Issue 697
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- Issue 697
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Dexys - One Day I’m Going To Soar
21 May 2012
Full of wit, panache, brutal self-examination and abundant tunefulness
The title alone gives you a tingling feeling that something glorious and redemptive lies within: and so it proves on Dexys’ – formerly Dexys Midnight Runners – first new album in 27 years. Following the young soul rebels’ disastrous plunge in fortunes…
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
18 May 2012
Crisp restoration of the 1940s satire by Powell and Pressburger
Spry and delightful nearly 70 years on, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is one of many masterpieces from filmmaking virtuosos Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, collectively known as The Archers. Their fifth collaboration, from 1943, is an…
If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle
18 May 2012
Drama depicting tensions of prison society from Romanian director
18-year-old Silviu (George Pistereanu) has nine days left to serve of what has been an uneventful, well-behaved prison sentence. When an unexpected visit from his younger brother brings some unwelcome news, Silviu’s previously-held composure begins to…
Famous Spiegeltent to close off George Street
18 May 2012
The venue will be linked to the recently-refurbished Assembly Rooms
Part of George Street will be closed off to traffic during August to make way for The Famous Spiegeltent. The venue, which has been a fixture at the Fringe since 1985, will be erected as part of a pedestrianised terrace in front of the newly refurbished…
The Source
18 May 2012
A sincere story of the struggle for female emancipation in an African village
You could easily dismiss The Source as a simplistic, sentimental fare but the latest film from director Radu Mihaileanu (The Concert, Live And Become etc.) is told with such warmth and sincerity that it is hard to resist. The struggle for female…
2 Days in New York
18 May 2012
Modern screwball comedy from writer, director and actor Julie Delpy
In the intermittently sparkling sequel to 2007’s 2 Days in Paris, writer-director-actor Julie Delpy once again turns her attention to family dysfunction. This time her alter-ego’s Parisian family are holidaying at her NY home, where they continue to…
Even The Rain
18 May 2012
Well-intentioned, if heavy-handed, political drama from writer Paul Laverty
The sting of injustice and oppression echoes down the centuries in Even The Rain, an ambitious, well-intentioned political drama from writer Paul Laverty and his partner, director Iciar Bolain. Inspired by true events, the film is set in…
Moonrise Kingdom
17 May 2012
Wes Anderson's latest echoes his earlier triumphs, but breaks no new ground
Wes Anderson’s seventh film feels like a Greatest Hits package. Which if you’re a Wes fan will make you very happy. Set on a New England island in the summer of 1965, the opening sequence of Moonrise Kingdom, with its incessant camera-pans around the…
SAY Award shortlist announced
17 May 2012
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat, Mogwai and Rustie nominated for inaugural Scottish Album of the Year
The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) shortlist has been announced today. After some toothcomb sifting and careful deliberation, the judging panel have whittled down the nominations from a beefy 20 to a lean top 10. Through some hi-tech gadgetry, savvy…
Death Watch
16 May 2012
Well-deserved re-issue of Bertrand Tavernier's prescient Glasgow-set sci-fi thriller
Its plot is a credibility stretch even in these days of de rigueur media paranoia, and its relentlessly murky, moody tone might raise the odd giggle, but Tavernier’s long-neglected sci-fi curiosity is compelling nonetheless. Romy Schneider plays…
Polisse
16 May 2012
Sprawling French ensemble drama that veers between compelling and ridiculous
This sprawling ensemble film, which tracks the harrowing daily routines of a Parisian Child Protection Unit, veers wildly between the compelling and the ridiculous. Scripted and directed by Maiwenn, with Emmaneulle Bercot acting as co-writer, it shifts…
Sing Your Song
16 May 2012
A thorough account of the life of Harry Belafonte that occasionally lapses into hagiography
This timely and thorough account of the extraordinary life of Harry Belafonte finds so much in its subject that it almost suffers by an over-abundance of material. A matinee idol whose benign appeal to white audiences masked fierce political…
The Turin Horse
16 May 2012
Hard-going but profoundly rewarding piece of arthouse cinema from Bela Tarr
This mournful fable isn’t exactly going to win a whole new crossover audience for Hungary’s master of arthouse tough love, Béla Tarr, but it’s a compelling, vividly realised addition to his unique oeuvre. As a father and daughter scrabble for a living…
Simon Jones to star in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show - Live!
