Latest news with #Troubled
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews: Niusia In The Land Of Eagles Troubled LEI-LDN Mind How You Go
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... THEATRE Niusia ★★★★ Summerhall (Venue 26) until 24 August In The Land Of Eagles ★★★★ Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) until 25 August Troubled ★★★★ Summerhall (Venue 26) until 25 August Amazons ★★★ Summerhall (Venue 26) until 25 August. LEI-LDN ★★★ Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) until 25 August Mind How You Go ★★★ Zoo Playground (Venue 186) until 24 August IN A WORLD IN TURMOIL, it's perhaps not surprising that the 2025 Fringe is full of young women seeking to reconnect with the past traumas and disruptions experienced by their own families; and none more eloquently than Australian writer and performer Beth Paterson, in her solo show Niusia, at Summerhall. Niusia | Pic: contributed Beth's story revolves around her Jewish grandmother Niusia, whom she only knows, in her teens and childhood, as a bad-tempered and permanently angry old lady given to spiteful comments about her own offspring. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Niusia loves Beth's singing voice, though, when she sings romantic numbers from the mid 20th century, or old Jewish songs; and Beth gradually begins to understand that her grandmother is a holocaust survivor, a woman from the Warsaw ghetto who worked at the notorious hospital in Auschwitz under Josef Mengele, and who somehow survived to begin a new life in Australia, as a formidable businesswoman, mother and grandmother. On a stage full of family books and albums, Beth begins - over an hour - to unweave her grandmother's story, and to understand its massive impact on her mother, and then on herself. Bath Paterson is a superbly poised and engaging performer, always sharply focussed on the story, and letting her own emotions emerge from the narrative, on a tide of sharp intelligence and humour. And by the end, she seems almost to blaze with pride in her inheritance, as part of this line of mighty female survivors; not because she doesn't understand the tragedies violent displacement currently shaking our world, but precisely because she does understand the human meaning of those crises, more clearly than ever before. And exactly the same pattern of family silence breached, and greater understanding and compassion flowing through the cracks, helps shape Alex Reynolds's In The Land Of Eagles, at the Pleasance Courtyard. Possessed by the usual teenage need to be 'normal' and fit in, Alex loves her Albanian-born grandpa, but takes little interest in his story until she turns 30, and finds that her grandfather's health is beginning to fail. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He says that he would like to go home, before he dies; and Alex begins to imagine travelling with him on a journey to the Albania of the 2020's, now free from the terrible dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, but still often reviled in Europe as a source of unwanted migrants. As she reaches Albania, her writing begins to soar and glow with rich descriptions of the capital, Tirana, and the mountains to the north, home of the magnificent great-grandmother she is told she resembles; and although the story's ending is a sad one, the sense she creates of a woman immeasurably enriched by this belated reconnection with her grandfather's roots is deeply moving, and beautiful. Alex Reynolds – In The Land Of Eagles | Felicity McCabe In Suzy Crothers's Troubled, at Summerhall, the struggle with the past relates not to one figure in the family, but to the whole society in which she grew up, in 1990's Belfast. With her parents constantly aware of the danger of bombings and shootings in the city, her otherwise carefree childhood - captured in a poignant school picture in the last moments of the show - is haunted by the fear that the world is not a safe or reliable place. 30 years on, we see a woman of 40 or so living and working in London, but still - despite her warm intelligence and humour, and a steady supply of tea and biscuits - wrestling with poor mental health and acute anxiety; and making her way only slowly towards the calmer waters of middle age. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Gael Le Cornec's Amazons, also at Summerhall, also tells the tale of a London-based writer-performer haunted by history; in her case, a Brazilian and Amazonian heritage that involves black, white and indigenous ancestors. Le Cornec's story is expressed through a dizzyingly complex show that features projected videos and photographs, live stop-motion video involving tiny clay sculptures, intense dramatic monologues, a chorus of aunties on the telephone, and some dire satirical caricatures of male colonialists down the ages; in a vivid but hugely uneven vision of an inheritance that is vital not only to Le Cornec, but - in the 21st century struggle to save the Amazon - to us all. The tone is slightly different in Na'keisha Pebody's LEI-LDN, at the Pleasance Courtyard. The title reflects the journey of rebellious 17 year old Chardaye from her hometown Leicester to London, as she struggles to make sense of her mixed-race English-Jamaican heritage after a major fall-out with her English mother, and is sent to live instead with her Jamaican auntie, in Peckham. Full of wild banter and defensive good-time-girl chat, Chardaye's story can be a shade exhausting, particularly in early scenes packed with incidents, rows, and super-cool references to the current rap scene. Towards the end, though, the show spirals into a deeply moving reflection on Chardaye's difficult relationship with a white mother long estranged from Chardaye's Jamaican dad, and therefore, in some ways, from Chardaye herself; and Pebody's talent as a writer and performer blazes through these scenes, in a raw and sometimes awkward show absolutely packed with promise and potential. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And finally, Glasgow-based folk singer and theatre-maker Michelle Burke's show Mind How You Go, at Zoo Playground, reflects on her childhood in County Cork with such a light and genially humorous touch that it leaves very little impression, beyond a strong and welcome sense of benign warmth. It does, though, feature four or five beautiful and haunting songs, that probe a little into the emotional undercurrents of her early life; and help this show, like many others on this theme, to reach out beyond the individual story, to the big currents of history that will always shape our lives, whether we choose to connect with them, or not.
