The most famous anti-war book ever written, “All Quiet on the Western Front “ follows a group of idealistic German schoolboys boys who are urged on by their teacher to enlist in the Great War. High hopes and high spirits soon become grim realism as life in the trenches unfolds, and one by one they die. .A great novel, an Oscar winning film, but just how effective is Giles Croft’s stage production currently at the King’s Theatre? Read the rest of this entry »

There is a constant battle going on in the classroom as a teacher tries to impart knowledge against a background of pupil disruption. There is a constant battle going on in adolescence as teenagers try to come to terms with the hormones raging within. And outside in the wider world a real battle is being fought - an eternal war in time and place that involves violent bloodshed and will cut down a generation of young men. Read the rest of this entry »

Mary Rose is an odd character; both a girl who doesn’t grow up and a mother searching for her lost child. When we first see her in Tony Cownie’s new production of J M Barrie’s play currently at the Lyceum Theatre, she is climbing through the drawing room window from an apple tree outside - not the behaviour one would expect from an eighteen year old girl about to announce her engagement. Read the rest of this entry »

Hundreds of young people from schools across Edinburgh and the Lothians will be able to experience the cinema completely free of charge when National Schools Film Week comes to the area from 3 – 7 November 2008.

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