Joyce McMillan
@joycemcm.bsky.social
Theatre critic, social and political columnist, campaigner for democracy and human rights, based in beautiful Edinburgh, Scotland.
@damianbarr.bsky.social I'm on this panel talking about my translations for UK audiences. As are Jo Clifford, Alan McKendrick, Liz Lochhead & Mariem Omari. And @joycemcm.bsky.social chairing. Come if you're in Edinburgh this summer.
Katherine Mendelsohn@katherinemend.bsky.social · last mo.
CATS AWARDS! After yesterday’s lovely celebration at the Citizens Theatre, I’ll be on BBC Radio Scotland with Grant Stott just after 1.30, to talk about our wonderful nominees and winners! Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland - CATS!
@brianjaffa.bsky.social in the @heraldscotland.bsky.social on the winners of this year’s Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, announced today at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2621322...
Cramond beach, Edinburgh, at 11:20pm on summer solstice evening. Scotland is a wee paradise 💙
Voters know what Labour is against. But do they know what it's for? Paul Ryder argues that social democracy offers both a political identity and a route back to public trust. @westenglandbylines.co.uk
Ideology matters: why social democracy is Labour’s way forward
It is surely time for progressive politics to grow a new ideological anchor
westenglandbylines.co.uk
- Are you a hero? - No. - Who is your hero? - My children. Our army. And Ukrainian people Courage is contagious. Read the proof in Defiant Hope: hfu.org/defianthope/
Is it alright, I wonder, to have ‘legitimate concerns’ for many years about the promotion of the far right in mainstream broadcasting.
My 5 star ***** Scotsman review of Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer-winning US post-industrial drama Sweat, in a superb Lyceum-Citizens co-production, now at the Lyceum until Saturday. Great play, thrilling & spectacular production - don't miss. www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...
Theatre reviews: Sweat | Funeral For My Boobs
Joanna Bowman’s production of Lynn Nottage’s Rust Belt drama Sweat conjures up a memorable cast of rich, deeply-shaped characters, writes Joyce McMillan
scotsman.com
My 5 star ***** Scotsman review of Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer-winning US post-industrial drama Sweat, in a superb Lyceum-Citizens co-production, now at the Lyceum until Saturday. Great play, thrilling & spectacular production - don't miss. www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...
Theatre reviews: Sweat | Funeral For My Boobs
Joanna Bowman’s production of Lynn Nottage’s Rust Belt drama Sweat conjures up a memorable cast of rich, deeply-shaped characters, writes Joyce McMillan
scotsman.com
‘Farage whistles and his dogs come running to riot: the desecration of the memory of Henry Nowak’ Farage is a dangerous man who know exactly what he’s doing with his words. He is unleashing racial hatred and violence. If he ever takes power he’ll lead Britain to hell In @heraldscotland.bsky.social
Farage whistles and the dogs run to riot … and desecrate the memory of Henry Nowak
The leader of the Reform Party stands accused of whipping up hate and violence. Our Writer at Large Neil Mackay warns that Nigel Farage is a…
heraldscotland.com
Really need more of @joycemcm.bsky.social's lapidary sentences on the political situation in Scotland and UK. Get thee to Substack, Joyce! archive.ph/Y54ry
archive.ph
Kyiv today. Botanical garden. We can enjoy life here. We all know the price of it.
Theatre feature at Scotsman Arts: Forbes Masson & Andrew Panton on the new stage version of 1990's TV sitcom The High Life; co-produced by National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep, & still bursting with cheeky subversive energy, more than 30 years on. www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...
Forbes Masson: stage version of The High Life will be 'much filthier' than the TV series
Three decades after The High Life was on our TV screens, the original stars have created a stage version that’s ‘pretty outrageous, and completely surreal’, Forbes Masson tells Joyce McMillan
scotsman.com
Last Friday's The Scotsman column. The SNP's continuing poll lead is remarkable, after 19 years in government, and in some ways well earned. The party has no room for complacency, though, in what will be a fierce run-up to the coming election. www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...
Why SNP cannot afford to be complacent despite dominant position in polls
Keir Starmer’s decision to stand up to Donald Trump over the Iran War could improve Labour’s standing among Scottish voters
scotsman.com
The Guardian on our open letter from Scottish theatre writers resisting the idea that the Lyceum's biggest show of the spring season should be regarded, for reviewing purposes, as a tryout for a later London run. 15 of us felt that we had to put down a marker! www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/m...
