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Swallows and Amazons – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Writer:Helen Edmundson Music:Neil Hannon Lyrics:Neil Hannon Director:Tom Morris Reviewer:Samantha Currie The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★½ Swallows and Amazons is currently at the beginning of a UK tour after playing at the Bristol Old Vic and the West End. Directed by Tom Morris, the co-director of War Horse, with music and lyrics by Neil Hannon. The book is, of course [...]

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The Tree of Knowledge – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Writer: Jo Clifford Director: Ben Harrison Reviewer: Val Baskott The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★☆ In Jo Clifford’s warm and funny new play, two of the greatest luminaries of the Scottish Enlightenment, Adam Smith and David Hume, find themselves temporarily brought to life again in the 21st century, in transit between dying and non-existence. Rumbustious Hume (Gerry Mulgrew) rails against [...]

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Beauty and the Beast – The Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

Writer: Stuart Paterson Music: Olly Fox Director:Neil Murray Reviewer: Adrian Twist The Public Reviews Rating: ★★½☆☆ Beauty and the Beast was one of my childhood favourites so expectations for this play were high. Unfortunately this particular performance failed to meet those expectations. The story(Stuart Paterson)it’s self is a cross between Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella, it’s set at [...]

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PREVIEW: American Idiot to tour the UK

The hit Tony Award winning musical American Idiot will be premiering at The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton next year (Oct—Dec 2012) with a full US cast before embarking on a national tour. Described by the New York Times as “the most adventurous musical to brave Broadway in the past decade,” American Idiot features the songs of [...]

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Nutcracker! – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Music: Tchaikovsky Director and Choreographer: Matthew Bourne Reviewer: Samantha Currie The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★☆ The Nutcracker is a perennial Christmas favourite, and the multi award winning Matthew Bourne, true to form, has stamped his own unique mark on this non-traditional presentation of the story. Nutcracker! is a highly stylised production, hugely camp in places and possibly a relief [...]

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Turning to the Camera – Ocean Terminal Leith, Edinburgh

Writer: Simon Jackson Director: Andy Corelli Reviewer: Gareth Ireland The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★☆☆ A paparazzo is sniffing out the latest sex scandal but instead photographs the moment when a man is pushed out of a window. This murder, of an Egyptian secret service agent, based on real facts, begins our paparazzo’s mad adventure through the streets of London [...]

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Hormonal Housewives – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Writers: Julie Coombe and John MacIsaac Reviewer: Edie R The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★☆ At 7:40pm on Wednesday 2nd November, the “Ti Amo” restaurant on Nicolson Street was full of smartly-dressed women, polishing off the last of their Spaghetti Gorbachev. At 7:50pm, they’d all vanished. In actual fact, they’d crossed the road to the Festival Theatre, whose glass halls [...]

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One Man, Two Guv’nors – The Kings Theatre. Edinburgh

Writer: Richard Bean Director: Nicholas Hytner Reviewer: Nicholas Ashton The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★★★ The National Theatre has just completed a short tour of this sparkling production by Nicholas Hytner before it opens in the West End. It is very to see why it has been extraordinarily successful, blending with seeming effortlessness knockabout comedy, retro chic and satirical observation. [...]

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