15 May 2012
Neil Gaiman and Billy Boyd to perform cameo roles
Life, the Universe and Everything are reimagined in a new stage production of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, touring to Glasgow’s Theatre Royal this month. Original cast members from the long-running radio series reunite, alongside…
Brian Conley to play Fagin in Oliver!
15 May 2012
The new Cameron Mackintosh production is stopping at Edinburgh's Playhouse
‘Cameron Mackintosh doesn’t do small,’ announces Brian Conley, his warm grin a lifetime away from the Fagin character he depicts in the Scots impressario’s successful revival of Oliver!. TV star Conley’s acclaimed turns in Jolson and Hairspray suggest a…
Sleeping Beauty Insomnia
15 May 2012
Israeli War-set play with absorbing characterisation and comedy
Lebanese playwright Abdelrahim Alawji bounds to the front of the stage. ‘This play is set in a theatre, during the Israeli war, where people used to hide during the...’ Then boom, acrid smoke and the lights go up on two figures clinging on to each…
Martin Lawrance on Dance GB
15 May 2012
The Scottish Ballet choreographer will share a bill with English and Welsh national dance companies
‘Am I allowed to swear?’ asks Martin Lawrance politely, before going on to describe how he felt when Scottish Ballet first knocked at his door. Suffice to say, he was a little nervous. A dancer with Richard Alston Dance Company for many years…
Gordon Barr on Bard in the Botanics 2012
15 May 2012
The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It to be staged in Glasgow's Botanic Gardens
This season, for us as we move into our second decade, is all about discovery, exploration and new horizons so we were looking for plays that tied in to those themes. The link to The Tempest is fairly clear but As You Like It covers some similar ground…
Irene MacDougall to play female Prospero in Dundee Rep's The Tempest
15 May 2012
Caliban and Ariel also adapted as female roles in new production
Irene MacDougall has been a member of the Dundee Rep ensemble since its inception, but 2012 will mark her first turn in The Tempest. Like Helen Mirren in Julie Taymor’s recent film of Shakespeare’s classic, MacDougall will play Prospero as a female. The…
Theatre and dance highlights of the West End Festival 2012
15 May 2012
Featuring Pygmalion, Man of the House and Pulse 12
At first glance, the theatre and dance programme for this year’s West End Festival looks a bit traditional as the team from A Play, a Pie and a Pint offers up Shaw and Jarry classics while The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet are brought back for the Bard…
Beckett double bill to be staged at The Citz
15 May 2012
Director Dominic Hill discusses his productions of Krapp's Last Tape and Footfalls
Following on from the success of his productions of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal and Shakespeare’s King Lear, Dominic Hill concludes his inaugural season at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre with a double bill of short plays by the great, Irish dramatist Samuel…
Blue Raincoat theatre company to tour Ionesco's The Chairs
15 May 2012
Director Niall Henry discusses the fêted production
After a five-year tug of war over rights, Sligo-based Blue Raincoat arrives in Scotland this month with its fêted production of Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs. Director Niall Henry, who co-founded the company in 1991, is thrilled about the tour and cites…
Claire Sweeney takes lead role in Educating Rita revival
15 May 2012
The actress discusses Willy Russell's much-loved script
Whether on stage or screen, few can forget Willy Russell’s young, earnest heroine, in Educating Rita, a working class girl hungry for education who finds herself under the tutelage of a lost, boozed up lecturer, searching for life beyond academia. For…
Dry the River - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Sun 22 Apr
14 May 2012
Unbalanced mix of noisy rock and gospel from the London five-piece
It’s hard to pigeonhole this band. Not only do the hairy, tattooed Londoners hammer their instruments into a mesh of roaring noise that causes each instrument to become almost unidentifiable from the next, they also sing like choir boys. Dry the River…
Dan Mangan – Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 29 Apr
14 May 2012
The Canadian folk-pop tunesmith unleashes his experimental side
Dan Mangan has previously mentioned that his band members ‘come from an experimental and free-jazz background’ – something that might not be immediately apparent on record but is plainly obvious at tonight’s performance. The brief squalls of noise that…
