Issue 608

Office Party

Party On

31 Jul 2008

The medieval feast of fools was an event where established hierarchies were overturned, sexual and social proprieties were transgressed and the everyday laws of the culture were suspended. It’s the subject of academic study all over Europe, where…

Saddle up

31 Jul 2008

As a posse of spoof country and western acts rides towards the Fringe, Allan Radcliffe asks why songs about rednecks, guns and erections make for sublime comedy

Pajama Men - Night moves

31 Jul 2008

Their brand of unique, unhinged comedy has had critics and judges raving about the Pajama Men. Claire Sawers finds that they’re keeping the silly wigs firmly in the bag The voice on the phone sounds impossibly camp. It has a slick and persuasive way…

Live at Loch Lomond - Róisín Murphy

31 Jul 2008

A backless dress with a microscopically small pork pie hat. A sequinned black body sock topped off by a feather boa. Spray-on Lycra and a red ‘Allo ‘Allo beret. Pop chameleon and ex-Moloko frontwoman Róisín Murphy knows a thing or two about killer…

Polish theatre

Poles apart

31 Jul 2008

Sitting in a picturesque café in the heart of Warsaw – Poland’s capital and largest city – it’s easy to forget the turbulent history that has shaped this country’s place in the world today. The city has long had a reputation as a vibrant playground…

Drive-By Truckers - Evolution rock

31 Jul 2008

Drive-By Truckers may hail from America’s south but they do way more than your average redneck stomp. Doug Johnstone meets an ambitious rock band unafraid to take themselves and their audience to new highs

InvAsian Festival

Culture shock

31 Jul 2008

When, earlier this year, a BBC executive lamented the continued dominance of a ‘liberal, white, middle class elite’ across British television, his words could equally have been applied to Edinburgh in August. For all the Fringe’s variety, the number of…

On the Waterfront - Steven Berkoff

Fighting talk

31 Jul 2008

Steven Berkoff’s position in the British theatre is a bit like that of the mysterious nail that seems to belong nowhere after you’ve constructed your Ikea bookshelf. On the face of it, he simply doesn’t belong, but somehow things don’t work without…

Wisecrackin’ Mindsqueezin’ Behemoth - Big time

31 Jul 2008

Their first stage meeting involved simulated copulation. John-Luke Roberts and Nadia Kamil now make beautiful music in their Behemoth sketch guise. Brian Donaldson hears about the pair’s celebrity fans and those nasty critics

Three Billy Goats Gruff

31 Jul 2008

This is the third year in a row that the very wonderful Theatre of Widdershins has played the Fringe – and, rather appropriately, they’re doing a show all about threes: the eponymous goats, plus a few other fairytale characters such as Goldilocks’ pals…

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller

31 Jul 2008

Six different, self-contained installation pieces by hugely acclaimed Canadian artist partnership Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, which run a series of gamuts, taking in culture both high and popular, film, multimedia robotics and…

Stage Oddities

31 Jul 2008

Death By Chocolate ‘Interview the suspects, sample the chocolates, solve the crime’ is the pitch for this interactive murder mystery night. The setting is a chocolate-themed singles’ night; the audience are given notepads and pens and encouraged to…

What's up doc?

31 Jul 2008

Borrowing from a classic heist movie, Man on Wire is the latest documentary to take its cue from the art of the feature film. Miles Fielder looks on as the line blurs between fact and fiction It's supposed to be a documentary about a daredevil…

Edinburgh Art Festival

Street arts

31 Jul 2008

Edinburgh residents are used to a takeover at this time of year. As hoardes of performers, artists, comedians and their assorted entourages set up a whole other city on top of theirs, the festivals can feel divorced from the realities of Edinburgh life.

