Scotland Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 3

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: KAFKA'S METAMORPHOSIS: THE MUSICAL! WITH PUPPETS!, Pleasance Dome
by Kat Mokrynski - October 02, 2024

Written by Matt Chiorini and Travis Newton, Kafka's Metamorphosis: The Musical! With Puppets! is pretty much what is written on the tin - an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis told using songs and puppets. Audience members are greeted by a performer sitting on stage, facing away from them...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: SHITTY MOZART, Gilded Balloon Patter House
by Kat Mokrynski - October 02, 2024

Imagine this, if you will. Scientists have discovered that they are capable of cloning humans, giving them the ability to bring deceased geniuses back through new life. They have chosen to clone Mozart, but, in a twist, the hair retrieved from Mozart is actually his pubic hair, leading to the clone ...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: ANIA MAGLIANO: FORGIVE ME, FATHER, Pleasance Courtyard
by Kat Mokrynski - October 02, 2024

Ania Magliano: Forgive Me, Father begins with a bit of relatable comedy - stalking people on Instagram you aren’t able to follow. For Magliano, the person she stalks is her partner’s ex, and she tells us about the different posts she has seen from her....

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: CELYA AB: OF ALL PEOPLE, Pleasance Courtyard
by Kat Mokrynski - October 01, 2024

Celya AB: Of All People begins with a topic that some might see as taboo - money. Celya declares that she is going to be very open about money. In keeping with the themes of money and value, Celya guarantees the audience 100 jokes throughout the show, each one worth sixteen pence, though she warns t...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: AMY MATTHEWS: COMMUTE WITH THE FOXES, Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Tron)
by Kat Mokrynski - September 29, 2024

Amy Matthews: Commute with the Foxes begins with a surprising topic for a comedy show - conspiracy theories. And the one Matthews chooses to focus on isn’t one of your typical theories. Instead, she tells us about her belief that Francis Bourgeois, a viral trainspotter, is a government plant....

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: SPY MOVIE: THE PLAY!, Pleasance Courtyard
by Kat Mokrynski - September 29, 2024

Spy Movie: The Play!, written by Matthew Howell and Jack Michael Stacey, is “The Greatest Spy Movie (n)Ever Made.” The show has quite the interesting (and meta) concept - what we are going to see is meant to be seen on the silver screen but, due to financial reasons, we are going to be seeing it sta...

Review: 2/3RDS OF A THREESOME (AND FRIENDS), Monkey Barrel Comedy
by Kat Mokrynski - September 29, 2024

While living in New York, I was first introduced to comedy shows through 2/3rds of A Threesome (and Friends). The show is hosted by AJ Holmes and Caitlin Cook, two singer-songwriters who created the duo known as 2/3rds of A Threesome. Holmes and Cook have brought along their “friends,” fellow comedi...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: SWAMPLESQUE, Assembly Hall
by Kat Mokrynski - September 29, 2024

Have you ever seen someone in a gingerbread costume give the drag performance of their life? No? Well, you should definitely consider seeing it sometime. Swamplesque, the Australian “ogre-inspired burlesque and drag parody,” arrived at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year in the iconic Assembly H...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: BRITANICK: DUMMY, Pleasance Courtyard
by Kat Mokrynski - September 29, 2024

BriTANick: Dummy, a self-described “nonlinear, freeform sketch show” is performed by Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher, the two members of BriTANick who are most well-known for their online sketch comedy as well as being writers for Saturday Night Live and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia....

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: PAUL WILLIAMS: MAMIYA 7, Assembly Roxy
by Kat Mokrynski - September 29, 2024

Paul Williams: Mamiya 7 has a description that leaves much to the imagination. All we are told is that “Paul bought a second-hand film camera last year and it turned out the previous owner had left a used-up roll of film in it” and that this will be the theme of the show. And indeed, the descriptio...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: EDDY HARE: THIS ONE'S ON ME, Pleasance Courtyard
by Kat Mokrynski - September 29, 2024

Eddy Hare: This One’s On Me begins on the topic of male pattern baldness, with Hare explaining that he first had a bald spot at the age of twenty, promising to reveal it to us by the end of the show, which had already been requested by one eager audience member. But, we soon delve into the main subj...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: JAKE ROCHE: NEPORRHOIDS, Pleasance Courtyard
by Kat Mokrynski - September 29, 2024

Jake Roche: Neporrhoids certainly has one of the more interesting show starts of the Fringe. Roche kneels in front of a keyboard on the stage, pulling down his trousers and simulating having an orgasm while staring directly at the audience member in front of him....

