Articles by Grace Knight

Matthew Bourne's Cinderella

Matthew Bourne's Cinderella

Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella does what all modern adaptations of traditional stories should do: it turns it into something new, something pulsing with relevance for the new setting... 

Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde (based on the movie of the same name) tells the story of Elle Woods, a party girl who decides to go to Harvard Law School to convince her ex-boyfriend that she can be serious... 

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is a beautiful, uncomplicated musical about courage, love and doing the right thing, and this production is a beautiful, uncomplicated rendition that stays true to its heart... 

The Crucible

The Crucible

Arthur Millers most-performed, and perhaps most popular, play, The Crucible, is set during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Miller presents us with a town in which petty land disputes, avarice and jealousy are exploited by a group of teenaged girls to create a climate in which ordinary people end up being hanged as witches... 

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre

The latest adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's most beloved novel, Jane Eyre, was devised by the company at the Bristol Old Vic, led by Sally Cookson. The story tells of Jane’s childhood as an orphan in a bleakly religious school, then her job as a governess in the house of the novel’s hero, the eccentric and brooding Mr Rochester... 

Little Shop of Horrors

Little Shop of Horrors

Little Shop of Horrors, the cult classic that brought us endlessly popular tunes such as “Suddenly Seymour” and “Somewhere that’s Green” tells the story of Seymour and Audrey, two low-paid shop assistants who work in a failing florists in downtown New York... 

Sister Act

Sister Act

Sister Act, the ever-popular stage musical based on the successful Whoopie Goldberg film, is a feel-good delight, and this latest production starring X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke certainly does it justice... 

Chicago

Chicago

World-famous musical Chicago follows the lives of two women in a Chicago prison in the 1920s, both awaiting trial for murder. One of them, Velma Kelly, caught her husband having an affair with her sister and is accused of shooting them both, and the other, Roxy Hart, shot her lover when he tried to leave her... 

Doctor Faustus

Doctor Faustus

Christopher Marlowe’s most famous play, Doctor Faustus, tells the story of a man who, having learned everything it is possible to learn, is tempted to seek greater knowledge by selling his soul to the devil – a decision he comes to regret... 

Macbeth

Macbeth

Shakespeare’s much performed, much studied and much loved “Scottish Play”, Macbeth, is the third in this year’s “Vaulting Ambition” season of Bard in the Botanics.Some very interesting artistic decisions have been made for this production, and they have mixed success... 

Coriolanus

Coriolanus

William Shakespeare's Coriolanus tells the story of the Roman General Caius Marcius Coriolanus. An unparalleled soldier, things go bad when he stands as Consul and gets on the wrong side of the people he is foolish enough to admit to despising... 

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, the opening show in this season’s Bard in the Botanics, takes place outdoors in Glasgow’s beautiful Botanic Gardens. The show is everything it should be: fun, accessible and with just enough interesting artistic decisions to keep it stimulating viewing to the most seasoned Shakespeare fan... 

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour is a highly entertaining, song-packed show with plenty of heart. It follows the story of six girls from the Catholic high school (Our Lady of Perpetual Succour) as they spend a wild 24 hours in Edinburgh for a choir competition... 

30: 60: 80

30: 60: 80

Writer-performer Amy Conway’s new piece takes the form of a verbatim performance of three interviews: one with her mother, one with her grandmother, and one with herself. Headphones in her ears, Conway plays the interviews to herself and acts out what she hears out loud for our benefit, moving between three little stage sets whenever she changes character to help distinguish the three different voices... 

Blackbird

Blackbird

The Citizens' Theatre's new production of David Harrower's Olivier Award Winning 2005 play Blackbird is an engaging and thought-provoking piece of theatre. It opens with a young woman, Una, confronting a middle aged man, Ray, in the staff recreation area of his place of work... 

An Inspector Calls

An Inspector Calls

JB Priestly’s much beloved, taught-in-schools play, An Inspector Calls, is a perennial favourite with British theatre-goers. As the Birling household celebrate their daughter’s engagement to a very eligible young man, the mysterious Inspector Goole arrives... 

Ghosts

Ghosts

Megan Barker's courageous new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts follows the story of Helen Alving as she attempts to arrange funding for a children's home. The arrival of her son triggers a series of revelations about the conduct of the older generation from which there can be no coming back... 

‘This is the aftermath’ - Sue MacLaine’s Can I Start Again Please

‘This is the aftermath’ - Sue MacLaine’s Can I Start Again Please

Sue MacLaine’s play Can I Start Again Please combines her writing with her other profession as a sign language translator, and uses these two very different languages as a starting point for engaging in a discussion of silence and trauma... 

