Issue 702
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- Issue 702
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Gagaku, the ancient music of Japan, comes to the Edinburgh International Festival
11 Aug 2012
One-off performance to showcase the world's oldest orchestra tradition
If you think Western classical music is ancient – and let’s face it, even Bach dates back over 300 years – it’s a mere youngster compared with gagaku. The music of the Japanese imperial court, which gets a very rare British outing as part of the…
Russell Kane talks pop music, Indian food and bad hair - interview
11 Aug 2012
The comic and author answers our questions ahead of his appearances at Book Festival and Fringe
First record you ever bought ‘I Should Be So Lucky.’ Last extravagant purchase you made My new Prius. First film you saw that really moved you Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Last lie you told It won’t hurt, I promise. First…
The Freewheelin' Cariad Lloyd
11 Aug 2012
A shaky start gives way to a turbo-charged character comedy show
Last year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer nominee returns with that ‘difficult second show’ (her words) which, as it turns out, gets off to a wobbly start but ends with the kind of big bang that that leaves one wanting to see a lot more of this…
Jessie Cave: Bookworm
11 Aug 2012
A bookish, kooky, bolshy hour
Jessie Cave has a thing about books. She also has a thing about power. Founding a book club is a given. Giddy with excitement, Cave parades her many eccentricities while laying down the various rules of book club. Before becoming an actress (she played…
Lone & Lando Kal to play on double bill at Sub Club
11 Aug 2012
Futuristic chill-out and hip hop from the Boards of Canada influence and Lazersword man respectively
Either one of the artists appearing on this double bill, the latest to celebrate the Sub Club’s 25th anniversary, would be working us up into a hot sweat, so to have both appearing together surely guarantees Glasgow’s least missable club show of the…
The Pin
11 Aug 2012
Layered sketch comedy from ex-Footlighters Ben Ashenden, Mark Fiddaman and Alex Owen
The beauty of sketch comedy lies within its potential to bring together the two worlds of theatre and comedy with the aim of creating something far larger and more consuming. With such limitless opportunity though comes great risk: a bombed gag, an…
Sulle Labbra Tue Dolcissime (On Your Honey Lips)
11 Aug 2012
Sensual slow-burning dance from Siena
This intriguing piece from Siena-based Francesca Selva Company is a bit of a slow burner. But stick with it and it will reap delicious visual rewards. Starting with the image of a dove -- part of Giovanni Mezzedimi's multimedia collaboration with…
Rhys Darby: This Way to the Spaceship
11 Aug 2012
Conchords star makes stratospheric rise
It’s likely that Rhys Darby has been able to fill this very large venue thanks to his success as hapless band manager Murray Hewitt on Flight of the Conchords. But he proves in This Way to Spaceship that he’s much more than Murray, though he throws out…
Thread
11 Aug 2012
Poignant site-specific evocation of life and loss
After the success of last year’s Allotment, Nutshell Theatre returns with an immersive evocation of nostalgia, memory and love as the forces that bind us together in the second part of their thematic trilogy. The audience is invited to the Burntisland…
Lapin Wants Ice Cream
11 Aug 2012
Puppets on the beach à la Française
With a pre-schooler’s brain bearing a remarkable resemblance to a sponge, it’s the perfect time to introduce a foreign language to them. Tania Czajka knows this, and has created a cast of fun characters to deliver the message. Holidaying on the beach…
Shappi Khorsandi: Dirty Looks and Hopscotch
11 Aug 2012
Consummate if conventional comedy from the Iranian comic
From the outset, the Iranian comedian has the crowd in the palm of her hand. Shappi Khorsandi is confident and charming and cute, and she seems to know just how far to push the lewd jokes. And the large audience that’s largely made up of an elderly…
WitTank
11 Aug 2012
Disappointing show from the recently televised comedy trio
The comedy troupe of three return to the Fringe after a bout at the Beeb with more of their quick and quicker-fire sketch show fare. Occupying the ground between enthusiastic amateurs and reliable professionals, WitTank tick all the boxes with a show…
Sean Hughes: Life Becomes Noises
11 Aug 2012
Comedy show that shifts seamlessly between pathos and gags
It’s been noted in previous years that there are a lot of dad-dying shows about. But it’s one of those big life events, so why wouldn’t you write a show about it? Sean Hughes’ father died of cancer last year, but what this show certainly isn’t is some…
Eat, sleep and breathe: The Vocal Orchestra
11 Aug 2012
The beatboxing group's Robin Bailey shares their touring habits
What time is breakfast? Normally around 10am as we tend to have gigs that go on quite late into the evenings, but earlier brekkie in rehearsal periods. Tea or coffee? Coffee for sure, preferably latte. Smoking or non-smoking? Non-smoking…
Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro!
