Allan Radcliffe

Scott Capurro

A mix of the inspired and the obnoxious

21 Aug 2008

It’s been said that the older people get, the less worried they are about causing offence. Scott Capurro, veteran of some 15 Fringe summers, has clearly decided to go for broke this year, trampling all over every sacred cow and totem of political…

Behind The Mirror

Bizarre love triangle

21 Aug 2008

At first, Ad Infinitum’s infectious romp plays out like a physical theatre version of The Odd Couple, the buffoonish protagonist embarking on a slapstick turf war with his demonic reflection, who has escaped from his rightful side of the mirror. The…

I Can't Sleep by David O'Doherty

No cure for insomnia

14 Aug 2008

Next time you find yourself wide awake in the middle of the night, desperately trying to think of ways to make yourself tired, try taking a few leaves out of David O'Doherty's self-help manual for insomniacs. Rule number one: counting sheep is just…

Lost in the Wind

Lost Spectacles brings the outside inside

14 Aug 2008

Remember Let's Pretend, the kids TV show where the cast made up a play using whatever props and costumes found in the dressing-up box? This offbeat show from Lost Spectacles has a similarly patchwork feel to it. The cast use simple objects such as a…

A Night at the Movies

Classic scenes from the silver screen

7 Aug 2008

Golden moments from classic Hollywood films are the inspiration for this patchy production from US choreographers Gallimaufrey & Greene. While the intention is to provide an accessible entry point for theatregoers who are less familiar with contemporary…

Adventures of Butt Boy and Tigger

Polished insight into the joys of online dating

7 Aug 2008

Anyone who has dipped their toes in the choppy waters of internet dating will find this sparky, well-observed two-hander from Australia's Out Cast Theatre enjoyably close-to-the-knuckle. Butt Boy (Jamie) and Tigger (Matt) meet in a chatroom late one…

Cleansed

7 Aug 2008

The late Sarah Kane's writing is so spare and savage that it lends itself to multiple approaches. Sadly, the cast of this production by the University of the West of England's drama department drift through the playwright's tale of a torturer and his…

Clockheart Boy

Stylish, heart-rending tale

7 Aug 2008

There's an important piece missing from the Professor's puzzle: his daughter Sophie disappeared 28 years ago while out walking on the beach. Luckily, he's got an energetic bunch of eccentric pals living in his castle to help with the search and assist…

On The Waterfront

Stylish re-imagining of a screen classic

7 Aug 2008

The English National Theatre didn't know what to do with this project: a stage adaptation of the Budd Schulberg-scripted film that cemented Marlon Brando's status as the actor of his generation and scooped eight Oscars. Never one to shy away from a…

Reginald D Hunter

7 Aug 2008

Reg D manages to pull off the neat trick of delivering an hour of intelligent, edgy material to his largest audience to date with the laid-back nonchalance of a very charismatic pal waxing lyrical after a late-night toke. His narrative, about the…

The Time Step

Mother of a tragic-comedy

7 Aug 2008

The monstrous showbiz mother has a time-honoured pedigree in popular culture, from the ambitious Mama Rose in the stage musical Gypsy, to Faye Dunaway's outrageously camp turn as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest. In Matthew Hurt's claustrophobic chamber…

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

Bibi van der Zee - Rebel Rebel

31 Jul 2008

CAMPAIGNER BIBLE (Guardian Books) ‘Write to your MP!’ used to be the battle cry of every outraged rebel with a cause, whether that was to prevent the destruction of some local beauty spot by developers, conquering smut on the telly or campaigning to…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Karen Campbell

Edinburgh International Book Festival

22 Jul 2008

As luck would have it, Karen Campbell could draw on her former career in Strathclyde Police for inspiration for her literary debut. Published earlier this year, The Twilight Time is an atmospheric, fast-paced novel which introduced us to Anna Cameron, a…

The generation game

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

22 Jul 2008

Age is no barrier to performing at the Fringe. Allan Radcliffe talks to veteran stand-up Joan Rivers and 12-year-old debutant Eros Vlahos as they head to Edinburgh, armed with their own distinctive brands of innocence and experience

