Latest news with #DundeeRep
The Courier
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
What was it like seeing Brian Cox perform at Dundee Rep in Make It Happen?
After a relentless summer heatwave, it felt symbolic that the rain was coming down in torrents as we made our way to Dundee Rep for the second night of Make It Happen. Just as the sunny optimism of 110% mortgages and boom-time banking was drowned by the 2008 financial crash, the weather on South Tay Street seemed to signal a new chapter – one of reckoning. It's just a few weeks since I visited Dundee Rep one Friday lunchtime to interview Brian Cox in person about his return to the Dundee stage. Our wide-ranging conversation included a memorable call from Brian to 'get the f****** High Street sorted out'. But the question lingered – away from the headlines and soundbites, would the play about the Royal Bank of Scotland's role in the financial crash of 2008 live up to expectations? As I treated my family to a Saturday night out, the answer was an emphatic 'yes'. James Graham's Make It Happen is a sharp, darkly comic satire that charts the rise, fall and fail of the Royal Bank of Scotland – once the largest bank in the world. At its heart is the spirit of economist Adam Smith, summoned from the grave into a Scotland and UK grappling with potential economic ruin. Played by Brian Cox with thunderous wit and irreverence, Smith becomes the moral counterpoint to Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin, portrayed brilliantly by Sandy Grierson. Goodwin, with his obsession with power, risk, and global dominance, misquotes Smith to justify his corporate crusade. Cox's Smith, bemused and exasperated, pushes back – insisting he was a moral philosopher, not a prophet of unregulated capitalism. His confusion at the modern financial world is both comic and cutting. Fans of Cox will be delighted that his portrayal of Smith is a 'sweary' one! But while Cox's performance is magnetic, what I loved was that it never overshadows the ensemble. Grierson's Goodwin is particularly strong, capturing the banker's chilling arrogance. The portrayals of former PM Gordon Brown and former chancellor Alistair Darling, in their attempts to stave off financial catastrophe, are nuanced and timely. 'Kirkcaldy has produced a prime minister? F***off!' declares Cox's Smith in another moment of hilarity. This is not just theatre for those who lived through 2008 and remember the queues outside Northern Rock as people panicked and desperately tried to withdraw their cash. It speaks equally to a younger generation – my son included, sitting beside me – who was too young to recall the crash, but can clearly grasp the danger of unchecked ambition when it's laid out with such theatrical flair. The show finds humour in the darkest places. Smith arrives on stage swearing like a trooper, wondering how on earth he got there, then later reappears transformed by a shopping spree at John Lewis – decked out in Adidas trainers and a cap. Yet for all its wit, the message is sobering: when ego, power and deregulation collide, the fallout is global. Director Andrew Panton, Dundee Rep's artistic director, ensures the production remains rooted in place and history. The significance of Cox – who began his career at the old Dundee Rep in 1961 -returning to this stage adds emotional weight to the performance. Yet as the production moves to the Edinburgh International Festival – set in the very city where RBS rose and teetered on the bring of collapse – its poignancy only grows. Changes are likely afoot for Edinburgh. From our vantage point in the back row at Dundee Rep, we overheard the production team – watching it from a punters' perspective – discussing tweaks, including more visual cues linking to Edinburgh and the bank's epic scale. But one thing is clear: whether in Dundee or Edinburgh, Make It Happen is essential theatre. Smart, scathing and unexpectedly moving, it captures a defining moment in recent history with clarity, humour and just the right amount of rage.
