MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
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A nightmare ‘sitcom’
ANGUS REID recommends a play that mesmerises with the brilliance of both the writing and the performances
OUTSTANDING: Maureen Beattie and Saskia Ashdown
[Tim Morozzo]
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
The Scent of Roses
Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh
IN EACH scene of Zinnie Harris’s new play The Scent of Roses, a pair of characters demand the chance to talk, then fail to talk, play power games, and never think of getting counselling or calling social work.
Nothing dramatic happens except to the scenery: Tom Piper’s design gives us a well-heeled flat in Edinburgh that slowly and surrealistically disintegrates.
Each relationship fails to connect and maroons itself in nihilistic despair: husband and wife; teenage rebel and teacher; alcoholic teacher and distant mother; lover and adulterous husband.
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GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
KEITH RICHMOND relishes a superbly conceived modern version of Aeschylus’ drama of murderous family succession
MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship