Latest news with #BardintheBotanics
Scotsman
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Theatre reviews: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare and Marlowe benefit from a spot of theatrical magic, writes Joyce McMillan Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A Midsummer Night's Dream Glasgow Botanic Gardens **** James Boal as Oberon in in A Midsummer Night's Dream Doctor Faustus Glasgow Botanic Gardens *** Can it be that in the age of internet, with all its invisible influences and influencers putting a girdle around the earth in far less than 40 minutes, it somehow becomes easier to believe in Shakespeare's fabulous fairy creatures – or at least in their power to change human hearts and minds in an instant? Adam Donaldson as Faustus and Sam Stopford as Mephistopheles in Dr Faustus as part of Bard in the Botanics (Picture: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan) Perhaps; at any rate, what's clear is that the 2025 Bard In The Botanics season launches with a truly delightful and completely persuasive version of A Midsummer Night's Dream that puts Shakespeare's powerful fairy creatures centre stage. In Bard director Gordon Barr's production, an 11-strong company of young actors take to the stage in a version which – unusually for this company – makes no change to the original gender balance of Shakespeare's comedy about four bewildered lovers lost in the forest, and vulnerable to fairy magic. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There is, though, a crucial switch between fairy king and queen – James Boal's gorgeous green-clad Oberon, and Claire Macallister's proud Titania – as to who drives the plot, and wins the war between them. And with veteran Bard favourite Allan Steele joining the cast as Bottom, star of the troop of tradesman actors rehearsing a play for the duke's wedding, the stage is set – not least thanks to Carys Hobbs's lush green design – for a glorious romp through Shakespeare's tale. Lola Aluko and Star Penders make a fine comic pairing as the female lovers Hermia and Helena, while Bailey Newsome turns in an outstanding comic performance as Peter Quince, the exasperated director of the tradesman's plays, and Steele and Boal extract maximum hilarity from the potion-induced romance between Oberon and Bottom, magically transformed into an ass. None of this would work half so well, though, without the remarkable presence of Benjamin Keachie's Glasgow Puck, a gleefully irreverent spirit who combines power and good looks with a terrific eloquence in both Shakespearean verse and Glasgow patter. As Titania's servant, Puck is the spirit who makes and mars the whole drama, with his mischievous mistakes, and his final skill in rectifying them all; and he leads this joyful Dream to a witty and rousing conclusion, roundly celebrated by the subway-strike crowd at the bus stop afterwards. 'It was Shakespeare,' said one to a bystander. 'But it was just so funny. We loved it!' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In the elegant space of the Kibble Palace, meanwhile, Barr's associate director Jennifer Dick offers a thoughtful but inconclusive 80-minute version of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, a play written just a couple of years before A Midsummer Night's Dream, in the 1590's; but arguably more modern, in its fraught relationship with the supernatural powers it invokes. In Dick's version, Doctor Faustus is a medic dressed in modern-day scrubs; but as in the original play, he yearns for power and excitement beyond what his worthwhile profession can offer. The main theatrical feature of Dick's version is the intense conflict she imagines between a melancholy and charismatic Sam Stopford as the demon Mephistopheles, who encourages Faust to sell his soul to the devil in return for glamorous magical powers, and a fragile, yet fiercely memorable Rebecca Robin as Faust's good angel, constantly urging repentance and a return to God. In best horror-movie style, these two forces challenge and torture one another, sometimes possessed by strange voices and movements; while between them, Adam Donaldson struggles slightly to pull the focus back to the magnificent, agonised poetry of Faust's descent into hell. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Marlowe's play, though, involves a powerful critique of the male fascination for flashy technology, or 'magic', that offers transient and superficial forms of power; and although the imagined struggle for Faust's soul portrayed here sometimes sits at a slight tangent to that theme, the show still offers a haunting sense of a human soul destroyed by wrong choices, in ways that carry huge resonances across our damaged 21st century world.
