Mark Fisher
Verified- Theatre Critic, Editor, and Journalist, Freelance
- Host, What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast
Pitlochry
Theatre critic, editor, journalist. Increasingly here: @markffisher.bsky.social
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Articles by Mark Fisher
'Iago could be right' – Anthony Almeida on finding the grey areas in Othello at the Citz
Director Anthony Almeida doesn't believe in black and white he tells Mark Fisher, as he brings his take on the Shakespeare classic to Glasgow Anthony Almeida has a bone to pick with the Bee Gees. Nothing against the Gibb brothers' music, you understand. No, what he takes issue with is their definition of tragedy. In the band's 1979 cart-topper of that name, they claimed tragedy was when the feeling has gone and you can't go on. But that's wrong, says the director. “No, boys,” he says.
Twelfth Night review – Mathew Horne oozes arrogance as a brilliantly buttoned-up Malvolio
You can picture Mathew Horne 's Malvolio as a guest on an early 1970s BBC Two arts show. With his buttoned-up collar, tight black suit and supercilious delivery, he oozes self-satisfaction. Trusting in his superior taste, he has the pose to prove it: stiff, studied and haughty. His fall from grace, tricked into dressing up as a yellow-stockinged morris dancer, is as funny as it ever is in Shakespeare's comedy. It is the comeuppance of the arriviste.
Twelfth Night review – Mathew Horne oozes arrogance as a brilliantly buttoned-up Malvolio
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The prime of Miss Jean Brodie review – Muriel Spark’s extraordinary heroine made more extraordinary still
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The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie review – Muriel Spark’s extraordinary heroine made more extraordinary still
Impossible to ignore … Gayle Rankin as Miss Jean Brodie. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian Jean Brodie has entered the classroom of Mr Lowther (Brian Ferguson). She tells the music teacher she will not be a distraction. “Proceed as if I wasn’t here,” she says. Yeah, right. Nothing can proceed as if Jean Brodie was not there. Played by Gayle Rankin in a drape-sleeved top and figure-hugging leather skirt, she is impossible to ignore.
‘He punched a polar bear on the nose!’ Ninety glorious years of Brian Blessed – by Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester and more
Emma Thompson I know why Brian has lasted this long in spite of falling out of helicopters and off mountains and into lakes all his life: he started the whole being-cold-keeps-you-healthy thing years before Wim Hof was doing his motivational speaking. Once, when we were shooting Ken Branagh’s Henry V at Shepperton, it was very cold out. I went to visit Brian in his dressing room. I was in my costume for the Princess of France, a lovely off-the-shoulder number. All the windows were open.
‘He punched a polar bear on the nose!’ Ninety glorious years of Brian Blessed – by Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester and more
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Happy Days review – Beckett’s bewitching heroine buries her existential fears
Samuel Beckett’s play is always staged with a radiant brightness. It is hot enough to set a parasol alight. If, on its premiere in 1961, that resonated with audience anxieties about nuclear Armageddon, in 2026, it feels like a premonition of the climate crisis. Is this how it ends? Emma Bailey’s set is a dune of bleached-white sand, clumps of sea grass forcing their way through into a scorched environment, baked by Colin Grenfell’s lighting.
Letter to Brezhnev review – terrific return for Merseysiders’ romance with Russian sailors
By some quirk of marketing, Letter to Brezhnev is always associated with Margi Clarke. In the 1985 movie, she was the actor who played Teresa, the sharp-talking chicken-factory worker out for a good time in post-industrial Liverpool. The film, though, rightly belongs to Alexandra Pigg as Elaine, Teresa’s best friend, who trades a dead-end life of unemployment for a fantasy fling with a Russian sailor.
The Water Leak Detectors Expands Non-Invasive Leak Detection Across Seven Central Florida Counties
The Water Leak Detectors - Central Florida Water Leak Detection Experts Homeowners & businesses in Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, and Sumter counties gain access to fast water leak detection with a guarantee. Our whole approach is built around precision.
The Bridge review – a funny, furious odyssey through occupation Original
It is the simplicity of the task that gives this story heft. Recalling his formative years in the West Bank, actor and writer Alaa Shehada is asked by his mother to go on a bus journey that would take a couple of hours in any other part of the world. His mission is to deliver a plastic jerry can filled with the family's home-pressed olive oil to his aunt in Jordan.
Clown show review – after 250 years, the American dream explodes over one anarchic night
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Clown Show review – after 250 years, the American dream explodes over one anarchic night
Clown Show review – after 250 years, the American dream explodes over one anarchic night Fri, August 28, 2026 at 1:20 p.m. UTC Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Weather-beaten glitz … Clown Show.Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian They are a forlorn lot, this bunch who shuffle glumly to the front of the stalls. In white face, funeral veils, mismatched jodhpurs and tailcoats, they gaze across the auditorium to the timeless strum of a folk song.
