THE STAMPING GROUND - REVIEW - KINGS THEATRE GLASGOW

The Stamping Ground, a new Scottish musical produced by Raw Material and Eden Court Highlands started development in 2018 and a fully-fledged production is now touring around Scotland. Weaving the musical catalogue of the legendary band, Runrig, around an original story set in the highlands, the show frames the climate crisis and its impact on a small but tightly-knit community, in the fictional village of Glenbeag.

At the top of the show, we meet Annie (Jenny Hulse), Euan (Ali Watt) and their daughter Fiona (Caitlin Forbes), who are about to make the big move from London back to Glenbeag, where the couple grew up, for a fresh start. The sombre reasons for that fresh start come to light over the course of the show.

Hulse gives an endearing and caring performance as Annie, enamoured at being back in familiar surroundings, while torn between her own needs and those of her family. Watt plays a frustrated father, struggling to adapt to living in a place where he is haunted by old memories. Forbes gives a fine performance as a moody teenager, Fiona, as she settles into new surroundings.

The Glenbeag locals are quite the gang, including Juliet Cadzow and Robin Campbell’s hilarious performances as Maggie and Malcolm, to the charming and mysterious Summer (Naomi Stirrat), who rocks up in a caravan every summer to lead tours around the peat bogs. Annie Grace plays Euan’s mum, Mary, in a sincere and no-nonsense manner and the scenes in the local pub show off the exuberant energy of the ensemble.

Kenneth MacLeod’s set design comprises a dramatic rock face/coastline backdrop, with the edge of the stage bordered by a beautiful horizon line of light (with other striking lighting designs by Simon Wilkinson). The costumes feel modern, contrasting with the floating fantastical gowns worn by Summer and Annie during a folk festival sequence.

While packed with many Runrig hits, the show itself could do with a little trimming. The ballad-to-banger ratio feels a little high, and a superfluous love story between another prodigal son-type character and Annie felt out of kilter with the rest of the storyline, echoed by lacklustre applause and response to moments of affection between them.

The irony of watching the show about a heatwave in Scotland, during a literal heatwave in Scotland was not lost on this Glasgow audience. The heart and humour within Morna Young’s book balance well with the more serious moments in the show, creating an accessible piece that highlights the issues of tourism-fuelled gentrification, rising temperatures, and the importance of community. A monologue on the future of the lands delivered by Stirrat is particularly moving.

The audience lap up the opportunity to sing along to “Loch Lomond” at the curtain call a wise decision by the creators. Whether you only sing Runrig at parties and weddings or know their back catalogue backwards, The Stamping Ground is a fun night out and adds another contemporary musical to the Scottish musical theatre canon.

{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

A PISSEDMAS CAROL – REVIEW – LEICESTER SQUARE
by Amy Rye
The infamous Sh!t Faced Showtime are back in London with a festive edition, they have taken Dickens’ classic and put a drunken spin on it. The formula is the same as other iterations of the Shi!t Faced shows, one member of the cast has been boozing, and this time it is John Milton who plays Scrooge. Before the show, half a bottle of Jim Beam, some wine, and beer have been consumed in the previous 4 hours. The rest of the cast, try to keep the show on track, also aided by James Murfitt as the compere, Charles Dickens. The … More A PISSEDMAS CAROL – REVIEW – LEICESTER SQUARE
A CHRISTMAS CAROL – REVIEW – ALEXANDRA PALACE
by Ellie Preston
Spine-tingling yet heart-warming, Mark Gatiss’s retelling of A Christmas Carol truly encapsulates the haunting atmosphere of a Victorian ghost story, balanced out with enough humour so as to capture the festive season. Led by Keith Allen as Scrooge, with Peter Forbes as Marley, this show is perfect for Christmas viewing. The set design by Paul Wills is instantly captivating, containing stacks of metal cabinets towering over the theatre, moveable by the cast to allow space for other central props like doors, beds and tables. In addition to this, the puppetry design by Matthew Forbes is incredibly clever, adding creepy elements to the show such … More A CHRISTMAS CAROL – REVIEW – ALEXANDRA PALACE
A WOMAN WALKS INTO A BANK – REVIEW – THEATRE503
by Tom Carrao
The title of this winner of Theatre 503’s 2023 International Playwriting Award by Roxy Cook may seem like the set-up to a joke, but the narrative that unspools is instead an affectionate, gently barbed and at base quite sobering portrait of three ordinary souls (and one restless feline) adrift in modern Moscow. There is much affable, satirical back-and-forth commentary on the accepted myths & stereotypes of the Russian spirit & soul. Beset by the indignities of age, opportunism, graft, fatigue, the characters orbit one another, doomed to play out their roles in an unjust, predatory and saturnine universe. The play opens … More A WOMAN WALKS INTO A BANK – REVIEW – THEATRE503
PETER PAN GOES WRONG – REVIEW – LYRIC THEATRE
by Amy Rye
Peter Pan Goes Wrong first premiered in London at the Pleasance Theatre in 2013, and earlier this year the show made its Broadway debut. Now the production is back in the West End for the Christmas season. Following on from The Play That Goes Wrong, in this production, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is staged by the fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society and goes awry, disastrously so. The meta-comedy is filled with slapstick comedy, sometimes the humour may be predictable and silly, but it’s universally funny throughout – there is something for everyone here, and the laughs come thick and fast … More PETER PAN GOES WRONG – REVIEW – LYRIC THEATRE
GHOST STORIES BY CANDLELIGHT – REVIEW – SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE
by George Rennie
Drawing heavily from the classic canon of the British supernatural, HighTide’s trio of contemporary Gothic narratives uses traditional storytelling formats to address contemporary themes. Directed by Elayce Ismail, reverent musical interludes accompany tales of apparitions and nighttime conjurings that speak of women from the East of England. Unfortunately, the effect is less chilling and more lightweight, with conventional structures, predictable plot twists and an over-reliance on external forces to drive narrative shoring up some of the less relatable aspects of the genre. Nicola Werenowska’s The Beach House, perhaps the cleanest of the three tales, tells of a mother and daughter’s … More GHOST STORIES BY CANDLELIGHT – REVIEW – SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE