Breaking the Bubble: Theatre Outside St Andrews
By Alexandra Lodge
Monday 19t
Monday 19t
For those of you wanting to venture beyond the Byre and the Barron, Scotland's big cities are the places to go for a huge variety of dance, drama and some of the biggest West End hits. If you want to escape the monotony of work or the confines of the Bubble, then get online to book into some of these shows this semester.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is an hour's train ride away, and for a two month period is playing host to one of the West End's greatest musicals: We Will Rock You. Written by Ben Elton and featuring the hits of Queen, it is playing at the Edinburgh Playhouse from 4th November until 9th January. We Will Rock You has played worldwide to over 6 million people, and, as one of the most hilarious, dynamic shows around this semester, it is not to be missed. The storyline is a classic good versus evil, but the characters, music and script make it spectacularly unique.
On a more serious, dramatic level, the Lyceum in Edinburgh is hosting Confessions of a Justified Sinner, adapted for stage by the Artistic Director of the Lyceum Mark Thomson, from 16th October until 7th November. First year English students take note, as James Hogg's classic novel is part of your reading list for second semester. Confessions revolves around religious fanaticism, exploring what a man will do if he believes himself to be free of all moral constraints. Confessions was a huge influence on Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde, and remains to be one of Scotland's most famous and haunting stories. Thomson's adaptation promises to be an unmissable event.
Other plays going on in Edinburgh include Entertaining Angels and The House of Bernarda Alba, both playing at the King's Theatre, 19-24 October and 3-7 November respectively. Starring Penelope Keith, Entertaining Angels is a play about a newly widowed woman who learns to enjoy life free from the constraints of being a clergyman's wife, only to find herself forced to face the truth about her marriage after the reappearance of her eccentric sister. The House of Bernarda Alba, one of Federico García Lorca's three great tragedies, is a touring production being put on by the National Theatre of Scotland. It is a new take on the play, set in contemporary Scotland, and stars a feisty cast of twelve women. The play follows the widowed mother Bernarda, left to protect her fortune and her five daughters in a house filled with the tensions of rivalry and suppressed sexuality. For any fan of Lorca's works, this adaptation would be well worth the trip a little way south.
For the dancers out there, the Festival Theatre will be showing the high-energy, hip hop show Bounce: Insane in the Brain 24-26 October. Insane in the Brain is based on the story of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but is given a high-energy, funky spin by Bounce, a streetdance theatre company who have had hit runs in London theatres. As another alternative, Scottish Opera are putting on two shows, The Italian in Algiers and The Elixir of Lovebetween 21st and 28th November.
Dundee
Closer to home, the Dundee Rep has a good run over the next month, kicking off with The Elephant Man 17-31 October. For those of you unfamiliar with the plot, the Elephant Man is John Merrick, a man infamous throughout England for his deformed body. He transforms from freak to wit, gaining powerful admirers, when a young doctor takes him to a London hospital, but his acceptance into society is always dubious. The play has enjoyed huge success on Broadway, winning every major award – a pretty convincing reason as to why it is well worth seeing. Following up The Elephant Man is the classic Scottish play The Steamie (9-14 November). One of Scotland's most loved plays, it is a comedy set in a Glasgow washhouse on Hogmanay, as the girls work their way through the final day of another year. And while on the topic of comedy, the Gilded Balloon – one of the main comedy venues of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – has enlisted some of its Fringe acts to carry on and hit the road with their stand-up sets. Dundee Rep is hosting two nights of the Gilded Balloon Comedy Circuit: John Gavin, Sean Grant and Scott Agnew are performing on 30th October, and Michael Redmond, Paul McCaffrey and Stephen Carlin on 20th November.
Again for the dance fans, Caird Hall is showing The Lord of the Dance 20-25th November. The Irish dance spectacular barely needs any summary; the controlled, high-speed synchronization of the dancers is beyond compare, and a must-see for anyone.
Glasgow
If anyone is from the Glasgow area, or just willing to travel even further afield from the Bubble for the sake of theatre, the biggest city in Scotland has plenty to offer. The King's Theatre is showing the award-winning Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 20th October till 14th November, and The Rocky Horror Show is there 23-28th November. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is now in the fourth year of its tour, and is one of the most exciting musicals around, filled with special effects and a huge cast of a hundred, which includes ten dogs. The Rocky Horror Show is worth seeing to anyone who already loves the strange, cult musical, or who has never seen it and is interested to find out exactly what it's all about. Be warned, if you're unfamiliar with it: full audience participation is the norm, with many dressing up accordingly and frequently joining in with singing, dancing and heckling. Anyone looking for drama rather than, or as well as, musicals would do well to take note that Shakespeare's Othello is being put on at the Citizens Theatre from 21st October until 14th November by the Citizens Company.
