Jen Bowden
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New David Greig play Found at Sea follows two 50-something men sailing to island
22 Jan 2013
Play features work by Andrew Greig and singer Rachel Newton
David Greig is on an island, but his vista of the Manhattan skyline is a mile away from the deserted setting of his latest production, Found at Sea. ‘In the midst of life there’s a point where you have to cast off,’ he says, ‘and this is about what…
Mysterious paper sculptures to reappear for Book Week Scotland
23 Nov 2012
Anonymous sculptor plans to hide new pieces throughout Scotland
The artist behind the mysterious paper sculptures that appeared throughout Edinburgh in 2011 has announced that five more creations will be found during Book Week Scotland. The anonymous sculptor is planning to hide these new pieces in five secret…
Scottish Book of the Year Award 2012 shortlist announced
16 Nov 2012
Nominees include Alan Warner, Aonghas MacNeacail, Carol Ann Duffy, Ewan Morrison and Irvine Welsh
The shortlist has been announced for the 2012 Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year. This years award will be chosen from a list of seven authors including James Kelman, Irvine Welsh and Kathleen Jamie to become the best Scottish book of…
Farmhouse
17 Oct 2012
Psychological thriller-cum-genre mixing semi-fairytale let down by a disappointing script
Farmhouse, the latest production from Edinburgh-based theatre company Siege Perilous, opens with Anthony, and his pregnant partner Claire, seeking help from a nearby farmhouse when their car breaks down in the country. After helping them patch up the…
Actor Blythe Duff takes the lead role in Rona Munro's Iron
15 Oct 2012
The Taggart star is to play a convicted murderer who is visited in prison by her daughter
After 21 years as DS Jackie Reid on the TV series Taggart, now Blythe Duff is on the other side of the prison walls playing inmate Fay in Rhona Munro's drama Iron. Though, she insists, her choice of genre is nothing more than coincidence; 'I wouldn't…
Lavinia Greenlaw set for Edinburgh International Book Festival date
19 Aug 2012
Poetry collection The Casual Perfect addresses getting older
At 49, Lavinia Greenlaw is hardly ancient, but her thoughts turn to the experience of getting older in her most recent collection of poetry, The Casual Perfect. ‘I wondered for years, thinking, if the casual perfect were a tense, what would it be? Then…
Pat Barker - Toby’s Room
19 Aug 2012
The novelist's latest war story also deals with art, history and incest
Pat Barker has rarely strayed from the war novel since the success of her ‘Regeneration’ trilogy in the early 90s. And although Toby’s Room follows this well-trodden historical path, the story is far from familiar. Toby and Elinor Brooke are brother…
Armageddapocalypse: Threat Level Dead
13 Aug 2012
Brilliant high-energy comedy taking action movie spoof to new levels
Armageddapocalypse is not just a spoof of every action movie ever made. It takes spoof to new levels, blasting it through the air with one liners and quick-fire sketches, before machine-gunning it to pieces with satire and sarcasm. It’s high-energy…
Catie Wilkins: Joy Is My Middle Name
13 Aug 2012
Mildly feminist, endearingly self-deprecating and funny
Catie Wilkins is an unusual comedian; she’s shy, she says and as she steps onto the stage blinking she looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Luckily for her, she also ‘gets off on peril’ and in a room full of people waiting for her to make them…
People Like Us
9 Aug 2012
An A-grade for effort, but sadly Savage Theatre fails to hit the spot
Young company Savage Theatre have brought a beast of a play to the Fringe this year. With its harrowing subject matter, tempestuous characters and broken dreams, People Like Us should be a gripping and engaging drama. Young lovers Simon and Stacey…
The Price of Everything
8 Aug 2012
Entertaining vision of a society built on kindness, by Daniel Bye
Daniel Bye is a man on a mission. From start to finish his performance lecture is out to prove that there are some things you just can’t put a price on. Starting with the lecture, Bye takes to the stage with a slideshow to ponder the price of…
Coalition
7 Aug 2012
Hilarious, witty and energetic: as entertaining as politics ever can be
The most telling aspect of Robert Kahn and Tom Salinsky’s Coalition is the dedication at the bottom of the programme, citing a ‘special thank you to Nick Clegg, without whom this would have been inconceivable.’ Coalition packs punches; not light…
The Blanks' Big Break
6 Aug 2012
A capella comedy from the Scrubs quartet, with some non-musical filler thrown in