Tim Minchin - Looney tunes

31 Jul 2008

Not one for being stuck in a pigeonhole, Tim Minchin is a musician, actor, comic and father. Anna Millar meets the man who looks like a scarecrow and is terrifying the world of traditional stand-up comedy

War and Conflict

Theatre of war

31 Jul 2008

There’s always a profit to be made from war. The black market proved lucrative during World War II for the sale of rationed chocolate, coffee and cigarettes, while oil companies such as Halliburton have been kept ticking over nicely by the recent…

Felix Dexter - Comedy shuffle

31 Jul 2008

At the RSC he pretended to be the sea and in Edinburgh he sparred with Christian Slater. Leaving the theatre behind for now, Felix Dexter tells Julian Hall that he’s happy again with his first love It’s the first time in over a decade that Felix…

The Meeting - Suits you sir

31 Jul 2008

Three young talents have variously got a boardroom comedy, a sketch show and a student competition to contend with. Our chair Julian Hall asks if there is any other business This year it’s going to be hard for many Fringe-goers to leave work too far…

Norway

31 Jul 2008

Given that Norway is one of the few places in Europe more expensive, and with worse weather than Scotland, it’s not one of the most obvious destinations for a summer holiday. But for those who appreciate quirky historic towns, dramatic scenery and a…

Kickboxing

31 Jul 2008

It’s nothing to do with overdosing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer re-runs, kickboxing is meant to be a great work out. ‘And let’s face it, would you rather I vent my frustrations at you or focus them onto a well padded target?’ I ask my rather frightened…

Nina Nastasia

31 Jul 2008

Nina Nastasia is incredibly merry. The talented NYC-based songstress has just arrived in Ireland for a run of UK dates and has spent the day reacquainting herself with old friends and the local whiskey she loves so much. When we finally pin her down for…

Melting Pot

31 Jul 2008

‘Disco music as a genre essentially stopped in the mid-80s and became dance music as we now know it,’ says Andrew Pirie, promoter and DJ at Glasgow’s Melting Pot. ‘Everything happening in dance music today has some sort of roots in disco. Just as disco…

Social networking

Single files

31 Jul 2008

Recent Pixar smash Wall-E imagines a future in which lumpen humans only engage with each other through computer screens. Worryingly, this seems all too plausible a prospect. Online interaction and social networking are two of this year’s Fringe hot…

Clubbing onstage

Chemical Romance

31 Jul 2008

As an experience that thrives on the spontaneity of the moment, and, often, some kind of altered state of consciousness, clubbing is a difficult subject to translate into drama. Since the mid-90s, the much-trumpeted drug movie or novel has largely…

Kenny Hunter

31 Jul 2008

People who live in cities are dishearteningly used to stepping over piles of rubbish from split bin bags and negotiating street obstacles such as piles of old furniture and abandoned televisions. This phenomenon is international, and is becoming ever…

Mark Olver - Journey's end

31 Jul 2008

In June, Mark Olver set off by foot from Bristol to Edinburgh, relying on the kindness of strangers to get shelter and material for Ramble On. He tells of the shuddering climax to his fantastic voyage ‘I can see Arthur’s Seat’ I said excitedly as I…

Sarah Millican - Credit crunch

31 Jul 2008

Sarah Millican is putting a sad past behind her and profiting from pain. Marissa Burgess pops round for a cuppa and finds that the Geordie comic may not be as dastardly as she wants us to believe

Tao Bar & Restaurant

31 Jul 2008

This is the Chinese century, and it will be ushered in by the Beijing Olympics. Our economy, foreign policy, environmental and even cultural agenda will all be profoundly influenced by the dominance of China over the coming decades. Our cuisine? It…

Tartan Films

31 Jul 2008

If Norma Desmond believed that pictures were getting smaller, then the same can be said for the industry. Smaller by one distributor. After 26 years, Tartan Films has ceased to be. The home to many cutting-edge, independent and foreign-language films…

All day hip hop event

31 Jul 2008

Banksy’s subversive street art sells for millions, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre are basically musical royalty and films such as Step Up 2 continue to popularise break-dancing and battling. Hip hop and street culture couldn’t be having more of a moment. Funny…

Live at Loch Lomond - The Sex Pistols

31 Jul 2008

‘No future, no future, no future for me.’ Those words, penned by John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) back in 1976, expressed not only Lydon’s feelings, not only his band The Sex Pistols’ attitude to life, not only the stance of the fearsome punk movement…

