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Pagliacci – Scottish Opera ****
Paisley Opera House (aka a tent on Seedhill Playing Fields in Paisley) Scottish Opera’s summer show in Paisley is a completely immersive bundle of fun that manages to be innovative and hugely entertaining. It isn’t difficult to see where the idea of putting this show on in a big tent comes from. Pagliacci (The Clowns)…
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Sermon preached on 15 July 2018 (Pride Weekend)
Is this the word of the Lord? Is this the gospel? “What should I ask for” said Herodias. “The head of the Baptist” said her mother. And it was so. And where is the good news in any of that? It is one of the worst, most barbaric and miserable stories in all of scripture.…
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Civil Partnerships – What now for the churches?
It has just been announced that a man and a woman have won their fight to enable them to register a Civil Partnership. At first sight, it will seem only just and right to most people. If same-sex couples can enter either a marriage or a civil partnership then why shouldn’t an opposite-sex couple? Put…
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Marriage Equality for Anglicans in Brazil
I have just issued the following statement: “I am delighted to hear that the Anglican Church in Brazil has just changed its marriage canon to allow same-sex couples to get married. As we have rejoiced in St Mary’s Cathedral Glasgow in recent months with couples who have waited years to be married in church, so…
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Eugene Onegin – Scottish Opera – Review – ****
Scottish opera reach the end of their rather thin main stage season with a well sung Eugene Onegin which brings with it a lot of surprises. The action begins, not with the overture but with silence. An older woman – Tatyana herself in old age, we are to discover, stumbles into the wreck of an…
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Should the churches use more data or less data?
The trouble with data is not what you can do with it – it is what else you can do with it. There are so many interesting things that one might do with data these days which were simply not possible a few years ago. The question is, how many of them should we attempt…
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Should there be missile strikes on Syria?
It has taken me a little while to work out whether or not missile strikes against Syria are justified by the UK at the moment. It seems to me that there are quite a lot of people who don’t seem to need to take their time and know instinctively that military action either should or…
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Easter Sermon
A number of years ago, I was put in charge of the Information and Communications Board of the Scottish Episcopal Church. This meant that I was in charge of trying to formulate the church’s internal news and helping to work out our message to the outside world. I think it was fair to say that…
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Good Friday Preaching – The Servant Girl
The truth is, I only really noticed her on Sunday. I’ve never payed her the blindest bit of attention before. I guess no-one ever did. The servant girl who answered Peter back. She’s a woman in John’s gospel but a servant girl in the version that Matthew and Cedric were watching on Sunday. There’s…
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Review – Ariadne auf Naxos – Scottish Opera – ***
Scottish Opera’s Ariadne auf Naxos is an odd combination of bawdy romp and serious opera – as the composer intended. Strauss could not have hoped for better singers than Scottish Opera have assembled for this co-production with Opera Holland Park. However, seriously flawed orchestral playing marred an otherwise interesting production. Ariadne auf Naxos is a…