Goodbye Dandelion review – ode to a fabulous friendship with a 50-year age gap
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Goodbye Dandelion review – ode to a fabulous friendship with a 50-year age gap
An unexpected theme on this year's Edinburgh fringe is assisted dying. It is central to Morna Young's After Party, about a matriarch who chooses to die after her 80th birthday, and Ben Harrison's adaptation of Andrew O'Hagan's Mayflies, in which a terminally ill man travels to Dignitas. It is hinted at in Eilidh Loan's Cathy, about a woman adjusting to bereavement. And it is here again in this breezy storytelling show by sibling duo Maddie and Marcus Rice.
Hang Time review – a chilling picture of the horrors of racial violence
Three men are shooting the breeze. “We're just talking – man to man to man,” says Slim (Kamal Bolden), an ex-con who believes in looking after number one. In a literal sense, he is right. They are just talking. In this short, grimly beautiful production, written and directed by Zora Howard for New York's Flea theatre , they have the kind of all-male conversation you might hear in any bar – at turns needling, teasing, argumentative, romantic, trivial and spiky.
Hang Time review – a chilling picture of the horrors of racial violence
Three men are shooting the breeze. "We're just talking – man to man to man," says Slim (Kamal Bolden), an ex-con who believes in looking after number one. In a literal sense, he is right. They are just talking. In this short, grimly beautiful production, written and directed by Zora Howard for New York's Flea theatre, they have the kind of all-male conversation you might hear in any bar – at turns needling, teasing, argumentative, romantic, trivial and spiky.
A History of Paper review – Shirley Henderson and Alan Cumming sing a fragile romance
Airy and joyful … Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson in A History of Paper. Photograph: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan It started as a BBC radio drama in 2016, and was reworked as a small-scale musical two years ago. Now, A History of Paper gets the mainstage treatment with two bona fide stars in the leads. The good news is that little is overblown about the production. Stars or not, Shirley Henderson and Alan Cumming only bring a greater degree of subtlety to this fragile work.
A History of Paper review – Shirley Henderson and Alan Cumming sing a fragile romance
It started as a BBC radio drama in 2016, and was reworked as a small-scale musical two years ago. Now, A History of Paper gets the mainstage treatment with two bona fide stars in the leads. The good news is that little is overblown about the production. Stars or not, Shirley Henderson and Alan Cumming only bring a greater degree of subtlety to this fragile work.
Badgers review – the audience investigates in this true-crime podcast yarn
A message about the allure of storytelling … Malaika Kegode in Badgers. Photograph: Paul Blakemore Playwright and performer Malaika Kegode tops and tails this show for Theatre Royal Plymouth with a message about the allure of storytelling. In a festival city bursting at the seams with stories, it is an unnecessary observation. A more important question is about which stories we choose to tell, which resonate and which pass us by.
Badgers review – the audience investigates in this true-crime podcast yarn
Playwright and performer Malaika Kegode tops and tails this show for Theatre Royal Plymouth with a message about the allure of storytelling. In a festival city bursting at the seams with stories, it is an unnecessary observation. A more important question is about which stories we choose to tell, which resonate and which pass us by. Why, for example, did Kegode want to write a story – and it is a story rather than a play – about the strange disappearance of a maudlin folk singer?
Little Animals review – Motherland milquetoast creates a clever climate plea
A captivating performance … Paul Ready in Little Animals. Photograph: Jennifer Forward-Hayter Nobody does self-effacement as well as Paul Ready. The Motherland/Ann Droid actor excels at playing the kind of man who apologises for his own existence, well-meaning, but insecure – often comically so. He hesitates, smiles sheepishly, backtracks and gabbles to fill the silence. He, he, he is forever launching, launching into sentences, sentences that never get all the way to the … We get the gist.
Little Animals review – Motherland milquetoast creates a clever climate plea
Nobody does self-effacement as well as Paul Ready. The Motherland/Ann Droid actor excels at playing the kind of man who apologises for his own existence, well-meaning, but insecure – often comically so. He hesitates, smiles sheepishly, backtracks and gabbles to fill the silence. He, he, he is forever launching, launching into sentences, sentences that never get all the way to the … We get the gist.
Giraffe review – sparkling one-woman show stands out from the crowd
Touching … Abigail Weinstock in Giraffe.Photograph: Andrew Perry It takes a brave writer/performer to make her character a sociopath. How to keep the audience on board with someone who is callous and indifferent? In Abigail Weinstock's sparkling one-woman show, 30-year-old Eliana has been caught making clandestine recordings in her neighbour's bedroom and cannot deny it. A court summons follows. Even then, her first thought is how to game the system.