'We are All Possessive of Jane' - Austen Panel with Penny Ashton & Barbara Landis

'We are All Possessive of Jane' - Austen Panel with Penny Ashton & Barbara Landis

Deputy Features Editor Grace Knight interviews two artists from opposite ends of the Jane Austen-adaptation spectrum. Barbara Landis adapted and stars in Jane Austen's Persuasion: A Musical Drama, an operetta with a live orchestra... 

Richard II

Richard II

Shakespeare's popular play Richard II recounts the fate of the famously decadent king as he spends his father’s fortune, places punitive taxes onto the poor, and spends his nobles’ money... 

Love's Labour's Lost

Love's Labour's Lost

Love's Labour's Lost follows the fortunes of King Ferdinand of Navarre and his three friends, who have made a vow that they will eschew women (among other things) for three years... 

Puttin' on The Ritz

Puttin' on The Ritz

Puttin' on the Ritz is an all-singing, all-dancing tour of the highlights of the 1920s music scene, with occasional forays into the 30s and 40s. The talented ensemble are responsible for most of the numbers, while Strictly Come Dancing stars Kristina Rihanoff and Robin Windsor make some guest appearances... 

Into That Darkness

Into That Darkness

Franz Stangl oversaw the deaths of almost a million people during the fourteen months he was Commandant of the Treblinka extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. And there were many more, while he held other positions beforehand... 

Fever Dream

Fever Dream

Douglas Maxwell's new play, Fever Dream: Southside, is set round the corner from the Citz in nearby Govanhill. During a distressingly hot summer, a local woman organises a rally to inject some community spirit into her neighbourhood, while her husband has a minor breakdown and the act she’s booked to perform has a spiritual breakdown of a more eccentric nature... 

Vlad the Impaler

Vlad the Impaler

Richard Crane's latest play takes as its subject the life of Vlad the Impaler, famous Romanian prince and the inspiration behind Dracula, blending folk songs, the recreation of key scenes, and magical realism to give a sense of the life of this historical figure... 

Peter Pan Goes Wrong

Peter Pan Goes Wrong

Peter Pan Goes Wrong invites you to watch the latest show by the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, a production of Peter Pan which starts badly and ends in a medley of perfectly orchestrated chaos... 

Fat Alice

Fat Alice

Acclaimed playwright Alison Carr's latest offering, Fat Alice, opens on a familiar scene. Peter (Richard Conlon) admits to Moira (Meg Fraser), his girlfriend of ten years, that he still hasn’t told his wife about her... 

Take the Rubbish Out, Sasha

Take the Rubbish Out, Sasha

Take the Rubbish Out, Sasha is the first of three plays in this season of A Play, A Pie and A Pint from Russia and Ukraine, curated by playwright Nicola McCartney who also directs this production... 

And The Beat Goes On

And The Beat Goes On

Glasgow based playwright Stef Smith's latest play, The Beat Goes On, ushers us into the lives of Lily and Peter, a couple of Sonny and Cher tribute artists who practice in their garage... 

A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire tells the story of Blanche du Bois, a beautiful Southern Belle whose husband commits suicide after she catches him with another man... 

The Day The Pope Emptied Croy

The Day The Pope Emptied Croy

After a very strong debut with Squash in last season’s A Play, A Pie and a Pint, playwright Martin McCormick returns with his second play, The Day the Pope Emptied Croy. Set in the early 1980s, it follows the fortunes of two teenage boys as they prepare to run away to Newcastle... 

Leviathan

Leviathan

Leviathan, produced in association with Sherman Cymru and the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, is among the best plays to appear on the Òran Mór stage this season or last. The dialogue is rich with both high-flown and naturalistic poetry, the performances are perfect, and the whole thing is imbued with such a gentleness of heart that it allows you to travel through its distressing subject matter without being broken by it... 

Rum and Vodka

Rum and Vodka

Rum and Vodka, the 1992 debut play by Olivier Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson, is a simple and effective one man show. A young man, sitting on a plain wooden chair, recounts the mad drunken rampage on which he has spent the last three days, destroying most of the things he cares about, and causing a lot of collateral damage in the process... 

Lifesaving

Lifesaving

Lifesaving is an entertaining and surreal hour of theatre which focuses on the lives of two teenage siblings, Sandra and Jamie. Although the younger, Sandra has always looked after Jamie because he was born with the cord around his neck so his mental age is younger than his physical age... 

Mrs Barbours Daughters

Mrs Barbours Daughters

Mrs Barbour's Daughters centres around Mary, an elderly blind woman who refuses to move out of her tenement flat and into her niece's home. Throughout the play, she continually refuses to engage with the present, preferring instead to dwell on her past – an unsatisfactory life lived in the shadow of her political activist older sister... 