Reginald D Hunter - Tall tales

31 Jul 2008

Reginald D Hunter is a giant of UK stand-up. But, as he tells Jay Richardson, he’s still trying to escape the sins of his father ‘I have always found Edinburgh intense, in my soul and in my belly. You can’t say there ain’t tension in my shows. It’s…

Andrew Lawrence - Sit tight

31 Jul 2008

He may no longer be the stage psychopath with a killer tune and attitude to match, but Andrew Lawrence is still not exactly a cosy act. Marissa Burgess tentatively meets the man behind the growl Andrew Lawrence is a comedian in a state of constant…

Ed Byrne - Cry freedom

31 Jul 2008

Amnesty International supporter Ed Byrne may not be sure where he fits in any more but, as he tells Doug Johnstone, this keeps him in material

Lucy Porter - Festival veteran

31 Jul 2008

Lucy Porter wanted to be like Kate Adie but ended up being more like Lee Evans. That’s what repeatedly coming to the Fringe does to you. She doesn’t mind though… The Edinburgh Fringe Festival ruined my life. That sounds melodramatic, but it’s absolutely…

Shout Out Louds

Industrious Swedes do the happy/sad indie thing supremely

31 Jul 2008

‘If you listen to Abba’s songs,’ says Adam Olenius, ‘they sound really happy, but the lyrics are sad. They sing of broken hearts and melancholy. Heartbreak and beautiful melody, that’s the Swedish sound.’ Olenius, lead singer of Stockholm quintet…

Cass

31 Jul 2008

CRIME/DRAMA/BIOPIC (18) 108min Films about football hooligans have resulted in some of the worst examples of British filmmaking in the last ten years – Green Street, Rise of the Footsoldier, The Football Factory have all scored own goals. So it comes…

Lough/Rain

New writing explores themes of love and stoicism

31 Jul 2008

The spirit of adventure brought to the Fringe by the Underbelly has always been about new work, but this year’s programme seems to lean, more than ever, towards new writing, above and beyond the usual array of physical and visual theatre. Notable among…

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

31 Jul 2008

WESTERN (15) 180min The third part of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western ‘Dollars trilogy’ receives a new print re-release ahead of its predecessors A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More (their digital re-release comes in September). As stupid…

George Orwell's Coming Up for Air

Adaptation of overlooked novel by born again Fringe virgin

31 Jul 2008

On the eve of its 70th anniversary, one of George Orwell’s lesser-known novels has been adapted as a one-hour monologue to be performed by veteran Fringe actor and stand-up comedian Hal Cruttenden. Set in England in 1938, Coming Up For Air dramatises…

The Bird & The Bee

Powerful double bill tells tales of star-crossed lovers

31 Jul 2008

The young, it is sometimes said, are society’s canaries in the mine, the first to sense when something has gone awry. Few could have failed to be moved by the strange and tragic events at Bridgend in Wales, where, in the months to June this year, 22…

The Six Wives of Timothy Leary

High life

31 Jul 2008

Timothy Leary’s place in history has long been assured. A tireless proponent of LSD, he enhanced his notoriety with a daring prison escape and life as a fugitive before recovering some of his glory in the techno-pagan 90s. Hollywood writers have…

Man On Wire

Cherishable and joyous tale from a more innocent age

31 Jul 2008

(12A) 94min Meet Philippe Petit – French artist, performer and high wire walker. On the afternoon of 6 August 1974, Petit and six accomplices set off for the World Trade Centre in an unmarked van. With forged ID passes and dressed as deliverymen they…

Idiots of Ants

Internet sensations return with more sketches firmly on the side of silly

31 Jul 2008

A lot of modern comedy dwells on the darker side of life, but that’s not an accusation to be levelled at Idiots of Ants. The London-based four-man sketch act can be placed firmly in the ‘daft’ file, and if you don’t believe us just check out their…

John Pinette

Fringe debut for big talent who appeared in Seinfeld

31 Jul 2008

A heavyweight performer in every sense, John Pinette never imagined he’d be playing ‘a place where I have the best cholesterol in the country’. The 44-year-old Bostonian has been a stand-up comedian half his life and a muffin devotee far longer, earning…

