Kris Drever and his band, Union Chapel, London

 If you can discount the deep set pain in your bum caused by those slab hard wooden pews, the Union Chapel really is a magnificent venue for music. Especially at this time of year when the high stained glass windows flood the place with the light of a summer sunset. A cloud free sky saw that light slowly diminish, but retain surprising power, well into the evening, so that the lighting within the building, and specifically on the stage, changed with great subtlety as song came upon song. Until, as encore approached, only the artists remained clearly visible, the centre of audience attention throughout, but now with added emphasis form the elements of the world.

Such a sublime setting deserves a performance of equal power and sophistication, and Kris Drever is the man for the job.  While his voice might not be in the top flight technically, it's warm, smooth, comforting, emotional and immediately identifiable.  A firm favourite in this household.  Add in a dry, funny stage presence (including the frequent self deprecation of his constant need to retune his guitars!) and Drever has become a live act to savour.

The material was all familiar to long time Drever fans, mostly drawn from his five excellent solo albums, and including some of his work with the incredible Lau, and superband Drever McCusker  Woomble.  But there was pelnty of novelty in the arrangements, with the backing vocals of Rachel Lightbody (including a wonderful solo on Scapa Flow 1919), and the percussion of John Lowrie, bringing freshness to these old songs.  Kris also showed off his guitar virtuosity with a few pipe tunes.  Add in the solid bass and vocals of long-time collaborator Euan Burton, and it's the perfect wee band to showcase Drever's musical and songwriting abilities.

There was a special surprise at the end when the quartet returned to do their encore accompanied by a weel kent redhead.  Eddi Reader, direct from appearing in a West End musical, added her voice and vibrant persona to the closiong numbers and that felt like full circle for us - we first saw Drever as the support act for Eddi, about seventeen years ago.  Both remain as special as ever.

Anna Karenina, Lyceum

 A fast paced and cleverly constructed retelling of the essentials of Tolstoy's classic. Love, passion and existential angst in a crushingly patriarchal society.  The story concentrates on the central relationships - Ann and Vronsky, Levin and Kitty, Stiva and Dolly, and Karenin the outsider, plus the powerful tug of Anna's love for her son Seryozha.  To the fore are the three women, all trying to work within the fine boundaries that society places them within, and frustrated to be so confined by the double standards im posed on them.  

What is better?  To play it safe, even if unhappiness results, or to take risks that can lead to joy or disaster?  How to interpret  the meanings of others, or to get your own point across without being direct?  Love and passion, hate and loathing all mixed into a swirl of well choreographed activity.

Strong performances, notably from Angus Miller as Stiva, who least serious of the characters who flies by the seat of his pants and struggles on from scrape to scrape.  And a set that provides a slow build up in a sense of doom, as Anna's life collapses around her.

It's a clever production, perhaps too clever at times, but the interest never flags and there's no confusion, evben when conversations interlink.  Initially the more modern language, especially the swearing, jars a littrle with the historical context, but soon blends into the action, a reflection of the timelessness of Tolstoy's creations.  Their concerns are still very much our concerns, and that is the most fascinating aspect of an entertaining two hours.