(This is a lightly edited transcript of the interview; to view the whole interview, please click image above) Stephen Carruthers: Good Afternoon. I’m Stephen Carruthers from the Dundee University Review of the Arts and I’m here with Joe Douglas, the Associate Artistic Director of Dundee Rep Theatre. Joe Douglas: Hello. SC: Joe, you joined the Read More
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is widely considered one of the greatest plays to come out of the 20th century. Premiered in 1949, it is a tragedy that examines the demise of a working man and how society, along with the character’s own delusions, can torture a weakened soul. When my MLitt class Read More
TutuMucky begins with sounds in darkness – an unnervingly loud, rhythmic cacophony of rasping music, grating metal and dripping water. Then, in semi-darkness, we can just make out human forms, the dancers, sitting bent over, their black and earthy coloured tutus creating unfamiliar shapes in the low light. It might be horror, or science fiction, Read More
The audience at The Rep looked to be squirming as tens of children jumped, wiggled and waved, and agitated in their seats. Each one of them sits by a parent in a Santa hat, a caregiver with a face painted to look like an elf, or a grandparent with tinsel around their necks that leave Read More
Since his six years as Rector during the 1990s, Stephen Fry has had many kind things to say about Dundee University. Given that the University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1995 and named its student association bar after his novel The Liar, the feeling is clearly mutual. It is no surprise then that the Read More
The performance of Much Ado Abut Nothing by the Dundee Rep Ensemble, directed by Irene Macdougall, was fantastic, entertaining and frequently hilarious. Ken Harrison’s set was a simple yet impressive affair of Mediterranean tiles, ornate lights and transparent walls; the grand, uncluttered setting allowed the performers room to bring this Shakespeare comedy of love, Sicilian Read More
“Sit anywhere you want, but try stick to the front to keep the intimate feel,” were the words said to me as I collected my tickets. I thought nothing too much of it – not expecting anything out of the ordinary. Instead, in true Rep fashion, I was greeted by an absolutely beautiful stage. A Read More
Rob Currie’s play, Undertaking, explores the dimensions of grief and loss by blurring the lines between reality, fantasy and memory, examining death as it were from a personal and professional point of view. Undertaking ushers the audience into the backrooms of a funeral parlour and the home of a grieving family, as both prepare for Read More
War and its losses are never far from the surface in Brian Johnstone and Chrys Salt’s mixed media performance The Fields of War. Breaking through in powerful human expressions of anguish and outrage, the poets assume voices from across a century of fighting – the soldier returning in peacetime, the bomber pilot surveying his target, Read More
Pulling off The Great Gatsby on stage while Baz Luhrmann’s dazzling adaptation is still in memory is a sizable task. Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novella, this is a story of a young man who finds himself dropped in an idyllic corner of Long Island where wealthy socialites and movie stars come to frolic Read More