Irish Post
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Tea, trauma and the Troubles at the Edinburgh Fringe
TROUBLED is the bold new solo show by Northern Irish theatre-maker Suzy Crothers. Set in 1993 Belfast, it combines dark humour, heartfelt storytelling and the comfort of tea and biscuits to examine trauma, family and healing. Alice, a 'Troubles kid' now grown up, navigates the chaos of a city divided, longing for normalcy as she forges her way toward love and adulthood — all while the past looms large. The piece blends warmth, wit, and raw honesty, exploring how intergenerational conflict can shape identity—and how storytelling can offer redemption. Directed by Amie Burns Walker (The Great Gatsby, Secret Cinema) and produced by Rachael Halliwell, Troubled incorporates projection, audience interaction, and live monologue. Crothers invites the audience into her world with signature Northern Irish hospitality—tea, biscuits, and a blanket available on request. Now featured within Summerhall's debut festival line-up, the show has drawn early praise from notable voices including Roisin Gallagher and Fringe First winner Haley McGee. A semi-autobiographical one-woman performance, Troubled confronts themes of personal loss, mental health crises, and intergenerational trauma—yet it remains grounded in joy, connection and hope. The result is a deeply moving and often hilarious portrait of survival, memory and the courage to move forward. Troubled by Suzy Crothers. Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025. Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre until August 25 (not 11, 18) See More: Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Suzy Crothers
Irish Post
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Ten Mins With...Suzy Crothers
SUZY CROTHERS is a theatre-maker, performer and writer from Belfast. She makes massive hearted multidisciplinary shows that illuminate unheard stories. Her solo show 'Troubled' will be showing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Summerhall from July 31 – August 25 and then touring the UK. In 2026, she'll be touring a new show Have a Nice Death which is 'part disco, part wake, part sandwich fest'. She's super happy to have just worked on the just released audiobook of Thirst Trap by Grainne O'Hare, a new writer from Belfast. This week she took time out to talk to The Irish Post... Suzy Crothers What are you up to? Taking my solo theatre show 'Troubled' to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Which piece of music always sends a shiver down your spine? Joga by Bjork. Which writer has most influenced you? Edna O'Brien. What's on your smartphone playlist at the minute? Doechii, the American rapper and singer. Who is your favourite author? George Orwell. What's your favourite film? Casino. What are your Irish roots? Béal Feirste. What is your favourite place in Ireland? Ballycastle, Co. Antrim Which book has really moved you? One Day by David Nicholls. Cried my lamps out. Have you a favourite actor? Andrew Scott is incredible and Sharon Horgan is a Queen. Which living person do you most admire? I'm fortunate to be surrounded by great people so I don't really have one answer, maybe my friend Amy, who is so wise and a mentor to me. In celeb terms, I like Dolly Parton and the work she has done on literacy with all the kids books she gives out. Plus I love Oprah. Which person from the past do you most admire? Audre Lorde, the US writer, philosopher and civil rights activist What would be your motto? I can, I have, I am. Have you a favourite quote from a play or poem that you just like? 'The only ones for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.' - Jack Kerouac What books are on your bedside table at the minute? All Fours - Miranda July Thirst Trap - Grainne O'Hare Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell In terms of inanimate objects, what is your most precious possession? My threadbare childhood teddy - Ted What's the greatest lesson life has taught you? You can. You have. You are. What do you believe in? The kindness of strangers. What do you consider the greatest work of art? The Giants Causeway - nature did a great job there. Who/what is the greatest love of your life? My work. My partner Finbar. Catch Suzy Crothers on July 31st - August 25th - Summerhall, Edinburgh, Sept 10th - Belgrade Coventry and Nov 4th - Sheffield Theatres. Visit
