Writer/ producer, and actors pulled no punches in Give a Dog a Bad Name.  An engrossed audience was swept along with the struggles of the protagonist from the opening scene to the denouement – hoping for the best, fearing the worst.  Hard hitting and satisfying, the play’s impact lingered long after the audience had left the auditorium.

Dr Doreen Kedzierska.  Ph.D, MA

 

I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked for the various festivals in the city but one play I did enjoy was by local writer and director Michael Shand, called ‘Give a Dog a Bad Name’. It was the first of several plays he has written and was superbly performed by four young actors who studied drama at Telford College and who have come together with Michael to form ‘That’s Lunch Productions’. I saw another of his plays during the Leith festival and his talent for dialogue and developing a strong social theme is clear.

 Malcolm Chisholm MSP  

 

 
 
    

Apathy

Apathy, which opened at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre on June 10th  is a play that both shocks, inspires and delights. It is shocking in its realistic interpretation of the lives of school cleaners who express their likes, loves and desires whilst coping under the tutelage of the boss and his ever vigilant son. It is inspirational in its ability to engage the audience in everyday existence and questions of human relations and delightful in its humorous and at times cathartic rendition.  

Apathy, the play, moves its audience to heights not normally achieved in most theatre.

Alan Addison

Community Learning & Developmentest 

West Pilton Neighbourhood centre

    

 

  
 

 

                                                                                                                                                                      

TODD

The piece focuses on the worldview of a young autistic man as he navigates his relationship, and communicates with and challenges the ideas and behaviour of a couple he meets in the park that  have lost their dog and their son, which explores prejudice, isolation, loss, friendship and love.

 

 

"Last year saw MICHAEL SHAND'S play TODD in the Stewart Melville theatre and it was most entertaining I liked the CLIFF HANGER scene at the end when looked like the SON was going to club the Mother with a hammer but all ended well. So am looking forward to Michael's next production. ' Mary Moriarty '"

" Approaching a new play by a relatively unknown writer/director and emerging actors provides the
unique sense of expectation that usually comes when soaking up the buzz of the artistic feast that is the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The experience of being drawn into the world of Todd, with all of his thought provoking reflections
and uncertain values founded upon the building blocks of a young man’s exasperations was as
satisfying as many award winning productions observed at the Fringe in recent years.
Michal Shand’s writing shows maturity and a rare ability to create characters who express
ungentle feelings with much sensitivity. Mark Mckirdy brought the complexities of Todd’s past and
current confusions into a wholly believable individual. Great writing, equalled by a quietly measured
portrayal of Todd which didn‘t falter for a second. More of this standard from all concerned will be
welcomed anywhere. "
　
Robert Walker  OBE

 

Foetid Cells
 by Michael Shand is not a play for the faint hearted.

" A friend and I went along to watch Foetid Cells,  directed by Michael himself, as a gesture of support for this his first production, expecting  to witness a reasonable effort on the part of a budding playwright and recently graduated actors.   We got more, much more than we bargained for.  It was a riveting performance by six talented young actors.   At the "curtain call" my friend turned to me with an expression of astonishment, awestruck by what we agreed had been a  seamlessly professional and breathtakingly gripping performance.    We have not heard the last of Michael Shand !   "
Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE
Artist, Edinburgh
 
 

 

 
 

' On Friday, 25 February, I went to a carefully tucked away theatre venue in Edinburgh with two good friends and  watched the young Scottish playwright and director, Michael Shand's new play, 'Robin Red Breast'   enacted by a trio  in  the intimate space , of The Store. Shand takes us into the underbelly of contemporary society in a powerfully played out dark social drama. The irony of the miscarriage of justice enacted behind Sheriff's Court, made the performance all the more poignant. The echoes of the past resound in the deserted building which is the setting, a past  of which the characters are 'ashamed'. It unfolds in the present of a compulsive  confessional chalk circle which draws the three men  together in a surreal  interview that exposes social prejudice, institutional ineptitude and the chilling climate of blackmail and fear that  impedes justice. Through dialogue that draws the viewer in as it unravels the 'truth', the play moves to  the final vendetta, as the little,  but aggressively territorial  man on the margins has his revenge and can now, as he says, 'move on'. But can he, or for that matter, can we? This play leaves the audience with the urgency for social change, to counter the present climate that is set out to create more marginal wo/men.'   

  Dr Bashabi Fraser   Lecturer in English and Creative Writing & Poet

 

'Both women characters are very strong and their interaction blends conflict with warmth. The dialogue grows around them- touching and humorous.'      

 

Donald Smith , Director , Scottish Story Telling Centre

 

 

'The atmosphere of the set for, 'Doors Close They Never Lock', feels
humorous, being a room in a nursery school with toys and equipment lying
about just as the children left them. You can almost hear the children's
laughter.
It certainly doesn't prepare the audience for what is to come.
The story is about three men who were pals when children themselves and
where they are in their lives now. Moffat (Michael Shand), Kingsley (Harry
Gooch) and Anderson (Mark McCauley) may have been brought up in the same
district but now their lives are miles apart from each others.
The audience is pulled from laughter to fear time and again.
The juxtaposition from humour to pure menace is at times breath taking, the
actors live the parts of Moffat, Kingsley and Anderson and the ending is
perfect, without a word being said.
Mike Shand has excelled himself this time and his fellow actors are up there
with him.'

Mary Archibald  Artist