The King's Kilt

The King's Kilt

Rona Munro's comedy drama, originally produced for Radio 4 in 2008, tells the story of a period in the life of Walter Scott when he was tasked with commissioning a kilt for King George IV to wear on a controversial visit to Scotland... 

Bridge

Bridge

Bridge opens with a woman sitting on an isolated bridge being harassed by a stranger who won’t let her be. As the two argue and talk, secrets are revealed and highly personal matters come to light... 

The Happiest Day of Brendan Smilie's Life

The Happiest Day of Brendan Smilie's Life

The Happiest Day of Brendan Smillie's Life opens on sweet, strange Brendan (Ross Allan) who, with the aid of labelled paper plates, is attempting to design the optimal buffet arrangement... 

Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon

Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon

Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon is an account of what happens when “our man” (Òran Mór veteran Billy Mack) spends four weeks in Japan.He’s there to learn about Japanese Noh theatre but, along the way, also comes to understand his own troubled personal situation better... 

Hooray for All Kinds of Things

Hooray for All Kinds of Things

Hooray for all Kind of Things tells the true story of Icelandic stand-up comedian Jòn Gnarr’s decision to run for office in the Reykjavík mayoral elections of 2010. Gnarr, along with a group of fellow artists, decides that - as a response to the financial crisis and the resulting political apathy - he will form the Best Party, with the stated aim of making life more fun for Icelandic people... 

We Can All Agree to Pretend This Never Happened

We Can All Agree to Pretend This Never Happened

As an ongoing celebration of –and opportunity for –new playwriting talent, A Play, a Pie and a Pint – originated at the Òran Mór in Glasgow's West End – has decided to mark its 350th production by celebrating its international reach... 

Theatre Uncut

Theatre Uncut

In a departure from its usual format, A Play, a Pie and a Pint this week plays host to (and co-commissioned) Theatre Uncut 2014, a political theatre company producing short plays as political activism... 

Squash

Squash

Squash is the third play in this Autumn’s “A Play, A Pie and a Pint”season at Òran Mór produced in association with Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre—following on from Flame Proof by Lesley Hart and Mrs Barbour’s Boys by A J Taudevin... 

Flying With Swans

Flying With Swans

Flying with Swans focuses on three women, all now well into retirement, who reignite their old tradition of taking the ferry to watch the arrival of the whooper swans as they migrate... 

Crash

Crash

Andy Duffy’s new one-man play is a psychological drama following the life of a stock market trader during the economic crash. The central character narrates as both his personal and his professional lives experience colossal highs and tragic lows, not least the literal car crash with which the play opens... 

Three Sisters

Three Sisters

Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters focuses on three refined and cultured young women—Olga, Maria and Irina—forced to relocate to a rural province because of their father's work... 

Flame Proof

Flame Proof

Lesley Hart's latest play begins when Health and Safety Officer Lyssa is disturbed from her work of securing a wedding marquee at three in the morning by Buddy, the alcoholic brother of the bride... 

Flame Proof

Flame Proof

Lesley Hart's latest play begins when Health and Safety Officer Lyssa is disturbed from her work of securing a wedding marquee at three in the morning by Buddy, the alcoholic brother of the bride... 

Hamlet

Hamlet

Director Dominic Hill's new production of Shakespeare’s most popular play takes the radical step of giving us a Hamlet who is essentially the villain. While still troubled by his father's death, this Hamlet’s emotional turmoil and grief are toned down while his callousness about the harm he causes is emphasised... 

It's Only Words

It's Only Words

It's Only Words tells the story of Mrs Moore, an old woman who has locked herself in a public bathroom while she thinks about her life and the choices she has made. Her most important memories come to life as she re-enacts her first meeting with her husband and all that happened afterwards... 

Miss Shamrock’s World of Glamorous Flight

Miss Shamrock’s World of Glamorous Flight

The third play in Oran Mor's Autumn/Winter Season is a breath of fresh air, a nuanced and enjoyable picture of a thoroughly likeable character.Miss Shamrock is an air hostess, and she couldn't be more thrilled about it... 

A Terrible Beauty

A Terrible Beauty

A thorough, measured account of a key moment in the history of Ireland, this opening production in the new run of “A Play, a Pie and a Pint” at Oran Mor in Glasgow’s West End, makes up in skilled delivery what it lacks in clarity... 

My Rabbi

My Rabbi

My Rabbi follows the story of two best friends: an atheist man (whose family are mostly Muslim) and a Jewish man. As they get older, they both begin to take their faiths more seriously and when the situation in Israel, along with anti-Semitic attacks in Canada, becomes increasingly serious, their friendship is severely tested... 

