The Whalebone Box review - documentary through unreliable surrealism

★★★ THE WHALEBONE BOX Documentary through unreliable surrealism

A different kind of road trip with artist Andrew Kötting

The UK-wide lockdown has thrown the cinematic release schedule into chaos. Some films are postponed indefinitely, while others have opted for direct digital releases. It’s not ideal for anyone, but in a strange way it may play to The Whalebone Box’s favour. Specialist arthouse streaming service MUBI has secured the exclusive rights, and their captive subscribers are the ideal audience for such a strange, hypnotic piece.

The Croft, Original Theatre online review – give me the remote

★★★ THE CROFT, ORIGINAL THEATRE ONLINE Complex but overwrought

Original Theatre’s tartan gothic thriller is complex but also a bit overwrought

With everyone in lockdown, observing physical if not social distancing, a story about isolation can have a particular resonance. And there are few places in the UK that are as isolated as some parts of the Scottish Highlands. Ali Milles’s tartan gothic thriller, The Croft, is partly a study of the advantages and disadvantages of living in a remote location, and partly a more speculative and suggestive account of how family tragedy repeats itself down the generations.

Run review – wheels on fire in Scotland

Dreams of leaving flavored by Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run'

Run is the story of disgruntled 36-ish Finnie (Mark Stanley), a big, dour worker in a fish processing plant in the Aberdeenshire port of Fraserburgh – writer-director Scott Graham’s hometown. Long married to his onetime high-school sweetheart Katie (Amy Manson), and the father of twentyish Kid (Anders Hayward) and adolescent Stevie (Scott Murray), Finnie wants to get the hell out – or he thinks he does.

Halsey, SSE Hydro, Glasgow review - a pop star with plenty of personality

★★★ HALSEY, SSE HYDRO, GLASGOW A pop star with plenty of personality

The songstress is an exciting performer, but her set slowed down too much

There is something enjoyably spikey about Halsey, even when she is adhering to pop convention. At one stage she told the crowd how good they looked, before dryly adding it was praise they wouldn’t have heard before. These are brave words when playing to a Glasgow audience.

Lewis Capaldi, SSE Hydro, Glasgow review - triumphant homecoming from Brit-conquering hero

★★★★ LEWIS CAPALDI, GLASGOW Triumphant homecoming for Brit-conquering hero

Blue music and blue language in sellout show from Bathgate's favourite son

Critical and commercial success haven’t gone to the head of Lewis Capaldi. The 23-year-old opened his first of two sold-out nights at Glasgow’s 14,000-capacity enormodrome – booked when he was yet to release his debut album – with a video montage poking fun of his po-faced reaction to Billie Eilish beating him to Song of the Year at the Grammys in January.

Nixon in China, Scottish Opera - musical chatter, poetic banality

NIXON IN CHINA, SCOTTISH OPERA 30 years after its UK premiere, how does John Adams's first opera fare?

Three decades on from its UK premiere in Edinburgh, how does John Adams' first opera fare?

Scotland was at the cutting edge of culture in 1988, when the Edinburgh International Festival hosted the UK premiere of Nixon in China in the Houston Grand Opera production at the cavernous Playhouse.

Jonas Brothers, SSE Hydro, Glasgow - reunited siblings look to the future with slick show

★★★ JONAS BROTHERS, SSE HYDRO, GLASGOW Reunited siblings look to the future with slick show

Wild hysteria greeted every song from the trio on their comeback tour

No matter how much the Jonas Brothers try, they can’t totally escape the mouse. Commercials for new Disney TV shows flashed up onscreen not long before the siblings took to the stage, and although the trio’s days of appearing in such fare are long gone, it offered a brief reminder of where they began.

Classical CDs Weekly: William Mathias, Vaughan Williams, Judith Weir

CLASSICAL CDS WEEKLY William Mathias, Vaughan Williams, Judith Weir

Weaponised bagpipes and bugle calls: 20th and 21st century music from England, Scotland and Wales

 

Mathias choralWilliam Mathias: Choral Music St John’s Voices, The Gentlemen of St John’s, Graham Walker (director) (Naxos)