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The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Review: The Haunting of Agnes Gilfrey, Oran Mor, Glasgow
⭐⭐⭐⭐ A storm is brewing over Mull in Amy Conway's new comedy thriller that forms the latest offering from A Play, a Pie and a Pint's current season of lunchtime theatre. Agnes and her American TV actor husband James have arrived late at the old house where they are having a belated honeymoon. Greeted unexpectedly by housekeeper Mrs Carlin, Agnes and James are also seeking to escape other domestic pressures. Once things start going bump in the night, however, old ghosts making their presence felt see things spiral into a nightmare. Only when Agnes confronts a few demons does the storm calm. Shades of Inside Number 9's meticulously observed pastiches of hammy horror pulp fiction TV tropes abound in Katie Slater's production of Conway's script. This is the case from the creepy portrait of the former lady of the house Constance Laird resembling real life characters, to at one point having Manasa Tagica's Jack appearing to believe he is in a reality show. Then there is the way absolutely everyone in a 1970s thriller has a high-flying job in one creative industry or another. It is there most of all, however, in Mary Gapinski's larger than life embodiment of Mrs Carlin, whose deadly patter sounds purloined from a Victorian tombstone. Read more theatre reviews from Neil Cooper: Beyond such wilfully OTT archness there is some serious stuff at play here that says much about women, autonomy and the impending tick of the biological clock that has seen the female of the species too often presented as a mad woman in the attic of one sort or another. Played out on Fraser Lappin's pitch perfect depiction of a crumbling Highland pile and co-presented with Mull's arts centre An Tobar and Mull Theatre, Conway and Slater's construction sees Gapinski, Tagica and Sarah McCardie's Agnes having tremendous fun with all this. Conway's play nevertheless reclaims old myths in a deceptively subtle fashion to put women at the centre of this new spin on gothic fiction.
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Playwright Douglas Maxwell on 25 years of hits, from Our Bad Magnet to So Young
With two of his acclaimed plays being restaged this year, Douglas Maxwell reflects on a quarter of a century spent working in and for Scotland. Interview by 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... Douglas Maxwell can remember the day – almost 30 years ago now – when he realised that he could become a playwright. He had loved working on theatre shows at school in Girvan, he had played in bands, and as a student at Stirling University in the early 1990s he had co-founded the Stirling University Musical Theatre Society. It was in his final year, though, that he was fiddling around with a script in his room one day when a sudden thought hit him. 'Wait a minute,' he said to himself, 'some people actually do this for a job.' And from that moment, through good times and bad, his fate was sealed; as he launched himself on a career that has seen more than 40 Douglas Maxwell plays and adaptations produced in Scotland since 2000. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad His career has also led, over the last two years, to Maxwell's unique achievement in winning the Best New Play category two years running at the annual Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland. In 2024, Maxwell won for his remarkable double monologue The Sheriff Of Kalamaki, at A Play, A Pie and A Pint; and this month, he took the prize again for his 2024 Fringe hit So Young, a superbly well made four-handed drama, staged at the Traverse Theatre last August, about the reaction of a midlife Glasgow couple when their recently widowed friend suddenly acquires a new girlfriend 25 years his junior. Douglas Maxwell 'I think I graduated into one of the very good times for Scottish playwriting,' says Maxwell, who emerged from university in 1995, and began to follow in the footsteps of the outstanding generations of Scottish playwrights who emerged from the Traverse Theatre, and later the Tron, in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. 'There were so many great role models around,' he says. 'David Greig, Chris Hannan, David Harrower, so many more – wherever I looked, whatever I wanted to do, there was always someone there who could say – yes, I found a way to do that, and so can you.' His first play Our Bad Magnet, about teenage boys growing up in Girvan, premiered at the Tron in 2000; and since then the vast majority of Maxwell's plays have been produced by theatre companies in Scotland. 'Because of all the pressures in theatre today,' says Maxwell, 'most playwrights feel compelled to develop their work in other directions as well. They start to write for television or film, or go into directing, and end up running a theatre for ten years, as David Greig has just done at the Lyceum. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sign up to our FREE Arts & Culture newsletter at 'But for more than 25 years now, I've just had this one string to my bow, which is writing plays for theatre, mainly here in Scotland. And I don't honestly want to do anything else.' The good news for Maxwell fans is that two of his recent plays are about to reappear on Scotland's stages. His 2024 CATS winner So Young – co-produced by the Citizens' Theatre and Glasgow-based touring company Raw Material – will form part of the Citizens' exciting reopening season this autumn. And this weekend, the Tron Theatre opens a new summer production of his 2022 Play, Pie, and Pint monologue Man's Best Friend, an acclaimed solo drama which notes the extraordinary role pets played in so many lives during lockdown, and revolves around the character of Ronnie, originally played by Jonathan Watson, a recently widowed man in Glasgow who develops a half-hearted career as a dog-walker, after everything else in his life goes wrong. This time around, Ronnie will be played by Jordan Young, much-loved star of River City, Scotsquad and the annual Edinburgh pantomime. 