Issue 558

Tutti Frutti - feature

Cult fiction

12 Sep 2006

Sometimes, absence really does make the heart grow fonder. 19 years after it was shown on television, Tutti Frutti has come to occupy a very special place in Scotland’s collective memory. The exuberant, hilariously dark drama, written by the inimitable…

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Dundee Rep, until Sat 16 Sep

7 Sep 2006

CLASSIC Reinhardt’s 1934 version of A Midsummer Night’s Dreamwas set on a hillside amidst a specially planted forest; Brook’s 1971 vision was in a white box space with trapeze artists and Michael Hoffman’s 1999 film placed the action in 19th century…

Henry V & Playboy of the Western World

Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Tue 12-Wed 13 Sep, t

7 Sep 2006

REVIVALS Henry V, often perceived as the great play of English nationalism, has never really found a natural home in Scotland, for reasons one need hardly explain. Yet, in missing the play, Scots have also missed out on significant themes that have…

Hitlist

7 Sep 2006

Tutti Frutti John Byrne’s cult television series, not seen since its release in 1987 is here transposed into theatre courtesy of the NTS. Under the direction of Tony Cownie, a strong cast lead this tragi-comedy with music. This could well be a highlight…

Low Winter Sun

Channel 4, Thu 14, 21 Sep, 9pm

7 Sep 2006

CRIME DRAMA Corrupt cops have been ten a penny down the TV years. Everything from The Sweeneyto The Shieldhave focussed on gung-ho anti-heroes who bent the rules to their own ends, usually to net the baddies but not always for reasons which…

Merchant City Festival

Tales of the Merchant City

7 Sep 2006

This year’s celebration takes place from 20-24 September across Glasgow’s vibrant artistic quarter, and features more than 300 events in 70 venues, which this year includes the recently renovated Old Fruitmarket and City Halls. Jason Byrne and Adam…

My Dark Sky

Tramway, Glasgow, Sat 16-Sat 30 Sep, then touring

7 Sep 2006

NEW WORK There seems to be stirrings of activism in our student population for the first time in a generation. For a long time young people seemed to have responded to their programming to do nothing and keep their heads down, watching shows about…

News in Brief

7 Sep 2006

? The List is delighted to report that our intrepid Festival columnist, Jane Bussmann won the Best Comedy category at this year’s Tap Water awards. Jane received her prize at a glittering ceremony at the Bongo Club hosted by Mikelangelo of The Black Sea…

NTS Ensemble Season

North Edinburgh Arts Centre, Thu 7-Sat 9 Sep, then

7 Sep 2006

ENSEMBLE THEATRE Ensemble work was, for some time, completely unseen on Scottish stages, which is a shame, because the particular confidence it can bring actors in approaching different pieces with the same colleagues often sees an all round…

Of minds and men

Theatre editor Steve Cramer rounds up the themes a

7 Sep 2006

The coffee and cigarette diet (smoke until you’re too hungry, then eat a cigarette) of the Festival is, at last, over. As ever, it was an exhilerating experience, but beyond this, it was a genuinely strong festival, as might be attested to by our…

Platform

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, run ended

7 Sep 2006

NEW WORK There is a long precedent for plays that parallel the alienated processes of an atomised modern society with sexual dysfunction, with such notables as Trevor Griffiths and Howard Brenton contributing to the conversation since the 70s. Of…

Queen's Hall saved from closure

7 Sep 2006

Fresh from its Edinburgh festivals programme, which included the highly successful Three Mo’ Tenors and a number of International Jazz Festival events, the Queen’s Hall has been granted a stay of execution by the city council. It had been feared that…

Remote Control

Brian Donaldson finds that celebs and sluts still

7 Sep 2006

TV round-up The cult of celebrity has been handled by comedians and satirists in so many ways that it seems almost impossible to find a new way to approach the depiction of famous folk. Star Stories , pictured above (Channel 4, Fri 15 Sep, 9pm) may…

Stage Whispers

7 Sep 2006

? Whispers writes from a darkened room, with a warm damp towel on his head and his feet in a bucket of hot soothing water after the rigours of the festival, but has enough life left in him to lean toward his keyboard and type his regular missive to you…

Three Sisters

King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, run ended

7 Sep 2006

REVIVAL The fascinating thing about Chekov is the way in which, as his work crosses cultural and national boundaries it alters from comedy to tragedy to wistful elegy, yet still contrives to fascinate. The several different versions of The Seagull…

Aberfeldy

The secret history

4 Sep 2006

Launch a pop career with the opening gambit ‘I love everyone/everybody underneath the sun’, as Aberfeldy did in the first lyric of 2004’s debut album Young Forever, and you will fight against a certain tide of conceptions. Particularly if you a) are a…

Alice Russell

4 Sep 2006

The voice of The Quantic Soul Orchestra (as well as TM Juke, Bah Samba and Kushti) steps out on her own two feet. Boasting a rich soulful voice, she easily crosses the jazz/dance divide, hitting the road with an eight-piece backing band expect maximum…

An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore (Bloomsbury)

4 Sep 2006

It would have been so easy for Al Gore to have become a horribly embittered individual after being cheated out of the US presidency in 2000. No one would have faulted him for spending the rest of his life sticking pins into effigies of Florida governor…

Badly Drawn Boy

4 Sep 2006

It’s not often you get to see an artist of this calibre squeezed onto the stage at King Tut’s, unless there’s a very special reason. Here he’s touring in support of Oxfam with all proceeds going to the charity as they gear up for their large scale Oxjam…

BBC Proms in the Park

4 Sep 2006

Be one in a million as Proms in the Park brings the magic of the Last Night of the Proms to five outdoor locations across all four UK nations. In Glasgow, the BBC SSO is joined by trombone palayer extraordinaire Christian Lindberg and Canadian soprano…

Beck

Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Tue 22 Aug

4 Sep 2006

INDIE Beck almost threatened to outshine Radiohead in this triumphant support slot. The atmosphere was that of an upbeat funk party complete with dancing bears, cutlery as instruments and puppets galore. For once the flourishes didn’t feel like…

Blood Arm, The

The Blood Arm

4 Sep 2006

Sharp, intelligent indie-punk from LA quartet The Blood Arm. Sharing aesthetics with previous touring partners Maximo Park and Franz Ferdinand. Their incisive lo-fi resonates with swirling organs, grand ideas and raw darkness. Just check recent single…

Bob Dylan - CD review

Bob Dylan

4 Sep 2006

BLUES FOLK ROCK Dylan’s long-gestating 32nd studio album may not, as the man pointed out in a recent, much publicised interview, sound half as good on CD as it did in the studio, but there is plenty here to warm the hearts of those who rallied behind…

Breed 77

4 Sep 2006

Sepultura aren’t the only purveyors of Latino metal out there. London based Gibraltans Breed 77, may not be as heavy (who is?) but rock hard with a flamenco flourish, a sound akin to Soundgarden jamming on the Costa del Sol. New album In My Blood (En mi…

Brightblack Morning Light - CD review

Brightblack Morning Light

4 Sep 2006

Brightblack Morning Light, Brightblack Morning Light - CD review