Grin Up North special with Sarah Millican and Russell Kane
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Features.Short Fuse. Competition Win tickets to see Simon Amstell Want to be part of the Grin Up North comedy festival, but can’t quite afford the price tag on the tickets? Fuse and Sheffield City Hall are offering one lucky reader and a friend the chance to see Simon Amstell perform his acclaimed stand-up show on Sunday October 18. Amstell is an awardwinning comedian and is well known for his television credits. He started his career as a presenter on Channel 4’s Popworld, making preening popstars feel uncomfortable and becoming renowned for his indie-intellect and slightly awkward brand of comedy. He then graduated to Never Mind the Buzzcocks, reading the questions and generally doling out abuse to various celebrities, including one memorable show involving Preston of The Ordinary Boys fame and Chantelle’s autobiography. His stand-up, less wellknown than his TV work, is something of a departure from his normal persona. Yes, the awkward moments and self-deprecation remain, but alongside them is a renewed passion that matches the clever observation and philosophical musings. This show contains the thoughts of a man feeling disengaged with his world, sitting around and waiting for something more meaningful to arrive. And the jokes are funny.
The hunt for a better October - none found Editorial A great month of events Firstly, apologies for the slightly creepy cover art with this issue of Fuse. James
Wragg, one of our regular artists, has again produced another brilliant piece but I understand that some of you may find it a little frightening to have an enormous distorted grin smiling back at you from the page. But it is there for a purpose:
to symbolise the content of this fortnight’s Fuse and what with us focusing on the Grin Up North comedy festival, I think it fulfils its role perfectly.
Three amazing competitions in this Fuse Grin Up North, which you no doubt have seen the Pete McKee posters for around town, is Sheffield’s own comedy festival that takes place throughout the whole month of October. The nations’ top comics perform alongside upand-coming talent across the city; from the huge Sheffield Arena to the much more intimate Lescar Hotel, the place where The Last Laugh Comedy Club came into existence back in 1992. The Last Laugh joined forces with The Sheffield Events Company to organise the festival and since its first year in 2005, it has continued to grow in size and reputation. The Lescar, the ancestral birthplace of Grin Up North, remains a big part of the festival and this year a number acclaimed stand-up comedians will be performing at the venue. One of them, Sarah Millican,
is having to perform twice in one night after her 7pm show sold out. Her popularity has soared in the last year after appearances on comedy and panel TV shows and she spoke to Arts Editor Amy Patricia Smith for this issue about her career, her success and her brand of “blue-mouthed” comedy. Another of those taking part in the festival who we have managed to secure an interview with is Russell Kane, who talks about his new show Human Dressage, which he debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. The scary nature of the cover also lends itself to another of our features for this issue and another local festival taking place this month.
Get out there and start enjoying your city Celluloid Screams is a brand new horror film festival taking place over the weekend of October 23 – 25 which celebrates the best the genre has to offer. Over 30 classic, cult and contemporary films from around the world will be shown over three days and if you want to view as much of this silver-screen gore
as you can but don’t fancy paying for it, then you should enter our special Celluloid Screen competition to win a festival pass. This is one of three amazing competitions in this edition of Fuse; you can also win a pair of tickets to Simon Amstell’s new show as well as a copy of Custom Play Golf 2010. Congratulations also to the winners of our last competition, Matthew Broughton and John Dopping who both won a pair of Golden Tickets for Plug for the year. October is perhaps one of the best month’s in Sheffield for entertainment and culture with plenty of events taking place throughout the city. As well as the two aforementioned special events, there is a third festival taking place from Saturday, October 10 to Saturday, October 31. Off The Shelf is an annual festival devoted to writing and reading that has an exciting and varied programme of readings, poetry events, workshops and talks which we will be taking a closer look at in our next instalment. There are also a number of great music acts coming to Sheffield in the coming weeks, including Bat for Lashes, Noah and the Whale and Franz Ferdinand, so get out there and start enjoying your city. Alistair White
The centre of attention on a Wednesday
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Friday October 9 2009
Clubbers’Guide
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Nucleus The Leadmill
Whether you’ve seen Amstell perform stand-up before, or you just want to recognise a face from the TV, this is a night that is sure to entertain and amuse. All you need to do is answer the question below to be in with a chance of winning this amazing prize. Simon Amstell began his career on Popworld in 2000, but who was his copresenter? a) Alexa Chung b) June Sarpong c) Miquita Oliver Send your answer, along with your name and contact details, to: fuse@forgetoday.com Closing date for entries is midnight on Wednesday October 14. Good luck!
Name of the night Nucleus. Tagline A real alternative Wednesday night. Who runs it The Leadmill. When is it on and how often is it Every Wednesday 10:30pm till 2:30am. Where is it The Leadmill. What type of music is it New wave, no wave and electro.
night away from the sports societies and usual Wednesday madness. General Info Launched on Wednesday September 23 this year with special guest DJ set from Filthy Dukes. The aim is to offer something different on a Wednesday night. The back room is hosted by Cirque du Funk, with live musicians and DJs delivering the best in old and new skool funk. Who’s played in the past Filthy Dukes and Skull Juice so far. Who’s lined up for the future? Plugs, Amanda Blank, Autokratz, Alex Metric, In Flagranti, Rob Da Bank and David E Sugar.
Door Tax £5.
Recommendations for similar nights Resident DJ Run Hide Survive hosts Club Pony every month.
Who’s it for People seeking a real alternative Wednesday
Next event Wednesday October 14 with Riotous Rockers.
Left to right: Rob Da Bank, Amanda Blank and Alex Metric.
Features.Short Fuse.
Anthem for a Dizzee youth In Hindsight Dizzee Rascal Boy In Da Corner On Monday September 21 2009, Dizzee Rascal released his fourth studio album Tongue N’ Cheek, which already contained three number one singles and reached number three in the album chart the week it came out. Bold, colourful, fun and poppy; it’s a far cry from his Mercury Prizewinning debut Boy In Da Corner, but is that album still the masterpiece so many people remember it to be?
The genius of the album is because of Dizzee’s age Firstly, a little on the music environment into which it was released. American hip-hop was now a global phenomenon and a big seller but had lost some of the regional identity that
Testimonial Kunihiko Ikuhara Revolutionary Girl Utena
swords really go with dresses? Utena is a girl who idolises a prince who gave her a ring after her parents’ deaths. This leads her to decide to become a prince herself, and she uses this as her model when she is drawn into the mysterious duels for possession of the Rose Bride, Anthy, on the instruction of a mysterious presence known as End of the World. The characters, however minor, are complex and rounded, and play with our emotions through profound subplots. Saionji is detestable when we see his brutality towards Anthy, but pitiable during his humble dependence on Wakaba; while
talks of the perils of talking out of turn (“If you keep chattin in a hurry you’ll find/ The bottom of a six foot pit”) and ‘Jezebel’ is about a particularly licentious girl. And it’s not just the lyrics that evoke the imagery of the setting; the music itself is dark, harsh and unnerving. The basslines are deflated and warbling; the percussion rattles and snatches; the keys blunt and deep and a host of chilly electronic glitches, unnatural vocals and rave noises echo in and out in
a slightly deranged and disordered fashion. It all helps to create an agitated state of paranoia, the perfect companion (if not a friendly one) to the confused teenager at the centre of the piece. Even the title of the LP is perfect; Boy In Da Corner is a posture that’s completely the opposite of the crotch-grabbing bravado or in-your-face intimidation more commonly associated with hip-hop. Instead it’s a lost young man in turmoil trying to back away as far as he can from a bad situation
Nanami is alternately spiteful, tragic and hilarious. Gender and narrative roles are challenged, as Utena strives for masculine nobility without compromising her femininity, and Anthy plays the altruistic, dependant princess at the same time as being doggedly worldweary. This makes the series thought-provoking and gorgeously androgynous. It is full of multilayered symbolism, which creates a beautifully thoughtful, and appropriately confusing, metaphor for the transition to adulthood, loss of innocence and the discovery of one’s own identity. This is shown through innumerable beautiful images; most notably a scene that concludes a love triangle with the simple, poignant image of Shiori kissing Ruka with her hands over Juri’s eyes. All of this comes together in a dreamlike world where strange occurrences, for example the duels themselves or Akio’s transportation of other characters to the end of the world, resonate as bizarre, but have a curious logic to them that makes them seem oddly natural. The complex plot finally culminates in a tremendously emotional ending, which not only manages to bring closure to every mystifying symbol and plot point, but never fails to leave me in tears.
