Coffee-Table Notes

Tron Theatre, Glasgow Four stars When ten young Irish lads from Achill were burnt to death in Kirkintilloch in 1937 in the bothy they were staying in while working as potato pickers, while the boys were honoured in their homeland, in Scotland the tragedy is barely known. Muireann Kelly and Frances Poet’s new play for Theatre Gu Leor unearths the story in a way that puts flesh and blood on its bare bones for a modern telling that resonates for a younger generation. This is done through the figure of Michael, a latter-day Glasgow teenager the same age as the Achill boys and the offspring of Gaelic-speaking parents. Through a school history project, Michael dreams his way into a timeslip where he walks among the migrant workers, but is only seen by Molly, a young Irish woman who is closer to him than he knows. Through bearing witness in this way, Michael becomes alive to his own heritage, laying some old ghosts to rest along the way. Kelly’s production is a

Derren Litten was at the TV Choice awards the night before we’re due to talk about Benidorm Live, the writer’s new musical stage adaptation of his hit package-tour-set sit-com, Benidorm. Litten’s show, which has run over ten series’ over the last decade to ever-expanding audiences, was named as best comedy. Given that the producers at ITV who made the show had not long cancelled Benidorm, there was no little irony in it scooping such a popular accolade. This was something Litten made reference to in his acceptance speech. “I said something about how any channel that can cancel a show that’s still getting five and a half million viewers and which can still win an award has bigger balls than I’ll ever have,” Litten says the morning after. “It was a bit awkward at first, sitting at this glitzy do next to the people from ITV who’ve just cancelled my show, but for a night out, it’s one of the better awards ceremonies. Because it’s not televised, it gets quite raucous, and when we won,

If music be the food of love, Meilyr Jones is having something of a feast just now. The Welsh singer-songwriter’s debut album, 2013, released, somewhat confusingly, in 2016, revealed a set of baroque pop vignettes on love, romance and being a stranger in a strange land. Born out of an extended trip to Rome hanging out with actors, the record was awash with artful arrangements, orchestral flourishes and references to Shakespeare. Two years on, and Jones is in Edinburgh, where he is composing a soundtrack and new set of songs for Wils Wilson’s 1960s-inspired take on Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s cross-dressing rom-com that opens the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh’s autumn season in a co-production with Bristol Old Vic. “It’s complete madness,” says Jones. “It’s quite full on, working with all these different people. The only thing I find difficult about this is that in a gig, I can change anything at any time. Obviously with theatre you can’t, because with lighting and all that