Faye (Charlotte McCurry) is suffering from post-traumatic stress, following an encounter with a man who had broken into her apartment. She suffers extreme sleep deprivation and her diet of dry Rice Krispies could hardly be called balanced. The audience witness her conversations with an unseen therapist. She seems to be increasingly isolated from the outside world, having no useful family, disconnected from her only sibling. Increasingly desperate to break out from her situati

According to our protagonist, we spend 16 days a year queuing. That’s an awful lot of waiting. Busy people who are perfectly capable of decorating, gardening, cooking etc. will take short cuts, employing a gardener, or buying a ready meal. It seems, therefore, a logical extension of this idea that the neologism ‘codista’ – professional queuer – should be born. That it emanated from Italy should be even less of a surprise, given their historically legendary levels of bureaucra

The various nation states that comprise today’s progressive Scandinavia have not always rubbed along in harmony and unity. For hundreds of years, Norway’s identity was suppressed by the  Scandinavian  and later  Dano-Norwegian Unions , accompanied by empire building and self-interest reflective of the patchwork of European states of the time. Ibsen, very much the father of Norwegian literature, went so far as to describe this period as “Four Hundred Years of Darkness”. So, it

It’s been 75 years since the British decided to divide India. Niall Moorjani’s grandfather was a child who lived through that seismic, catastrophic event and we hear his story. The British arrived in India around the turn of the seventeenth century and stayed for 340 years, during which time the sub-continent was irrevocably changed. During the first half of the twentieth century, Europe reeled from two devastating wars, which inevitably spilled over to many other parts of th

Trouble In The Square  is an international collective at the beginning of their theatrical journey, who present  Il Burattino  at Rotunda’s Bubble tent. We meet Tino (Miguel Mota), an orphan in  Piemonte, North West Italy,  living in the rural foothills of the Alps, close to the Swiss border.  It is 1942 - Europe is in the midst of a devastating war, one that, as it transpires, will cast a shadow over the continent for next half of a century. Tino’s closest friend, Romero (As

Giulia Menichelli charmingly performs as Giulia Tofana, a seventeenth century Sicilian courtesan, turned poisoner. We enter the Friends’ Meeting House performance room, greeted by Menichelli, obviously at ease with receiving visitors, welcoming the audience. The atmosphere is enhanced by clever use of fragrances (candles, incense sticks) and the Mediterranean feel is neatly completed by oranges being placed at every audience chair. It is immediately sensual and inviting. Tofa

An intelligent, affable, man approaching middle age at first glance has found his place in the world. He has a job he seems to enjoy and be good at ; moreover is trusted by his employers. He is in a committed relationship and has a circle of friends (though it’s by no means certain how wide this is). But is all as it seems ? The audience enters The Rotunda’s Squeak tent to find the performer awaiting, attired in semi-formal business dress. The set is simple – a chair and a ta

And Then The Rodeo Burned Down  is a treat : a smorgasbord of physical theatre, clowning, vaudevillian playfulness and much, much more – a two-hander from the U.S. that offers a queer, sideways look at rodeos and the usually machismo-drenched world of cowboys. This is a charming, funny, poignant and clever hour, but with a layered element of vulnerability. The audience enters The Kings Heads’ three-quarters round space to see, well, not much at all really –  there is precious

“ So here it is, Merry Christmas, everybody’s having fun.”  In supermarkets, shopping centres, pubs, cafes, on radio stations and at parties, these lyrics from  Slade ’s monster yuletide hit have burbled out every December for pretty much the last half century. It’s a given, isn’t it ? Everybody’s having fun. Everyone is filled with festive cheer : Christmas parties, presents, stockings, crackers, mulled wine – the list is endless. Steven Berkoff’s  Harry’s Christmas  dares t

How many mimes does it take to change a lightbulb ? This question and others are asked in this entertaining and thought-provoking show. The stage of the beautiful  Teatro Sociale ‘Giorgio Busca’  is bare (of course it is, it is a mime show). A mime appears, and then, in carefully choreographed style, enters through an unseen doorway. Dressed in a classical mime workshop black outfit, with white gloves and a white painted face, he begins to perform the sort of mime movements t

