Latest news with #Citizens'Theatre
Scotsman
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Theatre reviews: Studio 3
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... The Brown Doll, Oran Mor, Glasgow ★★★ At first glance, it seems like a strange idea, to take three of the finest shows from artistic director Jemima Levick's years at A Play, A Pie and A Pint, and to re-create them as a studio series in the tiny Changing House at Levick's new theatre, the Tron. Alright Sunshine by Isla Cowan PIC: Eoin Carey As the buzz of excitement around the Tron this week shows, through, this kind of high-powered revisiting of successful shows which often have very short first runs is exactly what Scotland's theatre scene needs at the moment, to remind both artists and audiences of just how much has been achieved over the last difficult half-decade, and how richly enjoyable and rewarding that work can be. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Featuring just three brilliantly cast actors – Dani Heron, Jo Freer, and Kevin Lennon – the trilogy ends with Fruitcake, a three-handed romantic comedy by Frances Poet that was first seen at Oran Mor in 2022, under the title The Prognostications Of Mikey Noyce; and that combines real charm with a serious streak of lockdown thoughtfulness about the frightening condition of our world. All three actors also appear in the second play, Meghan Tyler's explosively funny and shocking Fleg, directed now, as in 2023, by Dominic Hill of the Citizens' Theatre. Set in loyalist Belfast in the week of the Queen's death, Fleg is a wild and brilliant absurdist comedy about a loyalist called Bobby, who loves the Union flag outside his house with what can only be called an unusual passion. In this play, Lennon and Freer struggle slightly to match the mighty performances given by Harry Ward and Beth Marshall as the original Bobby, and his Benidorm-loving wife Caroline. Heron, though, is splendid in the peachy double part of Tierna, the council worker who tries to lower Bobby's flag for the royal mourning, and the gorgeous pole-dancing embodiment of the 'fleg' itself. Mehren Yar in The Brown Doll It's in the first play of the trilogy, though, that Studio 3 hits five-star heights, with Dani Heron's heartbreaking and brilliant performance of Isla Cowan's outstanding Edinburgh monologue Alright Sunshine. Acclaimed when Hannah Jarrett Scott first performed it in 2022, Alright Sunshine features Nicky, a young policewoman patrolling the Meadows on a hot summer day, who gradually reveals the huge personal cost of maintaining her strong and 'unemotional' professional persona. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In Debbie Hannan's pitch-perfect new production, Heron gives what is what is possibly the performance of her life as Nicky; in a show that is all the more intense for appearing in a tiny 60-seat space, but that somehow also seems far too big for it, not least in its importance for the increasingly misogynistic world in which we now live. At Oran Mor, meanwhile, the work of platforming a new play every week continues with a first-ever pay by West End actress Cilla Silvia, inspired by her own adoption story. Told in a pensive and slightly untheatrical narrative style, but with immense feeling, The Brown Doll follows 20-something Silvia, who was adopted as a baby by a Swedish family, as she returns to Sri Lanka in search of her birth mother. She is haunted, on her journey, by three mother figures. There is her anxious mum Anna, at home in Sweden. There is Umaima, a woman who helps her in Sri Lanka, but who turns out to know more than she should about the business of farming out Sri Lankan babies to wealthy white families; and there is the elusive figure of her birth mother, Rumisa. In a sense, the story as told in this version seems more like a preliminary outline for a longer and richer treatment, perhaps on screen, than a standalone play. There's no doubt, through, about the importance of the questions it raises; as our cash-crazed world becomes ever more adept at commodifying human life itself.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Gran inspired me to act and now I'm in the leading role'
When James McCardle read the script for new comedy Four Mothers, it instantly put him mind of the woman who opened his eyes to the acting world. His gran, Betty Feeney, sparked the Glasgow actor's lifelong love of performance with her stories of seeing Frank Sinatra play in the city. The 35-year-old has traded his west of Scotland drawl for a Dublin accent in the new production from Irish filmmaking brothers Darren and Colin Thornton. But aptly for a film that will begin previews on Mother's Day, he has taken inspiration from home into his first leading role. "I'd love to have been able to take my gran to see it," he told BBC Scotland News. "She'd recently passed away when I read the script. She came from Govan, at a time when Sinatra would come to Glasgow and they'd do Noel Coward plays or Greek tragedy at the Citizens' Theatre and we'd go. "That was where I was introduced to this world first, so I think it is for her." The film, which opens nationwide on 4 April, follows McCardle as Edward, a gay Irish writer who finds himself at the mercy of his own elderly mum, played by Fionnula Flanagan, and three other mothers, abandoned for the weekend while their sons go off to enjoy themselves at a Pride event in Ibiza. The Thorntons drew on their experiences of caring for their own elderly mother for the film, which screened at the Glasgow Film Festival earlier this month and won the audience award at the London Film Festival last year. McCardle, who has also appeared in Mary Queen of Scots and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, said the brothers had created a script which found moments of levity despite the heavy subject matter. "You read a lot of scripts that are trying to be funny, and