Issue 583

How to make it

16 Aug 2007

Talent. Britain has it, apparently. The airwaves are clogged up with fat, snaking queues of wannabes who want nothing in life so much as the chance to perform an acapella version of Rihanna’s Umbrella to a sneering celebrity panel. We’re in an age where…

La Didone

16 Aug 2007

‘I developed special software for the last couple of pieces,’ says Elizabeth LeCompte, artistic director of New York avant-garders the Wooster Group. ‘Final Cut Pro and Isadora, you know, I was the initial developer.’ Actually, she was nothing of the…

90s revival

16 Aug 2007

When you are young there is no such thing as nostalgia, there is only the seemingly limitless advance of new experiences. Music inevitably provides the backdrop – a drunken first kiss, the first gig you ever sneaked into underage, or maybe just that…

Billy Brag

16 Aug 2007

Billy Bragg was described by The Times as ‘a national treasure’. That particular phrase would surely bring a wry smile to his face, not least because the topic currently vexing the lifelong political campaigner and singer-songwriter is the fundamental…

Eagle vs Shark

16 Aug 2007

When New Zealand stand-up comic, actor, painter and photographer Taika Waititi took a shot at writing and directing a movie he had no idea it would be nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival and become the focus of a…

Impressing the Czar

16 Aug 2007

‘You’re going to get really lost,’ predicts Aki Saito, principal dancer with the Royal Ballet of Flanders. She’s talking about the average person’s reaction to William Forsythe’s three-act extravaganza, Impressing the Czar. ‘You won’t know what to…

School of Comedy

16 Aug 2007

In this age of Asbos, hoodies and teenage gang warfare it’s probably illegal to encourage youngsters to swear and be rude in front of adults, but this is exactly what the grown-ups behind School of Comedy plan to do. The show is billed as ‘an adult…

Eat - New York-style delis

16 Aug 2007

The ampersand is on the march. Berits & Brown, Kember & Jones, Sonny & Vito, Phoebe & Floyd – all new or newish Glasgow café-delis except the last one, a kids’ designer clothes label. Still, easy mistake to make. You can probably blame the…

In control

Samantha Morton

16 Aug 2007

Samantha Morton is in control. The critically lauded, hard working and in-demand British actress plays the long suffering wife of troubled singer of legendary Manchester band Joy Division in the Ian Curtis movie, Control. Fresh from winning the Best…

Shop - Bolshie

16 Aug 2007

Ethical fashion may be being shouted about all over the internet, but Bolshie, Glasgow’s only clothes shop dedicated to ethical, Fairtrade, organic and recycled clothing, is tucked away on a leafy residential street near Glasgow University. It looks a…

Ratatouille

16 Aug 2007

The adventures of an aspiring rodent chef whose gastronomic endeavours make him the toast of Paris is hardly a conventional dish to serve up to audiences. But Pixar’s attention to character and detail has already created such unlikely characters as…

The Elves and the Shoemaker

16 Aug 2007

When it comes to classic tales, The Elves and the Shoemaker is high up on most people’s lists. Just picturing those little elves beavering away, creating tiny shoes, is enough to excite little ones, and send big ones down memory lane. Well you don’t…

5 Questions - Club Noir

16 Aug 2007

If you want decadent glamour, Club Noir is the ultimate burlesque experience. Promoter/performer Tina Warren spills a few secrets

A Different Kettle of Fish

16 Aug 2007

Irreverent, witty, surprising, mischievous, and overacted to great dramatic effect, this was an hour spent in wonderfully silly company. The troupe – four men and one woman – rattles through sketches so fresh they ought to patent them. JK Rowling…

A History of Scotland (In 60 Minutes or Less)

16 Aug 2007

The avowed intention of this whizz through Scotland’s turbulent past is to bypass the usual cheesy tartan and shortbread stereotypes in favour of something altogether grittier. While this is a noble aim, the trio of performers initially struggle to get…

A Mighty Heart

16 Aug 2007

Prolific, versatile British director Michael Winterbottom’s film about the kidnapping of Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl by Pakistani militants in Karachi in 2002 is at once a riveting political thriller and an enormously affecting human drama.

Abigail Burdess

16 Aug 2007

Coming out in a wheelchair and disarming everybody with her offbeat chatter, Abigail Burdess shows it’s no big thing to break your foot if you’re a comedian. She warms up the audience with her quirky, wide-eyed observations and quotes from her…

Adam Bloom

16 Aug 2007

The concept of downtime is unfamiliar to Adam Bloom. After charging onstage and whirling through five minutes or so of funny, friendly, filthy audience interaction, the act proper begins without a wasted nanosecond. Bloom has a sort of sunny fury…

Age of Angels

16 Aug 2007

This piece explores one cataclysmic moment during which ten lives collide. The school kids’ ball goes over the fence and across a busy road, beginning an unstoppable chain. One actor tells the story from multiple perspectives, creating each character in…

Al Pitcher

16 Aug 2007

He’s been called unpredictable and divided audiences with his ad hoc ways, but happily for Pitcher, his celebration of saying precisely whatever pops into his head could earn the recognition he deserves. Never a dull moment, this walking, face-pulling…

Alan Warner

16 Aug 2007

When the movie of Morvern Callar opened the Edinburgh International Film Festival back in 2002, there was much talk that this would be the first of many film adaptations of Alan Warner’s work. Frankly, the thought of anyone trying to get a script out of…

Alex Gray

5 Questions

16 Aug 2007

5 words to describe The Riverman? Taut, pacy, atmospheric, warm, believable (my editor’s words, not mine; I’m too modest). 4 authors who you think should be more famous than they are now? Alanna Knight, Deryn Lake, Lin Anderson, Suhayl…

Alistair Barrie

16 Aug 2007

For someone who describes himself as a ‘twat’ and claims to suffer from low self-esteem, Barrie exudes a reassuring confidence that draws you into his world and holds you there. His show hangs around the loose theme that we’re all going to hell in a…

Also Published

16 Aug 2007

• Marie Phillips - Gods Behaving Badly Aphrodite is a phone sex operator while Apollo peddles a living as a TV psychic. Only their cleaner Alice can help save these fallen Greek gods. Jonathan Cape. • Adrian Hyland - Diamond Dove Set in central…

American Poodle

Miles Johnson

16 Aug 2007

Guy Masterson is, as ever, a man with his fingers in many pies at this year’s Fringe, working on no less than six shows. This particular outing, billed as an exploration of the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and its American chums so discussed…