Issue 650

Dundee Rep take on Peter Schaffer's pony tale Equus

18 Feb 2010

It’s not entirely down to Daniel Radcliffe’s torso that Peter Schaffer’s 1973 work Equus is undergoing something of a renaissance, but it was certainly the prospect of naked boy wizard that reignited interest in the play. It’s the kind of interest that…

First Word - Tom Conti interview

18 Feb 2010

First record you ever bought Stokowski conducting Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, which featured in a movie I had just seen called A Hundred Men and a Girl. Last time you were chatted up Last week, in a bookshop. (40, gorgeous, shapely, dark…

Punishment Park

18 Feb 2010

(15) 88min 'Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit.' Abbie Hoffman (1936 --1989) American political activist and author; co-founder…

Carl Donnelly set for The Stand

18 Feb 2010

As a jaw-dropping introduction to the mad old world of stand-up, Carl Donnelly’s second ever gig takes some beating. When telly channel Five were putting together a typically sensitive Race Swap show, it might have seemed like a good idea at the time to…

Why Fife is celebrating illustrious son Richard Jobson

18 Feb 2010

Here in Scotland, we love a tale of the local boy doing good, and musician-turned-writer and film-maker Richard Jobson has done just that. A former member of punk band, The Skids, Jobson often sets his scene – whether it be his music, photography, film…

Poppy and Dingan

18 Feb 2010

Imaginary friendships are a part of life for many children and, just like real ones, they come with no guarantees. When Kellyanne Williamson, a young girl living in the Australian outback, loses her invisible pals in Pobby and Dingan, life is never the…

Edinburgh's Royal High School to be transformed into arts hotel

Developer also behind Odeon cinema project

18 Feb 2010

Following months of speculation it has been revealed that the former Royal High School on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill will be transformed into an arts hotel. The £35m redevelopment, awarded by the city council to Duddingston House Properties, will see the…

Martin Amis - The Pregnant Widow

18 Feb 2010

(Jonathan Cape) On page 395 of this 465-page endurance test, Martin Amis promises the following from one of his characters: ‘Gloria Beautyman, at least, will be giving us something that Life badly needs. Plot’. Life, Martin – and indeed your latest…

Channel Hopper

18 Feb 2010

A tough, highly trained US operative is chained to a wall soon to be tortured by a nasty European. Even when his captor brings out the jump leads, you just know he won’t talk. No, it’s not the 348th day of 24 but Archer (Fiver, Thu 25 Feb, 10.30pm), an…

Backbeat

18 Feb 2010

Iain Softley’s 1994 film Backbeat charted the pre-stardom career of The Beatles, focusing on the relationship between John Lennon, his best friend and fellow art student Stuart Sutcliffe, who succumbed to a brain tumour aged 22, and Sutcliffe’s lover…

Hot Chip

18 Feb 2010

You get the feeling that everyone who’s anyone in Edinburgh was out for this show. It wasn’t just a big gig, it was one by a band whose new album One Life Stand has set the benchmark for crossover electronic pop style in ‘10. Did it live up to its own…

Jeans Team

18 Feb 2010

Berlin duo Jeans Team have been doing the thing they do better than most and for longer too, both predating and outliving the electroclash scene during which they came to prominence, after originally emerging from Berlin’s art and music scene a decade…

Delphine De Vigan - No and Me

18 Feb 2010

(Bloomsbury) When Lou Bertignac decides to focus on the homeless of Paris for a school project, she is unprepared for the battle with herself she is about to undertake. Already life is barely tolerable with her dad often to be found crying in the…

Pedro Juam Gutierrez - Our GG in Havana

18 Feb 2010

(Faber) To fans of the author behind such classic works as Brighton Rock and The Quiet American, it might come as something of a surprise to read the first 30 pages in this curt novel. Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, himself the scribe of the acclaimed Dirty…

Andy C set for Xplicit show in Edinburgh

18 Feb 2010

Hooked on the rave and hardcore scene in the early 90s, it was Andy C’s formation of Ram Records back in 1992 that really helped secure his place as a D&B superstar. Specialising in the harder end of the spectrum, with names like Sub Focus, Chase…

Capitalism: A Love Story

18 Feb 2010

(12A) 102min Michael Moore’s credibility has taken something of a dint since the populist, glory days of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko, but his new opus sees him going for broke by taking on the whole capitalist system. But without his old pal George…

Kenny Knots set for date with Mungo’s Hi-Fi

18 Feb 2010

Genuine roots and dub from Kenny Knots, who started his career in reggae singing with North London’s Unity Sound System as a teenager in the 80s. Debut single ‘Watch How The People Dancing’ was his first big success going on to have releases on…

From Paris With Love

18 Feb 2010

(15) 92min Following on from his surprise action hit for Liam Neeson in Taken, Pierre Morel comes a cropper in his latest venture by teaming Jonathan Rhys Meyers and a shockingly bald John Travolta for the usual run-of-the-mill Parisian…

