Theatre review: The Bookies – Dundee Rep

First published in The Times, Saturday May 7 2022

THREE STARS

According to the writing partnership of Mikey Burnett and Joe McCann, the idea of setting a comedy-drama in a bookmaker first came to them in 2007. Fifteen years on, the world of the turf accountant has changed beyond recognition. Gone are the smoke-filled betting shops of old, replaced by shiny corporate outlets stuffed with gaming machines, the paper slips and tiny pencils supplanted by online accounts.

Review: Smile – Dundee Rep

First published in The Times, Monday February 24 2020

Three Stars

It is said that all political careers end in failure; the same observation could be made about most football managers. Jim McLean’s final match in charge of Dundee United ended in a 4-1 loss to Aberdeen. Nonetheless, the fans insisted on their club’s longest-serving manager taking a lap of honour.

Review: The Ugly One – Tron Theatre, Glasgow

First published in The Times, Tuesday July 9 2019

Three Stars

This is the first time Marius von Mayenburg’s 2007 satire has been seen on a Scottish stage but there is much in Debbie Hannan’s production that will be familiar to those with even a sketchy knowledge of the horror genre. The trope of slowly unwrapping bandages from some strangely altered face has been so endlessly sent-up that it surely deserves a subgenre classification of its own.

Review: Wendy and Peter Pan – Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh

First published in The Times, Thursday December 6 2018

Three Stars

In outline, Ella Hickson’s adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s tale of the “boy who wouldn’t grow up” doesn’t look especially radical. Wendy and Peter have their first encounter in the nursery as Peter hunts his errant shadow. Lost Boys, pirates, mermaids and vengeful crocodiles populate Neverland. The curtain comes down on the first act with the hero, apparently mortally wounded, uttering the immortal line: “to die will be an awfully big adventure.”

Review: How to Disappear – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

First published in The Times, Thursday December 14 2017

Two Stars 

If you peer closely enough into the murky corners of Becky Minto’s set for this new play by Morna Pearson, you will spot a tiny Christmas tree, lying on its side and pathetically decorated with a couple of strands of tinsel. At the end of the play’s 90-minute running time, snow floats gently down over the stage.