Poem
production technique would be inadequate if he wanted a wide-spanning collection of commercial pop hits twisted with the electropop, and house music that each of the aforementioned DJs is respectively famous for.
The music is dark, harsh and unnerving However, even if Dizzee wanted to make an album like Boy In Da Corner, he couldn’t. For a start, everything about the album is dictated by the age of the eponymous boy and where he grew up. It would be impossible to expect Dizzee to still be the same person he was when he was 18. He’s a grown man now with a very good understanding of what pop music is. But that shouldn’t take anything away from his debut that demonstrated a very clear voice for teens and their struggles that, unfortunately, could be the same today as it was six year ago. Alistair White
Jay Lawrence NewYear’s Eve Fragment After the party, when fires are fallow, cork doors yawn like bells pealed backwards, and a hand is taken. Far gone in a pitcher of lavender wine, the lounge conspires a tip, and spills us onto a rug. Down grinning, a-squint at His shy feet, when folded, remind me I’ve always slept alone here, and when kisses skirt nervous lips, it’s always this: the spare and sallow mattress. In that instance, I’ve been lower sinking sudden tumblers, and boy, if you’re listening, your glance is a gift - a proof, more than flesh, that you’re here, facing me.
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but who ultimately finds his way blocked. However, despite being critically lauded, Boy In Da Corner was far too scary to be let loose commercially unrestrained. Only ‘Fix Up, Look Sharp’ had any real hope with the public at large, its blasts of rock guitar making it a little bit more radio-friendly. So did Dizzee sell out? The contrast between his debut and his current output has led to such accusations, but these are simply not true. Putting the content and the style of his albums to one side, the rise of Dizzee Rascal to the top heights of British pop music and stardom has been orchestrated by the man himself. His latest releases have all come from his own independent record label, a decision that was only made necessary because his former label XL struggled to understand his desire to go down a pop route, even though he was already taking his first footsteps down that path with his 2007 album Maths + English. The choice he took on Tongue N’ Cheek to bring in big name producers, such as Calvin Harris and Armand Van Helden, was in recognition that his own
Friday October 9 2009
Kunihiko Ikuhara’s 39-episode animé Revolutionary Girl Utena is perhaps one of the most overlooked series outside of Japan. This dismissal neglects the series’ beautiful visuals, intricate symbolism, complex and eccentric characters and skilful narrative, as well as the fundamental questions that it asks: What is eternity? What makes a prince? Do
had characterised its early years. This meant there was an opportunity for an urban genre to differentiate itself; become a success whilst remaining authentic to the particular streets of its birth in order to give it some credibility. UK garage tried first but came up short, scurrying back off to the underground from which it came, leaving behind only a few members of So Solid Crew scattered across reality TV. Then grime had a go and though it ultimately seems to have suffered the same fate, passing the baton on to dubstep on the way out (the fate of which has yet to be decided), it did give us Dizzee Rascal. Boy In Da Corner was adored by pretty much every critic that heard it. All were incredibly impressed with what an 18-year-old had managed to achieve. But the real genius of the album is because of Dizzee’s tender age not in spite of it. From the opening track ‘Sittin’ Here’, Dizzee is shown to be a despondent young man, anguishing over the despairing and very real situation he finds himself in; on ‘Brand New Day’ there’s mention of gun violence (“Now 8 millimetres settle debates”), ‘Hold Ya Mouf’
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Feature.Celluloid Screams.
Sheffield in gloom With Halloween just around the corner, Sheffield’s inaugural horror film festival, Celluloid Screams, will be celebrating by showcases the best the genre has to offer. By Mark Clement.
‘It’s one of the most vile things I’ve ever seen’ “I’ve been to a festival in Edinburgh called Dead by Dawn for about eight years in a row and what always strikes me about it is the diversity of horror films on show that you don’t get in mainstream cinema. I mean most of the films won’t get a cinema release and will go straight to DVD, but some won’t get distributed at all. I’m putting the festival on really just to show how vibrant the genre can be.” Not only has Nevitt managed to secure the screenings of the most exciting and innovative horror releases from around the globe, but he has also peppered the festival with
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Celluloid Screams can already be proud of what it has achieved in its first year. The festival, which takes place at The Showroom Cinema between Friday October 23 and Sunday October 25, boasts over 30 films from the UK, America, Australia and Japan, as well as having various directors and producers flying in to discuss their latest work. Directing an event of this scale is no easy task to pull off and would not appeal to the casual horror fan, but Rob Nevitt, the director of the festival, has been hooked on the genre for as long as he can remember. “It’s been a long standing thing really, I guess since being a kid and watching certain films way before you’re meant to, films like Hellraiser and stuff like that which are clearly unsuitable for children. I’ve been a regular festival-goer in the UK and abroad for many years.” It is true that extreme horror fans already enjoy quite a wide selection of UK festivals; there is Film4Frightfest down in London, for example, and Mayhem Horror Festival in Nottingham. For those who love nothing more than to see plenty of guts and gore splattered on a cinema screen for countless hours, the options are there, but Nevitt believes it is about time that Sheffield had a blood-soaked bash of its own.
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a number of special guest appearances, including the veteran actor Ian McCulloch, best known for his role in the ’70s horror classic ZombieFleshEaters, which will be opening the festival. “I met him in Edinburgh at Dead by Dawn and just got his details. I gave him a call, he said it sounded good and he was well up for doing it and it’s great to have him.” Whether you are a newcomer to the genre and finally want to seek the truth over how squeamish you really are, or if you consider yourself to be a well versed horror-head with a sturdy stomach, you are likely to come across films at the festival that you have never heard of. The festival has more than one eye on the underground and certainly provides the diversity of film which Nevitt considers key to the success of the festival - There is without question something here for the fanatic, the casual fan and just the plain curious. But for the well seasoned slasher flick enthusiast, what does Nevitt think are the ones to look out for? “Neighbour is one of my picks of the festival; it’s actually going to be the UK premiere. It’s really gross; it’s one of the most vile and disturbing things I’ve ever seen. It’s just crazy. Without giving too much away, there is a scene which the filmmakers themselves call ‘the love scene’, which really isn’t, there’s no love in that scene! “If you search for love scene reaction on Google you can listen to the audience’s reaction to it at the world premiere in Montreal from earlier this year. The amount of shrieking is insane. “There is also going to be a sneak screening. All I can say is that the film is generating a lot of buzz on the internet and if you’re in tune with that then maybe you can guess what it is. That’s on at 8pm on Saturday October 24.” The festival is also combating the age-old and frustrating nature of the film industry, where often great films are denied major release, only making it to the DVD shelves and left
to drift into obscurity, that is, if they get any release at all. The array of independent releases which the festival has on offer serves as the perfect paradigm; the kind of quality which the industry will continue to criminally bin, as an ample amount of trash still litters the mainstream. “All the films at the festival deserve to get a big release. It’s kind of a paradox, you get the most unusual, innovative and interesting films which don’t get a major release and go straight to DVD because they can’t be marketed properly. For me, they all deserve to become cult-classics.” Not only is the event interested in seeking out the best in horror from around the world, it is also giving upcoming filmmakers from Sheffield a chance to hit the limelight.