Life Long

18 Feb 2010

The Arches Off-Site strand continues with this peformance piece from Glas(s), which celebrates the 52-year marriage of Tillie and Ronnie Jeffrey, who met at Paisley Town Hall in 1952. The show movingly explores what it means to share a lifetime with one…

Solomon Kane

18 Feb 2010

(15) 104min Based on a lesser-known character by Conan The Barbarian creator Robert E Howard, James Purefoy dons Solomon Kane’s Witchfinder General hat and sets out to bloodily revenge the murder of an innocent family who befriended him. Jason…

Freestyle

18 Feb 2010

(12A) 85min Brit director Kolton Lee’s second feature, made under the auspices of Film London’s Microwave scheme, which also produced Shifty, stars Lucy Stanhope as Ondene, a young woman who falls for freestyle basketball player Leon Chambers (Arinze…

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

18 Feb 2010

Young violinist Nicola Benedetti performs an emotionally-loaded concerto from the Finnish composer, Sibelius, followed by Shostakovich’s epic Tenth Symphony. Shostakovich’s Tenth was the first the Russian composer had composed since he was denounced by…

The Room

18 Feb 2010

Is Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 horror the worst good bad film ever made? Allegedly screening for the first time ever at a Scottish cinema, you can now judge for yourselves. Late night screening. Cameo, Edinburgh on Sat 20 Feb.

Nosferatu

18 Feb 2010

FW Murnau’s 1922 expressionist horror masterpiece gets the live music treatment in this special one off screening. Filmhouse, Edinburgh on Sun 21 Feb.

Efterklang - Magic Chairs

17 Feb 2010

(4AD) If Alphabeat’s brand new sped-up hyper-pop effort The Spell makes you wonder what you ever saw in Denmark in the first place, fellow Danes, Efterklang deliver subtle, tinkling orchestral pop by way of national apology.

The best Wi-Fi cafés in Edinburgh and Glasgow

The Wi-Fi try guy

17 Feb 2010

Wi-Fi connectivity has become a staple feature of many handheld and portable gadgets, so you would think that the companies making them would have perfected it by now. Well, of course they haven’t, but is the technology good enough to at least beat the…

Glasgow Film Festival hosts UK premiere of The Greatest - Carey Mulligan interview

17 Feb 2010

In just a few years Brit actress Carey Mulligan has gone from guesting in Doctor Who to winning an Oscar nomination for her role in An Education. As her film, The Greatest, hits the Glasgow Film Festival, she tells James Mottram how she’s learning to…

Pere Ubu, Mogwai, Thomas Truax and Zombie Zombie set for The Glasgow Music and Film Festival

17 Feb 2010

The Music and Film Festival is a strange beast, full of contradictions and tangents that threaten to pull apart its coherence, but ultimately make it the most exciting strand of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival. Co-curated by the Arches, and featuring…

Glasgow Film Festival 2010 highlights

17 Feb 2010

Applause. Powerful Danish drama about an alcoholic actress and mother starring mighty Dogme poster girl Paprika Steen. Cineworld Renfrew Street, 1.15pm, Fri 19 and 6.30pm, Sat 20 Feb. The Girl on the Train Racism and suburban snobbery in modern…

The Knife (with Mt Sims and Planningtorock) - Tomorrow, in a Year

17 Feb 2010

(Brille) Darwin’s discoveries get the ‘electro meets classical’ treatment in this experimental tribute opera. Fever Ray, or Silent Shout fans will find it requires lots more ‘uphill’ from the listener, but if you’re in a mood to indulge the…

Holly Miranda - The Magician’s Private Library

17 Feb 2010

(XL Recordings) Produced by Dave ‘TV On the Radio’ Sitek (hands up who’s still not been produced by Dave, please), this impressive, otherworldly debut is floaty, Cat-Power-esque and sprinkled with Au Revoir Simone Casiotone beats.

Glasgow Film Festival - Cary Grant's Glasgow

17 Feb 2010

He scaled Mount Rushmore, romanced some of Hollywood’s most revered screen starlets, and was the epitome of suave for over thirty years. The debonair Mr Grant is no longer with us, but if you’re wanting a night out befitting his image, Glasgow can…

Glasgow Film Festival - A guide to Glasgow’s indie culture

17 Feb 2010

Glasgow’s many low-lit corners provide safe haven for the city’s cool crowd. One such place, within range of the CCA and GFT, is Variety (401 Sauchiehall Street), an effortlessly cool and tiny bar which pulls in a wide mix of customers eager to sample…

Glasgow Film Festival - A guide to Glasgow’s music and film culture

17 Feb 2010

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy 421 Sauchiehall Street The aptly named Nice ‘n’ Sleazy is one of the best watering holes in the city centre, and the place to go for a White Russian while perusing the fine list of tunes on the vintage jukebox. MacSorley’s 42…

Kill Your Timid Notion 2010 seeks to rewrite the rules of engagement

17 Feb 2010

This experimental sound and image festival has been disrupting the peace in Dundee for seven riotous, challenging and boundary-pushing years. For 2010, however, the artists are seeking something straightforward from their audiences – participation.