10 Aug 2012
An operatic voyage around his father
The very least you would expect from a show about a son arranging for an opera to be performed in his dying father’s living room is to be moved. And in Bravo Figaro!, Mark Thomas achieves that on at least two occasions, but in surprising ways and at…
2012 Edinburgh Book Festival reflects on 1962 Edinburgh World Writers' Conference
10 Aug 2012
50 years on from landmark event featuring Burroughs, Mailer, MacDiarmid and Trocchi
In 1962, the Edinburgh World Writers Conference caused a literary stir as the likes of Burroughs, Mailer and Trocchi came to town. Fifty years on, the Book Festival marks that vibrant occasion with a new set of talks and speakers. We talk to some of…
Interview: Kieran Hurley's Beats performed at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival
10 Aug 2012
Explores collective and individual identity during decade of rave culture
Kieran Hurley’s play, Beats, resurrects the 90s via one boy’s journey though the club landscape of 1994. Written, directed and performed by Hurley alongside DJ Johnny Whoop and VJ Jamie Wardrop, it’s a story of ‘chemical excess’, love, longing and…
Interview: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak set for keynote address at Turing Festival
10 Aug 2012
Computer pioneer talks on the art of technology at Edinburgh festival
Ahead of his keynote address at the Turing Festival, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, speaks to Gail Tolley about fostering entrepreneurial spirit, the opportunities technology offers in the arts and being an artist of a different kind.
Behind the scenes at NVA's Speed of Light
10 Aug 2012
Account of walking participation in Edinburgh International Festival event
It’s been described as looking like the movie Tron, a human work of art and a sci-fi sports endeavour, against the most famous silhouette Edinburgh has to offer. Rhona Taylor takes to the hills, and investigates what NVA’s much-talked-about Speed of…
Interview: Yiyun Li answers questions ahead of 2012 Edinburgh Fringe
10 Aug 2012
The Chinese American author will unveil new short story collection Elsewhere and chat to Hari Kunzru
First record you ever bought I don’t remember Last extravagant purchase you made An 1894 edition of Turgenev’s Sketches from a Hunter’s Album. First film you saw that really moved you Casablanca. Last lie you told I can’t remember. First…
Edinburgh Festival pre-sales increase in 2012 despite Olympic fever
10 Aug 2012
Olympic TV viewing figures thought to have little effect on final ticket sales figure
With the 2012 London Olympics drawing sky-high television ratings – 10.7 million viewers tuned in to watch Andy Murray win gold in the Olympic tennis final last Sunday afternoon while a further 10.1 million watched Chris Hoy take his second gold on…
The Clipperton Project
10 Aug 2012
An uninhabited island becomes an idea at the 2012 Edinburgh Art Festival
Clipperton is an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico. To a group of modern day expeditionaries this island has also become an idea. In March this year 20 artists and scientists from eight different countries embarked on a…
Interview: Kevin Harman at 2012 Edinburgh Art Festival
10 Aug 2012
Recent work on 24-hour consumer culture by graduate of Edinburgh College of Art
What was the first exhibition you went to see? It was in the national gallery of Scotland on a school trip. I remember a painting with a woman’s boob on a plate. I distinctly remember that painting as it done a sex thing to me. What was your first…
Best in the World
10 Aug 2012
Uplifting darts drama hits the target
Only the other day Usain Bolt declared himself the ‘greatest athlete to live’. Alex Elliott might take umbrage with that. In Best in the World, he proposes another: a balding 52-year-old with a hefty circumference by the name of Phil ‘The Power…
Art & Language
10 Aug 2012
Intriguing but ultimately impenetrable overview of conceptual movement
Intriguing but ultimately impenetrable overview of conceptual movement Doing little to counteract the idea that conceptual art is a tough sell at the best of times, this sample display of pieces from the collective body behind the Art & Language…