Theatre critics in Scotland decry ‘London-centric’ reviewing policy for One Day musical
A letter from 15 critics to the Royal Lyceum theatre in Edinburgh condemns ‘divisive move’ that saw non-Scottish publications excluded from reviewing the musical’s press night
theguardian.com
talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/01/30/a...
Are Scotland’s ferries the worst or the best in the world?
Four years ago, on BBC Scotland, I heard an island spokesperson suggest that CalMac ferries was the worst service in the world and that they should visit other countries to learn from them. Getting…
talkingupscotlandtwo.com
Roundup at Scotsman Arts of Alan Cumming‘s first Out In The Hills festival at Pitlochry Festival Theatre - and what a breathless and brilliant weekend it was! www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...
Out in the Hills, Pitlochry review: 'a whirlwind celebration of LGBTQ life'
The first Out in the Hills festival was a stunning success, writes Joyce McMillan
scotsman.com
Extracts of two of my recent play-translations into English are included in this @frenchinstituteuk.bsky.social book: LUNE by Pamela Ghislain & LEVIATHAN by Guillaume Poix (2024 Festival d’Avignon production conceived & directed by Lorraine de Sagazan) www.institut-francais.org.uk/app/uploads/...
institut-francais.org.uk
Eight Epstein survivors are calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment
Eight Epstein survivors are calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment
Eight Epstein survivors are calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment
independent.co.uk
On the other hand, I want to make the UK the most beautiful, safe & fair place on the planet where people live together in harmony supporting & nurturing each other and where poverty, war & prejudice become stories of the past. I have a dream and that’s one thing regressive politics can’t take.
Dave Vetter@davidrvetter.bsky.social · 10mo agoYesterday the UK Home Secretary said in a TV interview, and I quote: "We want to make the UK a less attractive place for people to come." Job well done on that score, I'd say.
'Angus Peter Campbell's character demolishes the whole colonialist and exploitative world-view.' A review by @joycemcm.bsky.social of 'Donald and His Seven Cows' by Angus Peter Campbell @aonghasphadraig.bsky.social Worth a neb/look. @thescotsman.bsky.social #books #thiwurd
Governments really should remember that asylum seekers are humans like the rest of us , who have often been through very traumatic events | Peter Sagar
The real asylum scandal
Governments really should remember that asylum seekers are humans like the rest of us , who have often been through very traumatic events
northeastbylines.co.uk
Ultimately, what this is about is taking the issue of migration out of the hands of the courts, of the law, and putting it back in the hands of politicians, like before 1948. Is there ANYONE other than the irredeemably ignorant, or actively racist, who thinks this is a sound idea?
Peter Stefanovic@peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 10mo ago“Is it possible that you could have a life here, a job here, maybe kids going to school, a family here, then after 19 years if your country is then considered safe you get booted out and sent home?”
Yes, I went to my workout. It helps me release the anger and negative energy after nights of attacks. Now I’m having a warcoffee. Just glad to be alive.
And second, we need to shift the window of debate back to a place where we waste much less time on 'talking points' that are based on myths and lies, and are therefore incapable of producing solutions to any real-world problems. 2/2 www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...?
How far-right lie that asylum seekers are criminals and sex predators is taking hold in Britain
The current moral panic about immigration is tinged with an element of sexual hysteria often associated with racially oppressive societies of the past
scotsman.com
Yesterday's The Scotsman column, with two main takeaways. First, those who oppose the hysteria about migrants and asylum seekers that now pervades UK political debate need to become much sharper, smarter and more resolute about resisting it. 1/2 www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...
How far-right lie that asylum seekers are criminals and sex predators is taking hold in Britain
The current moral panic about immigration is tinged with an element of sexual hysteria often associated with racially oppressive societies of the past
scotsman.com
Dear GOD if you want to save money in the asylum system 1. LET ASYLUM SEEKERS WORK 2. FAST TRACK STATUS FOR EVERYONE FROM CLEARLY UNDAFE COUNTRIES like Sudan, Syria, etc 3. Run an asylum accommodation system that is NOT FOR PROFIT #r4today
Reviews at Scotsman Arts of the thrilling and much-debated Aaron Sorkin version of To Kill A Mockingbird - at the King's Theatre, Glasgow from tomorrow - and Kenny Boyle's Righ Iasgair: The Fisher King, at A Play, A Pie and A Pint and the Traverse Theatre. www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...
Theatre reviews: To Kill a Mockingbird | Righ Iasgair: The Fisher King
Aaron Sorkin’s much-debated stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird takes Harper Lee’s narrative and crams it full of the language of US politics in the age of Trump and MAGA, writes Joyce McMillan
scotsman.com