New Musical Express

31 Jul 2008

Glasgow and Edinburgh venues host new night to help support and develop new emerging music talent. Òran Mór in Glasgow and the Caves in Edinburgh will play host to a new initiative set up by Miller Genuine Draft, The Mill, holding weekly sessions…

Finished With Engines

Attack Mode

31 Jul 2008

Stephanie Viola and Drew Friedman, draped sleepily about a rehearsal room, don’t look much like wisecracking sailors with the power to blow up the world. It might be the jet lag. The New York-based actors, best known as founder members of the multi…

Last Word: Ian McLagan

31 Jul 2008

'Mac' to his mates, Ian McLagan is the veteran of The Faces and The Small Faces, now crowning four decades of rock'n'roll with The Bump Band. He climbs down from his tractor to bad-mouth the president and knock back a pint of Guinness First record…

Dance Base Presents…

One stop shop for dance fans

31 Jul 2008

Pop open the Dance Base brochure and what do you see? A picture of artistic director, Morag Deyes beckoning you into one of the most striking arts-centred buildings in Edinburgh. And why go? To see what will be one of the more eclectic, stimulating and…

Wearing well - crazy clobber for comedic purposes

31 Jul 2008

The Pajama Men are not the only ones who are putting on crazy clobber for comedic purposes. Brian Donaldson reveals some other Fringe comics who’ve had a wardrobe malfunction. The show by Mark Allen is about his uneasy relationship with animals and…

Vincent - Jim Jarrett

Lasting impression

31 Jul 2008

A one-man play about an iconic Dutch post-impressionist painter, scripted by the man best-known for playing a pointy-eared alien would be worth seeing for sheer curiosity value alone. What’s perhaps more surprising is that, since its first production in…

Profile - Gurinder Chadha

31 Jul 2008

Name Gurinder Chadha Born Nairobi, 1960 Background Born in Kenya but raised in England, Chadha began her career as a BBC news reporter, breaking into directing with the 1989 documentary I’m British But..., focusing on the life and culture of…

Six places: to hear good music during August

31 Jul 2008

Voodoo Rooms. Recently given a major facelift, this swanky venue plays host to club nights and live music of indie, hip hop, blues, jazz, soul, funk and cabaret flavours. Expect anything and everything. The Royal Oak Home to the city’s underground folk…

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

31 Jul 2008

COUNTRY ROCK (Wichita) It’s been just over a year since he put out Cassadaga with Bright Eyes and Conor Oberst is at it again, conjuring up songs that sound like instant modern classics. This album (staggeringly the 18th of his career) finds the…

What is Life?

Scottish sculptors take on biological investigation

31 Jul 2008

Exploring a common interest in plants and scientific enquiry, Inverleith House curator Paul Nesbitt has drawn together works by Scottish sculptors Christine Borland, Graham Fagen and Simon Starling. In a bold and considered move, he’s chosen to eschew…

Frances Richardson: Playing Against Reason

Sculpture and walk-in drawings explore the gambler’s mindset

31 Jul 2008

In rationalising her new exhibition, English artist Frances Richardson finds it best to quote the wisdom of Chico Marx: ‘If I lose today, I can look forward to winning tomorrow, and if I win today, I can expect to lose tomorrow. A sure thing is no fun.…

James Campbell's Shut Up Stupid

Comic plays for kids of all ages

31 Jul 2008

James Campbell is envied and acclaimed across the comedy universe for carving out a triumphant career performing stand-up for kids. While his Comedy Club 4 Kids continues to train young folk from the ages of six upwards in the hard-nosed business of…

Cloudcuckooland

31 Jul 2008

When Greek comic playwright, Aristophanes wrote The Birds in 414 BC, he could scarcely have imagined where his masterpiece would end up. Although given his taste for humour and bad behaviour, chances are he would have loved Cloudcuckooland, a new…

Theatre to stimulate the senses

Far Up! Far Out! Far More!

