The monks of the Shaolin temple are the oldest exponents of Kung Fu and they are basically performing the moves which they perform every day as part of their religious ritual. We are privileged to witness this spectacle and share in their devotions.

Sutra was co-produced and first performed at Sadlers Wells in London in 2008 and since then has been on tour around the world to universal acclaim. Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoul, artist Antony Gormley and composer Szymon Brzoska developed the work in collaboration with the abbot and monks of the temple.

Sutra means thread and the loose story being told in the work is a series of threads representing the journey of a westerner and a young monk who guides and protects him in his quest to discover and enter the monks’ world and culture. The set is minimal and uses a number of coffin size wooden boxes which are used by the monks in all sorts of ways – as hiding places, platforms from which they leap and perform their incredible moves, transformed into beds, boats, buildings, or even the petals of a lotus flower.

The musicians sit behind a white gauze curtain at the back of the stage and the musical style will be familiar to fans of films such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with its at times poignant use of percussion and strings. The monks do not perform to the music, rather the music complements the monks’ movements and adds colour and tone.

There was an after show discussion and question and answer session which was very illuminating. Assistant Choreographer and principal dancer Ali Chabet, composer Szymon Brzoska and one of the monks – with the aid of a translator – gave us the background of their journey and motivation in creating the work. When asked what they had individually gained from their participation, all agreed it had helped them explore and understand each others’ culture which exactly mirrors the work itself.

The audience was very mixed, all ages and diverse backgrounds, and the thunderous applause at the end of the show was testament to their appreciation of what they had experienced. The run ends tonight (Saturday 18th May) and there are a few tickets left, it is well worth a visit.

Irene Brownlee

Although in reality the Ashington Group involved upwards of 30 Pitmen, for the purposes of this play the group is represented by 5 men. Robert Lyon (Louis Hilyer) as an art lecturer, is so far removed from their experience as miners, that he struggles to find a starting point for discussion when none of the group has seen a real painting or visited a gallery. He soon gets the members of the group to produce their own pieces of art which they bring to the class each week for discussion. The confusion which arises from the group’s broad Northumberland dialect and Robert Lyon’s cultured tones provides much humour and the sharp witted banter between the miners and the union official is very entertaining. The group becomes successful and attracts the interest of the Tate and the British Museum.

The crux of the play comes when Oliver Kilbourn (played by Philip Correia) is offered the patronage of Helen Sutherland. She offers to support him financially so that he will be ‘his own man’, free to paint without the constraints of working down the pit. However Kilbourn realises that his paintings are rooted in his life as a miner and that if he accepts Helen Sutherland’s patronage, he loses the very essence that makes his paintings different to others with a more romantic view of a miner’s life. He refuses her patronage, remains a miner and consequently I think retains the integrity she would have perhaps compromised.

The Pitmen Painters is really entertaining. It’s funny, makes you think about class, education and politics and you learn a lot about the Ashington Group without really trying.

Val Clark

Recent interviews include Jamie taking to Chris Tarrant and Ian speaking to Colin Blunstone of Sixties legends The Zombies. You can also hear Scotlands own Mary Kiani on the phone from Australia and listen to the latest episode of The Three Craws.

Topping the epic action set pieces of Avengers Assemble was always going to be problematic. Sequels and follow-ups make their money on being bigger, louder, more spectacular than their predecessors. Without the help of Hulk, Thor and the rest of the crew, this was always going to be difficult to do. After being led to the brink of world domination by an invading alien army, any other threat is going to look a little tame in comparison. The stakes have been higher before, and it’s a problem.

That is not to say that there are not plenty of exciting moments here. Ben Kingsley’s sinister terrorist The Mandarin, and Guy Pierce as the slimy Aldrich Killian offer a significant threat to Stark, eclipsing former foes played by Jeff Bridges, Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell in the previous films. The action scenes are a mixed bag, with the attack on Stark’s Malibu mansion the standout, while a later scene in which Iron Man attempts to catch airline passengers in free-fall fails to live up to the vertigo-inducing premise.

Following a strong opening act the film hits a lull as Stark goes underground allowing the bad guys plenty of time to put their evil plan into motion. This slow paced middle section is the low-point, rescued only by a major swerve that turns the plot on its head. The final battle of robots versus lava-spouting super soldiers is impressive, but sadly many of the best moments in this showdown have been spoiled in the film’s trailer.