More than 400 years ago, in  Hamlet  Shakespeare wrote “to sleep – perchance to dream”. Human beings have always been fascinated by the sensation, unleashing a myriad of emotions therein. Dreams give semi-conscious space to uncertainty, fears and neuroses, but also to aspiration, desire and love. Dominating the stage of the beautiful  Teatro Sociale ‘Giorgio Busca’  is a vertical bed, with bedside furniture. Three actors appear, seemingly about to drift away to sleep. Their m

The audience settle into their seats and are greeted by a set at first glance consisting trestle tables, tablecloths, rugs, lamps etc.. However, the rear part of the set immediately piques your interest. Why are there seemingly a myriad of entrances and exits, placed in a such a mundane suburban environment ? The set seems to taper away from the audience, suggestive of some modern time tunnel ; will the cast be entering a parallel universe ? And then, before we even meet the

Negotiation. It’s harder than it looks. Estate agents, brokers, banks, insurance companies, hostage specialists, Governments – people are trained in this art for a reason. The premise in  Ultimatum , at first glance, appears to be simple. Two female strangers are in a room with one million pounds. They are given one hour to agree how to split the money. As long as they agree, the money is theirs, with no conditions. If they fail to agree they leave with nothing. The set is mi

Modern popular culture is awash with spy stories : James Bond, Jason Bourne, John Le Carre, Ken Follett, William Boyd et al, going back to Eric Ambler. The reality of spy operations is usually far less glamorous : painstaking, dull monitoring, reporting within a static hierarchical structure. Until we meet Denis Rake. Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.) was created during World War 2, with the fate of the free world at stake. Their role : espionage, reconnaissance, organisi

The set conjures up theatre from a bygone era. A wooden puppetry gantry with a variety of red and white curtains seems to bring to mind Victorian/Edwardian times. The use of surtitles before each scene creates the sense of the silent movie age. A series of performances are played out, with the inevitable denouement of puppets meeting their demise in a series of ways, breathtaking in creativity. At times reminiscent of Monty Python, Spitting Image, The Goodies, The Young Ones

Spies Like Us are no strangers to Edinburgh Fringe. Their reputation is established as avant-garde, physical theatre story-tellers. Their set is typically minimalist : a desk, a doorway and 5 telephones. All is not as it seems though. The doorway becomes a phonebox, the desk a blackboard. The telephone lines become existentially an extension of anxiety and stress. All may not be as it seems generally, in fact. Speed Dial is performed by five actors, all in differently colour

Douglas Adams, coveted and bestselling author, is perilously close to an apparently unmissable publishing deadline. So much so, that his publicist has locked him in a hotel suite and refuses to release him until he finishes the manuscript. Douglas Adams will need no introduction to many people, his reputation as one of the greatest and adored writers of the twentieth century being beyond debate. At the moment we meet Adams in his hotel suite, his  Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Ga

A young man forms part of a Lancaster bomber squadron, going out on yet another raid towards the end of World War II. The play conveys parts of the overall journey, with the plane being in almost constant mortal danger. John, the  Wireless Operator , carries out his duties on the plane out of self-preservation and loyalty to his fellow crew-members. However, he is both terrified and wracked with guilt at the devastation wreaked upon the vulnerable population which he can easi

Hitman And Her  is an engaging and funny tale of a jilted wife trying to arrange a hit on her husband, weaving undertones of homage to Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett and  The Italian Job . What happens if you stray from your comfort zone ? A woman arrives in a pub and invites herself to join a man, to whom she is apparently unknown. Their clothing and demeanour would suggest that they have very little in common. But, very much in keeping with a theme of this production, all is

Bible John  was the moniker given to a serial killer operating in Glasgow in the late 1960’s. He murdered three women he had encountered at a popular dancehall. Fifty years later, with the crimes still unsolved, four women develop a fascination with the events and turn amateur sleuth. This is a highly competent and engaging piece of theatre, performed by a talented ensemble and adeptly directed by Lizzie Manwaring. At surface level, the piece centres around the bond forged be