31 Jul 2008

Wanderlust This interactive club event returns audiences to the spirit of 1930s Berlin with its electrifying fusion of circus and cabaret, all administered by a ten-foot Fraulein. Underbelly, 0844 545 8252, 2–24 Aug (not 11), 11.30pm, £9–£10.50…

The Love Guru

31 Jul 2008

COMEDY (12A) 86min Aside from his ongoing Shrek and Austin Powers properties, Mike Myers hasn’t come up with a new comedy character in over a decade. Myers claims his latest creation, Guru Pitka, has been honed by comedy-club appearances, but there’s…

Stephen K Amos

31 Jul 2008

Who’s he then? Stephen K Amos is a 30-something actor, comedian and documentary-maker whose Batty Boy involved him going on a journey from his south London backyard to Jamaica in an attempt to discover why homophobia is so prevalent among black…

InvAsian Festival

Choreography from across the Continent

31 Jul 2008

There’s no shortage of diverse dance at the Fringe, but seldom do you find it all under one roof. The InvAsian Festival, however, is priding itself on bringing together a wide range of performers from throughout the eponymous continent, and basing them…

Adam Riches

A host of he-men and myriad of macho types flex themselves

31 Jul 2008

Last Fringe, Adam Riches introduced us to Victor Legit, the musclebound bully who made a barely honest living as a surveillance officer for the Federation Against Copyright Theft. This year, Victor is joined by a host of other creations out of the…

Hitlist: Festival Kids

31 Jul 2008

The Mozart Question – Michael Morpurgo Not-to-be-missed stage adaptation of a story by one of the finest children’s writers of all time. Assembly Rooms, 623 3030, 3–25 Aug (not 11), 12.15pm, £11–£12 (£9–£10). Previews until 2 Aug, £5. ] Three Billy…

The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection: The Renaissance

Treasure trove of Italian masters

31 Jul 2008

You wonder what Prince William was thinking when he switched courses at university – when your Grandma owns art like this, studying Art History must have been a doddle. This exhibition, the first of two from the Royal Collection’s holdings of 16th and…

Hitlist - Festival comedy

31 Jul 2008

David O’Doherty The Irish muso-comic delivers more ribald whimsy with a tiny keyboard and giant talent. The Stand III & IV, 558 7272, 1–24 Aug (not 11), 9pm, £9.50 (£8.50). Previews until 31 Aug, £8.50 (£7.50). Sarah Millican The north-east…

Beatrice Colin - The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite

31 Jul 2008

HISTORICAL FICTION (John Murray) This is a big, plush velvet cushion of a book, dense with historical detail and already picking up comparisons to Sarah Waters’ weighty, sexy epics. It’s the story of Lilly Aphrodite, an orphan turned silent movie…

Isy Suttie

The homespun revolution continues with Matlock’s character comic

31 Jul 2008

‘It’s called The Suttie Show; I knew I would use that title at some point,’ explains Isy Suttie of the serendipitous naming of her new show.

Hitlist: Festival Dance

31 Jul 2008

Dance Base Presents... Scotland’s National Centre for Dance welcomes you into another packed programme. Dance Base, 225 5525, 7–16 Aug (not 11), times vary, £11 (£7). Preview 6 Aug, £6. Pericles Redux Californian physical theatre company No Man…

Luke Toulson

31 Jul 2008

‘I don’t want to be a testosterone-charged alpha male on stage,’ says stand-up Luke Toulson. ‘I’m very aware I’m an idiot, and generally assume the audience is more intelligent than me.’ It’s self-deprecating talk, but then Toulson has written his…

Take 5: Ways to avoid being flyered

31 Jul 2008

The Sleeve: The incredible hand-less woman! Was it a freak hand-dryer accident? Or a genetic mutation of great Uncle Albert’s short fingers? No it is The Sleeve. Imbued with ancient and mystical powers, The Sleeve should scare off those rogue…

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

31 Jul 2008

MYSTERY/SCI-FI (15) 104min Ten years after the first X-Files film, and six years after the end of the series, Mulder and Scully are back and they are together-together. When Scully persuades Mulder to get involved in a case involving psychic priest…

Sammy J

The rude puppet show that blew Oz away roasts everything in its path

31 Jul 2008

‘If you put Disney, Les Mis and Queen in a blender, it might sound a little like our show,’ explains Sammy J, the delicately framed Antipodean whose puppet show Forest of Dreams is hoping to charm Edinburgh audiences. ‘That said,’ he continues, ‘the…