TV- Remote Control roundup

17 Jul 2008

Allan Radcliffe frets over the sickly state of terrestrial television

Burn Up

17 Jul 2008

DRAMA BBC1, Wed 23 & Fri 25 Jul, 9pm Meet Tom McConnell (Rupert Penry-Jones), VP of Arrow Oil, the most powerful business in the world. He’s square-jawed, blue-eyed with a cut glass accent and a line in motivational patter to rival stick-thumping…

David Sedaris - When You Are Engulfed in Flames

17 Jul 2008

ESSAY COLLECTION (Little, Brown) A criticism often aimed at writers once they reach the publication of their third or fourth book, is that they forget all the things that endeared them to the book-buying public in the first place, and either…

Edinburgh Fringe - LGBT Highlights

17 Jul 2008

Allan Radcliffe selects the best the Fringe has to offer in comedy, theatre and music

Food For Thought

3 Jul 2008

I’ll eat anything but I’m not a good cook and so I avoid cooking and food publications at every turn. I only do one dish well, and it’s easy: a salad featuring mozzarella, mint, peaches, lime juice, olive oil, and prosciutto. I like to drink tap water…

Ian Smith - Peeping at Bosch

3 Jul 2008

Some performance projects simply have to be seen to be believed. This is certainly the case with Mischief La-Bas’ fascinating slice of live, interactive entertainment, Peeping at Bosch, the first stage in an attempt to realise the iconic Hieronymus…

LGBT Youth Scotland National Gathering 2008

3 Jul 2008

YOUNG PEOPLE’S EVENT Westpark Conference Centre, Dundee, Sat 5 & Sun 6 Jul This year’s LGBT Youth Scotland National Gathering, ‘In Control, Your Life. Your Choices’, is a Scotland-wide event for LGBT young people up to the age of 26, their friends and…

Bang Bang

19 Jun 2008

CLUB NIGHT The Ivy, Glasgow, Thu 19 Jun Ladyfest has a lot to answer for. The annual celebration of female achievement in the arts drew enthusiastic crowds to its club nights and gigs when it pitched its tent in Glasgow last month. Once the circus had…

Food For Thought

19 Jun 2008

Breakfast is always the most important meal of the day. If unhurried (rarely), and in the right setting it is also my favourite meal of the day. In fact, Brodies breakfast tea is my favourite non-alcoholic drink . The most important ingredient for a…

Edinburgh International Film Festival - LGBT

5 Jun 2008

LGBT-INTEREST CINEMA Various venues, Edinburgh, Wed 18–Sun 29 Jun This year’s EIFF programme includes a handful of intriguing films featuring gay characters or themes. If it’s a mix of high camp, glamour and drama you’re after, look no further than…

Food For Thought

5 Jun 2008

When I’m performing it’s hard to get time for a proper dinner so I’ll usually have a bag of pistachios, a smoothie, maybe a nice nutty pie, little things to keep me going. I try to avoid cheese as it makes me phlegmy, but if I don’t have a performance…

The First to Go

5 Jun 2008

HOLOCAUST DRAMA Tron, Glasgow, until Sat 7 Jun, then touring Seeing disabled actors performing in a mainstream theatre is rare enough. Benchtours’ production of Nabil Shaban’s play about the treatment of the disabled in Nazi Germany is doubly…

Art School Degree Shows

22 May 2008

GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART Ragnar Jonasson Painter Originally from Iceland, Ragnar Jonasson paints, but not using brushes or canvas. ‘I’m pouring paint,’ he explains, ‘from saucepans. I pour it onto plastic, then peel it off, so there’s nothing…

Painted Eggs

22 May 2008

THEATRE St Bride’s Centre, Edinburgh, Thu 29–Sat 31 May Gay-themed theatre is a rare beast, but drama based around the experience of transsexuals is even more exceptional. This fortnight, The Luvvies, Scotland’s LGBT community theatre company, are set…

Brent Ghelfi - Volk’s Game

24 Apr 2008

CRIME THRILLER (Faber) This debut novel from former US Court of Appeals clerk Brent Ghelfi introduces us to Alexei Volkovoy. ‘Volk’ (‘wolf’), a one-time sniper for the Russian Army in Chechnya, is now an unscrupulous gangster commissioned to steal a…