Iron Man 3 fails to reach the heights of Avengers Assemble, lacking the excitement, scale and sense of fun that made it a standout in the genre. It is however, an assured return to the Marvel universe, one that lays the groundwork for future releases that will lead to the inevitable Avengers sequel. Up next on the horizon are Thor: the Dark World, and Captain America: the Winter Soldier, and it will be interesting to see where the superhero studio goes from here.

Michael Clancy

It’s not a comfortable play to watch. Bill MacWilliam (Stewart Porter) is a racist, drunken, blaspheming bigot. He desperately wants his son Cameron (Colin Little) to join him at the Orange Walk in Glasgow, continue the family tradition and honour his late mother’s memory.

Cameron is having his doubts. His mother’s death has prompted him to question what he believes and he resists his father’s attempts to persuade him to continue the Orange tradition. Bill takes pot shots at Catholics, Indians, God, and anyone else who doesn’t fit his narrow-minded Protestant ideal. He wants nothing more than for Cameron to marry Georgina McDonald, and bring about a merger of two strongly protestant families.

The language is racist and offensive but typical of that used in the 60s and 70s and although there was laughter in the audience there were also a few sharp intakes of breath and the laughter was tinged with embarrassment. The downstairs neighbour is an Irish Catholic spinster, (played by Still Game’s Jane McCarry) who has her pregnant unmarried niece Una (Ashley Smith) to stay. Bridget and Bill have equally strong and opposing beliefs but hope for the future is here too as both Cameron and Una recognise, and to an extent ridicule, the attitudes and traditions of the older generation. At one point the pregnant Una accepts the offered whisky with the comment that ‘Whisky is less damaging than prejudice.’

Sectarianism is still part of Scottish culture. The programme notes point out that last year saw a record number of arrests for sectarian offences. I am undecided if this play serves to perpetuate this prejudice or whether it provides hope that future generations will have a more open minded attitude. You’ll just have to go and make up your own mind!

Val Clark

The Show started with Jackson 5 songs before John Moabi went on to tell us about Michael Jackson and how he then went on to start a solo career. Various cast members took lead vocals, backed by a live band who did an impressive job of recreating his original sound, and particularly worthy of a mention was the very talented youngster Torann Opara. But what surprised me the most was that there was a female singing Michael Jackson’s music and she was amazing.

For me personally, I thought the second half a lot more exciting, as it contained more of the Michael Jackson songs I love: Billie Jean, Bad, Thriller, Man in the Mirror… the list goes on. . .

It was clear that the cast members must have spent a great deal of time studying Jackson’s moves and vocals to the point of perfection as they all performed at an incredibly high standard.

However, I have to single out David Jordan – he definitely stole the show!

The group performances were passionate and engaging; the cast worked incredibly well together and produced some fabulous harmonies. I was very impressed that they showed no sign of tiredness. They were great at getting the audience involved in the performance as well, and the whole show was bursting with excitement, energy and enthusiasm, Thriller Live is an ideal night out, not just for all Michael Jackson fans, but for music lovers in general and people of all ages wanting a fun night out!

Christine Booth

Quickly into the opening number “Jumpers for Goalposts”, a lively celebration of childhood escapades, and their description of their music as “folk’n’roll” becomes more than apt. The programme unfolds with many more songs in a similar vein – upbeat, enthusiastic and direct Scottish folk-rock, largely self-penned but mixed with some rousing arrangements of traditional standards like “The Rolling Hills of the Borders”.

A few ballads are included in a well-balanced mix, with plenty couthy banter delivered in the infectious Borders “brogue”. Great numbers like “Irn Bru” and “Burke and Hare” from their new album “Scattyboo” ensured that they left Musselburgh with a lot more fans in the diverse theatre audience.

The band are currently a five-piece, with most vocals by Ian Scott and David Chapman who stick primarily to acoustic guitars, along with Dougie Anderson on electric guitar, Phil Clayton on bass and Ross Walsh on drums. Bouzouki, whistle, pipes, harmonica and bodhrans are also utilised in a crisp, punchy sound which, on top of the presentation and musicianship, indicates that Scocha have the whole package to put on a great show. I’m sure Musselburgh would appreciate a swift return from these gifted “braw lads”. Certainly, one of the seats will be occupied by this reviewer!