The Herald Scotland
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Faustus faces an almighty battle no one can win
Botanic Gardens, Glasgow The clock is ticking for the good doctor of Christopher Marlowe's tragedy of self-destruction, brought to life for this year's Bard in the Botanics season, tellingly titled Magic – mayhem – and murder. Jennifer Dick's three-actor version was first performed in the Kibble Palace back in 2016. Her revisitation is as much a trip into the perils of fantasy wish fulfilment as it was before in an even tauter eighty minutes that sees Faustus throw himself into a tug of love between the two extremes that seem to offer him a lifeline. Having reached the pinnacle of his profession only to lose his mojo, Faustus's desires go way beyond the appliance of science. As if by magic, Mephistopheles appears to make him an offer he can't refuse. Only the Good Angel hanging on his shoulder is standing in his way. Read More: As in Dick's original production, Faustus is embodied by a returning Adam Donaldson as a frustrated academic who conjures up what initially appears to be the answer to all he ever wanted. Of course, as Sam Stopford's devil in disguise works his alchemy, things don't quite turn out as Faustus might have expected, even with Rebecca Robin's beatific Good Angel acting as good cop to Mephistopheles' sly old trickster. Clad here in surgeon's scrubs, Donaldson's Faustus paces Heather Grace Currie's set of books, boxes and a very telling toy theatre with desperate intent. While Faustus's adventures are a matter of life and death, for Mephistopheles it's all a game. However serious Stopford's pasty-faced conjurer plays it, the result is an almighty battle between good and evil that nobody can win.
Glasgow Times
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Glasgow festival first as 'world's most famous detective' makes debut
Now, 25 years on, he is bringing them back to the popular outdoor Shakespeare festival, which kicks off later this month in the Botanic Gardens in the West End. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet sparked a life-long love of Shakespeare,' he explains. Gordon Barr (Image: Bard in the Botanics) 'His plays have such incredible depth that no matter how often you return to them there is always more to discover.' Gordon adds: 'It is a great pleasure to revisit these two plays for the 2025 season, with more than two decades of experience under my belt.' Bard in the Botanics has announced its Magic, Mayhem and Murder season will open on June 27 and run until August 2. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bard company stalwart Alan Steele plays Bottom with festival regulars James Boal and Claire Macallister as Oberon and Titania. (Image: Bard in the Botanics) Gordon says the production 'draws on Celtic and British folklore to create a magical version of the evergreen comedy.' The second half of the season, which starts on July 18, includes a new production of Gordon's five-hander Romeo and Juliet, which was last staged in 2012. Sam Stopford takes on the role of Romeo with Lola Aluko as Juliet. Romeo and Juliet (Image: Bard in the Botanics) In the Kibble Palace glasshouse, Jennifer Dick will direct a new production of her adaptation of Marlowe's Dr Faustus with Adam Donaldson as Faustus and Sam Stopford as Mephistopheles, and in the second half of the season, she will present Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia. Dr Faustus (Image: Bard in the Botanics) Bard in the Botanics is not just about Shakespeare, points out Gordon. 'Whilst Shakespeare remains at the heart of Bard in the Botanics, as we continue to explore more of the canon of classic drama and literature, it's exciting to bring the work of another Scottish author to our stages – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,' he says. Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia (Image: Bard in the Botanics) 'His Sherlock Holmes stories have delighted generations of readers and I can't wait for our associate director, Jennifer Dick, to bring three of those stories to life in the Kibble Palace in a brand new play featuring the world's foremost consulting detective. 'This season is full of great stories – some of the best and most enduring stories ever told. From the iconic lovers of Romeo and Juliet to Faustus' pact with the devil to the thrilling adventures of Sherlock Holmes, there's really something for everyone.' For more information and tickets, visit the Bard in the Botanics website.