Eurobeat – Almost Eurovision

10 Apr 2008

MUSICAL King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 22–Sat 26 Apr The Eurovision Song Contest has always been a beast of wild contradictions. The annual competition is regular derided for its middle-of-the-road compositions, political voting and the never-ending…

Joanne Proulx - Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet

10 Apr 2008

TEEN DRAMA (Picador) Hot on the heels of Academy Award-winning comedy Juno comes another enjoyable tale of a smart-mouthed North American trying to make sense of the adult world. Joanne Proulx’s debut centres around Luke Hunter who, in the opening…

Remote Control

10 Apr 2008

Nostalgia is currently big business, and television producers have always been quick to take advantage of our romantic yearning for times gone by, whether endlessly revisiting classic programmes or winding the clock back to our political and cultural…

The Quest for the Lost Ark

10 Apr 2008

DOCUMENTARY Channel 4, Mon 14 Apr, 9pm As Harrison Ford prepares to dust off his fedora, khaki shirt and bullwhip for the belated fourth instalment of Steven Spielberg’s swashbuckling Indiana Jones adventure series, a documentary about a non-fiction…

The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

13 Mar 2008

If there is still such a thing as ‘appointment television’ in this multi-channel age, The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is it. The adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s much- loved novel arrives on the small screen this fortnight thanks to a wealth of…

Alan Grant & Cam Kennedy - Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

13 Mar 2008

LITERARY ADAPTATION (Waverley) The second One Book – One Edinburgh graphic novel adaptation was never going to be a straightforward reprise of last year’s successful Kidnapped campaign, even based around a source novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Katherine Ashenburg - Clean: An Unsanitised History of Washing

13 Mar 2008

SOCIAL HISTORY (Profile) For germophobic Westerners in the 21st century, it’s customary to shower at least once a day before applying any number of perfumes and deodorants; anything less would be considered a sign of slovenliness. Yet, as Katherine…

Aye Write! - China

28 Feb 2008

What do Westerners really know about the People’s Republic of China? Our understanding of the world’s biggest nation is chiefly drawn from news reports about the country’s booming economy, her patchy human rights record and controversial intervention in…

Glasgow Comedy Festival - Lesbian comedians

28 Feb 2008

Stand-up comedy has always provided a platform for historically oppressed minorities. From the self-deprecatory Borscht belt humour of Mel Brooks and Rodney Dangerfield through Richard Pryor’s fearless exploration of racism to the feminist material of…

From Saturn to Glasgow: a celebration of Edwin Morgan

28 Feb 2008

POETRY EVENT Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Sun 9 Mar While the guid folk of Edinburgh are enjoying Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, this year’s Glasgow City Read focuses on a new poetry collection, From Saturn to Glasgow: Fifty Favourite Poems by Edwin…

Tony Parsons - My Favourite Wife

14 Feb 2008

RELATIONSHIP DRAMA (HarperCollins) The question of whether it’s possible to truly love more than one person is perhaps the most enduring theme in world literature. Writers as diverse as Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens, DH Lawrence and Vladimir Nabokov…

OurSpace

31 Jan 2008

What better way of rescuing the neglected history of the nation’s LGBT community than through the great Scottish tradition of storytelling? OurSpace: Making Inner and Outer Space for LGBT Lives presents a wide array of LGBT lives through oral histories…

Alain Mabanckou - African Pycho

Serpent’s Tail

31 Jan 2008

With six novels and six collections of poetry under his belt, Congo-born, LA-dwelling Alain Mabanckou is one of the most fêted of contemporary Francophone writers. African Psycho, the first in a series of translations of his novels to be published by…

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

17 Jan 2008

MUSICAL Playhouse, Edinburgh, until Sat 19 Jan Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s enduring piece of theatrical bubblegum may have started life as a modest school production, but the atmosphere in the packed Playhouse auditorium is as feverish as a…

Queer Mutiny

17 Jan 2008

ALTERNATIVE GAY NIGHT Forest Café, Edinburgh, Fri 18 Jan The dark nooks and free’n’easy hedonism of gay venues such as the Polo Lounge and CC Blooms aren’t for everyone. Queer Mutiny and Queeruption groups are springing up across the world. Their…