The Villains, the Vote and the Black, Black Oil

The Villains, the Vote and the Black, Black Oil

The show uses a mixture of devised and traditional songs, short sketches, narration, and pantomime versions of figures from recent history to recount some of the most important events of the last 36 years for Scotland... 

First Class

First Class

First Class takes the form of three intercutting monologues which follow the lives of three different people. Each of the three characters is on a train and each of them is faced with a big decision... 

Verbatopolis

Verbatopolis

Verbatopolis is the name an ageing anthropologist has given to his series of lectures, delivered for you by a talented group of actors who illustrate the scenes he has studied. The anthropologist is the proud owner of a time machine, but one with a glitch... 

The Last Piemen

The Last Piemen

The Last Piemen follows the story of two rival pie makers, one of whom favours the traditional approach, while the other is an innovator. They and their two assistants fight it out between them until a greater threat appears... 

Chariot: The Eric Liddell Story

Chariot: The Eric Liddell Story

This intelligent piece of theatre focuses on the religious faith of the famous Scottish Olympian Eric Liddell and his trainer, Tom McKerchar. Liddell is set to win the gold medal for the 100-metre sprint, but the heat is due to take place on a Sunday... 

Superfluous

Superfluous

Superfluous is a show with plenty of energy, enthusiasm and warmth, but a lack of more fundamental theatrical skills means it falls flat.The show tells the story of a newly formed superhero team assembled by mad scientist, Professor H, to track down a supervillain named Doctor Charm... 

Harry the King

Harry the King

This is a solid performance of a classic play which, while it doesn't amount to a re-telling in anything but the literal sense, does a creditable job of rendering the whole thing with two actors and and a minimal set... 

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist

This is a heartfelt piece of theatre which demonstrates just how far passion and enthusiasm can get you. Livewire return to the Fringe this year with their take on Dickens' Oliver Twist, setting it in post-war Germany... 

FOMO: The Fear of Missing Out

FOMO: The Fear of Missing Out

Zoe McDonald's one-woman show is a masterpiece of characterisation, and a very successful piece of comedy.Zoe McDonald is the star of a local radio show about her life. She is joined by her co-presenter (a D-List celebrity), her very zen producer and a host of guests on the show... 

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest

University theatre group Gone Rogue Productions brings us a genuinely funny hour's entertainment with this production of a beloved classic.Oscar Wilde's seminal farce tells the story of Jack Worthing, a respectable gentleman in the country, who occasionally likes to go up to town under the alias of “Ernest”... 

Nathan Penlington: Choose Your Own Documentary

Nathan Penlington: Choose Your Own Documentary

This is a surprisingly intimate glimpse into the inner world of multimedia artist Nathan Penlington, with plenty of exciting decisions along the way.Nathan Penlington: Choose Your Own Documentary takes the form of the old 'Choose Your Own Adventure' novels... 

Guinea Pigs on Trial

Guinea Pigs on Trial

The latest offering from the award winning Sh!t Theatre is an all singing, all dancing critique of the pharmaceutical industry which is at all points informative and entertaining.The show takes the form of a guided tour through Louise Mothersole and Becca Biscuit's attempts to be accepted onto a Stage One Medical Trial as research for this show... 

The Day Sam Died

The Day Sam Died

This piece of surrealist theatre successfully dramatises the issues it sets out to explore and uses neat theatrical devices to do it.The Day Sam Died presents its audience with three versions of the same day... 

Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia conjures the atmosphere of being trapped extremely effectively, as well as delving into the idea that we are all, in a way, trapped in prisons of our own making.The play follows the story of two ordinary people who get trapped in a lift... 

Raymondo

Raymondo

Raymondo is a piece of magical realist storytelling which combines an evocative musical accompaniment with an endlessly strange and beautiful script.It tells the story of a young boy, Raymondo, who is locked in a cellar for six years with his brother, Sparky... 

The Vinay Patel Extended Interview

The Vinay Patel Extended Interview

Vinay Patel, writer of True Brits, is a young playwright from the Southeast of London who is ashamed to admit he has never lived north of the river Thames. The play runs at Assembly until the end of August... 

The Anna Girvan Extended Interview

The Anna Girvan Extended Interview

Anna Girvan is a director who loves the strange and the unique. She's never done Shakespeare (except to adapt it for child-friendly productions), and has instead always picked up more surrealist projects... 

Please Don't Cry (At My Funeral)

Please Don't Cry (At My Funeral)

Please Don't Cry (At My Funeral) isn't exactly the show advertised. After submitting their application to the Fringe (so the story goes) Josie Dale-Jones and Isabel Della-Porta decided they would have to drop out... 