Review: LAST NIGHT I DREAMT THAT SOMEBODY LOVED ME, Tron Theatre
by Natalie O'Donoghue - September 22, 2024

Taking the classic Smiths’ song Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me as their cue, director, writer and performer Ben Harrison and musician and composer David Paul Jones delve into the wonderful, troubled, exhilarating and oddly innocent decade - the 80s....

Review: THE WOLVES AT THE DOOR, Oran Mor
by Natalie O'Donoghue - September 21, 2024

A dark comedy that takes aim at corporate greed and questions the kindness of strangers....

Review: UP, Tron Theatre
by Mary Baillie - September 16, 2024

We discover the chances of perishing in a commercial plane crash are 29.4 million to one. Comforting—unless you’re that one. Visible Fictions presented the world premiere of original work 'Up' at the Tron in Glasgow last week, which will continue to tour Scotland until the 5th of October. The piece ...

Review: HISTORY OF PAPER, Tron Theatre
by Mary Baillie - September 16, 2024

A pizza express menu. A birthday card. A birth certificate. A note. A shopping receipt. In a world so overtaken by technology, this play beautifully uncovers the quiet power of paper, revealing how much of our lives—birthdays, milestones, even dinner plans—are still shaped by what’s printed on singl...

Review: THE LAST CABARET ON EARTH, Oran Mor
by Natalie O'Donoghue - September 15, 2024

An electrifying show full of music and laughter by Brian James O’Sullivan that asks “how would you want to spend your last hour?”...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: MICHAEL KUNZE: INFINITY MIRROR, Underbelly, Cowgate
by Kat Mokrynski - September 16, 2024

Walking into Michael Kunze: Infinity Mirror, audiences are greeted by Kunze himself, who is standing on the stage making sandwiches. After taking a few orders from audience members, he then begins some audience participation, tossing slices of fake ham into the audience and encouraging them to throw...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: STAMPTOWN, Pleasance Courtyard
by Kat Mokrynski - September 16, 2024

As someone who has seen versions of Stamptown in both Edinburgh and London, I was very much looking forward to seeing the show at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the Pleasance Courtyard - Grand, a 750-seat venue....

Review: There Is No Room In Our Bathroom For Lewis Capaldi, Paisley Arts Centre
by Natalie O'Donoghue - September 13, 2024

Seventeen year old Gwen has 8 siblings and a long list of daily tasks to get them ready and out the door each morning for school; until one day she doesn’t. The wee kids are all still at home eating cereal and no-one knows where she has gone…...

Review: NISH, DON'T KILL MY VIBE, Kings Theatre Glasgow
by Mary Baillie - September 14, 2024

Who knew dissecting global politics could be such a riot? In his latest show, Nish Kumar (best known for The Mash Report and Taskmaster) proves we need punchlines to survive punch-ups. Blending sharp political commentary with razor-sharp wit, the left-wing comic delivers a cleverly crafted set that ...

Review: BURLESQUE THE MUSICAL, Theatre Royal Glasgow
by Natalie O'Donoghue - September 17, 2024

When Ali heads to the bright lights of New York in search of her mother, she finds herself drawn into a dazzling underground world where the beat of the music and the heat of the dance moves will change her life forever. Among this unlikely family of misfits, dreamers and schemers, Ali will unwittin...

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: CATHERINE COHEN: COME FOR ME, Pleasance Courtyard
by Kat Mokrynski - September 16, 2024

Catherine Cohen: Come For Me is self-described as a “openly glamorous, decidedly horny comedy cabaret,” and that is certainly accurate! Cohen also compares her show to Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, an immersive theatrical experience, and she’s not wrong....

Review: POKER ALICE, Oran Mor
by Natalie O'Donoghue - September 07, 2024

Alice, saddled with debt by her recently departed husband, is playing in a poker game with a chance to win a seat at the finals in Las Vegas....

Review: EDINBURGH 2024: SHEEPS: THE GIGGLE BUNCH (THAT'S OUR NAME FOR YOU) - Pleasance Courtyard
by Kat Mokrynski - September 13, 2024

Sheeps: The Giggle Bunch (That's Our Name For You) has been performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for over a decade, and now they’re bringing what may be their final show to the Pleasance....