching resource for teachers. Pupils will learn about music, drama, and art and design – incorporating elements of history, storytelling, and critical thinking – as they explore Donizetti’s comedy through three interpretations.

Scottish Opera continues to offer its Memory Spinners project for those living with dementia. The free project uses music, storytelling, movement, and visual arts to help Glasgow-based people living with dementia get creative and form new support networks. Throughout each eight-week term, they share memories that are then incorporated into a relaxed performance for friends and family.

Memory Spinners is supported by The RS MacDonald Charitable Trust, Sylvia Aitken Charitable Trust, Bellahouston Bequest Fund, Trades House of Glasgow (Commonwealth Fund), and Scottish Opera’s Education Angels.

The ground-breaking online programme, Breath Cycle, was formed with the Respiratory and Cystic Fibrosis Medicine team at NHS Glasgow. Designed to benefit those living with conditions affecting lung health – particularly Long COVID – free resources introduce participants to vocal exercises and breathing techniques. The response is overwhelmingly positive, with participants citing improvement in breathing, energy levels and mood. To find out more, please visit our website, where you can access a series of short tutorials and exercises, or sign up for weekly online sessions and song writing workshops.

‘The Covid Composer’s Songbook’, a selection of songs written by Breath Cycle participants, has been recorded for anyone to use and enjoy. Visit Scottish Opera’s website to download the full collection.

Supported by The Scottish Government, Cruach Trust, The Murdoch Forrest Charitable Trust, W M Mann Foundation, Souter Charitable Trust and Scottish Opera’s Education Angels

Scottish Opera continues its fruitful partnership with Disney Musicals in Schools. Collaborating with primary schools with no previous engagement with the arts and often facing a range of social and economic challenges, teaching artists guide pupils through rehearsals for special adaptations of Disney musicals and provide training for teachers to build their pupils’ skills and confidence through performance arts, creating a sustainable arts legacy for the future. The Company recently worked with Disney and pupils from St Anthony’s Primary School in Renfrewshire, to present the first official Frozen kids show outside of America. The performance was part of a three-day workshop with over 600 pupils from 11 schools who performed songs from Aladdin, The Jungle Book and The Lion King as well as Frozen. 

Scottish Opera’s Opera in Schools programme is supported by Harbinson Charitable Trust, David & June Gordon Memorial Trust, Hayward Sanderson Trust, Scottish Opera’s Education Angels and JTH Charitable Trust.

Places are available in Scottish Opera’s Community Choir, open to adults of all ages and conducted by Katy Lavinia Cooper, which starts up again in September. The choir sings a mixture of opera, classical, popular, folk and world music, and meets every Wednesday.

The Community Choir is supported by Scottish Opera’s Education Angels.

 

Accessible Performances

Scottish Opera is offering a range of accessible performances, to ensure everyone has the opportunity to enjoy a live opera experience that is inclusive and welcoming. With Access Opera performances and audio-description available this year, the Company aims to make it as easy as possible to attend the opera.

Specially created Access performances of The Barber of Seville and La traviata run alongside the mainstage productions in Glasgow and Edinburgh. With Dementia Friendly values at their core, afternoon Access performances are for those who enjoy a more relaxed opera experience. With a shorter running time (under two hours including an interval) and tickets at just £10, these audio-described performances are open to all, including those who may be living with dementia or Long COVID, more comfortable at a shorter show, struggling to get to evening performances, or would simply benefit from the more relaxed atmosphere.

Those who are visually impaired can also take advantage of audio-described performances of all three main stage productions – The Barber of Seville, Marx in London! and La traviata – where a live commentary is provided by a specialist audio describer during the show, describing the action on stage without compromising the music. As part of the experience, a recorded introduction to the opera is available in advance, as well as a live audio introduction before the start of the performance.

Pre-show talks are also available. These half-hour sessions delve into the detail of each opera, enhancing the audience enjoyment and extending knowledge of the piece.

Further information on the 2023/24 Season can be found at www.scottishopera.org.uk

Tickets go on sale from 1 June.