Obviously these are only some of the many shows out there over the next month, so get on the theatre websites to find out more. Get booking, and if you see anything good out there then let us know!
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is an hour's train ride away, and for a two month period is playing host to one of the West End's greatest musicals: We Will Rock You. Written by Ben Elton and featuring the hits of Queen, it is playing at the Edinburgh Playhouse from 4th November until 9th January. We Will Rock You has played worldwide to over 6 million people, and, as one of the most hilarious, dynamic shows around this semester, it is not to be missed. The storyline is a classic good versus evil, but the characters, music and script make it spectacularly unique.
On a more serious, dramatic level, the Lyceum in Edinburgh is hosting Confessions of a Justified Sinner, adapted for stage by the Artistic Director of the Lyceum Mark Thomson, from 16th October until 7th November. First year English students take note, as James Hogg's classic novel is part of your reading list for second semester. Confessions revolves around religious fanaticism, exploring what a man will do if he believes himself to be free of all moral constraints. Confessions was a huge influence on Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde, and remains to be one of Scotland's most famous and haunting stories. Thomson's adaptation promises to be an unmissable event.
Other plays going on in Edinburgh include Entertaining Angels and The House of Bernarda Alba, both playing at the King's Theatre, 19-24 October and 3-7 November respectively. Starring Penelope Keith, Entertaining Angels is a play about a newly widowed woman who learns to enjoy life free from the constraints of being a clergyman's wife, only to find herself forced to face the truth about her marriage after the reappearance of her eccentric sister. The House of Bernarda Alba, one of Federico García Lorca's three great tragedies, is a touring production being put on by the National Theatre of Scotland. It is a new take on the play, set in contemporary Scotland, and stars a feisty cast of twelve women. The play follows the widowed mother Bernarda, left to protect her fortune and her five daughters in a house filled with the tensions of rivalry and suppressed sexuality. For any fan of Lorca's works, this adaptation would be well worth the trip a little way south.
For the dancers out there, the Festival Theatre will be showing the high-energy, hip hop show Bounce: Insane in the Brain 24-26 October. Insane in the Brain is based on the story of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but is given a high-energy, funky spin by Bounce, a streetdance theatre company who have had hit runs in London theatres. As another alternative, Scottish Opera are putting on two shows, The Italian in Algiers and The Elixir of Lovebetween 21st and 28th November.
Dundee
Closer to home, the Dundee Rep has a good run over the next month, kicking off with The Elephant Man 17-31 October. For those of you unfamiliar with the plot, the Elephant Man is John Merrick, a man infamous throughout England for his deformed body. He transforms from freak to wit, gaining powerful admirers, when a young doctor takes him to a London hospital, but his acceptance into society is always dubious. The play has enjoyed huge success on Broadway, winning every major award – a pretty convincing reason as to why it is well worth seeing. Following up The Elephant Man is the classic Scottish play The Steamie (9-14 November). One of Scotland's most loved plays, it is a comedy set in a Glasgow washhouse on Hogmanay, as the girls work their way through the final day of another year. And while on the topic of comedy, the Gilded Balloon – one of the main comedy venues of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – has enlisted some of its Fringe acts to carry on and hit the road with their stand-up sets. Dundee Rep is hosting two nights of the Gilded Balloon Comedy Circuit: John Gavin, Sean Grant and Scott Agnew are performing on 30th October, and Michael Redmond, Paul McCaffrey and Stephen Carlin on 20th November.
Again for the dance fans, Caird Hall is showing The Lord of the Dance 20-25th November. The Irish dance spectacular barely needs any summary; the controlled, high-speed synchronization of the dancers is beyond compare, and a must-see for anyone.
Glasgow
If anyone is from the Glasgow area, or just willing to travel even further afield from the Bubble for the sake of theatre, the biggest city in Scotland has plenty to offer. The King's Theatre is showing the award-winning Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 20th October till 14th November, and The Rocky Horror Show is there 23-28th November. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is now in the fourth year of its tour, and is one of the most exciting musicals around, filled with special effects and a huge cast of a hundred, which includes ten dogs. The Rocky Horror Show is worth seeing to anyone who already loves the strange, cult musical, or who has never seen it and is interested to find out exactly what it's all about. Be warned, if you're unfamiliar with it: full audience participation is the norm, with many dressing up accordingly and frequently joining in with singing, dancing and heckling. Anyone looking for drama rather than, or as well as, musicals would do well to take note that Shakespeare's Othello is being put on at the Citizens Theatre from 21st October until 14th November by the Citizens Company.
Obviously these are only some of the many shows out there over the next month, so get on the theatre websites to find out more. Get booking, and if you see anything good out there then let us know!