The Herald Scotland
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish-Japanese co-production the big winner at 2025 CATS
Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, an international collaboration between Glasgow-based Vanishing Point and Kanagawa Arts Theatre of Yokohama, Japan (in association with Tramway), was the big winner, picking up four awards. Based on short stories by the acclaimed Japanese writer Haruki Murakamki, Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey won 'Best Design', 'Best Technical' and 'Best Ensemble' awards, with Sandy Grierson, who played the eponymous monkey, receiving an 'Outstanding Performance' award. Sandy Grierson in the Vanishing Point-Kanagawa Arts Theatre co-production of Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey (Image: Mihaela Bodlovic) CATS co-convenor Mark Brown said: 'Scottish theatre has enjoyed a renaissance in the period since the Second World War. 'Internationalism has been a primary driver of that revival and one of the key exponents of that internationalism – over the past 26 years – has been Glasgow-based theatre company Vanishing Point. Their unique form of international theatre as witnessed in Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey sees the integration of multiple languages and cultures in a single show.' Anna Burnside of Corr Blimey! and Across the Arts said: 'Sandy Grierson was an extraordinary monkey, matter of fact and believable while undeniably an animal. 'His physicality was entirely convincing and, working with a skilled puppeteer, his tail added an extra layer of nuance to an already astounding performance. This was something very special.' READ MORE: The supreme award, 'Best Production', went to Hedda Gabler, the second collaboration between Gordon Barr (director), Kathy McKean (writer) and Nicole Cooper (Hedda) for Bard in the Botanics. This award follows the success of their first collaboration, Medea, which won the 'Best Production' award at the 2022 CATS. CATS co-convenor Joyce McMillan said: 'In recent years, Bard in the Botanics have extended their work beyond Shakespeare to embrace other mighty writers and stories; and there is none greater than Henrik Ibsen. 'Last year, they presented his huge and haunting 1891 tragedy in the perfect surroundings of the Kibble Palace, in a thrilling new version by Kathy McKean, and in a production by Gordon Barr with Nicole Cooper as Hedda that fairly took the breath away with its pace and intensity.' Meanwhile, the first 'Outstanding Panto' award was scooped by the Gaiety Theatre, Ayr's Mother Goose. Mother Goose, Ayr Gaiety (Image: Tommy GA-Ken Wan) Thom Dibdin of All Edinburgh Theatre said: "This was a panto packed with local references, that oozed love and laughter, and which eschewed a shoe-horned wedding to bring a message of hope and reconciliation at the finale. 'Above all, however, this was a panto which dared. Dared to bring in big topical political comedy, dared to acknowledge societal concerns, dared to name-check the venue's panto greats over the years and dared to have Deaf characters in the cast and company using the fact of their deafness to up the physicality for everyone to see.' The second 'Oustanding Performance' award went to Kirsty Findlay for the title role in Beautiful: The Carole King Story at Pitlochry Festival, where 'she embodied the legendary singer songwriter with a depth and maturity that was riveting to watch'. The 'Best Director' award was won by Andrew Panton for A History of Paper (Dundee Rep/Traverse Theatre). Nicole Cooper in the title role in Kathy McKean's version of Hedda Gabler, directed by Gordon Barr at 2024 Bard in the Botanics (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan) Douglas Maxwell picked up the 'Best New Play' award for the second year in a row. Following his success with The Sheriff of Kalamaki last year, Maxwell won the 2025 award for So Young (Traverse Theatre, Raw Material and Citizens Theatre). CATS co-convenor Michael Cox said: 'Douglas Maxwell proves again that he is one of Scottish theatre's best playwrights. 'This is underlined by the fact that he's not only won this award back-to-back, but for two very distinctive plays which have only their excellence in common.' Yellow Canary, Tashi Gore's powerful family story of survival during the Nazi Holocaust (produced by Glass Performance), won the 'Best Production For Children and Young People' award, and the Royal Lyceum' s Wild Rose won the 'Best Sound and Music' award. In total, around 140 works created in Scotland in 2024-5 were eligible for the 2025 CATS, of which over 120 were new plays.
