I had a little excursion out to the Falkirk Wheel recently and would recommend it.  I'd even recommend getting into the wrong lane on the M9 and seeing a bit more of the countryside than is strictly necessary.

One of the bonuses of going there is that you can take in the Antonine Wall as well although I don't think we came across it.  But then you probably need the eyes of an archeologist to be sure since what's left is mostly just bumpy ground.

I happened to pick up a magazine in Italy last month that featured articles about the edges of the Roman Empire and it includes this picture that I thought at first was the Antonine but is in fact Hadrian's wall which is in a much better state although the picture still has something of a photoshop air to it.

They do admit that this picture of a Roman lavvy is an imagining but declare it to be based on structures that are still well preserved.  Elsewhere perhaps.  I have seen them in Ostia but not in West Lothian where the Wheel's facilities were bang up to date.

200 years before the wall was built Julius Caesar was strutting his stuff in ancient Rome, inspiring Shakespeare's play which in turn inspired some of the criminals taking part in a production of it to lead better lives on their release.

So said the docudrama Cesare Deve Morire which follows the inmates of a high security prison as they put the play together.  You can see that it's all about parallels in the lives of the prisoners and the characters but despite some interesting moments I found it disappointing.  The reason is I think that I expected more docu than drama.  There is for example a scene in which a scene between Caesar and Metellus(?) is being rehearsed.  The dialogue between the characters turns into a personal argument between the prisoners based on the similarity of the dynamics between Shakespeare's pair and the dynamics between the  two prisoners.  It came over to me as wholly staged.  Now that's not necessarily a bad thing but it meant I had little faith in much of the documentary truth being shown.

On the other hand the joy of the cast after they took their call at the end of the show seemed 100% heartfelt as did the words (scripted or not) of the prisoner being locked up afterwards - "since I discovered art this cell has become a prison".

Being locked up or rather, in the expression that has come from Boston this week, in lock down, was one of the alternatives offered to the participants in Deadinburgh.  This great fun show doesn't need my description.  Read Claire's.

There were lots of questions to be answered in Deadinburgh and asking questions to get at the truth is at the heart of Rob Drummond's Quiz Show.  I caught the penultimate performance and am glad I did.

When the play opens we are the studio audience in a TV quiz show.  The floor manager puts us through our applauding paces and then the contestants enter and the quizmaster bounces on.  The questioning starts and it's all a very light-hearted and funny parody of just such a quiz.  But as the play goes on it gets darker and darker until all the truth comes out, the play ends and the audience sit in silence.

No floor manager could have made us applaud at that moment but when the lights came up and the cast came on stage to take a bow the applause was deservedly generous.

The run is over but there's bound to be a revival.  Until then avoid reviews and hope that those who saw it will keep shtum.