Les Dialogues des Carmelites – RSAMD

This opera is based on the true story of the martyrdom of sixteen Carmelite nuns from Compiegne during the French Revolution.     It tells the story of Blanche from an aristocratic family who joins the order after being menaced by a mob in the street.    She is interviewed by the Old Prioress who becomes ill and [...]

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The Martyrdom of St Magnus – Hebrides Ensemble

Peter Maxwell Davies wrote his short opera The Martyrdom of St Magnus for the first St Magnus Festival in Orkney in 1977.     It is a chamber piece, based on the book Magnus by George Mackay Brown.    It tells the story of the two Earls of Orkney in the 12th century Hakon and Magnus, and of [...]

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Tha Bacchae – National Theatre of Scotland – Aberdeen

Harvest activity here meant I missed The Bacchae at the Edinburgh Festival, and also the Glasgow run last summer.    Happily it is being resurrected, with a few cast changes,  for a handful of performances in Aberdeen and Inverness before heading off to New York.
A likeable show, even if it does not all quite work.    Another [...]

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Lisbon Treaty

At least the Irish were given the choice, although, Zimbabwe style, they may get another vote to come up with the ‘correct’ answer next time.
In the UK, we have no choice – Gordon Brown and his chums have railroaded this through parliament and approved it on our behalf.      It is an undemocratic disgrace.      We should [...]

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E.S.T. Esbjorn Svensson

Absolutely shocking news about Esjborn Svensson, the jazz pianist who died while scuba diving in Sweden last weekend aged 44.  
I first heard the Esbjorn Svensson Trio being played on Radio Scotland a few years ago, and was knocked out by a track from Seven Days of Falling.   I heard them play live in Dundee when they were [...]

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Les Parents Terribles – Dundee Rep.

Dundee Rep have assembled their ‘A’ team of actors to tackle the 1938 Parisian shocker Les Parents Terribles by Jean Cocteau in a translation made for the National Theatre production by Jeremy Sam.       I knew nothing about this play when I went, but it is a totally absorbing five-hander.
Diabetic and permanently pyjama-clad Yvonne, convincingly played by Anne [...]

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Milk Bags

So, Waitrose want to sell milk in bags.     What goes around, comes around.
I remember that in the 1970s, milk came in bags.   You were given a special plastic jug to stick your milk bag in, cut off the corner with a pair of scissors, and simply poured.     As long as you were nifty with the [...]

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Little Otik – Perth Theatre

I tend to enjoy derived theatre – that is a play which is constructed by the creative team as it goes along, and when everyone is happy, written down and performed.    It is a risky strategy, because as performance deadlines loom, the pressure incresases to get it in its final form.    When it works, it [...]

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