Peter Gillan

This is the 25th anniversary tour of the play adapted from the novel by Stephen Mallatratt and directed by Robin Herford and I’m sure it will go on to scare and delight audiences for many years to come.

Act 1 builds up slowly as it sets the scene and introduces us to the two main characters -Kipps (played by Julian Forsyth) and “The Actor”(Antony Eden). Kipps, now an old man, has hired an actor to help him tell a story he has kept hidden for years – the story of his visit as a young solicitor to the mysterious and remote Eel Marsh House to settle the affairs of the recently deceased owner, Mrs Alice Drabshaw. At her funeral he sees a woman dressed all in black and this sets off a train of terrifying and tragic events.

Act 2 ramps up the action and the suspense. We gradually discover the secrets of Eel Marsh House and experience the terrors endured by Kipps as he spends time there alone, going through old documents. There are a number of classic horror set pieces – lights go out, mysterious noises are heard, there is a locked room at the top of the stairs. Clichés perhaps but none the less frightening.

All of this is done without the use of CGI or elaborate sets. A wicker chest and a couple of chairs on stage transform in our minds to an office desk, a carriage, a train. A backdrop of a plain gauze curtain is used both as a screen on which images are projected and as an eerie window to a deserted graveyard and a hidden room. The sound effects are also excellent, providing that extra dimension which really draws us into the story and makes it all too real.

We all like to be scared by a good horror story, and judging by the screams around the auditorium I reckon this does the job. It’s not at all highbrow just good entertainment and genuinely scary at times. I was certainly glad I wasn’t going back to an empty house that night!

Irene Brownlee

Thomas Vaughan (Hywel Simons) is an ambitious politician recently appointed to the Cabinet. Amy Manson plays his wife Nora beautifully with just the right amount of suppressed hysteria. She is being blackmailed by the seriously creepy Neil Kelman played by Brian McCardie. (You would recognise him from Taggart and Rebus.) She has taken out a fraudulent loan from Kelman without Thomas’s knowledge so that she can take him abroad to recover from illness and keep his political career on track.

Kelman’s own career is in ruins and he threatens to go to the press with the details of Nora’s fraud if she doesn’t influence her husband in his favour.
Thomas Vaughan won’t listen and Nora is on the verge of asking family friend Dr Rank, played by Kevin McMonagle, to help when he declares his love for Nora making it impossible for Nora to ask him. Eventually Nora’s old school friend Christine revives her past relationship with Kelman and convinces him to stop the blackmail and return the IOU.

The play explores the inequality of women in a male dominated society. In the original version Nora is passed from her father’s house to that of her husband, like a plaything, a doll in a doll’s house. This gets lost somewhat in this adaptation but Thomas Vaughan is still a patronising, narrow-minded chauvinist who cannot comprehend why Nora is not happy to present to the world the picture of a happy marriage, whatever the reality behind the closed door.

I can’t expand on the end of the play without spoiling it for you, but I’d urge you to go and see it. It’s a great cast, brilliant play (and the Lyceum is a lovely theatre too).

Val Clark

The story keeps to the more simplistic, child-friendly version of the tale, although there is a thrillingly malevolent performance from Iuliia Odintcova as a punk Carabosse, the Black Fairy who curses the baby Princess Aurora (a graceful Olga Sharutenko, one of the stars of tv’s Dancing on Ice).

Stars of the show, however, were Yulia Ashcheulova as the Lilac Fairy, who is scarcely off the ice from the moment she appears in a role that is the most demanding of all, and who leaves you almost unable to take your eyes off her all night, for fear you might miss an even more magical moment, and Oleg Tazetdinov who partners her as the Lilac Prince.

The sets, fine though they are, are little more than minimalist backdrops, due to the lack of space around the ice. The spectacle comes from the abilities of the cast, the imaginative production – especially the amazing fire and ice sequence – and the wonderful costumes from Moscow’s Stanislavsky Theatre.

Maybe I’ve been missing something by not including Dancing on ice in my viewing schedule, but somehow I don’t think it could quite compare to this.

Jim Welsh