LGBT-Friendly Sports Clubs

4 Jan 2008

ACTIVITIES ROUND-UP Bloated from the Christmas blow-out? Struggling to downsize following excessive festive feasting? Instead of adding your name to the waiting list for an emergency tummy tuck why not fight the flab and extend your social network by…

Preview 2008 - Technology

4 Jan 2008

Technology is advancing at such a rapid pace that predicting the future with any accuracy is becoming increasingly tricky. As might be expected, media technology is set to become faster, more powerful, more efficient, cheaper, more portable and more…

Hot 100 - 2007's hottest talent

13 Dec 2007

Scottish culture has shone in 2007, and so have Scottish stars. Throughout the year we have been working tirelessly to spot the hottest talent out there. We also invited you to nominate the people, places and events you think have made the greatest…

Stockholm and Reykjavik

13 Dec 2007

Let there be light As the largest metropolis in the biggest of the Nordic countries Stockholm proudly lays claim to be the capital of Scandinavia. Yet, the city – essentially a collection of small islands which collide at the point where the Baltic in…

Christmas Clubbing

13 Dec 2007

Various venues, Glasgow and Edinburgh ROUND-UP It’s a sad and oft-remarked fact that the original meaning of Christmas is often eschewed in favour of rampant consumerism and institutionalised gluttony. We at The List feel it’s time to redress…

Jack and the Beanstalk (Dundee Rep)

13 Dec 2007

The Pitch Plucky young Jack (Kevin Lennon) and his yummy mum Alice (John Buick) are facing eviction, so Jack is dispatched to Dunbletherin’ market to sell prize cow Susannah. When the unfortunate bovine ends up in the grubby mitts of rogue debt…

World AIDS Day

29 Nov 2007

AWARENESS-RAISING Various events, Sat 1 Dec Now in its 20th year, World AIDS Day is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic and related issues. The event, which takes place annually on 1 December, is the culmination of a year-round…

Duran Duran

15 Nov 2007

NEW ROMANTIC LEGENDS Red Carpet Massacre (RCA) In the 20-odd years since the original fab five went their separate ways, Duran Duran have plastered the cracks in their line-up with contributions from session musicians and legendary producers such as…

GHQ

15 Nov 2007

NEW VENUE Allan Radcliffe savours a gay venue with a difference in the capital According to a recent study by Washington’s Urban Institute, which highlighted indicators of a city’s economic success, one of the marks of a thriving urban economy…

The Producers

15 Nov 2007

MUSICAL King’s Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 17 November It’s a rule of thumb that celebrities cast in touring musicals to pull in floating punters will require some degree of propping up by the singing/dancing pros in the company. Certainly…

Erwin Mortier - review

Childhnood tale

1 Nov 2007

The latest novel from award-winning Flemish author Erwin Mortier is a typically lyrical exploration of the wonders and perplexities of childhood. Poised on the verge of adolescence, Joris reports on the inconsistencies and strange peccadilloes of the…

The Witnesses

18 Oct 2007

AIDS DRAMA (15) 114min The lively opening chapter of André Téchiné’s (Wild Reeds, Alice et Martin) engrossing new ensemble piece captures the bright, colourful look and fruity feel of the Gallic comedy of manners as the love lives of a group of…

The outer limits

6 Sep 2007

We packed Allan Radcliffe and Kirstin Innes off on two very different Scottish weekend breaks – the former thrown to the wind in the rugged peninsula of Knoydart, the latter placed in the lap of luxury in a country house – with strict orders to…

Debbie Does Dallas - The Musical

23 Aug 2007

There’s a very fine line between a send-up of a ropey cultural item and something that’s just plain ropey. Almost from its shrill opening bars it becomes crystal clear that Debbie Does Dallas – The Musical has crossed the line. The fundamental…

Flamenco con Fusion

23 Aug 2007

Ricardo Garcia’s Familia Flamenca exemplifies the drama that can be created from a simple fusion of virtuoso musicianship and strong, deft footwork. Even stripped down to acoustic instruments, voices and movement, the show is no less uplifting. Whether…

Kim Hope

23 Aug 2007

A fizzing ball of nervous energy, Hope bounds onstage, announces she’s going to do an hour on the theme of time then proceeds to waste a great deal of the precious stuff gurning and flapping her arms maniacally. There’s a diverting bit of audience…

