Òran Mór, Glasgow Three stars When two lesbian bikers of a certain age walk into an island bar, it’s no joke for teenage Ruari in Ryan Hay’s new play for A Play, a Pie and a Pint’s ongoing lunchtime theatre season. Helen and Jane have been around the block together, a high-speed double act of Harley Davidsons, leather jackets and war stories about seeing Joan Jett and the Runaways at Glasgow Apollo. Things are changing, however, not least for Ruari, who runs the bar in their dad’s seemingly permanent absence, and is doing a lot of growing up beyond serving whisky after hours. There is a lot going on in Hay’s play, set over three years when Helen and Jane drop in to the bar for weekend breaks. While much is left unsaid, the late night debates that eventually cut loose sound at points like textbook guides to dealing with the growing pains of becoming who you want to be. Caitlin Skinner’s low-key slow burn of a production brings this rites of passage p...
Citizens Theatre, Glasgow Four stars When idealistic young aid worker Samira leaves Glasgow for Jordan in 2010 in the wake of the Arab Spring, she is on a mission to change the world she thinks she understands. As a mixed race Muslim abroad, however, bearing witness from afar may be one thing, but squaring up to frontline atrocities on a daily basis as she moves rapidly from one crisis to another is traumatic enough to leave her profoundly affected by the events around her. The world may have moved on since Mariem Omari’s solo play inspired by her own experiences first appeared in 2021, but in terms of the fall out of what has happened in the Middle East since then, things have only changed for the worse. A vibrant performance from Olivia Hemmati forms the heart of Shilpa T-Hyland’s production for the Citizens’ Theatre’s associate company, Bijli Productions, which steps out for a full tour in this redeveloped version of the play. As Samira becomes engulf...