Sean Grant

Curmudgeonly Scots comic with show which pricks a few balloons

31 Jul 2008

Reigning Scottish Comedian of the Year and through to the So You Think You’re Funny? competition semi-finals, Sean Grant only began performing stand-up last summer after a declaration of love. ‘I’d always enjoyed watching comedy, but it never occurred…

Paperweight

Near-silent play explores the soul vacuum of office life

31 Jul 2008

‘We want to create something so dense that when people watch it everyone has an immediate response, or a response that trickles down a couple of days later while they’re still thinking about it,’ says Sébastien Lawson of theatre company Top Of The…

The Dark Knight

31 Jul 2008

SUPERHERO/THRILLER (12A) 152min British filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s revamp of the superhero franchise reaches its apotheosis with this sequel to Batman Begins, a well-imagined, perfectly executed film that combines blockbuster spectacle with indie…

Scaramouche Jones

Quintessential English hero finally arrives north of the border

31 Jul 2008

Millennium Fever took hold at the end of the last century, with some people anticipating the end of the world and others a fresh start. But after two world wars, the demise of the British Empire, and dizzying technological advances, England seemed to be…

Surviving Spike

The tortured genius behind the inspired comic lunacy

31 Jul 2008

Surviving Spike promises to reveal the ‘tormented character that hid behind the public facade’. Audiences could be forgiven for assuming the blurb refers to the show’s star, Michael Barrymore, whose career was all but destroyed by revelations of the…

Sarah Silverman - Jesus Is Magic

31 Jul 2008

COMEDY (18) 72min Taboos are there to be shattered, barriers are in place to be broken down and sweary words are there to be bellowed out on prime time television. Sarah Silverman knows all this and has made it her speciality. This rather…

Jason Cook

Bringing joy with honeymoons, confessions and midgets

31 Jul 2008

Geordie comedian Jason Cook looks at the Fringe like a month-long Christmas day. In fact, he wants his show this year to be a caring, sharing, warm hug of a thing, where people feel so uplifted, they’ll be crying when they leave. As his alter ego, Herr…

Keith Farnan

Irish comic’s debut shot rips apart America’s attitude to criminal justice

31 Jul 2008

Irish comic’s debut shot rips apart America’s attitude to criminal justice. When Keith Farnan was contemplating his first hour-long show at the Fringe, he wasn’t short of advice from fellow comics. ‘I listened to everyone who had done well and those who…

Free Outgoing

True-life tale explores India’s traditional attitudes to sex

31 Jul 2008

It was a real-life incident that prompted Chennai-based playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar to write Free Outgoing, which depicts a country’s anger when an Indian schoolgirl is filmed with a boy in her classroom. ‘I heard the girl’s family migrated…

Yasser

Provocative character study with political overtones

31 Jul 2008

‘This is a play which is political, without becoming partisan political,’ says director Teunkie van der Sluijs. ‘It was written just before 9/11, so it doesn’t have that lamenting post-9/11 outlook that now occurs in all forms of writing which deal with…

Before the Rains

31 Jul 2008

DRAMA (12A) 98min Inspired by Israeli short Red Roofs, scripted by the late American Cathy Rabin (to whom the film is dedicated), directed and photographed by Bollywood filmmaker Santosh Sivan, starring Brit Linus Roache, yank Jennifer Ehle and…

Gavin and Gavin

Irish sisters deliver a personal show that’s distinctly close to home

31 Jul 2008

Irish sisters deliver a personal show that’s distinctly close to home. ‘I’m the feistier, gobbier one. Lauretta’s quieter,’ says Sharon Gavin about her older sister, the other half of Gavin & Gavin. ‘But if you piss her off, she’s the Incredible…

Space Chimps

31 Jul 2008

ANIMATION/COMEDY (U) 80min Crowded out in the summer schedules by WALL-E and Kung Fu Panda, Space Chimps is the latest effort from Vanguard Animations destined to suffer the also-ran status of Valiant and Happily N’Ever After. On the whim of a…