All the films deserve to get a big release “We set up an open submission for features and shorts. I don’t think any of the features have come from this process but most of the shorts we are showing have, they’ve either come from our request because we’ve seen them doing well at other festivals or they have been sent in to us. There’s a really great British zombie short called Don’t Lose Heart. “You watch a lot of the shorts and there all perfectly fine, you know, they’re good,
but you’re always waiting for the one that will blow you away and Don’t Lose Heart did that.” Having already expanded from a project which was originally meant for one-off screenings to becoming a major weekend festival, it is obvious that the demand for horror in Sheffield is there and will continue to grow. So what does the future hold for Celluloid Screams? “Hopefully it will be a year on year thing and it will get even bigger next year. We did a double bill of screenings last Halloween which got around one hundred and sixty people in, and we’ve already sold around fiftyfive weekend passes for this festival, so that’s fifty-five people committed to sitting in a darkened room and watching everything which is great.” To whet the appetite of horror fans in the run-up to the festival, on Monday October 12 there will be a screening of The Blair Witch Project with a live Skype question and answer session with directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its release. “It ended up being surprisingly easy to set up. I contacted Daniel Myrick’s company and they just said that they were really interested in doing it.” As the countdown to Celluloid Screams continues, this special screening promises to provide the perfect prefestival fright.
Competition Win a pass to Celluloid Screams. Win a pass to Celluloid Screams, Sheffield’s horror film festival. The pass is worth £60 and guarantees entry to every film over the weekend. All you have to do to enter is recreate a scene from your favourite horror
film and send in the image to screen@forgetoday. com. The most terrifying and imaginative shot wins the pass. The closing date for this competition is midnight on Sunday October 18. Festival passes are on sale now. To book visit Showroom Box Office in person, call 0114 2757727 or visit www. showroom.org.uk. Tickets for individual screenings will be available subject to availability from Friday October 9.
Art: Elisa Santos
Feature.Grammatics.
Keeping it Leeds One critically acclaimed album, and a support slot with Bloc Party; Grammatics chat about what’s next with Ffion Thomas. Having released their eponymous debut album early in 2009, Leeds’ Grammatics have gone from strength to strength; diverse, inventive and musically talented, the critical acclaim has been broad. Grammatics today are markedly different to their original incarnation, having replaced both their drummer and cellist over the years since their formation in 2004. But the admittedly fractured nature of the project doesn’t seem to affect any game plan they may or may not have, according to bassist Rory O’Hara: “I’m not sure if anyone ever does really have any exact idea of what they want to sound like. I think you’re
all bringing influences to the band and then what comes out, often in good bands it’s something not exactly the same, just a mixture of individual influences. “I think we had quite vague ambitions really; when we formed it was all kind of post-Libertines, minimal indie bands, we wanted to make a statement against that. We really just wanted to kind of create something that was special and unique.” Special and unique is certainly what they’ve achieved: Owen Brinley’s falsetto vocal becomes an instrument in itself amongst a cacophony of cello and guitar. Unafraid also to experiment with time signatures, pigeonholing is not an
option. With so much going on, the meticulous nature of the album’s production is evident, but manages not to cause delays and conflict.
It was a much more personal experience “I think there are elements of perfectionism, definitely”, O’Hara says. “I think that Owen’s very keen, got a keen attention to detail. I sometimes push him the other way, I like things to be a bit raw and kind of rock ‘n’ roll and, you know, loose. But I think we find a happy medium with it - between us all we can work it out.” Signed to Leeds’ Dance to the Radio record label alongside many of their peers, O’Hara is adamant that sticking to the closeknit music community in West Yorkshire is a far better option than devolving matters down to London. “It was a much more personal kind of experience,
we’ve played with, and have been friends with bands who are on bigger labels, and it all seems very impersonal and you can get caught up in big major label bureaucracy. Luckily there are four or five people at Dance to the Radio that we know and are friends with all of them, right up to the head of the company.” Being on a relatively small label hasn’t hampered the word spreading, however – their debut album received high ratings across the board and looks set to be in many ‘Best of 2009’ lists. Not that the band are taking too much notice of that: “I kind of tend to take reviews with a pinch of salt,” he says. “I don’t know whether it’s blind arrogance or something but I have my own opinion. I knew the album was good, or I thought the album was good, so getting positive reviews was hugely appreciated, but I didn’t let reviews, either negative or positive, really affect my own opinion of it.”
Not resistant to give opinions on other bands, however, O’Hara reels off a list of his recent listening, celebrating The xx and Animal Collective, as well as Can, Radiohead and classic post-punk such as Magazine, Wire, and Leeds’ own Gang of Four. Diversifying matters somewhat, reggae from the classic label Trojan Records is also mentioned. With such varied influences, it’s easy to see from where the multitude of styles and ideas covered in their music germinate. The band are preparing to take off on the road with Bloc Party across the whole of October. With the Londoners personally insisting on having Grammatics as support, they are relishing their golden ticket. “It’s funny, because just before we got offered the tour we were all saying at the rehearsal, we need to do a support tour, and we were thinking, who would be the best band to support, ideally, in terms of their
sound and their fanbase?” he recalls. “We all said Bloc Party, and then within a couple of days we got an email from our manager saying, ‘You’ve been offered the Bloc Party tour’. It’s incredible, it’s amazing. “There’ll always be nerves, I think, in the runup to it, but really we have nothing to lose by the tour, we have everything to gain. I’m not really anxious about it, and I don’t feel pressured, it’s just a great opportunity.” For a small band, another huge benefit of the tour is that it bypasses some obvious, well-trodden metropolises – London, Manchester, Glasgow – instead taking the noise to the more sedate locations of Truro, Llandudno and Dunfermline. “It’ll be nice to see some different stretches of motorway and different towns,” O’Hara comments. And after that? A single (‘Double Negative’) out on October 26 and a handful of tour dates, but the real business is album number two: “We’ve got maybe eight songs close to completion in demo form that we haven’t really jammed out yet. I think we’ve got a good head start, but we need to really settle down and concentrate on finishing and writing songs.” Stylistically, the prediction is that “it’s all going to be really groovy, fingers crossed.” Fingers crossed indeed.
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Feature.Russell Kane
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Friday October 9 2009
‘There’s no such thing as a boring human being!’
