Posts Tagged ‘reviews’
Fringe: Lucie Pohl offers a mixed bag of laughs
Okay, here’s a few things you should know about stand-up comedian Lucie Pohl. Firstly, she’s a short (5ft 1in) and hyperactively talented German-born New Yorker who dances like no-one’s watching and is inventively potty-mouthed. Despite being pint-sized, this failed former actor (her words) nevertheless exudes the sort of charisma which registers on Geiger counters. She…
Read MoreFringe: A timely reminder of historical horrors
A young woman rescues a drowning man on a beach in South America and the ensuing conversation between the two reveals the true nature of the man – and why he is what he is. This is not a play about the well documented mass murder and experimental atrocities committed by Josef Mengele, it is…
Read MoreFringe: Any job will do in entertaining Not Quite
Cassie Symes and Georgina Thomas are 2016 graduates from CENTRAL drama school. Not Quite is written and performed by the two artists. It is an amusing and well observed comedy about the absurdities of interviewing for that first tenuous grip on the job ladder. With pithy wit it regales us with their desperation for employment.…
Read MoreFringe: A production of two halves – and it’s superb
BalletBoyz is an outstanding production. The production is presented in two halves, Them and Us, both choreographed and executed perfectly to the accompanying music score by Charlotte Harding and Keaton Henson respectively. ‘Them’ explores individuality of movement, ‘Us’ explores human connections. The all-male dance troupe are metronomic in their precision, graceful in their movement, expressive…
Read MoreA look at what goes into making fine furniture
In this large but stunningly illustrated and compelling autobiographical tome, artist Rupert Williamson dissects the organic process which came to define his work as a fine furniture maker. The mildly dyslexic designer embraced futurism in the early 1970s with gawdy, bulbous, curved structures, desperate to topple the establishment – which for a designer at that…
Read MoreThe dedication of Henrietta Tayler to help in the war
Henrietta Tayler was a truly remarkable woman in the First World War effort. Born into the Scottish gentry, she might have lived a life of ease, but instead chose to dedicate herself to assisting the soldiers on the front line. She also published more than 30 full-length works and articles in order to help and…
Read MoreA carefully curated collection of summer writing
Carefully selected by Melissa Harrison, this anthology has been put together to capture the spirit of summer. The physical wonders are captured through the writings of well-known authors such as Charles Dickens, George Elliott and Edward Step, to name a few, and together they form a collection which reconnects the reader with the natural world.…
Read MoreExamining the works of artist Pat Douthwaite
The expressive work of artist Patricia Douthwaite (1934-2002) is tricky to define and has changed over the years. Her work initially represented her naivety with themes of culture and intelligence. In the later years of her art career there is a significant difference in Douthwaite’s themes and intentions. Her art was not made for the…
Read MoreMagical tales from ancient Scots mythology
The Old Grey Magician is a compilation of short stories featuring Fionn and his crowd of men (the Fianna) and his poet son, Ossian. The Old Grey Magician is a mystical figure who frequently appears throughout Celtic mythology, often taking on different forms and shapeshifting. This book is one of the first collections featuring a…
Read MoreThe tragic story of a Scots soldier – in his own words
So many Scottish families have their own stories from World Wars I and II. This is the biography of Charles Grant Tennant, a pacifist who joined the Army at the outbreak of the Great War and died in May 1915. Cumbrae-based Fergus Boyle has assembled a fascinating first-hand account of the life of his great-uncle,…
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