REVIEW: Death Drop Back in the Habit – King’s Theatre, Glasgow

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Death Drop: Back in the Habit is the latest in what is fast becoming a drag-theatre franchise. In a previous incarnation, a murder mystery, this iteration is inspired by the slasher genre.

Billed as “The Sound of Music meets Scary Movie”. “A gaggle of fierce nuns are confined to their convent, but their peace and tranquillity is shattered by a serial slayer, slashing their way through the Sisters.” Thrown into the mix there’s a visitor from the Vatican, sent to find a missing priest. It’s up to Mother Superior and the eclectic sisters of St. Babs to save their convent and some souls.

The plot is more holey rather than holy but no-one is expecting high art here. It is filthy-minded, potty-mouthed, not for the easily offended, but full of fun. Writer Rob Evans would hands down win the prize for the most innuendo packed into a two hour show. However, despite a relatively short running time, it does suffer from constant repetition of the same tropes: frequent pregnant pauses and a funny but oft-repeated running gag. It also doesn’t know when to end, and fizzles to a finish rather than going out with the expected big bang.

Peter McKintosh’s set is relatively simplistic but it is actually hugely atmospheric and it is lit to perfection by Rory Beaton. Judicious use of dry ice and some ropey looking props all add to the madness.

The familiar faces in the cast are a hugely talented bunch: cis-gender drag queen Victoria Scone as Mother Superior, the much-loved Cheryl Hole as Sister Mary Berry, Kitty Scott-Claus is Sis Titis, drag king LoUis CYfer is Father Alfie Romeo and drag superstar Jujubee as Sister Maria JulieAndrews. However, with all this talent in the room, there’s a niggling feeling that the material isn’t serving them best. They give it their all, but there’s drag royalty on this stage, a better script, a better storyline and they could have given sooo much more. Drag Queens and the slasher genre is a match made in heaven.

Stand out is Victoria Scone whose theatrical training shines through, they are absolutely magnetic and pitch perfect throughout. Impressive too is Jujubee, already known for a killer sense of humour, they pull off the physical comedy with aplomb (complete with a respectable English accent). Fan favourite Cheryl Hole is grossly underused, but shines when given the opportunity.

If it’s a raucous, rollicking night out with your pals you are looking for, then Death Drop: Back in the Habit is the show for you. If you’re easily offended – then maybe not.

Continues touring | Image: Matt Crockett

Originally written for the Reviews Hub 

 

REVIEW: Movies to Musicals – Theatre Royal, Glasgow

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Director: Ross Gunning

Choreographer: Rebecca Curbelo Valdivia

It’s a brave producer indeed who puts a cast of young performers on the same stage as the very best of the best of the West End. Brave or foolish you might say, but Ross Gunning has gathered the cream of young, triple threat, musical theatre talent in Scotland together and boy do they deliver the goods.

This entire production Movies to Musicals exudes quality from curtain up to curtain down.

The choice of songs is inspired: opening on A Musical from recent Broadway smash, the Shakespeare spoof, Something Rotten (a musical that’s only had one staging in the UK at Birmingham Rep in 2021), it starts on a high and continues to build.

The rousing opening is followed by Queen of the West End, Louise Dearman singing She Used to be Mine from Waitress. Dearman is as good as it gets in musical theatre. There’s no better role model to aspire to. It is an inspiring choice by Gunning, but that’s not all, next up is fellow Wicked alumni Laura Pick who belts out the classic Don’t Rain on my Parade.

This masterclass is followed by the young cast performing a medley from the world-conquering Hamilton. This is a stunning presentation and it is accompanied by incredibly clever choreography from Rebecca Curbelo Valdivia, it is clearly inspired by original choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, but injects its own originality and freshness. Of note too are the young soloists on Quiet Uptown – just glorious.

Alistair Brammer the third of the night’s guest artists, beautifully performs Why God Why and Last Night of the World with Laura Pick, from one of the musicals he is most synonymous with Miss Saigon.