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Fresh from performing his two new shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, comedian Russell Kane is bringing his Human Dressage show to this month’s Sheffield Comedy Festival. He speaks to Patrick Williamson about his career, influences and the future.
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ussell Kane describes his new show as “a high-energy, tubthumping hour of sociology”. He is clearly a man that likes to infuse comedy with intellectual observations, saying that Human Dressage focuses on “observing those sort of micro-cosmic little dances that we do, the social dances and displays, and how we change them depending on where we are and who we’re with”. However the new show will not be an hour-long sociology lecture, Kane assures us that there will be requisite amounts of “silliness and debauchery” thrown in.
‘The show is about the microcosmic dances we do’
‘The idea of Fakespheare was to find that contast is where the humour is’ Now that he has managed to establish himself, how does Kane view the profession he works in? With regard to his fellow comics, he says that they are supportive of each other: “If Alan Carr gets on the stage and starts
performing in blank verse we don’t think ‘Argh that fucker! I wish I’d thought of that first!’” Perhaps surprisingly, he claims that “even the Comedy Award is quite supportive and jolly, with all of us wishing each other good luck. It’s only competitive between the PR people and the management.” Touching upon the personality requirements of a stand-up comedian, Kane feels that to be a successful comic “you need to be extroverted on stage”, but describes how “off-stage some comedians are so shy they won’t even speak. Some won’t even leave
‘My monologue will come out in a Sheffield accent’ their hotel room when we’re at a festival. I’ve even got some of those tendencies sometimes.” When he’s on-stage Kane’s shows travel at a lightning pace. So much so that he can escape the comedians’ biggest annoyance, the heckle: “Someone will shout something and I won’t even hear because I’m
going at a hundred miles an hour.” He sees heckling as “horrible and never helpful... but thankfully with the speed I perform at, it’s extremely rare that I get heckled, maybe one in two-hundred gigs... My worst heckle came from one guy who said I was like Ben Elton! It’s hilarious the amount of comedians I get compared to.” On the flip side of the coin, who does Kane target himself for good comedy material for his shows? “Whoever’s in the front row is good enough, they can look like the most boring, unambiguous person on earth and then they open their mouths and they’re the most interesting. “In my experience, if you scratch below the surface there’s no such thing as a boring or uninteresting human being, it’s only people without imagination to see that in other people. I’ll just speak to anyone and see what happens.” When touring, Kane doesn’t feel the need to change his material just because he’s ‘up North’: “Whether I’m walking on stage in Brisbane, Hull, Luton or London, the same stuff works. If you’re a good comedian, your material shouldn’t need changing. You really are parochial if you’re going ‘what’s that new Sainsbury’s about in Southend-on-Sea!’” There is one thing that might alter though: “My inner monologue always changes, it will come out automatically in a Sheffield accent, an accent I can’t even do off-stage.” Russell Kane’s Sheffield appearance on October 20 at Memorial Hall promises to be a hyperactive hour of intelligence, silliness and a dodgy Sheffield accent. And, of course, some big, big laughs.
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Human Dressage earned the comedian a nomination for the main prize in Edinburgh for the second consecutive year, yet it is apparent that prizes and awards are not Kane’s motivation for comedy. Instead he says that after Edinburgh he is excited to be going on tour without “journalists or prizeaward givers ticking boxes”. For Kane being on tour “is just about giving people the most electric night that they can have”. Aside from Human Dressage, Kane has numerous other projects in the pipeline. In Edinburgh he performed his first stageplay, Fakespeare: The Tragikal Saveings of King Nigel, in which he attempted to restage Shakespeare in his hometown of SouthendOn-Sea. Growing up in Essex has clearly given Kane a lot of material for this show: “Essex provides plenty of inspiration for soliloquies about Argos, Bacardi Breezers, Lidl and love behind a skip”. Displaying what a smart young comic he is, Kane elaborates that “the idea [of Fakespeare] was to mix the high with the low, a high poetic form with base or lower meaning, finding that contrast is where the humour is”. There is no doubting that Kane is a comedian that sees his profession on a par with any other art form. Subsequently, Kane reveals that he is set to co-host the ITV2 follow-up show to I’m A Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here, perhaps a slight departure from what we’re more used to seeing him appear on telly-wise. “This type of work is better than the panel shows because
instead of trying to be witty with the buzzer I get to have two minutes to make my observations on the jungle, it’s me doing what I do”. Would Kane ever appear on a reality show like I’m A Celebrity himself? “I won’t say never but not at the moment”. He believes that for an up and coming comedian, it would be too much of a high-risk strategy.” In his comedy Kane often talks about the difficult relationship he had with his family growing-up, particularly his father. This is a topic that he says he is keen to explore in more depth in his next stand-up show. After a tricky home-life, Kane gave up his steady job in a marketing office to pursue a career in comedy. He says: “When I made the decision to leave my job everyone was scared and I was terrified. To give up good money to earn two-hundred pounds a week on comedy is a massive leap of faith.” Admitting that “standup was not something I was interested in”, he explains that it is thanks to a friend’s prompting that he first got started: “It was only because a friend said you’ve got a great way with speech and you could perform at a poetry or comedy night, that I first thought about standup. I was half interested, thinking it would be like doing a bungee jump or taking acid, something you do once to see what it’s like. Then of course I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it.”
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Friday October 9 2009
Feature.Sarah Millican.
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Blue in the mouth Amy Patricia Smith talks to Britain’s funniest woman, Sarah Millican, about her sell-out shows and her surprisingly coarse language.
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ailing from South Shields, Sarah Millican is revered on the comedy circuit for her witty humour alongside often coarse language and dry observations. First impressions of this Geordie lass are often blown apart during performances that see her using language that would make even the toughest men blush. Yet it is always in context, always funny and gives her an edge in a male-dominated world. This approach has gained her some well-deserved
‘the one with all the teddies in.’ On Saturday October 10, Millican will be bringing her unique brand of comedy to The Lescar as part of Sheffield’s Grin Up North comedy festival.
‘I’ve done loads in Sheffield, you breed nice people there’
She has already proven so popular that an extra show has been added. Expect lots of laughter, crude language and intelligent observation from Newcastle’s most exceptional daughter. Where do you get your inspiration for your shows from? I just write down funny thoughts or funny things I’ve said to friends as they occur to me. I always have my little pad at hand. Your stand-up delivery is very original, are you influenced by any particular comedians? The first actual comedy club I went to was my first gig so no, I don’t think I was influenced style wise and that’s what helps you stay original, I think.
Your divorce seems to have been the catalyst for your career in comedy, and your early work sprang from this. How does your most recent work differ from those early shows? It’s not about divorce. The subject may be different but my style is still the same. What gave you the idea to write Typical Woman? What does the show mean to you? It’s an hour of funny jokes. It means I aim to make an audience laugh for an hour and that means a lot. I sent out a questionnaire to 100 men and 100 women which gave me some help in what to write about.
the festival this time round? I did not see enough shows to have an impression of the whole festival. I enjoyed performing the show and hanging out with my friends. It’s always an incredibly stressful time but also the most exhilarating month of the year. It’s even better than Christmas. Were you disappointed that you didn’t receive a nomination in Edinburgh this year? You’re never disappointed to not be nominated and always surprised to be nominated. Otherwise you’re a dick.
