Theatre review: The Flouers o'Edinburgh

The Finborough is, surprisingly enough, the only London theatre to be marking the upcoming independence referendum in Scotland. It does so with the mini-season Scotland Decides/Tha Alba a'taghadh 2014, which has as its centrepiece a comic look at the social consequences of merging two nations who'd spent much of their history at war. First seen in 1948, Robert McLellan's The Flouers o'Edinburgh is set among the noble, if not as well-off as they used to be, denizens of Georgian Edinburgh. Girzie (Jenny Lee) has lost her lands and fortune, but finds solace in fiery niece Kate (Leigh Lothian.) Forbidding herself from marrying her good friend Sir Charles (Kevin McMonagle) until her brother returns from the army, Girzie puts her efforts intsead into finding a husband and stability for Kate. Sir Charles' son seems a perfect candidate, as he and Kate were good friends as children.

Theatre review: Avenue Q

I generally appreciate even the darker areas theatre takes me to, but it can be nice to have some pure fun on the horizon. And after a straight run of shows about Islamophobia, mistreated immigrants, civil war, the potential breakup of the nation, capital punishment, disturbed teenagers, nervous breakdowns and rape, you can bet I was looking forward to the return of my all-time favourite musical to the London stage: With a book by Jeff Whitty and songs by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, Avenue Q is the adult Sesame Street whose fans just wouldn't let it disappear from the West End, where it ran for four-and-a-half years at three different theatres (during which time I fitted in eleven trips) before finally packing its bags in 2010. Just two-and-a-half years years later and it's back, getting snapped up by Upstairs at the Gatehouse the second the fringe rights became available.