The Herald Scotland
06-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
The Scottish stage play casting Fred Goodwin in a new light
When the rise and fall of 'Fred The Shred,' the nickname Goodwin earned for his ruthless cost-cutting, is turned into one of the biggest Scottish stage shows of the year, he is expected be cast in a whole new light. Read more: The actor who will play the man who would become Britain's most notorious banking boss has suggested audiences will see a different side to Goodwin – and may even feel empathy for him. Sandy Grierson, who has spoken to a number of former RBS employees as part of his preparation for the National Theatre of Scotland play Make It Happen, said he had been keen to get past his reputation and 'find a way to like the guy.' Former RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin will be depicted in the new stage play Make It Happen. The show, by the leading British playwright James Graham, will see Brian Cox play the ghost of Adam Smith, the 18th century philosopher and 'father of modern economics," who returns to Edinburgh to haunt Goodwin at the height of the crisis crippling RBS. Grierson said the show – which will launch in Cox's home city of Dundee later this month before a run at the Edinburgh International Festival – would grapple with the question of how much blame for the collapse of RBS and the global financial crisis that unfolded in 2008 should 'sit on the shoulders' of Goodwin. Sandy Grierson will play Fred Goodwin on stage in Make It Happen. (Image: Mihaela Bodlovic) Elements of a Greek tragedy – including a chorus, which will feature reimagined pop anthems from the 2000s – will be deployed to recall the rapid expansion of RBS during Goodwin's tenure, when it acquired a string of other banks and cut costs to generate bigger profits. Grierson said Goodwin had been compared to Icarus, the character from Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun, during the making of the show, the first major cultural project to explore RBS's involvement in the global financial crash. Brian Cox and Sandy Grierson will play Adam Smith and Fred Goodwin in the forthcoming stage play Make It Happen. (Image: National Theatre of Scotland/David Vintiner) The actor said: 'He did get the closest to the sun. He got RBS to being the biggest bank in the world. I'm fairly confident that at that time it seemed like the best thing to do. 'Fred Goodwin didn't just do it in isolation. It was a time when everyone around the world was trying to get their bank bigger and bigger so they did not get bought over. You were either a big fish that did the eating or a wee fish that got eaten. Brian Cox and Sandy Grierson will appear in Make It Happen at Dundee Rep and the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. (Image: David Vintiner) 'I think the banks had got themselves into some sort of alchemy. They were in a constant circle of growth. 'The play has a momentum right from the beginning that doesn't stop until all the wheels come off.' The rise and fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland under Fred Goodwin will be explored in the stage play Make It Happen. Graham, whose previous work has brought Margaret Thatcher, Dominic Cummings and Rupert Murdoch to the stage and screen, has suggested that Make It Happen would trace the links between the 2008 financial crisis and the modern-day economic landscape in Britain, as well as explore the working-class roots of Paisley-born Goodwin, the first member of his family to go to university. Key players in the handling of the 2008 financial crisis, including the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Chancellor, Alistair Darling, will be portrayed in Make It Happen, along with a mix of real-life and fictionalised RBS figures. Director Andrew Panton and actor Brian Cox during rehearsals for new National Theatre of Scotland play Make It Happen. (Image: Alastair More) As well as speaking to former RBS employees, Grierson has studied video footage of Goodwin and even walked around the grounds of the bank's vast headquarters complex at Gogarburn, which was built during his tenure. He told The Herald: 'Edinburgh is a small place. I have met people who were involved with RBS and have stories to tell. 'There were lots of stories about 'Fred the Shred' and all of that, but I've been quite keen to get under the surface of that. 'Regardless of the point of view of the audience, I felt I needed to find a way to like the guy. There are people out there who got on with him. He has got friends that still stand by him. 