Review: Bingo! – Assembly Hall, Edinburgh

 

First published in The Times, Monday March 11 2018

Two Stars

In many ways, the bingo hall is the ideal place in which to set a site-specific show. Like live theatre at its best, a night at the bingo is a collective experience that’s a little different every time, leaving its participants trembling on the edge of their seats, on the verge of elation or disappointment.

 

It is surprising that this new musical comedy, produced by Stellar Quines in collaboration with Grid Iron, the leading company specialising in site-specific work in Scotland, makes no attempt to fully immerse its audience within such a giddy atmosphere. We watch the action unfold against the glittery backdrop of Carys Hobbs and Becky Minto’s set at one remove, and the experience is akin to spying on a party to which we haven’t been invited.

Review: Still Game Live 2 – SSE Hydro, Glasgow

First published in The Times, Monday February 6 2017

Three Stars

“We’re gonnae keep it real this time,” says Jack (Ford Kiernan) at the start of this second live outing for the Glasgow sitcom, a nod to the dazzling Bollywood song-and-dance number that brought the curtain (and the house) down at the end of the first incarnation of Still Game Live, back in 2014.

 

Predictably, Jack’s claim of going back to comedy basics is undermined almost immediately when Navid (Sanjeev Kohli) appears, floating on a magic carpet above the counter in Harrid’s convenience store. Isa (Jane McCarry) makes her entrance, with sparks shooting out of the end of her mop. Winston (Paul Riley) arrives, flying from wires, Peter Pan-style, while Tam (Mark Cox) fires himself out of a cannon. The crowd in the 12,000-seat Hydro goes wild.