Have you done many gigs in Sheffield before? What are your expectations for playing here? I have done loads of gigs in Sheffield including last year’s comedy festival. I am genuinely looking forward to it. You breed nice people there. What are your plans for the future? Do you have any projects in the pipeline? My plans for the future are to constantly be improving as a writer and performer. If you’d like to keep up-to-date on things in the pipeline, join my mailing list www. sarahmillican.co.uk.
Your particular brand of blue-mouthed comedy combined with a fairly innocent demeanour seems to surprise your audiences and reviewers, what is your reaction to this? I’ve never heard the term ‘blue-mouthed’ before. That’s hilarious. The contradiction was never intentional. This is how I look and this is what I say. I suppose it is nice that it means my darker and ruder stuff is unexpected. Your show had a successful run in Edinburgh this year, what were your impressions of
Fuse.
Would you say that growing up in the North had a great influence on your comedy?
I’ve never grown up anywhere else so I don’t know. Geography doesn’t matter so much as who you grow up with and my family are all funny.
Friday October 9 2009
recognition, coming second in 2005’s So You Think You’re Funny? competition and winning the if.com Best Newcomer award in 2008 for her show, Sarah Millican’s Not Nice, at the Edinburgh Festival. Millican began her comedy and writing career in 2004. Following the break-down of her seven year marriage, she decided to attend a workshop for people who had written but never performed. This gave her the confidence she needed and now - with her divorce a mere footnote in comedy history - her career looks set to take off. Following TV appearances on 8 out of 10 Cats and Mock the Week, amongst others, her recent show Typical Women played to sellout audiences at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Typical Women deals with how we all have male and female traits, and sees Millican trying to place herself somewhere on the gender scale. As it turns out this isn’t as straightforward as it sounds; Millican falls somewhere between having an unrivalled knowledge of Star Wars trivia, yet referring to one of the movies as
Art: Elisa Santos
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Reviews.Music.
Mumford makes waves Album Mumford & Sons Sigh No More
“Oh, man is a giddy thing” pronounces Marcus Mumford on the opening title track of this, his hotly tipped band’s first full length, and indeed his wistful remark sets the tone for the entire release. His vocal delivery - often frail, sometimes fierce, everemotive - steers their ship through the maelstrom of a young man’s anxieties and hopes in an album that moves from stark urban folk to bluegrass and even blues
Album
One might think that after the success of Maps’ Mercury-nominated debut We Can Create in 2007, James Chapman would have been tempted to follow a similar formula for his second work, but instead he has gone in quite a different direction. Although Chapman’s distinctly understated and, at times, almost otherworldly vocal style has remained much the same, there are some very drastic changes to the music on this album when compared to that of its predecessor. The most obvious of these changes is the choice not to include any guitars on the album, but rather to focus entirely on electronic and heavily-produced textures, which emerge after the misleadingly angelic first half of the opening song. The lyrical content has also evolved somewhat on this album and has moved on from personal issues to - as Chapman himself puts it - “the way certain stimuli, particularly chemical, can affect the mind in different ways”. Not exactly an original topic and there’s certainly no subtlety about it, with lyrics such as “releases a cocaine fury” and “how we gonna get high?” Much of the the album is heavily influenced by dance and pop, heard most clearly on ‘Let Go Of The Fear’ with its insistent bass drum beat followed by ascending synth arpeggios, whilst some of the songs sound as if they could be Pet Shop Boys B-sides. After a while the repetitious nature of the songs does begin to grind and many seem to blend together into one big monotonous blur, although
Fuse.
Friday October 9 2009
Maps Turning the Mind
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rock territory in its musical mood swings.
Mumford truly wears his heart on his sleeve through
the likes of ‘White Blank Page’, begging questions
there is the occasional breath of fresh air in the form of songs such as ‘Chemeleon’ and the final track ‘Without You’, which provides a very uplifting conclusion to the album. All in all it’s not a bad album, just not the outstanding sequel to We Can Create that many would have expected.
unleashed on ‘Dust Bowl Dance’ where Mumford genuinely sounds angry, and the band hit full bluster behind him, creating a period of noise that is unexpected, and yet a gleeful release from the melancholy that threatens to prevail. “Love will not betray you, dismay or enslave you / It will set you free” is another line from that opening track, and yet it seems Mumford & Sons are able to create beauty despite having only experienced that which leaves them exhausted and sore. It will be interesting to see how they will enchant us if ever they do find true bliss.
if I really try with all my heart / I could make a brand new start with you”. Girls have indeed made a terrific start creating an album full of irresistible riffs and hazy tunes reminding us that all that matters is love, heartbreak, partying and the summertime.
The single ‘Hooting & Howling’ shifts from an a capella intro into a toetapping, assonant and alliterative criticism of small town mentalities: “We’re just brutes bored in our bovver boots / We’re just brutes clowning round in cahoots”. Later, ‘We Still Got The Taste Dancin’ On Our Tongues’ celebrates an ambiguous youthful exuberance – “Us kids are cold and cagey rattling around the town / Scaring the oldies into their dressing gowns” – that could be construed as innocent or sinister, the track underlined by a catchy vocal refrain. Title track ‘Two Dancers’ is split into two songs, on both of which Fleming takes the vocal lead. Part one is full of abrasive, clinking percussion, while part two is a beautifully lush, atmospheric slowburner; a style at odds with the rest of the record, but a highlight for it, and over far too soon – as perhaps could be said for the album as a whole. Diverse, innovative and special: for a homegrown band doing things differently, you won’t get much better than this in 2009.