The quality just keeps on coming: songs from The Prom, A Little Night Music, Jesus Christ Superstar and Wicked (a rare treat to have former Elphaba, Laura Pick and the only actor who has every played the two feature roles in Wicked (Glinda and Elphaba) Louise Dearman, sing an outstanding Defying Gravity to bring the curtain down on Act One.

Act Two gets off to a flying start with a captivating trio of highlights from Wicked which includes the young ensemble and our two leading ladies and Brammer who played Fiyero in Wicked to great acclaim. Again, to choreographer Curbelo Valdivia’s credit, the choreography remains tight, no mean feat with such a large cast. 

We are treated to songs from TV show Smash, The Greatest Showman, Les Mis, Jersey Boys, A Star is Born, an instrumental interlude Gabriel’s Oboe from The Mission and the out-right, hands-down smash of the evening, a medley from arguably Britain’s best new musical of the last decade, Six. To say this reviewer was blown away was an understatement, more like knocked out. The six young women who performed this were as good as any professional cast I’ve seen of this musical and it’s a musical I have seen a lot.

It takes a helluva lot of hutzpah to mix West End and Broadway performers of great acclaim with young, up and coming performers. Producer Ross Gunning has that hutzpah, and it has paid off. This is a class act, Rolls Royce quality from start to end. The only negative thing is that it will be next year before we can enjoy it again. Unmissable.

REVIEW: Home I’m Darling – Theatre Royal, Glasgow

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Laura Wade’s Home I’m Darling opens on a lovingly decorated two-story, 1950s home. A women, who we find out is Judy (Jessica Ransom) is clad in a candy stripe circle skirt, puffed out with petticoats and a frilly pinny. The dialogue delivered is pure RP. It all looks like any of Doris Day’s pastel-hued 1950s domestic comedies, or at least, the perfect presentation of post-war life in the London suburbs. That is, until Judy opens a drawer and pulls out her laptop.

All is not as it seems.

It transpires that three years ago, a once very 21st Century woman Judy, has taken voluntary redundancy and eschewed the trappings of modern life. She throws herself whole-heartedly into becoming the perfect 1950s housewife, right down to the assumption of very traditional gender roles.

But, the signs of strain appear: the redundancy money has run out; husband Johnny (Neil McDermott) has missed a much-need promotion and is wearily bearing the over-attentiveness of his out of touch wife. Judy’s mother Sylvia (Diane Keen) is frustrated with her daughter’s obsession, and reminds her how hard-won women’s rights were and how real life in the 50s was about harsh survival and recovery from the scars of war. Friends Fran (Cassie Bradley) and Marcus (Matthew Douglas) love the vintage vibes, but for them it’s just a harmless hobby, Judy, however, is neck-deep in her 1950s fantasy, spiralling, detaching herself further and further from reality, the bubble she has built is getting closer and closer to exploding.

Wade’s play is an examination of gender roles past versus present, and how all that we wish for through rose-tinted glasses may not be what we need or want.

Ransom’s Judy is as arch as she could be, she swirls around dusting, carpet-sweeping, endlessly baking, cocktail making, shoe-removing and generally being as perfect as she could possibly be. However, it tips too far into utter unbelievability for you to want to understand the psychology, let alone give her any sympathy, even as she unravels it sounds and feels like a sanitised episode of Watch With Mother. There’s no light and shade in the characterisation.

McDermott, as husband Johnny actually garners the most sympathy intentionally or otherwise. He plays along until he can play no more. However, even at moments of crisis, it’s all very polite.

Judy’s mother Sylvia played by TV veteran Diane Keen is the voice of reason in the midst of this madness. Poking holes in her daughter’s “gingham paradise”, utterly bemused why anyone would wilfully return to the grey 1950s, a world of fear and intolerance.

Enjoyable in parts, one can’t help feeling that this could all have been a bit harder-hitting without the extreme stereotypes and with some judicious pruning, both in text and in the time-wasting, choreographed interludes between scene changes. Winner of the 2019 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, the laughs are also surprisingly few and far between. A fine enough effort from all involved but ultimately unsatisfying.

