The Aberdeen Artists Society’s (AAS) exhibition, Coming Home, was due to take place in June in the newly refurbished Aberdeen Art Gallery to celebrate the society’s return to the gallery for the first time since 2014. The AAS, one of the longest established artist-led organisations in Scotland was formed in 1827 and began holding annual Read More
Errant is a fascinating collection that delves into the poet’s past experiences, with influences from other writings and encounters with other creative minds. Gabriel Levin’s sixth collection doesn’t fail to uncover, intrigue and take the reader through a myriad of places journeying between the poet’s homelands in the West and the Middle East. Levin who Read More
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s best-known and most-performed plays. Nicholas Hytner’s adaptation is a spirited spectacle (pun intended). We see fairies swinging on silks, beds moving through space, and parts of the stage rise up from the floor and disappear. The staging is as immersive as it is impressive—giant disco balls bob Read More
This stage adaptation of Andrea Levy’s Orange Prize-winning novel of the same name, staged in 2019, is unusually prescient, given how relevant the themes are today. Coincidentally, as I write this review, the world marks Windrush Day, marking the 72nd anniversary on which Caribbean individuals and families boarded the HMT Empire Windrush to journey to Read More
Meaghan Delahunt, a small sunburst of a person, meets me on a cold mid-March morning in Edinburgh with a smile and a joke about elbow-bumping, softly deflecting the viral threat of a handshake or hug as only an avid reader of that day’s online news would know to do. On the train and in the Read More
Motherwell is a poignant family portrait, articulately painted by the late Deborah Orr of a life with ‘house-proud’ mother Win and ‘factory-worker’ father John. Orr achieved success as a journalist, becoming editor of the Guardian’s Weekend supplement by 31, and writing a weekly column for two decades thereafter. She was also a child of Scottish Read More
Coming/Going The girl could step off the train, go round by the post office and the pubs, climb the hill and find herself next to the road between two grassy verges. And if she wanted to, she could peel away the layers; from daffodils, to snow, to burnt leaves and watch the video tape rewind. Read More
Josie Rourke’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s last tragedy & his last Roman play is uniquely suited to the sparse setting of the Donmar Warehouse. This small stage is open to the audience on three sides; only 14 chairs, a ladder, and the back wall serves to embody the whole of ancient Rome. Yet what it Read More
‘I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.’ Blanche Dubois If you’re looking for a literary treat before lockdown’s slight easing, you could do worse than immerse yourself in the National Theatre’s compelling interpretation of the classic Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire. This contemporary version has everything; from revolving stage, relevant music and Read More
‘The story opens when I go to the gallery with you.’ I walked in with you. We were chatting, but I was only half-listening. I was distracted by the sculptures in the cabinets and the brightly painted mural on the wall. They faded behind me as we continued to walk and as I stepped up Read More