Tim Wilson
Album
Peter Atkinson
EP
Wild Beasts Two Dancers
Massive Attack Splitting the Atom
It can feel a little false talking about Massive Attack like a solid unit when, throughout their existence, they’ve functioned with continuous changes of personnel. Once five members strong, now two, the group’s four albums have featured lists of collaborators so long that even Damon Albarn could take away a lesson in networking. Still, with any Massive Attack release you can be sure of three things: It will be dark and brooding, reggae veteran Horace Andy will appear somewhere, and it will be best listened to on car speakers at 3am. And so it is here. ‘Splitting the Atom’s’ dark organ ushers in an impossibly brooding, whispered baritone from Daddy G. Rhythmically, it makes for an unsettling listen – an unrelenting bass drum kick pushes the song forward, refusing to allow it to settle into an easy two-step – a sense only compounded by Horace Andy’s unmistakable warble in the chorus: “It’s easy / Don’t let it go / Don’t lose it”. ‘Pray for Rain’ mines the same black seam; this time TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe uses his experience working with pretentious muso producers to great effect to rail in
of himself: “Can you lie next to her and give her your heart, as well as your body? / Can you lie next to her and confess your love, as well as your folly?” He takes the tone of one made wise beyond his years by the torment of his romantic soul. The band’s appeal lies in the coupling of this apparent world-weariness, and the accomplished musicianship of elder statesmen, with an energy and confusion that never allows us to forget their youth – the latter element perhaps most evident in the inarticulate angst of the “I really fucked things up this time” refrain of lead single, ‘Little Lion Man’. It is with relish that their apparent frustration is
Massive Attack’s nearambient atmospherics. His vocals infuse the song with just enough structure to prevent the funereal drum rolls and downtempo piano becoming stolid. Splitting the Atom’s two remixes leave us in the interesting scenario of hearing tracks reworked even before the originals have seen the light of day, and are intriguing to say the least. Christoff Berg’s mix of ‘Bulletproof Love’ is closer to Mezzanine-era Attack than anything else here, driven by a dense, impenetrable electronic bassline, minimal snare and textured sonics. The vocals are distorted to great atmospheric effect on the final two tracks, making them somewhat reminiscent of The Knife’s work on Silent Shout. Guy Garvey’s lilting, insuppressibly melodic delivery is unmistakable, even in these circumstances, whilst ‘Psyche’ features a characteristically strong performance from trip hop veteran Martina Topley Bird. Splitting the Atom sees Massive Attack rediscover a bravery that had almost completely diminished over the long years since their culture-mashing debut, Blue Lines. The EP has been billed as a taster of sorts for album number five due out later this year, and whilst the
clever money is on it being delayed for umpteenth time since its 2005 inception, these songs at the very least give us a momentary glimpse of the self-assured and morbidly inventive Massive Attack of today. Jeremy Peel
Album Girls Album
Girls originate from San Francisco and have been plastered all over hipster periodicals since last year, and though their status as a buzz band may lead many to question their long term future, after hearing their debut this doubt will surely be diminished. The traditional good time rock ‘n’ roll of The Beach Boys and Buddy Holly is infused with lofi shoegaze as well as Phil Spector drums, and the effect is at times brilliant. Girls project their stories in their exuberent melodies and through Christopher Owens’ melancholy vocals. Owens opens the album with ‘Lust for Life’, a catchy number including the lines, “Maybe
Leeds foursome Wild Beasts follow up the critically acclaimed 2007 album Limbo, Panto with a collection that will surely prove to be one of the most original and inventive of this year. The vocals of Hayden Thorpe immediately mark them out; they shriek and swoop and are most effective when in contrast with those of bassist and tenor Tom Fleming, particularly on tracks such as ‘All The King’s Men’. Catchy, intimately layered, and forming the conclusion to a striking three-track opening salvo setting out the stall for this ambitious record. The lyrics fall just the right side of pretension; clever yet earnest, nostalgic yet full of humour, the wordplay and diction demands attention.
Kyle Rice
Ffion Thomas
Reviews.Music.
You’d be ‘M.A.D’ to miss it Live Hadouken! Foundry 4/10/2009
Photo: Paul Hollingsworth
Live Wonderswan The Harley 30/09/2009
Gig Gallery
Jamie Holgate
Live Zero 7 Plug 3/10/2009 The London-based duo came to Plug armed with a gong, cowbell and various other medieval instruments with the intention of delivering a different and unpredictable performance. Despite this enthusiasm on the part of the band, the crowd wasn’t quite up to scratch. Barely a sway was to be seen until well into the set when ‘Destiny’ was played and suddenly they stirred. Five other musicians joined the pair on stage, including two female singers who shared an immense vocal range. This vocal variance in every song contained hints of The Noisettes, Massive Attack, and Sandy Denny. Instrumentally, each song was just as eclectic, spanning from slow ballads to drum and bass. This worked well until the last quarter of the set where it seemed to lose focus.
The audience didn’t know whether to bob, dance, mosh, rave or sway. In contrast to the sporadic performance, the encore began with simplicity, as a sole female vocalist reemerged bearing just a guitar. The audience was serenaded with ‘In the Waiting Line’, which can only be described as stunning. She came across like a new Joni Mitchell, not only visually with the guitar, but vocally. It was an extremely moving song, which would have been very effective if not for the background chatter of the crowd, which almost drowned her out. Unfortunately this rudeness was a constant problem during the downbeat songs. Next in the encore was ‘Pageant of the Bizarre’, which was the most visually effective song in the set. The stage lights were reflected off disco balls above the crowd, drenching the spectators in thousands of specks of light. This mock starlit night fit perfectly with the song and even managed to silence the loudest of the crowd, leaving everybody awestruck. Although the set did come across as selfindulgent at times, Zero 7’s encore pulled it all back for them. Holly Willis
Live The Twang Leadmill 3/10/2009 The last time The Twang graced Sheffield with their presence things didn’t quite go to plan, a rogue pint to the face and an overly dominant sense of arrogance all helped to spoil things somewhat. So, eight months on, have the forerunners of lad rock
Lucy Horwood
Gig Gallery
Golden Silvers headline the NME Radar Tour on September 27. For a full review visit www.forgetoday.com. Photo: Paul Hollingsworth managed to change their tune at all? Well, yes and no. Lead vocalist Phil Etheridge appears calmer and more focused on showing his appreciation to the crowd and the whole performance feels slightly more polished and practiced. However The Twang have in no way lost their attitude or changed their sound. Both Phil and accompanying vocalist Saunders still strut around the stage as if their lives depend on it, blaring out what essentially sounds like football chants set to standard guitar rock. What you can’t deny however is that The Twang have a substantial following and that, although their outspoken laddish style may not appeal to some, the packed out room of Leadmill’s main stage can’t seem to get enough of it. You could argue it’s the passionate nature of their music that makes them so appealing to their
audience but then you get lines such as “What was I thinking? What was I doing with that MILF?” spat down a microphone with such viciousness that the passion turns into an outlet for dealing with their own anger issues. Even new tracks from latest album Jewellery Quarter feel uninspired as if there’s been a real lack of effort to build on their style save perhaps a slight tendency to slow things down in tracks such as ‘Barnaby Rubble’. Every lyric The Twang howl at you has to be delivered with such a blaring sense of self importance and ferocity that it can all just feels like too much. The thing is, that’s exactly what everyone here wants. Ultimately they’ve secured an audience but if it’s ever going to grow, things seriously need to change. Ross Haymes
Fuse.
Bombay Bicycle Club play an intimate instore acoustic set at Broomhill’s Record Collector on September 30. Photo: Jess Young
with the majority of British guitar bands achieving popularity today. Instead, their sound harks back to the indie rock of the early 1990s and encompasses a number of styles; at once fuzzy, melodic and shoegazey, provoking comparisons to Dinosaur Jr at times. This diversity was reflected best in closing number ‘Curve’; a beautiful interplay between the band’s two guitarists driving its midsection before building to a frenzied climax of howling, feedback and distortion, leaving the crowd thirsty for more.
along with the sudden and rather pointless addition of a pair of sunglasses to James Smith’s apparel, (much to the delight of the shrieking female members of the audience) made the whole act feel like a bit of a cartoon. Feeling slightly uncomfortable amongst the rowdy mob of volatile youngsters, the upbeat tones of the band’s grimy new single ‘M.A.D’, combined with the admittedly good looks of the lead vocalist drew the attention away from the MySpace posers with glow sticks in front. The key message expressed by the band seemed to be for everyone to just enjoy themselves, and judging by the sweat on the faces by the end of the gig, this was clearly the general consensus.