Nathan Englander

(Faber)

23 Aug 2007

Nathan Englander, the New York-born author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, makes a confident leap from critically acclaimed short story writer to novelist with the audacious The Ministry of Special Cases. It's set in 1970s Buenos Aires during…

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…

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…

Germaine Greer

16 Aug 2007

Writer, academic, critic and commentator Germaine Greer has been a particularly bristly thorn in establishment sides for the best part of 40 years. A native of Melbourne, she sprang fully-formed onto the global literary stage with The Female Eunuch, her…

Jason Manford

16 Aug 2007

Too much success early on in a career can be a double-edged sword. Jason Manford first came to attention two years ago with an inspired, Perrier-nominated debut in which he exploded various urban myths and apocryphal tales. As a fan of that auspicious…

Méli Mélo II

16 Aug 2007

Parody is a tricky thing to pull off. There’s a risk that, while attempting to point out the absurdity of the medium you’re lampooning, you destroy what made it worth imitating in the first place. Happily, Chicos Mambos succeed in negotiating that…

Mohsin Hamid

16 Aug 2007

‘Write about what you know’ is perhaps the most cogent piece of advice given to aspiring authors. Pakistan-born, Harvard-educated novelist Mohsin Hamid set out to do just that with his follow-up to the critically acclaimed Moth Smoke, penning a book…

Ruth Thomas

16 Aug 2007

Things to Make and Mend is a quiet, moving, wryly amusing work which explores themes of friendship, class and betrayal. Ruth Thomas highlights her themes through the turbulent relationship between two very different women, Rowena and Sally, who first…

Sally-Anne Hayward

16 Aug 2007

In this comedy show-within-a-show, Hayward ponders her status as the offspring of 70s nearly man of variety, ‘Squire’ Ronnie Hayward. Despite a breakneck delivery, which occasionally threatens to gobble up her punchlines, Hayward’s colourful…

The Pirate, The Potato & The Camel (Not Forgetting the Parrot)

16 Aug 2007

Imagine being stranded on a desert island for weeks on end, with no gameboys, no DVDs and no one but a mouthy parrot for company. Oh, and sand. Lots of sand. The marooned pirate hero of this fun, colourful show from Top Edge Productions, staves off…

Tripod

16 Aug 2007

Australian musical comedy act Tripod could wring a few immediate laughs simply by virtue of their unlikely physical make-up. There’s the spindly, bespectacled guitarist who’s a dead- ringer for a young Maurice Gibb; the tall, excitable mop-top; and the…

Alice Munro

Canadian legend in LongPen revolution

9 Aug 2007

A standard piece of advice given to budding fiction writers eager for publication is to forget airy fairy, uncommercial notions of publishing short stories and dive headfirst into the novel.

Janey Godley

9 Aug 2007

‘The most outspoken female stand-up in Britain’ likes to think of her show less as a routine and more of a informal chat among friends. Certainly, the fact that Godley’s reminiscences take in such close-to-the-knuckle subjects as child abuse, murder and…

Joyce Carol Oates

9 Aug 2007

The legendary French actress Jeanne Moreau once compared the versatility and precision of Oates’ writing to witchcraft. Oates once said of her own work, ‘I’m drawn to failure. I feel that I’m contending with it constantly in my own life’. This perhaps…

Mark McNay

9 Aug 2007

A piece of advice often doled out to people with creative aspirations is ‘don’t give up the day job’.

Own Powell

9 Aug 2007

An hour of stand-up on the subject of Starbucks doesn’t sound like everyone’s cup of java chip frappuccino. But Powell’s intense, nervy quest to track the two closest UK branches of the coffee chain actually proves quirkily entertaining. His odyssey is…

Paul Sinha

King of the comedy world

9 Aug 2007

Paul Sinha has a simple recipe for enjoying life. He wants us all to remember those fleeting moments when we felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. While Sinha’s King of the World moments are rather more everyday than balancing on the prow of a doomed…

Simon Brodkin

A one-man comedy club

9 Aug 2007

In this age of panel gameshows and 15-minute slots on Radio 4, a solid hour of stand-up is simply too strenuous for performers and audiences suffering from an attention span bypass. Simon Brodkin thinks he’s found the answer to this thorny issue. The…

