EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
Yer swash needs buckling
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
TIMBERS SHIVERED: The cast of Treasure Island at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh
[Jess Shurte]
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Sunny Dancer, Tony, Songs of Forgotten Trees, and The End of Oak Street
JOHN GREEN relishes a powerful and moving drama that explores the lived realities of west London’s Punjabi community
MARTIN HALL welcomes a plea for greater compassion between believer and non-believer via the framework of philosophical enquiry
Treasure Island
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh
I relish it when a theatre company has the guts to eviscerate a classic.
In Warsaw in 1990 I saw a Polish production of Chekhov’s The Seagull that reduced the play to deckchairs, extended pauses and daft symbolism in a witty and absurdist act of cultural vandalism. It was a brilliant East European engagement with things Russian and the deconstruction worked because the audience shared the sense of purpose with which it was done.
What of things Scottish?
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GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
ANGUS REID recommends a very unusual documentary: a love story between two disillusioned journalists
ANGUS REID applauds the potential of an ambitious show about Gaza, and encourages it to keep its nerve
The book feels like a writer working within his limits and not breaking any new ground, believes KEN COCKBURN