Friday October 9 2009
It’s a cliché, but sometimes good things really do come to those who wait. By the time Wonderswan took to the stage, the crowd gathered at The Harley could be described as modest at best. Support had been provided by a somewhat varied line-up. These Monsters certainly fulfilled The Harley’s commitment to ‘music and gin’, passing around a bottle of the stuff throughout their set of mostly instrumental, brooding post-rock. Sadly, the band were plagued by technical problems on the night, eventually leaving the stage with a “Sorry”. London three-piece Shield Your Eyes fared
much better, their brand of post-hardcore refreshingly melodic and energetic in equal measures. Openers Mexican Kids At Home short but sweet set of folky indie-pop, if slightly out of place on the bill, seemed to attract the largest and most enthusiastic audience of the night. Indeed, the Sheffield band and much of their dedicated following left the venue shortly after their set for the guilty pleasures of Corporation, where, ironically, the other support acts might have felt more at home. Much of the audience had left after the disappointing end to These Monsters’ set, but those that made the effort to stick it out were rewarded with an intimate performance by Wonderswan, who were warmly received all round. Simply put, Wonderswan play indie rock. However, labelling the band as such would be to do them a disservice, as they bear little in common
A sweaty mist lingering over an excitable crowd of notso ‘indie cindy’ teenagers dressed up in UV paint forecasted a promising reception for the entrance of grime-punk band Hadouken! The intimate crowd of fluorescent adolescents erupted into chants and screams as the trendy St Albans’ ensemble rocked up to the stage flooding The Foundry with their distinctive ‘grindie’ sound. Considering it was the final gig of the tour, these raucous scene-kids provided an undoubtedly energetic performance
chucking up the oldies with a couple of explosive singles from the forthcoming new album, recorded with the prolific drum ‘n’ bass producer, Noisia. However, lead singer and record label creator James Smith’s vocals weren’t quite up to scratch. After belting out a few ear-splitting screams it was clear that Hadouken! were more concerned with infusing noise and energy into the crowd with their noisy underground sounds than focusing on clear, succinct melodies. The highlight of the evening: the guest appearance of ‘Swagger Mouse’ – a man dressed as a giant mouse spraying beer at the crowd whilst swinging an inflatable guitar - detracted a little style from their oh-so-cool skinny jeans and t-shirt look. A few scary faces pulled to the crowd by the guitarists,
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Fuse.
Friday October 9 2009
Best Student Newspaper Forge Press
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Forge Press & Forgetoday.com section meetings:
PRESS
Best Student Feature Writer Paul Garbett, Forge Press
TV
Best Female Presenter Jen Carr, Forge Radio
NUS Awards: Best Student Media, runner-up
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Reviews.Screen.
A monumental miscue Film The Invention of Lying Out Now
It feels like everyone in Britain has curiously managed to fall in love with Ricky Gervais, a person who was never really that far from being just another fat bloke from Reading. After the success of his shows such as The Office, Extras and his live comedy tours, it now appears that he has managed to charm America too, gathering an armful of Golden Globes and gaining an extensive list of Hollywood stars queuing up to work with him. With such achievements, it was almost inevitable that this man of the moment would transfer his talents to the big screen. Written, directed and starring Gervais himself, The Invention of Lying, takes an intriguing premise where everyone in the world tells the absolute truth, regardless of the consequences. It is this brutal honesty that creates
the wittiest moments in the film, as politicians to the people on the street tell it like it really is. A retirement home labels itself “a sad place for old, hopeless people” whilst advertisements for Coke have to settle for simply being “really famous” which is then nicely juxtaposed against Pepsi, who have resorted to a tagline of laughable accuracy of “for when they run out of coke”. Living in such circumstances, Mark Bellison (Ricky Gervais) merely an unsuccessful, despondent tubby writer, struggles to cope in such a cruel world where people openly declare they hate him. After fruitless dates and the loss of his job, Mark’s life becomes even more unbearable as he has to watch his mother on her death bed. It is at this moment that his luck changes though. In a desperate bid to make her happy he starts talking about a world and life after death, with a big man in the sky who looks after everyone. Mark successfully tells the first lie. As a character, Mark has the same natural, deadpan delivery to his speech that produces the laughs we
Ricky Gervais casts himself as Mark Bellison, a podgy faced, snub-nosed loser. have become accustomed a feature length film. The with a dissatisfying happyto from Gervais characters. crafted subversive comedy ever-after ending. And Gervais’ looks in the opening half is Gervais’ fans will comfortable here on the big suddenly lost when Mark’s crave the absence of the screen, with an effortless, largest lies are taken as malicious wit that adorns natural performance, gospel and our tragic his award winning shows, meaning that throughout hero is taken for a type of and the extreme air of he is acting the socks off of messiah; it begins to take awkwardness that leaves the big names, like Jennifer on a satirical, yet inapt look you cringing. For once his Garner, who appear at religion. fans are not laughing out somewhat lost in their Even worse, by the end loud, just producing empty roles. the film had somehow laughs for the sake of it. However, The Invention morphed into another sweet What is so frustrating is of Lying stumbles along as romantic comedy leaving us that it is such a unique idea.
Beaches of Agnes Out Now
Rudo and Cursi Out Now
Agnès Varda, one of the members of the French New Wave cinema, celebrates her 81st birthday with a sweet autobiographical film. From her beginnings in Belgium to her working headquarters in Paris, Agnès recreates her best memories, most of the time with some longing, but always cherishing them as they influenced her work. There is a motif of Agnès walking backwards every time she reminisces, which is done enough times to deliver the message but it is not overexploited. Although some of the symbolism on screen is easily understood (a few visual collages and clips from her films help connect with her memories), some of it went over the audiences’ heads, in particular two instances of chroma replacement that are distracting and feel out of place. Ms Varda’s sleeve is full of tricks. She uses a few visual collages and scenes from her films, not only reliving her memories, but showing what were the roots of such scenes and how her life and its surroundings made her who she is. Her background as a
On a banana plantation somewhere in rural Mexico two squabbling brothers dream of many things; fame, wealth and building their mother a house. Suddenly after the entrance of a football talent scout, dreams start to become a reality. They fall over one another for the chance, but can it really solve all their problems? Produced by Guillermo Del Tora (Director of Pans Labyrinth) Rudo and Cursi also brings back the team that made Y Tu Mama Tambien, a film showered in awards and nominations back in 2002. With an impressive, albeit small back catalogue like this, the expectations were high. Thankfully, the audience were not disappointed. Full with funny yet intriguing characters, this film runs like a top acting class. Diego Luna’s performance of Rudo, the rough goalie with a hefty gambling problem, is believable and lovable, even though Rudo is not exactly gallant. Gael Garcia Bernal’s Cursi is sweet and misguided, utterly convinced of himself as a “singing man really”, the character wrestles with
photographer helps her have a few silent moments where everything is said in images. She loved to buy old family pictures from flea markets and car boot sales, hoping that every snapshot told a story like hers. Her love of paintings (by Picasso and Francis Bacon) helps her set the scene for a few static images that feel like paintings. The pace in these moments is slow, allowing the audience to relish the detail and maybe connect with her train of thought. Interviews with people she knew (or their surviving families) complement her memories. Cameos by other directors of French New Wave cinema, mainly Jean Luc Godard, Jacques Demy and Francois Truffaut, show her participation in that particular era. There is a particularly endearing cameo by Harrison Ford, where they joke about producers telling him “he would never be an actor”.
