The Studio, Edinburgh Three stars What do you do when you’re told you’re not the God you say you are? In Dionysus’ case after being barred from Thebes by king Pentheus and his mother Agave in one of Euripides’ defining works, you take revenge on those that disrespected with your own gang, and hell mewnd the lot ofd them. This is more or less the driving force for Dionysus in Euripides’ much-reimagined piece of myth-making involving a cast of, if not thousands, then certainly a few. The last time a new version of the play graced Scottish stages was by way of David Greig’s version in 2007, when Dionysus turned up mob handed in the form of Alan Cumming and a gospel choir in tow. Arriving in Edinburgh hot on the heels of Bard in the Botanics' production of Euripides' other greatest hit, Medea, Ewan Downie’s new take on The Bacchae for the Company of Wolves company couldn’t be more different. Written by Downie, and performed solo by him over ...
Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock Four stars Alan Spence’s study of the shifting fortunes of a father and son in working class Glasgow was first produced at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre in 1982, arriving on a wave of new Scottish voices creating poetry out of the everyday. Spence became better known as a novelist and poet, while Sailmaker went on to become a fixture and favourite of the school curriculum. It was last seen on a professional stage in 1990. This long overdue revival by director Liz Carruthers reminds us of what a fine dramatist Spence is. His play is a masterpiece that fuses rites of passage and working class ambition with a portrait of poverty and grief in a rapidly disappearing Glasgow. At times it feels like a piece of European neo realism that in any other country would have long seen it adapted for film. As it is, this tour heroically produced by Ayr’s Gaiety Theatre and Greenock’s Beacon Art Centre can’t even get a gig in the city where it is...