Originally reviewed for The Reviews Hub.

REVIEW: The Wizard of Oz – Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock

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Despite it being the first day in December, pantomime season is well and truly in its groove. Eastwood Park Theatre in Giffnock have hit the ground running with the well-oiled machine that is The Wizard of Oz.

Largely a re-telling of the L. Frank Baum tale, it does take a few diversions off of the yellow brick road, (there’s a magic microphone involved) but it is very much a traditional family panto with wide appeal. The double-entendres are at a minimum and there’s enough slapstick for the little ones, TikTok dances and familiar chart hits for the teens and political jokes for the grown-ups.

It all starts with a bang, when we are treated to a rip-roaring version of Proud Mary in the first five minutes: the fine-voiced cast have their first of many chances to shine. With the interest levels up, the audience is carried along on a wave of energy.

To their absolute credit, there isn’t a weak link anywhere in the compact cast and there’s a palpable chemistry between Dorothy’s three chums: Jamie Lemetti (Scarecrow), Alan Mirren (Tin Man) and Liam Webster (Lion) who have an ease and fine timing with each other that ensures each joke lands its punchline. Stand out among the cast is the engaging Garry King who manages to deliver an eye-watering number of roles with a glint in his eye and a spring in his step, getting the audience firmly onside from the get-go. The dancers are well-drilled, and the choreography is sufficiently diverse to keep the interest up. For those wondering, yes, there are Munchkins, many, many, Munchkins, played by members of local dance and drama organisations. The Wicked Witch is sufficiently over-the-top camp and Stephen McLaughlin who plays her, has a powerful but soulful voice which he utilises to great effect here as does Kate Richards as the Good Witch (and Aunt Em).

If it’s bang for your buck you are looking for then you need look no further than Eastwood Park. At almost two and a half hours long, the show is packed with content, delivered by an enormously talented cast, everyone giving their all no matter what their role.

Eastwood Park is an exemplary theatre: great programming; a theatre with excellent sight lines; accessible; friendly, helpful staff and family affordable tickets – what more could you want?

Runs until 30 December 2022 – Tickets here

REVIEW: The Book of Mormon – Theatre Royal, Glasgow

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Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s musical satire on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, The Book of Mormon, is finally in Glasgow after a postponement due to a little thing called COVID.

Premiering on Broadway in 2011, winning nine Tony Awards and after running in the West End for nearly a decade, its reputation precedes it, but you’d be wrong to judge without seeing for yourself. On the surface crude, cruel and pushing the envelope, it is certainly not for the easily offended, but dig a little deeper and it is so much more than that.

Two hapless, polar opposite LDS missionaries, the wide-eyed, idealistic Elder Price and the pathological liar Elder Cunningham, are sent on their two-year Mormon mission to a remote Ugandan village. Suffice it to say, the locals aren’t exactly welcoming them with open arms. Added to that there’s the AIDS crisis, famine, poverty and a despotic warlord for good measure. Of course, there are the inevitable ‘journeys’ everyone embarks on to find one’s true self, all done with a tongue planted firmly in the cheek.

It is a musical that heavily relies on shock and surprise, and it would be churlish to give away the funniest scenes. There are laughs on laughs and foot tapping tune after tune, all delivered by a knockout cast. Principal among them are Conner Peirson as Elder Cunningham, who steals every scene he’s in; the beautiful-voiced Aviva Tulley as Nabulungi and Jordan Lee Davies wrestling gloriously with his homosexual urges as Elder McKinley.

It’s clear that the whole thing has been written with affection by Parker and Stone and of course, musical theatre royalty Robert Lopez (Avenue Q, Frozen, Coco) there is no way that it could get away with what it does, if it were purely cruel rather than impressively clever.

It is a giant juggernaut of a show and serves up a slice of unashamed satire that’s much needed in our easily offended world. If you needed any other reason to see it, ask yourself where else will you see Genghis Khan playing guitar with the Devil onstage in Glasgow on a weekday night?

