Issue 558

The Truman Capote Talk Show

Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 12-Sat 16 Sep

1 Sep 2006

THEATRE In Murder By Death, the daft 1976 spoof whodunnit based on a Neil Simon screenplay, five sleuths arrive at the mansion of eccentric millionaire Lionel Twain. He plans dinner, and then a murder, which they must solve. Aided (and hampered) by…

Tutti Frutti - feature

Cult fiction

12 Sep 2006

Steve Cramer talks to John Byrne about history, our relationship with the past and his new stage adaptation of his cult television hit, Tutti Frutti.

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…

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 well…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

The Wicker Man

4 Sep 2006

Love can make us do the strangest things. Just ask Neil Labute, the writer/director of In the Company of Men, Our Friends and Neighbours and The Shape of Things. Labute, for all his inconsistencies, has long been noted as the foremost chronicler of the…

Long Good Friday, The

The Mafia's marina

4 Sep 2006

INTERVIEW In The Long Good Friday, Harold Shand takes a group of businessman on a luxury yacht over the Thames to entice them to invest in his scheme to develop the run down Docklands area. With Tower Bridge looming behind him, Shand holds his…

Walkmen, The

The Walkmen,

4 Sep 2006

INDIE The life of a touring indie band involves a hell of a lot of hanging around doing sack all. To fill the hours in the back of the van, bands might invent puerile games, take a PlayStation or even read a book. New York oddballers The Walkmen took…

Singles and Downloads

4 Sep 2006

Were the Singles and Downloads desk to dish out an award for Most Obvious Candidate For Being in an Advert of the Fortnight, it would have to go to Zero 7 featuring Jose Gonzalez ’ ‘Futures’ (Atlantic) ***. Just imagine that for a minute … it’s MOR…

Hitlist

4 Sep 2006

Mark Olsen and the Creekdippers Wholesome and vibrant Americana from Olsen, his wife Victoria Williams and Ben Weaver all the way from Joshua Tree, California. ABC, Glasgow, Sat 10 Sep. (Rock & Pop) The Joyriders The Edinburgh-based pop-grungers…

The Fallen Idol

4 Sep 2006

Between 1947’s Odd Man Out and 1949’s The Third Man, the great British filmmaker Carol Reed made this tiny gem of bewilderment, childhood perception and very adult deceptions. The Fallen Idol was the first of three collaborations between Reed and Graham…

Islay Jazz Festival

Various venues, Islay, Fri 15-Sun 17 Sep

4 Sep 2006

JAZZ Nine years ago, the announcement that a jazz festival was to be launched on the outwardly unlikely location of the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides raised a few eyebrows. Many felt it would be a one-year wonder, or might manage to roll on…

Dispatch - Roddy Woomble

Roddy Woomble ponders the big birthday question: a

4 Sep 2006

I never really ever expect anything for my birthday, which is why in recent years I’ve been unexpectedly surprised and delighted by the way things have turned out. This year I spent it on a beach in Iona, eating banana and pineapple birthday cake, then…