Joyce Mcmillan

Joyce McMillan argues that politicians across the western world lack the courage and imagination to confront the climate crisis, despite increasingly severe extreme weather and widespread public concern. She criticizes the UK and Scottish governments for yielding to pressure to support the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields, and dismisses limited gestures such as Andy Burnham’s temporary disposable-barbecue ban. The failure to offer a credible, inspiring transition to renewable energy and a less consumption-driven economy is presented as both an environmental danger and a cause of public anxiety, mental-health problems and distrust in democratic politics. McMillan concludes that citizens must take greater responsibility if effective leadership does not emerge.

Lucianne McEvoy and Kieran Devine perform a scene from Grid Iron’s stage adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies for The Scotsman Festival Sessions. The production revisits a working-class Ayrshire friendship formed during a 1986 Manchester music festival and tested by adulthood, with McEvoy playing Mrs O’Connor and Anna and Devine playing the young Noodles. Their discussion highlights the importance of teachers, confidence and choosing an independent creative path, while emphasizing the play’s themes of male friendship, youthful intensity and the value of memory. Mayflies is staged at Brown’s of Leith in Edinburgh through 30 August as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Joyce McMillan praises Ivo van Hove’s revival of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America at Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre, awarding it four stars. Set against the AIDS crisis and Reagan-era America, the production explores sexuality, political power, Jewish history and social conservatism through a vast, abstract staging in which heaven, hell and earth collide. Hans Kesting’s Roy Cohn and Marieke Heebink’s multiple roles receive particular acclaim, while the production’s renewed resonance after David Bowie’s death and Donald Trump’s presidencies gives it a prophetic force. Despite the play’s length and baroque complexity, its energy, beauty and visionary power remain compelling.

Christiane Jatahy and Wagner Moura’s A Trial - After an Enemy of the People, which reimagines Ibsen’s drama as a public courtroom in a politically divided Brazil, is praised as a riveting and morally searching production. Moura’s performance, Julia Bernat’s work and the coordinated use of video make the show an electrifying examination of truth, justice and the social costs of dissent. Bakelite’s Hostile is acknowledged as an inventive satire of Western civilisation and American cowboy mythology, but its melancholy, absurdist tone and unclear intended audience undermine its imagery and narrative, making it unsuitable and less effective as a family show.

Andy Burnham should work with the SNP and Plaid Cymru as centre-left allies to counter the rise of far-right populism and rebuild an effective social-democratic politics. The piece argues that Labour and the SNP share broadly similar social policies despite their disagreement over Scotland’s constitutional future. It urges the SNP to avoid partisan point-scoring, but places the greater responsibility on Labour to abandon its denial of the SNP’s electoral strength, reject comparisons between Scottish nationalism and Reform’s right-wing populism, and take devolved policy seriously. A cooperative partnership among the UK’s nations is presented as the route toward a more equal and decentralized future.

Two Bard in the Botanics productions offer contrasting portrayals of women’s agency, with a faithful and incisive staging of The Duchess of Malfi highlighting misogynistic violence and a lively adaptation of Emma celebrating wit, social observation and romantic resolution. Strong performances and thoughtful direction define both shows, which run in Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens until early August.