'Jordan's a younger actor,' says Maxwell, 'which brings a slightly different energy to the story. And what I particularly love is that he's an actor who really can shift from comedy to real tragedy in a single sentence. That absolutely suits my work down to the ground, because my plays are always funny, and always tragic.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Maxwell turned 50 last year, and lives in Glasgow's south side with his wife Caroline Newall, artistic development director at the National Theatre of Scotland, and their two daughters. And Maxwell does have one extra string to his professional bow as a teacher of playwriting. His workshops and playwriting courses are legendary, and he loves the work so much that he also reads many scripts sent to him by young writers for free, simply as a way of helping them along. His own playwriting, though, remains his main preoccupation, as he mulls over possible new projects for next year, and nurses Man's Best Friend and So Young towards their new stagings. 'Both of these plays come out of the lockdown experience, really,' says Maxwell. 'And both of them involve characters who are being asked or expected to 'move on', but who can't, because they haven't really had a chance to mourn. I'm asking what happens if you haven't had a chance to mark a death, or to remember a life, in the way that we should remember and mourn, as a social act. I think a lot of people are still carrying those scars from the pandemic; and in theatre, we can at least come together to ask that question, and to recognise that pain, before we try to turn towards the future.'
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Playwright Douglas Maxwell on 25 years of hits, from My Bad Magnet to So Young
With two of his acclaimed plays being restaged this year, Douglas Maxwell reflects on a quarter of a century spent working in and for Scotland. Interview by 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... Douglas Maxwell can remember the day – almost 30 years ago now – when he realised that he could become a playwright. He had loved working on theatre shows at school in Girvan, he had played in bands, and as a student at Stirling University in the early 1990s he had co-founded the Stirling University Musical Theatre Society. It was in his final year, though, that he was fiddling around with a script in his room one day when a sudden thought hit him. 'Wait a minute,' he said to himself, 'some people actually do this for a job.' And from that moment, through good times and bad, his fate was sealed; as he launched himself on a career that has seen more than 40 Douglas Maxwell plays and adaptations produced in Scotland since 2000. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad His career has also led, over the last two years, to Maxwell's unique achievement in winning the Best New Play category two years running at the annual Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland. In 2024, Maxwell won for his remarkable double monologue The Sheriff Of Kalamaki, at A Play, A Pie and A Pint; and this month, he took the prize again for his 2024 Fringe hit So Young, a superbly well made four-handed drama, staged at the Traverse Theatre last August, about the reaction of a midlife Glasgow couple when their recently widowed friend suddenly acquires a new girlfriend 25 years his junior. Douglas Maxwell 'I think I graduated into one of the very good times for Scottish playwriting,' says Maxwell, who emerged from university in 1995, and began to follow in the footsteps of the outstanding generations of Scottish playwrights who emerged from the Traverse Theatre, and later the Tron, in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. 'There were so many great role models around,' he says. 'David Greig, Chris Hannan, David Harrower, so many more – wherever I looked, whatever I wanted to do, there was always someone there who could say – yes, I found a way to do that, and so can you.' His first play Our Bad Magnet, about teenage boys growing up in Girvan, premiered at the Tron in 2000; and since then the vast majority of Maxwell's plays have been produced by theatre companies in Scotland. 'Because of all the pressures in theatre today,' says Maxwell, 'most playwrights feel compelled to develop their work in other directions as well. They start to write for television or film, or go into directing, and end up running a theatre for ten years, as David Greig has just done at the Lyceum. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sign up to our FREE Arts & Culture newsletter at 'But for more than 25 years now, I've just had this one string to my bow, which is writing plays for theatre, mainly here in Scotland. And I don't honestly want to do anything else.' The good news for Maxwell fans is that two of his recent plays are about to reappear on Scotland's stages. His 2024 CATS winner So Young – co-produced by the Citizens' Theatre and Glasgow-based touring company Raw Material – will form part of the Citizens' exciting reopening season this autumn. And this weekend, the Tron Theatre opens a new summer production of his 2022 Play, Pie, and Pint monologue Man's Best Friend, an acclaimed solo drama which notes the extraordinary role pets played in so many lives during lockdown, and revolves around the character of Ronnie, originally played by Jonathan Watson, a recently widowed man in Glasgow who develops a half-hearted career as a dog-walker, after everything else in his life goes wrong. This time around, Ronnie will be played by Jordan Young, much-loved star of River City, Scotsquad and the annual Edinburgh pantomime. 