'I think you've got to absolutely take your hat off to his ability. He seems to have been so calm under pressure. It is remarkable. "There is a lot of things you can say about Fred Goodwin, but I think he was victimised to an extent. He put himself in the firing line. 'It seems really weird that he took his eye off the ball so badly. I have still not quite got my head around it. 'I don't think that it's a show that asks you to entirely sympathise with Fred Goodwin. That's not what we are doing. "There is a sort of Greek tragedy vein that runs through it. When you watch a Greek tragedy, you can sort of have empathy with a character without necessarily being on their side. 'Hopefully people will understand what we imagine was fuelling and firing Fred Goodwin.' Make It Happen was developed following discussions about separate ideas for new plays from Graham, Cox and Andrew Panton, the artistic director of Dundee Rep, where the show will launch on July 18. When Make It Happen was announced in January, Cox suggested that Adam Smith had been "constantly misquoted" and had had his writing "hijacked" by politicians like Margaret Thatcher. Grierson said: 'When I first read the play, I loved the idea of the haunting of Fred Goodwin the notion of re-examining Adam Smith, prising him away from the clutches of Margaret Thatcher and investigating him in a more intelligent context than he is often seen and how we imply that Fred Goodwin probably saw him. "Coming into this, I got quite fixated on the bits of footage of Fred Goodwin that do exist. "But I'm aware that I have to perform the play that James has written and the Fred Goodwin that he has written. 'We are dealing with someone who is very tight-lipped and contained emotionally. That is allowed to escape in a pressure cooker kind of way. "When Fred meets Adam, there is certainly scope for your own imagination to let loose a bit more. 'The scenes that James has written between Adam and Fred are great. Fred needs Adam. He can't let him go - he desperately tries to cling onto him.' Make It Happen is at Dundee Rep from July 18-26 and at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh from July 30-August 9
The Courier
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
Overgate busker swaps street for stage as he lands Dundee Rep role
Dundee busker Spencer Shek is known for his soulful covers of classic ballads outside the city's Overgate. Shoppers and city centre residents may be familiar with Spencer's crowd-pleasing renditions of everything My Way by Frank Sinatra to Perfect by Ed Sheeran. But this week, the velvet-voiced singer will swap his streetside serenades for a stint on the stage at Dundee Rep in an upcoming Dundee Youth Music Theatre production. 'Chess' is a Cold War musical with music written by Abba's own Benny Anderson and Björn Ulvaeus. Spencer is set to star as Freddie Trumper, a cocky chess grandmaster from the United States whose takes on his Soviet rival in a battle of wills, values and politics. For Dundee University law student Spencer, singing on stage is the dream. But he credits his busking days with giving him the confidence to pursue it. 'I originally started busking in Glasgow when I was 18 and fell in love with it,' says Spencer, 26, who is originally from Kilwinning. 'I was unsure of what busking would be like in Dundee after I moved here for university, but the public here are so lovely and welcoming of me and my music.' The popularity of his city centre performances has secured Spencer several wedding singer gigs, as well as performances at community events and special birthdays. 'My favourite moments are when I get to sing someone down the aisle,' smiles Spencer. 'I'm just in disbelief that someone would want me to sing them down on such as special occasion. I get emotional.' He recently joined the Dundee Youth Music Theatre and has thrown himself into the group. 'I've quickly bonded with everyone,' he says. 'We have such a talented cast and I'm incredibly privileged to be working with everyone there.' Spencer's big plan after university is to make it in the music industry as a singer-songwriter, or perform on the West End or Broadway. But the shrewd soon-to-be graduate is well aware of 'just how hard it is to make it in the music industry', which is why he's been working towards his law diploma since moving to Dundee. 'If it wasn't to work out, at least I still have my degree that I can use for a job that I very much take an interest in,' he says. 'But hopefully the music works out. Fingers crossed – that's the absolute dream for me.'
