Coffee-Table Notes

It was George Costigan’s idea that he and Matthew Kelly should do Waiting for Godot together as Vladimir and Estragon, the two men waiting for the title character who never comes in Samuel Beckett’s play that revolutionised twentieth century drama. Watching these two very different veterans of stage and screen spark off each other as they riff on Beckett’s piece of existential vaudeville in which ‘nothing happens twice’, you can see why it was such an inspired notion.   “This is a play about love,” says Kelly of Godot, in which the everyday chemistry between life long friends is laid bare in all its mundane glory. “For two people like us, who’ve known each other for fifty eight years – and I think Vladimir and Estragon have known each other for that long - it’s kind of an ideal time for us to do it. And we might get it right this time.”   Dominic Hill’s new production that opens at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre prior to dates in Liverpool and Bolton will be the fourth time Kelly ...

Scotland’s theatres are well and truly open to all manner of shows in February. Here are some that shouldn’t be missed.     When Billy Met Alasdair Theatre Royal, Dumfries, 7 February; Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling, 13 February; Eastgate Theatre, Peebles, 21 February; Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, 27 February; Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, 28 February; Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 28 March. Alan Bissett’s speculative conversation between Billy Connolly and Alasdair Gray  at the launch of Gray’s novel, Lanark, in 1981 at Glasgow’s original arts lab, the Third Eye Centre was a hit on the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Bissett brings two artistic greats to life with the sort of imagination used in his novels alongside a fearless performative flair. Bissett fans might also want to head over to the Memorial Theatre, Arbroath on February 20th for the last ever performance of Moira in Lockdown, the third and final part of The Moira Mon...

Now panto season is more or less over, the year begins with some big hitters on the touring circuit as well as a couple of more intimate affairs before the theatrical floodgates fully open in February.   MAMMA MIA! The Playhouse, Edinburgh until January 4; His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, January 27-February 7. As reviewed on these pages only last week, Catherine Johnson’s ABBA powered dramady sired in the girl powered 1990s is now more than a quarter of a century old. This makes for several layers of nostalgia in Johnson’s marriage of Benny and Bjorn’s greatest hits to Brit-flavoured prime time drama in a yarn about ex pat Donna and her daughter Sophie as they prepare for a Greek wedding that causes Sophie to ant to find out who her dad is. Cue three gentlemen callers from Donna’s past showing up in a show with women’s independence at its heart and some of the best ever 1970s pop bangers thrown in. Following its last few days in Edinburgh to see in the new year, Phyllida Lloyd’s p...

Holly Howden Gilchrist had yet to graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland when she was cast as Catherine in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at the Tron Theatre in February this year. By that time, the then twenty-year-old had already won both the Donald Dewar Award and the Pauline Knowles Scholarship at RCS.     As the daughter of actors Kathryn Howden and Gilly Gilchrist, Howden Gilchrist comes from a strong pedigree.   Since A View from the Bridge, Howden Gilchrist has toured in Sylvia Dow’s play, Blinded by the Light, and appeared in Small Acts of Love, Frances Poet and Ricky Ross’s play that was the first production to play at the reopened Citizens Theatre in Glasgow.   Howden Gilchrist returns to the Gorbals for the Citz’s festive production of Beauty and the Beast. All of which makes for quite a start for what looks like a bright future ahead. The List, December 2025   ends

With Herald panto critic Mary Brennan already hotfooting it around the shows of the season, there is alot going on, with a smorgasbord of seasonal fare likely on your doorstep, as outlined below. There is even some non-panto action opening in theatres great and small to see the year out in suitably dramatic fashion.   Baltic Cumbernauld Theatre until December 24. With Cumbernauld Theatre under threat of closure after being turned down for funding, now is probably the time to show some support for one of the most vital arts organisations outside the cities. Jerry Taylor’s new pantomime for Ginger and Jester Productions brings home a very snowy show, as young Elsbeth sets out from the land of Glenfrost to rescue her brother from the clutches of the Snow Queen. Cue a quest loaded with a talking snowman called Nolaff, who’s lost his sense of smell, a seven-foot Yeti and a whole load of storms weathered as Elsbeth discovers her magic powers.     A Christmas Carol Platform, Eas...

James Brining has had quite a couple of weeks. First up, the artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh opened his first show since he took up office six months ago after picking up the baton from David Greig. Brining’s eloquent, witty and really rather lovely production of Chekhov’s play, The Seagull, stars Caroline Quentin as Arkadina, an actress of a certain age who holds court in the midst of a changing society as her would-be playwright son explores the shock of the new.   While Brining’s production was in rehearsals, the Lyceum  announced Lyndsey Jackson as new Executive Director, with Brining becoming the theatre’s sole Chief Executive following the departure of Mike Griffiths. Jackson will take up her post in January after departing her  role as deputy chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. Her appointment at the Lyceum comes following five new board members taking up post earlier this year.   On the artistic side, this week...

As the theatre season moves into November, Christmas shows and pantomimes prepare to open for the festive season. More of that in December, but there is plenty to see in shows great and small before things kick in towards the end of this month.   A Play, A Pie and a Pint Oran Mor, Glasgow, November 3-22. Glasgow’s lunchtime theatre phenomenon brings their latest season to a close with three brand new shows. Death of An Influencer (November 3-8) sees Matt Anderson’s play focus on a bit part actor upstaged by his social media star son in a comic drama about success and failure within the family. Gravity (November 10-15)  sees Kevin P. Gilday set his new play in an about to be demolished high-rise block where one man refuses to leave. Only social worker Joanne can save the day. Finally,   Strangers in the Night (November 17-22) is a play by Alan Muir set in a retirement village where two people find solace in each other’s stories before one of them must decide whether to lea...

War Horse  Festival Theatre, Edinburgh until October 11. In a month of big hitters, the latest Edinburgh visit for the National Theatre of Great Britain’s staging of Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 First World War set anti war novel about a young boy and his horse remains a remarkable theatrical feat. Featuring life-size puppets from South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, Marianne Elliot and Tom Morris’ original production was first seen in 2007, with Katie Henry picking up the baton for this current outing. As the Herald said in its review when the show galloped into Glasgow earlier this year, the bond between boy and horse ‘provides a totem of hope in a world of despair throughout a still powerful production.     The Glass Menagerie  Dundee Rep until October 18;  Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, October 21-25; Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, November 4-8. Tennessee Williams’ semi autobiographical 1944 play based around a dysfunctional family living in a St. Louis t...

A Play, a Pie and a Pint  Òran Mór , Glasgow. Season begins September 1.  Glasgow’s renowned lunchtime theatre phenomenon returns with a new season of twelve brand new plays accompanied by the beverages that gives this Glasgow institution its name. It opens with Wallace, Rob Drummond and Dave Hook’s brand new hip hop musical looking at Scotland’s stories beyond the Braveheart mythology and Saltire patterned face paint. Other potential treats include Our Brother, Jack MacGregor’s drama about `Scottish Marxist Malcolm Caldwell, who was shot dead after interviewing Cambodian dictator Pol Pot; Feis, Anna McGrath’s story about a struggling dance school; The Glasgow Poisoner, a true crime story by Tom Cooper and Jen McGregor; and Cheapo, Katy Nixon’s study of what happens when two teenagers play chess in their local KFC. All of which sounds well worth feasting on.     A Toast Fae The Lassies Pitlochry Festival Theatre until September 24 . Robert Burns has been lionised in ...