Giraffe review – sparkling one-woman show stands out from the crowd
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Giraffe review – sparkling one-woman show stands out from the crowd
It takes a brave writer/performer to make her character a sociopath. How to keep the audience on board with someone who is callous and indifferent? In Abigail Weinstock's sparkling one-woman show, 30-year-old Eliana has been caught making clandestine recordings in her neighbour's bedroom and cannot deny it. A court summons follows. Even then, her first thought is how to game the system. Her attempt to do so is what gives Giraffe its structure.
Ep. 169: Giallobrutalism w/ Ella Dorn
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -1:35:53 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. This week, Alexi is joined by music critic and columnist Ella Dorn to unpack her viral essay declaring Giallobrutalism as the defining visual language of mid-2020s pop, informed by the stylish delirium of Italian giallo cinema and a pervasive unease about surveillance and stardom.
Robot helpers and flying houses: Edinburgh Fringe tips for families
Bleep Bleep! Underbelly until 31 August Imagine Diane Morgan's Ann Droid for the over fives crowd. A man takes delivery of a lifesize robot helper, only to find this eager-to-please android takes his tasks too seriously. Creating props out of hastily sketched illustrations, he takes a drill to the wall to hang up a picture and hoovers the stage (and some of the audience) with gleeful abandon. His attempts to sing his new owner to sleep only keep him awake.
Robot helpers and flying houses: Edinburgh fringe tips for families
Bleep Bleep! Underbelly until 31 August Imagine Diane Morgan's Ann Droid for the over fives crowd. A man takes delivery of a lifesize robot helper, only to find this eager-to-please android takes his tasks too seriously. Creating props out of hastily sketched illustrations, he takes a drill to the wall to hang up a picture and hoovers the stage (and some of the audience) with gleeful abandon. His attempts to sing his new owner to sleep only keep him awake.
Tether 인연 review – romantic ceilidh skips from Scotland to South Korea
Connections are found in surprising places. You can get from Scotland to South Korea, for example, via the pentatonic scale. The same five-note structure lies behind Arirang, the ancient Korean folk song, and Celtic airs such as Auld Lang Syne.
The Jolly Fisherman review – last orders for an east London boozer in tense tale
Two years ago, it was reported that a pub in Barking called The Jolly Fisherman had found a buyer after five years of dereliction. The prospective owner was a Muslim charity, which planned to turn a former business based on alcohol into a place of abstinence. In one respect, a building that had been the focus of community life in this part of east London for 150 years would continue to be the focus of community life. In another respect, the community had changed.
The Jolly Fisherman review – last orders for an east London boozer in tense tale
Updated Mon, 17 August 2026 at 4:15 am UTC Avoids stereotypes … Jonny Khan and Alex Hill in The Jolly Fisherman.Photograph: ChewBoy Productions Two years ago, it was reported that a pub in Barking called The Jolly Fisherman had found a buyer after five years of dereliction. The prospective owner was a Muslim charity, which planned to turn a former business based on alcohol into a place of abstinence.
Come Back Home review – loss and love in Palestinian artist’s intriguing fringe hour
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Yeehaw! Bring on the tap-dancing cowgirls! How the Edinburgh Military Tattoo suddenly got cool
Dusk has settled on Edinburgh Castle and now a laser beam is scribbling a route across its ramparts and high into the sky. The voice of actor Richard Rankin is talking solemnly about lonely soldiers answering a call, while a ferocious light rises in the gatehouse. Out of it emerge scores of drummers and pipers, their sound both melodic and awe-inspiring. They crisscross the esplanade to the stirring lament of The Skye Boat Song.
Cathy review – snappy comedy with a perfect role for Elaine C Smith
Eilidh Loan marked her arrival as a playwright with Moorcroft, a tremendous male-centred comedy inspired by her father’s amateur football team. Now she has moved up a generation to write a female-centred family comedy inspired by her grandmother. It was the older woman who stipulated that her character – the Cathy of the title – should be played by Elaine C Smith, a decision so spot on it suggests that she missed her calling as a casting director.
OnlyFans for Therapy review – a brave and unsettling emotional exposure
Updated Sun, 9 August 2026 at 7:01 pm UTC Big in Belgium … Verona Verbakel in OnlyFans for Therapy at Zoo Playground, Edinburgh.Photograph: Kaat Pype/Soraya Azbiri We are all familiar with the cliche of the influencer narrating their daily routines – or should I say, their journey? – and trying to convince us, and perhaps themselves, they are living their best life. We know, too, about the websites offering intimate access in exchange for cash.
Target Audience review – zingy satire puts media types in an apocalyptic pickle
‘I’ve never read anything Greek, but I bet if feels exactly like this,” says Isabelle (RhéAna Kamalu) at the apocalyptic height of this zingy comedy. She is a gen Z intern whose end-of-times neuroses have suddenly become justified after she receives a government alert to stay indoors. Maybe she did not want to die young, after all. The line has the characteristic wit of playwright Dan Bishop, author of last year’s Brainsluts, but the scene itself is unexpected.