Legacy brings The Wire's Stringer to the big screen - Idris Elba interview

17 Feb 2010

Miles Fielder checks in with The Wire’s Idris Elba, who closes this year’s festival in Glasgow-produced film Legacy

Cabaret Voltaire celebrates fifth birthday

Guests include DC Breaks, Slam, Fenech-Soler, Zane Lowe and Tom Middleton

17 Feb 2010

‘Cabaret Voltaire is one of the most atmospheric spaces you could ever find an underground club. It’s a very rare music-orientated team that work here. We’re a little family that are incredibly passionate about what we do, and I feel that really comes…

Why Lady Gaga is the future of pop

17 Feb 2010

We tried to resist, honestly we did, but Lady Gaga got to The List in the end. It wasn’t the relentless, vom-inducing marketing campaign that did it either. No, no, we survived all that initial fluff; we battled triumphantly against the moneyed barrage…

The Still Point - Amy Sackville interview

17 Feb 2010

A married couple is asleep in bed. Back to back, knees bending, and feet touching, ‘they form the uneven outline of an urn’. Bizarrely, they are both dreaming of the same freezing cold place, but it means two very different things to them. To Simon, the…

Crazy Heart, Tender Mercies and country music on film

17 Feb 2010

Crazy Heart is a tale of alcoholism, love, redemption and country music. It has a healthy lineage writes Paul Dale

Glasgow Film Festival - A guide to Glasgow’s FashionArtFilm hotspots

17 Feb 2010

Glasgow has always been a hit with the cutting-edge fashion pack, and the style of the city percolates through into its inhabitants. Not far from Cineworld in the city centre, Che Camille (Argyll Chambers, 34 Buchanan Street) is an inspiring…

Singles and downloads - February 2010

17 Feb 2010

Let’s start this time with the newie from Sugababes version (counts on fingers) 4.0, because a new Sugababes single, ace or execrable, will always be worthy of discussion. And ‘Wear My Kiss’ (Island) ●●● is certainly blessed with a memorable chorus…

Why there's life in the book trade yet

Reading and righting

17 Feb 2010

Between the bankruptcy of Borders before Christmas and the oncoming onslaught of cheeky upstarts like the Kindle and the iPad, popular wisdom would have it that things are looking a little gloomy in the world of book selling. It’s certainly a…

Edinburgh Quartet - 50th anniversary gala concert

17 Feb 2010

As the highlight of their golden anniversary season, the Edinburgh Quartet celebrate in style with a special gala concert and new commission from composer Howard Blake, he of Snowman and ‘Walking in the Air’ fame. Blake also appeared as pianist in the…

The Lovely Bones

17 Feb 2010

(12A) 135min The problems with Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Alice Sebold’s popular novel run much deeper than the usual stumbling block of having a macabre subject matter. The casting of Mark Wahlberg as the grieving dad is seriously misjudged…

The Last Station

17 Feb 2010

(15) 112min It’s 1910 and the great Russian writer and aristocrat Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) has become a cult dissenting voice in Tsarist Russia. His writings and teachings on non violent resistance, state and property rights, chastity and…

Bonobo set for Edinburgh show at Departure Lounge

17 Feb 2010

Name Bonobo Occupation Soul, jazz, hip hop and electronica producer of note What kind of monkey business is this? OK, very clever. Bonobos are indeed a species of small Chimpanzees (which are apes not monkeys for the record) but the Bonobo…

Micmacs (Micmacs a Tire-Larignot)

17 Feb 2010

(12A) 104min The re-evaluation of the golden age of slapstick cinema (cue Paul Merton and sparse piano riff) comes full circle with this slight but enjoyably manic satire from Amélie and Delicatessen director Jean Pierre Jeunet. Left with a bullet…

Padded Cell set for date at Glasgow's Kitty Kat Klub

17 Feb 2010

Richard Sen is being a bit modest when he describes the music he makes alongside partner Neil Higgins in Padded Cell as ‘just dance music, really.’ Asked to elaborate a little further, he’ll concede that the duo are often lumped in with the nu-disco…

Errors set for date at Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow

17 Feb 2010

‘God, I hope it doesn’t get to the point where we all try to outdo each other and turn into Rush,’ shudders Errors’ drum leviathan James Hamilton, talking about the Glasgow quartet’s rousing group dynamic. ‘But the thing about playing in an instrumental…