Black Watch: What the critics said

"A magnificent, moving and mind-blowing first night... the 'golden thread' of Black Watch history as it is passed on to each new recruit, represented here by a rich vein of soldiers' songs, visual imagery, and stunning, sometimes heart-rending movement... the ground-shaking energy with which it announces the arrival of the National Theatre."

Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, giving five stars to Black Watch in August 2006

"If ever a tale was marred in the telling it is Alistair Beaton's Caledonia, which turns a fascinating story into a dreary piece of political agit-prop. The conceit is so obvious, so poorly executed, and so unfunny that one realises one is doomed to two-and-a-half wasted hours... A disastrously underpowered, crudely performed and drably designed production."

Charles Spencer, in the Daily Telegraph, on Caledonia, August 2010

"Boxing is in essence a blood sport. The knockout power (Beautiful Burnout] is that it offers a glimpse into another world. It makes you understand the thrill and the sweat, the pain and the power, the gnawing hunger and what the phrase 'seeing stars' really means. It's the way this story is told - through a mix of video, replays, a revolving stage and some astonishingly choreographed training sequences - that makes it so compelling."

Lyn Gardner, in the Guardian, giving Beautiful Burnout four stars out of five, in August 2010

"Bringing the Ken Fox troupe of motorcycle wall of death riders to Scotland is not enough to justify the NTS's hefty ticket price. Let's not get bogged down in unanswerable 'What is theatre' or 'What is drama' questions - though, for the record, in my book this event constituted neither."

Robert Dawson Scott, STV, on Wall of Death, a Way of Life, at the SECC February 2010

"Despite the rich range of half-developed ideas that has gone into the show, what emerges is ... a dingy-looking voyage around the darker reaches of the Pan story that often lacks pace, always lacks clarity and misses out completely on the exhilarating sense of freedom that Pan brings into the lives of Wendy and her brothers."

Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman on Peter Pan, in April 2010