Now Booking / Coming Soon - Spring 2010

We've still not managed to sit down and sort out dates in our diaries let alone book tickets for most of these shows, so our plans are still a bit up-in-the-air, but these are the shows that have caught our attention so far...

At the Tron we'll be seeing "The Government Inspector" (also touring, including the Traverse), "The City" and if we don't leave it too late to get tickets, the National Theatre of Scotland's short runs of "Empty" and "The Miracle Man" (also playing in Musselburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen) The Tron is also host to some touring productions that we may catch there or elsewhere - Theatre Modo's "Sick" and Random Accomplice's "Promises Promises" by Douglas Maxwell which is a 'darkly comical' thriller. Full details of the Spring Season on the Tron Website.

The Citizens has a season very much to our taste, starting with "Backbeat" - based on the film of the same name and looking at the pre-Beatles days of the band. And we'll also try to see "One Million Tiny Plays About Britain" and "My Name is Rachel Corrie". Having loved XLC's take on Martin McDonagh's "The Pillowman" last year I'm really looking forward to see their production of his"The Lieutenant of Inishmore", and hopefully we'll make it along to Dialogue Productions "Neil LaBute Triple Bill". We'll certainly be booking for "The Grapes of Wrath" from the Citizens Community Company. And later in the season we're hoping to fit in NLP's "Blue Hen" written by Des Dillon who also has his own show "Des Tells Tall Tales". Other visiting shows that have caught our interest include Northern Broadside's "Medea", Absurdum International's "The Event", and "The Glass Menagerie" from Shared Experience and Salisbury Playhouse. As always the Citz have a series of student shows which we've often enjoyed in the past, but as we've seen most of the plays recently I'm not sure we'll catch any this time round. This year the Citz are also hosting events as part of the Magners comedy festival including Stewart Lee and Des Clarke. Full details of these and all the other shows at the Citizens on their website.

Perhaps it's just due to their new look website giving much more info on the upcoming plays in Oran Mor's "A Play, A Pie & A Pint" season of lunchtime play, but it looks stronger than ever with works by Daniel Jackson, Gregory Burke and Simon Stephens. I didn't make it along to the first play of the season which started on Monday, but I hope to get along for as many as I can over the next few weeks.

At Tramway, we're hoping to get along to "Clutter Keeps Company" (also touring).

The Arches have cleverly turned a difficult situation into an opportunity and due to works taking place up above in Central Station they have decanted with a series of 'off-site' events. I'm not sure we'll manage to see any, but they include "Birds and Other Things I Am Afraid Of" (staged in a shed) and Andy Field's "Motor Vehicle Sundown".

In Edinburgh, the Lyceum's production of "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" (also by Martin McDonagh) is on our list but the rest of their programme hasn't grabbed us. Similarly the Traverse programme hasn't anything that absolutely screamed "must see" at us, but we'll try to get along to "What We Know" (part of the Traverse Too scheme that brought us "Midsummer") and "Any Given Day". They also have a selection of plays transferring from Oran Mor in a lunchtime slot. Full details of the extensive Traverse programme in their Spring Brochure.

Staying in Edinburgh, site specific specialists Grid Iron are collaborating with Lung Ha's Theatre Company for a look at genetic engineering in promenade piece "Huxley's Lab". This is a short runs and tickets will go quickly - if you think this will be of interest don't waste any time in booking.

Up at Dundee Rep, "Equus" doesn't really appeal but we'll be looking to make the trip to see their version of "Sweeney Todd". I would have been keen to see "Proof" at Perth Theatre but having seen the film version fairly recently it would lack the sense of a story unfolding.

We really don't 'get' the idea behind the National Theatre of Scotland's "Wall of Death: A Way of Life" (at Glasgow's SECC, Aberdeen ECC & Edinburgh's Royal Highland Centre) at the moment so we'll wait until the reviews come out for that one. Later in the year they bring us their version of "Peter Pan" which tours Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen and London, which we do hope to see somewhere.

Rapture are a company we have a huge amount of time for, and they always seem to be able to attract impressive casts, but I have to admit my heart sank when I heard their next show was to be "Hamlet". Even set in the Glasgow underworld I think I'd normally give it a miss, but Rapture have earned our trust over the years so we'll be fitting this in somewhere (it's currently running in Greenwich and then touring throughout Scotland).

And a mention also for a show I've heard enough about to be intrigued by - "Say You Love Me" from Punch Productions. A colleague is involved so I don't know if we'll comment on it here, but it sounds a little different.

And looking much further ahead, we've already booked for "Aladdin" at the Clyde Auditorium in December - the involvement of John Barrowman was enough to overcome our general dislike of panto.

As always, do let us know if there's anything else we should be seeing...