'Jordan's a younger actor,' says Maxwell, 'which brings a slightly different energy to the story. And what I particularly love is that he's an actor who really can shift from comedy to real tragedy in a single sentence. That absolutely suits my work down to the ground, because my plays are always funny, and always tragic.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Maxwell turned 50 last year, and lives in Glasgow's south side with his wife Caroline Newall, artistic development director at the National Theatre of Scotland, and their two daughters. And Maxwell does have one extra string to his professional bow as a teacher of playwriting. His workshops and playwriting courses are legendary, and he loves the work so much that he also reads many scripts sent to him by young writers for free, simply as a way of helping them along. His own playwriting, though, remains his main preoccupation, as he mulls over possible new projects for next year, and nurses Man's Best Friend and So Young towards their new stagings. 'Both of these plays come out of the lockdown experience, really,' says Maxwell. 'And both of them involve characters who are being asked or expected to 'move on', but who can't, because they haven't really had a chance to mourn. I'm asking what happens if you haven't had a chance to mark a death, or to remember a life, in the way that we should remember and mourn, as a social act. I think a lot of people are still carrying those scars from the pandemic; and in theatre, we can at least come together to ask that question, and to recognise that pain, before we try to turn towards the future.'
The Herald Scotland
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Review: You Won't Break My Soul, Oran Mor, Glasgow
⭐⭐⭐ When Beyoncé came to Murrayfield in 2023 as part of her Renaissance tour, the bootylicious diva caused a sensation. Beyond the show itself, there was likely plenty of drama for her fan base who worship at her feet, and not just among the single ladies either. Take Jordan and Russell. The neon pink boudoir that passes for the living room of these gay best friends in JD Stewart's new play for A Play, a Pie and a Pint's lunchtime theatre season may be a shrine to their queen, but it also requires an overload of Febreze to clear the body odours that hang around. Read more: Partly responsible for these is the bit of rough trade Jordan who has just beat a hasty retreat with two stolen tickets in hand. When Russell gets home, the pair's despair at their loss sees them embark on a quest for replacements that takes them from their friend Sooz's cafe to the local cop shop that seems to be run by a refugee from the Village People. Finally, they enter a drag contest at real life Glasgow nitespot, Delmonica's, where first prize might just get them to the show. So far so camp in Laila Noble's production, in which Jamie McKillop and James Peake rise to the occasion as Jordan and Russell, who reaffirm their personal bond as they revive their olds double act on stage. Aided by Kaylah Copeland as Sooz, and with an extra special guest in the house, the inevitable floor show all this has been leading to is delivered with glamtastic abandon in a play that goes beyond its initial japes to a more serious look at friendship, staying true to oneself and the restorative powers of a life on stage for these destiny's children in waiting.
The Herald Scotland
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Review: Meme Girls, Oran Mor: When a craving for fame goes wrong
Òran Mór, Glasgow Fame, as every wannabe pop star knows, costs. In the social media age, where everyone is famous for a lot less than five minutes, you can go viral as the next big thing one minute and be last year's spam within seconds. This is the reality the two young women in Andy McGregor's bite-size new musical are forced to square up to for this latest edition of A Play, a Pie and a Pint's ongoing lunchtime theatre season. Jade is a serious budding songwriter with an introspective air who pens power ballads in her bedroom, and would prefer to blend into the background before heading off to university. Clare, on the other hand, may have the voice of an angel, but she's the life and soul of any party until she crashes. When an ill-timed incident is captured on Tik Tok, she becomes a star for all the wrong reasons. Not that this bothers her, mind you, as her craving for the spotlight makes for a lucrative if grotesque way to make the big time. Jade, meanwhile, returns to her keyboard before the pair are thrown together again for one last number. Read more McGregor's play is a meticulously observed study of vaulting ambition, and how untutored talent can be warped by a mix of vanity, desperation and the addictive allure of interacting with strangers. Framed as each girl confesses all for a warts and all documentary on Fraser Lappin's pink boudoir of a set, McGregor's dialogue is delivered with fine tuned interplay by Julia Murray as Jade and Yana Harris as Clare. Both actors spar as beautifully as they duet on McGregor's handful of songs that drive the story. The technology may be different here, but the play's look at the fickle hand of fame and the disposability of pop bubblegum is as timelessly familiar as its depiction of the power plays between female friends. It is this latter attribute that gives the play its charm in a work where pop doesn't quite eat itself, but it comes pretty close.