The National
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
REVIEW: An electric drama of doubt and dilemma at Dundee Rep
A brilliantly structured drama of suspicion, conflict and soul-searching within a Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, the play contains moral complexities and an underlying political charge that are akin to David Mamet's 1992 opus Oleanna. The play pits Sister Aloysius (the austere, conservative principal of the fictional St Nicholas Church School, played by Ann Louise Ross) against Michael Dylan's seemingly liberal and compassionate priest Father Flynn. Add to this Sister James (a young and idealistic teacher who is caught between her own instincts and the influence of Sister Aloysius) and Mrs Muller (the mother of the sole Black child in his class, whom Sister Aloysius suspects is being sexually abused by Father Flynn). The tensions and conflicting motivations build powerfully in Shanley's script. Designer Jessica Worrall's set – an apparent concrete monolith which represents Sister Aloysius's office, but opens out, with unexpected versatility, to become the school's garden – becomes a charismatic fifth character. This production captures brilliantly the sense of uncertainty that runs like an erratically woven thread through the play. The principal – a Second World War widow who turned to Holy orders – embarks on a campaign to bring down the suspected priest armed with nothing more than circumstantial evidence (the child, Donald Muller, returned to Sister James's class following a one-to-one meeting with Father Flynn with the smell of alcohol on his breath). We, the audience, like Sister James, are pulled in various ethical directions as Flynn's plausible explanation and moral indignation clash with Aloysius's seeming certainty. READ MORE: A ballet full of audacious dances of death and defiance The testimony of Mrs Muller – regarding Donald's home life and his need of both the school and Flynn's support – introduces another level of ethical, social and racial complexity to an already electric narrative. The doubt of the play's title belongs to us, the audience, as much as it does to the characters themselves. All of which demands acting performances of great nuance and depth. Ross's Aloysius has granite hardness and a line in brook-no-argument sarcasm that is often bleakly comic. Coupled with her underlying decency and moral bravery, the character manages – in Ross's canny characterisation – to split one's sympathies in two. The excellent Dylan impresses similarly in the role of Flynn, who the actor plays – as if on a theatrical high-wire – balanced precariously between persecuted innocence and perilously concealed guilt. The anguished equivocations of Sister James and the painfully acquired pragmatism of Mrs Muller (whose soul is caught in a vice constructed of racism, poverty, domestic abuse and a burning desire to save her son from all three) are depicted excellently by Emma Tracey and Mercy Ojelade respectively. Shanley's play is a resonating and delicately balanced thing of beauty. Thankfully, this excellent Dundee Rep production tackles it with all of the necessary subtlety and confidence. Until May 10:
The Courier
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
Review: Doubt: A Parable at Dundee Rep
John Patrick Shanley's 2004 stage play Doubt: A Parable opened off-Broadway and ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for Best Play. It's a play with a big reputation and legacy, from Shanley's own 2008 film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Viola Davis, to last year's Broadway revival with Live Schreiber and Amy Ryan. Here Joanna Bowman directs Dundee Rep Theatre's version, which keeps the American backdrop of the original – a Bronx religious school in 1964, where the relationship between a young male priest and a boy in his care is called into question. The chance to see a modern classic on a Scottish stage; although if you'd like a recommendation from outside theatre, Shanley also won an Academy Award for writing the 1987 Cher and Nicolas Cage film Moonstruck. You know you're in for a high standard all round at Dundee Rep, and the performances are predictably powerful. Ann Louise Ross is especially commanding in the central role of Sister Aloysius, a character who flips the role of strict and widely-feared religious disciplinarian – all of which she is – to reveal an innate morality which causes her to not let go when she smells wrongdoing. The way the play manages to be a contemplative, ecclesiastical piece about the meaning of faith and a tense and utterly involving thriller all at once. All the time we're given mixed signals about who to root for – Sister Aloysius seems stuffy and inflexible, while the accused priest Father Flynn is played with easy-going, youthful warmth by Michael Dylan. Emma Tracey's apprentice Sister James, meanwhile, represents a more open, less disciplinarian form of teaching, but does seeing the good make her blind and naïve Jessica Worrall's impressive set is also a character in itself, a vaulted, concrete-effect sepulchre with a panel which reveals the changing seasons outside. You don't like hearing fake American accents in the theatre. Although the reason for maintaining time and setting becomes clear when we discover the boy in question, Donald Muller, is the only black child at the school. Mercy Ojelade cameos as his complex mother, who's prepared to turn a blind eye because she believes education is his only escape to a better life, and in an already powerful play her single scene is a tour de force. At Dundee Rep Theatre until Saturday 10th May.