Runs until 26 November 2022 | Originally published at The Reviews Hub

REVIEW: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat – Sir Alexander Gibson Opera Studio, Glasgow

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The Master of Music Opera students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland present a bold and brave, rarely seen contemporary opera double bill at the Sir Alexander Gibson Opera Studio this autumn.

First is The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Michael Nyman’s opera based on one of the case studies in the 1985 book of the same name by neurologist Oliver Sacks.

Dr. P a renowned singer and music teacher, has visual agnosia. He sees line, colour, simple shapes, patterns and movement but cannot recognise or make sense of what he sees. In Nyman’s opera, Dr. P’s condition is revealed through a series of scenes of gradual diagnosis.

Oliver Sacks himself declared the idea of turning this subject matter into an opera as simply ‘mad’, and one can’t help but agree as it proves to be a somewhat challenging work. That each scene comprises almost identical content and indeed the music, largely comprising extracts of Schumann (most especially Ich grolle nicht from Dichterliebe) lacks contrast which in turn lends itself to tedium despite its short running time. That the opera is based on such a well-regarded text doesn’t do it any favours in comparison.

 

The production team are of the finest quality, director Caroline Clegg, conductor William Cole and designer Finlay McLay have enviable CVs and indeed, any failings are not at their hands.

As Dr. P’s wife Marie Cayeux is vocally sound but her diction leaves a lot to be desired. To have to read the surtitles of an opera that is sung entirely in English is distracting to say the least. In a cast of three the balance is thrown out and any shortcomings thrown very much to the fore. Ross Cummings’ (above, centre) Dr. P is fine sounding throughout, however his exaggerated facial expressions are somewhat distracting in such a small auditorium. Standout among the trio is William Searle as Dr. S who delivers a finely measured acting performance to compliment a beautiful singing one.

 

The bravery of programming challenging works is to be lauded. However, the subject matter is tediously repetitive and provides little to sustain interest. The piece ends with the eminent doctor declaring that his only prescription is more music, but maybe not this music.

Continues its run at the RCS next week.

Images © Royal Conservatoire of Scotland/Robbie McFadzean

REVIEW: Downs With Love – Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock

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Cutting Edge Theatre’s Downs with Love, explores love and disability and the complex and challenging problems that ensue.

Beth (Abigail Brydon) has Down’s Syndrome. She lives a simple, independent life. Helping with this independence is her new support worker Tracy (Rachel Still). The pair become friends and Tracy expands Beth’s horizon by taking her to the local pub with her to watch singer Mark (Calum Barbour). Beth falls head over heels for Mark, but Mark is in love with Tracy who loves them both. Boundaries are crossed that drive a wedge between the trio. Difficult questions need to be asked and answered.

Writer Suzanne Loftus has approached a difficult and rarely talked about issue with sensitivity and a light touch, taking into consideration many of actor Abigail Brydon’s personal experiences to add authenticity to the piece. It shines a beacon on the issue of who should ‘police’ a disabled person’s love life? What right do those who are not disabled to ‘protect’ or indeed make decisions on their behalf? It highlights the frustrations of having to deal with constant, patronising behaviour and assumptions. It also tackles the issue of non-disabled/disabled relationships and society’s discomfort with the idea of them. All of this it does in a non-aggressive, non-confrontational way.

It presents carer Tracy as the one with lack of self-esteem, lack of confidence and gripped with a raft of fears, unlike her charge, the gutsy Beth. It does, to its credit, also highlight the importance of routine to Beth and love and relationships from her (often simplistic, black and white) point of view.

Abigail Brydon is magnetic in the central role of Beth; she has a verve and charm that wins you over from the first scene and Loftus’ words delivered by a Down’s Syndrome actor and written in collaboration with Brydon, have added weight. Calum Barbour as Mark, the object of everyone’s affection, gives a nicely nuanced performance, sensitively but strongly questioning Tracy’s idealistic views on Disabled people and relationships. Barbour also sings and plays guitar beautifully throughout the play. Rachel Still’s Tracy is probably the least rounded character, well-meaning, sweet, but lacking any depth or intellectual curiosity. Still does her best with an under-written role.