they don't make you laugh but I was howling with laughter at this one," he said. "And then next page, you're crying. It's not twee, it's bittersweet. "We are a nation of carers now but we've never really seen that represented. Anyone who has cared, or been cared for, will realise that in those darkest moments there's always something funny or absurd that you shouldn't be laughing at." Opposite Flanagan and Dhearbhla Molloy, Stella McCusker and Paddy Glynn, who play the other three mums, McCardle was not short on inspiration. "I learned a lot from them," he said. "They take what they do seriously but not themselves seriously." McCardle's most recent televised role was in the ITV drama Playing Nice, alongside former Rada classmate James Norton. He has also received recent acclaim for the stage play Angels in America which has had a run in London and on Broadway. Four Mothers came with the additional challenge of picking up a Dublin accent, but he was able to lean on friend Andrew Scott in an effort to sound authentic. He said: "The Irish accent has been notoriously butchered on screen and they're quick to tell you. "That was a pressure, but I just got obsessive. "Even in Glasgow, there are very different accents so they were very strict about what they wanted." McCardle grew up in the city's Darnley area and planted the seeds of his future success by becoming involved in youth theatre as an early age. It was an experience that he continues to hold dear. When the PACE Theatre company launched its plans to redevelop a disused building in the centre of Paisley as the first dedicated theatre for children and young people, McCardle was one of the first to back it. Although delayed by the contractors going into administration, they say James's ongoing support has been "invaluable" The theatre's CEO, Grant Mason, said: "We know that his achievements to date are an inspiration to our young people, many of whom will recognise shared background and experiences. "But he's also been incredibly generous with his time with our young people, offering invaluable advice and mentorship."
BBC News
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Glasgow actor relishing chance to honour gran in first leading role
When James McCardle read the script for new comedy Four Mothers, it instantly put him mind of the woman who opened his eyes to the acting gran, Betty Feeney, sparked the Glasgow actor's lifelong love of performance with her stories of seeing Frank Sinatra play in the 35-year-old has traded his west of Scotland drawl for a Dublin accent in the new production from Irish filmmaking brothers Darren and Colin aptly for a film that will begin previews on Mother's Day, he has taken inspiration from home into his first leading role. "I'd love to have been able to take my gran to see it," he told BBC Scotland News."She'd recently passed away when I read the script. She came from Govan, at a time when Sinatra would come to Glasgow and they'd do Noel Coward plays or Greek tragedy at the Citizens' Theatre and we'd go."That was where I was introduced to this world first, so I think it is for her." The film, which opens nationwide on 4 April, follows McCardle as Edward, a gay Irish writer who finds himself at the mercy of his own elderly mum, played by Fionnula Flanagan, and three other mothers, abandoned for the weekend while their sons go off to enjoy themselves at a Pride event in Thorntons drew on their experiences of caring for their own elderly mother for the film, which screened at the Glasgow Film Festival earlier this month and won the audience award at the London Film Festival last who has also appeared in Mary Queen of Scots and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, said the brothers had created a script which found moments of levity despite the heavy subject matter."You read a lot of scripts that are trying to be funny, and they don't make you laugh but I was howling with laughter at this one," he said."And then next page, you're crying. It's not twee, it's bittersweet."We are a nation of carers now but we've never really seen that represented. Anyone who has cared, or been cared for, will realise that in those darkest moments there's always something funny or absurd that you shouldn't be laughing at."Opposite Flanagan and Dhearbhla Molloy, Stella McCusker and Paddy Glynn, who play the other three mums, McCardle was not short on inspiration."I learned a lot from them," he said."They take what they do seriously but not themselves seriously." 'Inspiration to young people' McCardle's most recent televised role was in the ITV drama Playing Nice, alongside former Rada classmate James has also received recent acclaim for the stage play Angels in America which has had a run in London and on Mothers came with the additional challenge of picking up a Dublin accent, but he was able to lean on friend Andrew Scott in an effort to sound said: "The Irish accent has been notoriously butchered on screen and they're quick to tell you."That was a pressure, but I just got obsessive."Even in Glasgow, there are very different accents so they were very strict about what they wanted."McCardle grew up in the city's Darnley area and planted the seeds of his future success by becoming involved in youth theatre as an early was an experience that he continues to hold the PACE Theatre company launched its plans to redevelop a disused building in the centre of Paisley as the first dedicated theatre for children and young people, McCardle was one of the first to back delayed by the contractors going into administration, they say James's ongoing support has been "invaluable"The theatre's CEO, Grant Mason, said: "We know that his achievements to date are an inspiration to our young people, many of whom will recognise shared background and experiences."But he's also been incredibly generous with his time with our young people, offering invaluable advice and mentorship."