State of Matter

9 Aug 2007

The stark lighting and simple uniform of black tailcoats characterise the restraint that permeates this performance by Hereford’s 2FaCeD DaNcE Company. There is no narrative to this show, rather it is a collection of unrelated set pieces, the…

Whiff

9 Aug 2007

Kipper Tie theatre’s tale of how Whiff the big, fat, smelly baby warthog, surmounts his rather unfortunate body odour problem and propensity to attract ‘tickly quickly flies’, to finally find a firm friend, is told without fuss or frills. But the lack…

Just an illusion

1 Aug 2007

Ask most people what they think of magic, and you’re likely to be greeted with snorts of derision. The British public’s perception of stage magic is still recovering from the glitter-festooned nightmare of spinning plates and disappearing rabbits that…

Joanna Neary

1 Aug 2007

Joanna Neary is perhaps the most industrious character comedian on the circuit. While lesser mortals such as Steve Coogan and Barry Humphries can only stretch to a handful of roles in an entire career, Neary has enough offbeat and grotesque personas in…

Kidsamonium

1 Aug 2007

While jazz improv may not immediately spring to mind as ideal kids entertainment, Tom Bancroft, drummer and innovator behind the hugely successful children’s jazz orchestra, Kidsamonium, begs to differ.

Tap Olé

1 Aug 2007

The words ‘Spanish’ and ‘dance’ are most likely to conjure up visions of a twisting bolero or majestic sarabande.

Kate Adie

19 Jul 2007

Kate Adie talks to Allan Radcliffe about her career in the frontline of news journalism and her refusal to let sentiment undermine the pursuit of facts

Loung Ung

Edinburgh International Book Festival

19 Jul 2007

Edinburgh International Book Festival Surviving the peace Author, campaigner and victim of Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia, bestselling writer Loung Ung talks to Allan Radcliffe about how she managed to carry on after the hell of the killing fields

Score

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

19 Jul 2007

Edinburgh Festival Fringe A question of sport Allan Radcliffe talks to Quentin Ogier of 2002 Fringe award-winners Au Cul du Loup about their games-themed show

Edinburgh Film Festival New Writing Awards

News

17 Jul 2007

Best in show The List launches the Edinburgh Film Festival New Writing Awards. Words: Allan Radcliffe Since 2005 The List has collaborated with the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain to present awards for the best new writing in comedy and…

Remote Control

17 Jul 2007

Remote Control Allan Radcliffe finds that, while reality doesn’t necessarily suck, it often lacks bite The old adage that the truth is stranger than fiction appears more crucial to programme-makers now than ever before. While reality shows…

Heroes

17 Jul 2007

SCI-FI HEROES BBC2, Wed 25 Jul, 9pm ‘Hokum’ doesn’t even begin to describe Heroes. Essentially a long-winded version of X-Men, the opening volume follows a group of strangers from around the globe who come to realise that they have been…

Lin Anderson

16 Jul 2007

Flight of fancy Edinburgh crime writer Lin Anderson tells Allan Radcliffe that living in Nigeria and feasting on the news have both influenced her latest novel Lin Anderson has tended to get lumped in with the Tartan Noir squad of Scottish…

LongPen technology brings Mailer and Munro to Edinburgh

19 Jun 2007

Words: Allan Radcliffe (Image: left to right - Ben Okri, Norman Mailer, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro) With the announcement of its programme for August 2007 an intriguing new chapter has opened for the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The…

Burns an’ a’ That festival line-up unveiled

22 May 2007

Words: Allan Radcliffe (Picture: Deacon Blue (left) and the MacDonald Brothers (right)) The sixth Burns an’ a’ That festival, which takes place from Wednesday 23-Monday 28 May, features an enticing programme of entertainment, music, dance…

Esther Freud

21 May 2007

Esther Freud has been called ‘the best writer about childhood we have.’ Certainly, since her 1992 autobiographical debut Hideous Kinky, the tale of two young girls accompanying their free-spirited mother on a pilgrimage to 1960s Marrakech, her work has…

My French Whore

7 May 2007

ROMANCE DRAMA