Theatre should be a mirror of society. The world is a large and diverse place and it’s refreshing to see different types of representation on a mainstream stage. Theatre needs much more of this in order to truly appeal to the largest possible demographic, and to question and expand our artistic horizons.

Well-worth seeing – both a charming and challenging piece of theatre.

(This production features fully integrated BSL)

REVIEW: Rocket Post – Platform, Easterhouse

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The story of the Rocket Post (the subject of two films and this stage production) is a long-told but largely forgotten Scottish legend.

It’s July 1934 in the Western Isles and there’s a crowd gathered on a sandy beach to watch German scientist Gerhard Zucker. Zucker wants to connect the world and believes the future of communication is rockets, more specifically, rocket post. He chooses a 1600 metre flight path between the Isles of Harris and the (now) unpopulated Scarp to deliver his cargo. Zucker loads the letters, lights the fuse and… well, what could possibly go wrong? Plenty as it happens. The gunpowder fuelled rocket disintegrates into a hailstorm of singed paper confetti and he only has three days to fix it.

Revived from the original 2017 National Theatre of Scotland production, this utterly charming musical play aimed at children aged six plus, combines, to great effect: storytelling; puppetry; clever and captivating props, and a mix of songs old and new in German, Gaelic and English.

It is a story of hope and optimism, of faith in the future, traditional versus new, the status quo versus change, life at home or venturing into the big wide world as well as a subtle musing on the effect of technology that resonates down the years. Amid great scepticism and a little anti-German sentiment from the local population, Gerhard pursues his dream and along the way inspires local woman Bellag to see beyond her horizons.

The mark of success for this production is its ability to appeal to its wide-ranging audience. The smallest members are awe-struck at the storytelling and stage craft, and the writing is highly amusing and has a cleverness that has much to be appreciated by the adults. The cast (David Rankine, MJ Deans and Ailie Cohen) have a magnetism that draws you in and keeps you enthralled. Utterly, utterly charming, it leaves you with a feeling of warmth as you step out into the cold Autumn night.

Reviewed on 24 October 2022 and continues touring | Image: Contributed

REVIEW: Sister Radio – Tron Theatre, Glasgow

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Silence. Silence is what sisters Fatemeh and Shirin live in every day in their Edinburgh tenement flat. The reason for the imposed silence is slowly, elegantly and heartbreakingingly, revealed in Sara Shaarawi’s Sister Radio.

Spanning over 40 years, from the 1970s, when Shirin moves into her older sister Fatimeh’s flat after their father has sent them ostensibly to Scotland to study (but in reality, to escape the impending Islamic Revolution in their homeland Iran), to the COVID pandemic in 2020.

Through monotonous repetition of their present-day domestic routines and flashbacks coloured by the ever-present radio, to their younger lives together, the story unfolds, adding a little more, and a little more with every scene.

The thoughts of the idealistic Shirin in the 1970s, who desperately wants to return to fight for her homeland, actually gives chills, given the benefit of hindsight and the horrifying case of Mahsa Amini at the hand of the country’s ‘morality police’ last month. Sister Fatimeh is much more accepting of her new life created in Scotland. However, it is a personal betrayal that is at the heart of the piece.

Both Lanna Joffrey (Fatemeh) and Nalân Burgess (Shirin) handle the piece with commendable restraint and deliver a believable chemistry between older and younger sister, indeed theirs is a five-star acting performance in a not-quite-perfect play. The domestic monotony does become too monotonous unfortunately, and the ending is a little stretched out, a little too sentimentally drawn together, which deprives the piece of the impact it could have had. That said, the post-curtain call speeches from both actors delivers a dose of the present-day reality in Iran that brings the audience to tears.

Runs until 22 October 2022 then continues touring | Image: Fraser Band

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