Peter Gill, playwright who turned ordinary lives into extraordinary drama, dies aged 86
Tributes have been paid to the director and playwright Peter Gill who died on Monday at the age of 86. His agent Mel Kenyon said Gill's work had a “rare emotional delicacy” and was “beautifully observed and finely tuned” while the director Michael Grandage said Gill's “contribution to the British theatre will come to be regarded as quietly seismic”. Gill began his career as an actor at London's Royal Court in 1958 when still in his teens.
I Can Die Too review – vibrant pop songs can’t bring actor’s tale to life
If Frances Ruffelle fancied putting on a one-woman cabaret show, it would be pretty good. The West End and Broadway star has certainly pulled together a decent set of original songs to flesh out I Can Die Too. Written by a dozen or so songwriters and brightly arranged by musical director Frew, they have the 1980s/90s pop feel of Cyndi Lauper, Britney Spears and Ultravox; a touch of torch song here, a slice of synth ballad there.
Sweeney Todd review – Sondheim’s demon barber is still a cut above
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Canadian comedy couple explore grief and memory in Fringe show Big Stuff
Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus's show Big Stuff was created in response to their own bereavement, but it also gives audience members a chance to share memories of those they've lost. Interview by Mark Fisher Matt Baram is an actor in control of his emotions. Even when performing a show about grief, he keeps a lid on it. By contrast, Naomi Snieckus, his partner offstage and on, is quick to express her feelings: she recently had to apologise for welling up at the dentist. But Baram stays cool.
The Market Deeping Model Railway Club review – the absurdities of British life in miniature
Before the play begins, a tiny LNER InterCity zips in front of us. Our eyes follow it from one side of the stage to the other. Miniatures fascinate, and the train reminds us of the appeal. It means that when we meet the old boys of the Market Deeping model railway club, celebrating a second victory in Stamford's regional exhibition, we are sympathetic to their niche hobby.
Fun Home review – Alison Bechdel’s musical memoir feels every emotion
Jodie McNee as Alison Bechdel and Nigel Harman as her father Bruce in Fun Home at the Royal Exchange Theatre.Photograph: Johan Persson The "fun" in the title is short for funeral, a reference to the family undertaking business inherited by Alison Bechdel's father. But there is some fun, too, in this heart-filled musical adaptation of the cartoonist's illustrated memoir.
Lear review – this matriarchal monarch’s tragedy is personal not political
Expects respect … Maureen Beattie in Lear at Pitlochry Festival theatre. Photograph: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan You know when you walk into a room then forget why you came in? Maureen Beattie does that at the start of this gender-swapped version of Shakespeare’s tragedy. She strides on, catches herself, half wanders back, turns on her heels and goes out another way altogether. A little later, she needs a moment to remember the name of Goneril, her daughter.
The Long Drop review – Denise Mina’s whisky-soaked tale of triple murder is horribly gripping
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The Long Drop review – Denise Mina’s whisky-soaked tale of triple murder is horribly gripping
A night of boozy revelations … Keith Fleming, Mary Gapinski and Brian Vernel in The Long Drop.Photograph: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan (Photograph: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan) On the bare brick wall backing Jen McGinley’s set – half courtroom, half saloon – there is a faded poster of The Searchers, John Ford’s 1956 western. The whisky-swilling hard men who haunt the clubs and dives of The Long Drop may well see themselves as cowboys.
Chalkhills and geoglyphs: the landscape of XTC
In this episode of What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, author Jon Woolcott talks about The Tattooed Hills, his new book about the chalk figures of southern England, including the Uffington White Horse, cover star of XTC’s English Settlement. “It’s timeless, simple and classic,” Andy Partridge tells him in the final chapter of the book.
Revolution Days review – fearless aid worker bears witness to the Arab Spring
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Astell and Woolf review – feminist writers unite and share a sherry in the afterlife
An amusing double act … Tessa Parr as Virginia Woolf (left) and Phillippa Wilson as Mary Astell in Astell and Woolf at Live theatre, Newcastle. Photograph: Von Fox Promotions Mary Astell is not known for her knitting. If she is remembered at all, it is for being England’s first feminist. In 1694, she published A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, a treatise arguing for women’s education. Yet here she is with knitting needles and a handsome strip of pink wool. She is as surprised as anyone.
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy
That is a hard lesson to learn for the fan's daughter, Sally Venters McAlpine (named in honour of 1930s inside forward Alex Venters), an aspiring lawyer who has escaped a home town that, for her, symbolises only defeat. After her father's death at 53 from black lung disease, a consequence of inhaling coal dust, she feels duty-bound to fulfil his final wish: that she scatter his ashes at Central Park stadium the next time the Blue Brazil win.
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