Johnny Candon

Dublin comic finds his theme with a personal story free of sentiment

31 Jul 2008

At last year’s Fringe, Johnny Candon was dancing around in a bear costume for Tony Law’s Revenge of the Dog of Time, but for many years the Dublin-born stand-up has been successfully gigging all over the world. Candon has been a background name in the…

The Real Daniel O'Donnell Show

Sketch stuff which will cheerily upset fans of the crooning Irish icon

31 Jul 2008

The festival is, as always, packed full of worthy messages with comedy addressing everything from politics to love via environmental disasters. When asked about his Fringe sketch show, comedian Michael Legge replies gleefully ‘oh, it’s childishly…

Terminus

Angels, demons and reincarnation from the master of the monologue

31 Jul 2008

‘I still like the Catholic religion even though I don’t believe in God,’ says Mark O’Rowe, the Dublin master of the monologue. That may or may not explain why the latest play by the author of Howie the Rookie and Crestfall is what he calls a…

Lie of the Land

Torben Betts’ fierce poetry finds its natural home on the Fringe

31 Jul 2008

Many of us dream of a simpler existence in the countryside, but the sudden lack of people can be a shock to the system. Inspired by the personal nightmare that followed his own relocation from London, Torben Betts’ new play explores that sense of…

A Comedy of Power

31 Jul 2008

THRILLER (PG) 110min (ICA DVD retail) Veteran French filmmaker Claude Chabrol takes on the story of magistrate Eva Joly’s ceaseless investigation into France’s leading oil company Elf Aquitaine. The inquiry led to a national scandal in 1994 which The…

Dirt

Sensitive inquiry into what it means to be an outsider

31 Jul 2008

From the United States comes Dirt, a contemplative monologue that addresses racism. Originally written in German, Dirt tells the story of a 30-year-old Iraqi man who is grateful to live (albeit illegally) in an English-speaking city. Selling roses on…

Lineup grows at Edinburgh Television Festival

31 Jul 2008

This year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival continues to attract some of the small screen’s biggest names and influences. The latest speakers to be announced include Father Ted writer and director Graham Linehan, PR guru Max Clifford and…

The Burma Play - A Comedy of Terror

Burma’s political nightmare, from colonial times to the present day

31 Jul 2008

The Fringe may be brimming with comedians cracking gags at the expense of politicians, but it would be fair to presume that few, if any, have tried out their material under the watch of a police state. The Burma Play, however, was inspired by…

Top 5: Acceptable in the 80s?

Umbrage Swain & The Magical Diamond of Ramtutiti

31 Jul 2008

Umbrage Swain is set to go on the hunt for the Magical Diamond of Ramtutiti. Here he tells us the best (i.e. least horrible) things about the decade that taste, fashion, sense, class and decency completely forgot.

High Emergency

31 Jul 2008

DOCUMENTARY Five, Tue 5 Aug, 7.30pm One of the last places you’d want to find yourself stranded in the British Isles is up in the Highlands. If you thought any different you’ll change your mind after watching the first instalment of this documentary…

Side Dishes

31 Jul 2008

Brothers chris and paul Charalambous of Cail Bruich restaurant in Quarriers Village by Bridge of Weir has opened up a city branch, taking over the premises of the former Parthenon Greek restaurant next door to Oran Mor. Cail Bruich (West) offers…

Rise

Extreme movement meets electronica

31 Jul 2008

Dry ice fills the air while hooded dancers move across a dimly lit stage. Despite the huge, wide space they occupy, there’s something oppressive and deeply atmospheric about Tom Dale’s new show, Rise. All of this is conveyed through a tiny clip on…

We all fall down

Exploring the darker side of storytelling

31 Jul 2008

Over the past five years, En Masse theatre has garnered a reputation for creating exciting, imaginative productions for young people and their families. Their latest show, We All Fall Down, is a tale of two villages – Eyam, where the people are saintly…

Bale de Rua

Brazilian rhythm of life

31 Jul 2008

Being short of cash can lead to some surprisingly good results. Back in 2004, when Brazilian company, Bale de Rua found themselves without a costume budget, they improvised with paint instead. Covering their skin with bright colours, the effect was…