The Seal-Woman –   ★ ★ ★ ☆☆  – Mythic The Scots Opera Project 28 & 29 Aug; 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14 Sept Review by Rebecca Mahar   The Scots Opera Project returns to Pitlochry Festival with  The Seal-Woman , diving into the music of the Hebrides and the legend of the mythical selkie.   Described as a Celtic folk opera,  The Seal-Woman  premiered in 1924 with a score by Granville Bantock and libretto by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser. The opera follows the story of its titular character, a selkie who, along with her sister, removes her seal-skin to frolic on land, thinking it free of humans— only to find herself trapped by an islesman whose boat has left him behind. The sailor gives her a choice: remain on land and marry him, and he will return her sister’s skin, or refuse and doom them both to live as humans.   Performed in the outdoor amphitheatre of the Explorers Garden at Pitlochry Festival Theatre,  The Seal-Woman  fits beautifully into its s...

A Toast Fae the Lassies –  ★ ★ ★★ ☆   – Enchanting Pitlochry Festival Theatre 29 & 30 Aug; 4, 10, 18, 24 Sept  Review by Rebecca Mahar   Pitlochry Festival Theatre premieres the enchanting new musical play  A Toast Fae the Lassies  in a limited six-show run this autumn, bringing the ghosts of Robert Burns and the women who knew him best to the intimate Studio theatre.   On the 25 th  of January 1797, Agnes Broun (Alyson Orr) visits St. Michael’s Churchyard in Dumfries to remember her recently deceased son, Robert Burns, on his birthday. There she is joined by Burns’s widow, Jean Amour (Stephanie Cremona), and shortly thereafter by one of his many mistresses, his muse Clarinda (Eden Barrie). Together the women remember their Rabbie, warts and all, through their words and his own. Stephanie Cremona, Alyson Orr, and Eden Barrie in A Toast Fae the Lassies. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan. Written and directed by John Binnie, with musical direction, arrangem...