George, Paul, Sam and Philip are best known as nervy lawyer Ted’s all male a capella quartet from the TV series Scrubs. Now billed as The Blanks, in their Fringe debut they don’t let you forget it. Combining stand-up, sketches and frankly impressive…
1984
6 Aug 2012
EmpathEyes Theatre's slick, sexy and terrifying adaptation of Orwell’s dystopian tale
Opening with a stream of perfectly timed choreography, half-naked bodies and live music, it’s clear from the outset that this is no generic adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian tale. Winston Smith (Theo Gordon) is a man on the verge of rebellion…
Shopping Centre by Matthew Osborn
5 Aug 2012
Harrowing dissection of everything that’s wrong with society
Devised by comedian-cum-actor/playwright Matthew Osborn, Shopping Centre is more a list of everything that is wrong with society than a drama. Loner Jim lives beneath a shopping centre, preferring the company of furniture and his memories to the…
Stellar Quines' The List, starring Maureen Beattie, examines the female condition
28 Jul 2012
Fringe show charts story of bereaved woman struggling to come to terms with rural living
Actress Maureen Beattie is talking about cake. Not in the way that most women do, about trying to resist temptation, but more about how baking and decorating can be a creative experience. It is a symbol of domestic prowess, but also an outlet for…
Ned Beauman - The Teleportation Accident
18 Jul 2012
Surreal, romantic quest spans several lands and three centuries
(Sceptre) Egon Loeser, handsome, charming and clever, just can’t seem to get laid. He’s had girlfriends and the occasional fumble with a prostitute, but in a bid to conquer the luscious Adele Hitler (no relation), he continually fails to make the…
Gordon Ferris - Bitter Water
27 Apr 2012
Easy Tartan Noir read lacking in excitement and originality
(Corvus) Tartan Noir has been steadily gathering pace over the years as more and more Scottish authors try their hand at crime writing and Gordon Ferris is the latest to be heralded as the ‘new Ian Rankin’. But the excitement that should come from the…
2012: The year of the fairytale blockbuster
26 Apr 2012
20 movies based on fairy tales heading to cinemas in the near future
Once upon a time there was a movie with an $85 million budget. It featured princes and princesses and took millions at the box office. The directors and producers of Hollywood rubbed their hands with glee; they'd found the magic potion that would help…
Museums-and-literature project 26 Treasures to form basis of new book
23 Apr 2012
The collection of 'sestudes' will be published by Unbound
When 26 Treasures came to the National Museum of Scotland between December 2011 and January 2012 it was well received by writers and visitors alike. 26 writers were assigned 26 objects from the museum's vast collection of historical artefacts and asked…
Walter Scott Prize 2012 shortlist announced
23 Apr 2012
Andrew Miller, Alan Hollinghurst, Barry Unsworth, Sebastian Barry, Patrick DeWitt and Esi Edugyan
The shortlist for the 2012 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction was revealed earlier this month at the programme launch for the Borders Book Festival in Melrose. The contenders for the £25,000 prize, the largest annual literary prize awarded…
William Boyd set to write next James Bond novel
18 Apr 2012
As yet untitled book promises return to 'classic Bond'
Novelist William Boyd has revealed that he will be the third author to step into the shoes of Ian Fleming's to write the next 007 book, but says he won't be relying on gadgets to create his 'classic' Bond. The Glasgow University graduate will write a…
New J.K. Rowling book a dark comedy for adults titled The Casual Vacancy
17 Apr 2012
Novel from Edinburgh-based Harry Potter author out 27th Sept 2012
Publisher Little, Brown have announced that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's novel for adults will be a dark comedy called The Casual Vacancy. The Edinburgh-based author is best known for her series of seven Harry Potter novels, which sold 450 million…
Stephen Fry to produce and star in adaptation of Ian Rankin's Doors Open
17 Apr 2012
TV drama filmed in Edinburgh also stars Douglas Henshall
Stephen Fry will produce and star in a new TV adaptation of Ian Rankin's novel Doors Open due to be filmed in Edinburgh this month. Rankin's 2008 novel will provide the plot for a two-hour ITV drama starring Fry and Scottish actor Dougie Henshall.
Establishment of new brass band in Edinburgh city centre
12 Apr 2012
Edinburgh Brass Band rekindles city's strong brass band tradition
A group of young musicians have established a new brass band in the heart of Edinburgh city centre, which will offer new opportunities for brass musicians in and around the capital. The Edinburgh Brass Band will hold it's first rehearsal on Friday…