The Initiate

The Initiate

It is almost worth going to see The Initiate for the theatre space alone. Well-renowned theatre company Paines Plough have a mission to bring theatre to areas that do not usually get to experience it in their own area... 

Altamont

Altamont

If you want to know what it felt like to be part of one of the most disastrous free concerts of the '60s, this atmospheric show is a good place to start.The show follows the experiences of a concert-goer to the infamous Altamont free concert, the final stop on a Rolling Stones tour in the late '60s that went badly wrong... 

Giulietta

Giulietta

Despite extremely promising material, Giulietta manages to ultimately be prosaic and, frankly, a bit boring.The show tells the story of Beethoven's brief love affair with his student, Countess Giulietta, the woman to whom he dedicated the Moonlight Sonata, and also covers the traumatic period in his life in which he first began to lose his hearing... 

The Match Game

The Match Game

The Match Game creates a fantastical dystopia and uses it to consider our notions of romance, and the existence of 'the one'. It's a very enjoyable discussion of the themes, with some strong character performances... 

Phone Whore: A One Act Play With Frequent Interruptions

Phone Whore: A One Act Play With Frequent Interruptions

If you wander the streets of the Edinburgh Fringe, you might run into Cameryn Moore. She sets up in various outdoor locations with an old fashioned typewriter and promises to write you bespoke smut on demand... 

The Tulip Tree- The Love Story of J Enoch Powell

The Tulip Tree- The Love Story of J Enoch Powell

The Tulip Tree is a very intelligent piece of theatre that crams a lot of subtlety into a short period of time.It focuses on a period very early in the life of Enoch Powell, the infamous Tory politician particularly known for his “rivers of blood” speech... 

Mock Tudor

Mock Tudor

On paper, this looks like a good show: everyone involved has pretty impressive credits to their name and the concept is the sort of thing that’s fantastic when it's done well. But this isn't... 

The Secret Wives of Andy Williams

The Secret Wives of Andy Williams

The Secret Wives of Andy Williams is an enjoyable hour of theatre that is occasionally funny and often moving, with plenty of eccentricity to keep things interesting.It follows the story of Caitlin, a novice nun in the 1960s, who has been moved to a new nunnery after her love for her best friend threw her calling into doubt... 

An Audience With Shurl

An Audience With Shurl

An Audience With Shurl is a highly intimate, moving picture of the inner life of a very lonely woman. Shurl is funny, gentle and possessed of a childlike innocence. You will want to spend time with her... 

The Jo Clifford Extended Interview

The Jo Clifford Extended Interview

Jo Clifford is a writer and actor whose body of work extends to over 70 produced plays, films and radio plays. This year she is reviving, and playing the title role in, her 2009 play, The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven... 

Blood at the Root

Blood at the Root

The latest offering from acclaimed playwright Dominique Morisseau is an ensemble piece in every sense of the word. It was devised in collaboration with the cast and director and combines a diverse range of theatrical techniques to create a moving and enlightening experience... 

True Brits

True Brits

True Brits is an unusually subtle and warm one man show. It takes a light, often comic approach to some serious subjects and is so successful that it is difficult to believe this is Vinay Patel's first fully produced play... 

The Dirty Talk

The Dirty Talk

Michael Puzzo's popular play is a solid piece of theatre--it knows exactly what it wants to achieve and pulls it off. You won't find any bright fireworks here, nor will you find any real duds... 

The Ruby Dolls: Fabulous Creatures

The Ruby Dolls: Fabulous Creatures

The first original musical from The Ruby Dolls is a triumph. It has everything that makes cabaret glorious, it has brilliant original songs, and it has a message that is fully deserving of the attention it will undoubtedly receive... 

The Player's Advice to Shakespeare

The Player's Advice to Shakespeare

Brian K. Stewart's one man play has already won four Prix Rideau awards in its native Canada, and now it is off to a flying start in the UK. It is simple, effective theatre that gets right to the heart of good storytelling... 

A Little Nonsense

A Little Nonsense

It is a rare and precious thing to find a show which is not only brilliant, but which is brilliant in such a wide range of ways. On the face of it, A Little Nonsense is an extremely well executed piece of clown theatre, complete with pleasingly exasperated straight-man and an unusually endearing clown... 

The Lucy Ayrton Three Minute Interview

The Lucy Ayrton Three Minute Interview

Lucy Ayrton made her Fringe debut in 2012 when her first show, Lullabies to Make Your Children Cry, won her a Best Newcomer award at PBH's Free Fringe, along with a host of glowing reviews... 

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