The sheer amount of memories on screen feel intimate enough to show the soul of a woman who’s been through a lot but still general enough to connect with the audience. The film’s hardest moments come with memories of her marriage with Jacques Demy. The memories about him are bittersweet, and these sequences could have been harrowing, but are treated with enough decency not to make them cringe-worthy (even if the scars still show). Although her life story is extraordinary, including surviving World War II and working in the maledominated film industry, the beauty of Beaches of Agnès is making this trip down her memory lane feel intimate enough, but at the same time, showing the audience how our memories can define us as people. Samuel Valdez Lopez
the differences between skill and passion. The talent scout and narrator (Batuta) played by Guillermo Francella, a top stand up comedian in Mexico, is a gem. His constant colourful language reeled off with ease is just as one would expect from a greasy talent scout, and ties the film together nicely. The film is also shot beautifully. Carlos Cuaron (director and writer) really should be commended, especially when considering this is his directorial debut. The script is consistently and appropriately funny; appropriate being the word because this is a fairly gritty film at times and the comedic elements help soften the mood. The interplay between comedy and more serious
parts is nicely done, producing a fun film that you would love to be able to get inside and take the characters to safety when things get rough. The plot has enough sparkle and magic to keep it interesting, but the progression of situations driven by character flaws gives it that touch of reality. Rudo and Cursi is an immensely enjoyable film. The only quam being a slightly forced over normality to usually distressing situations, for example the surprising ease felt about a drug lord moving in next door. That said, this is a great film, with charismatic performances from the leading brothers. Iain Robertson
Fuse.
DVD
Melissa Gillespie
Friday October 9 2009
Documentary
It gives us an insight into the lies we tell everyday just to make someone feel a bit better, but the gags become overplayed and the film just falls flat. The promising start to The Invention of Lying fails to deliver to the end, resulting in another fat loser gets the pretty girl story and a disappointed audience.
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Reviews.Games.
Bowl of Frosties and Blood Multiplatform Blood Bowl PC, PS3 and 360
Gory American football with orcs and elves, an appealing thought no doubt, and with the added prospect of player progression (RPG style) the idea is practically salivating. Unfortunately prepare to have your hopes dashed upon the rocks of despair, as Blood Bowl, the modern adaptation of Games Workshop’s classic tabletop game, falls well below expectations. For those without prior knowledge of the games rules, problems are encountered early on. The tutorial system is by no stretch of the imagination comprehensive, and jumping straight in doesn’t give the player time to explore their options. This is a serious oversight as there are a lot of the things
Multiplatform
Surely there are enough 2D sprite based fighting games in the world already? Well, with the release of the twelfth instalment of their flagship series ‘King of Fighters’ (KOF), SNK Playmore have demonstrated that they think otherwise. Though KOF is primarily a game to be found in the arcades, the series and its characters have appeared on home gaming consoles before; perhaps most famously its fighters appeared in the PS2 games ‘SNK vs. Capcom’. Now KOF makes its next
during real time mode, sometimes due to an event occurring (which happens every time you kick the ball) but mostly entirely incomprehensibly. As a result the relatively short games quickly become irritating. The one saving grace in the campaign mode is the team development, allowing you to pick new schools for a few of your players after each match. This would be more satisfying however if it were at all noticeable in the next match you played. Players gain SPP (star player points) for the normal things during a match, a decent tackle/ foul, or a well executed throw. Earn enough SPP and your player can gain a level. Then as a result of a dice throw certain improvements can be made to the player. Theoretically the next time they head out onto the gameboard the player’s tackle cannot be dodged or their kicking may be improved, but with 11 players on the board
For a fantasy setting they don’t look that much different than regular football players. at a time it makes little to even them. The links to updates will surely improve no difference in real time American Football are weak some aspects, but Games mode. at best, the commentary Workshop is basically The target audience for starts off as amusing and flogging a dead orc. this release is the existing gets repetitive fast: overall Games Workshop fanbase, this seems far too gimmicky Mike Walden but this may disappoint for its own good. Regular
gen debut on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, but does the revival of such an antiquated style of fighting game merit our time when games like ‘UFC 2009’ are constantly pushing the boundaries of fighting realism, where ‘Mortal Kombat’ and now even ‘Street Fighter’ have entered the third dimension? If you played any fighting games during the 1990’s you’ve already seen most of what KOF XII has to offer, and if you aren’t familiar with it’s 15 year mythology, there shouldn’t be a problem as this instalment lacks either a story mode or a traditional arcade tournament. Instead it offers only a time trial mode, two player versus and the option for online play. The characters are fairly diverse, with the fluid animation giving each
a distinct personality. Although each character boasts depth in the length of their command lists, it’s clear that moves have been unfairly distributed by the game’s designers, making some fighters far superior than others. The AI is fairly challenging, but fighting against a second player is where the real fun begins, providing the same addictive, repetitive and competitive thrills as its many predecessors. Hilarity is guaranteed for the less hardcore of us as our character squats in their corner kicking and punching the air in an effort to trigger overly complicated special moves. Despite the fun to be had on two player, there’s nothing new here, and with only five venues to fight in it soon all feels far too familiar. So, why does KOF XII
need to be next gen? The game’s sleeve argues that it is to support the ‘high definition painted visuals’, which suggests something about the game’s target audience: fans of the series and hardcore animé buffs. There is no denying that this is a beautiful game, boasting the franchise’s first full graphics overhaul in 14 years. With no ingame cinematics it’s clear that this game is geared towards painted art work, with painstakingly detailed hand-drawn backgrounds, and player rewards consisting of pictures unlocked in the game’s gallery. It is undoubtedly a collector’s piece. It also does a fair job of transplanting all the excitement of the arcade into your home, with retro synthesised music and cheesy deep voiced fight
Fuse.
Friday October 9th 2009
King of Fighters XII PC and 360
you can do to really improve your experience, if you know what you’re doing. The main concept of the game sounds great, with a real time mode for those not entirely interested in tactics the whole time, and turn based version for those familiar with the existing rules, or keen on learning them. However the former swiftly turns into aggravating point and click gameplay, leaving you frustrated at the seemingly random AI. Potentially worse is the disappointment to die-hard fans at the poor conversion from tabletop to computer in turn based mode. Blood Bowl starts out as inaccessible and with more play time only ends up being more frustrating as faults in the game design become unbearable. For example the result of each game seems almost predetermined depending on your opponent; some allow a complete walkover, whereas some teams are simply unbeatable no matter your lead. Also the in game clock jumps randomly
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We’ve all wanted to be beaten up by a woman with blue hair and a riding crop at some point in our lives.
commentators aplenty. However, although these touches account for the charms of the game, they also explain its flaws. Limited venues and unbalanced characters might not be noticeable, and a few minutes nostalgia might be welcome, as you play the time allotted for a 50p go in an arcade. Unfortunately, if you’d paid the full RRP of £34.99 to take this home, you might feel instead that you’d bought something you’d already played 10 years ago. Adam Smith
PC CustomPlay Golf 2010 PC
CustomPlay Golf 2010, developed by Bluestone Interactive, is a new golf videogame with a heavy emphasis on letting the user customise content and with a swing motion controlled by mouse. With real courses to tee off on and physics based on weather data this latest CustomPlay Golf game is an interesting alternative to the Tiger Woods series. Let’s start with the good. Your character is customisable, a must in this day and age, even if it’s a bit limited. The game’s physics engine makes play extremely realistic, golf balls bounce believably and you can see the effect of the course’s hills and slopes in real time. Weather conditions are fun to mess around with, just don’t overdo it, as you can end up facing hurricane-
like winds that may have a noticeably negative effect on your par. The game lets you customise courses and it’s a good way to extend the lifespan of the game and the editor is pretty straightforward to use once you get used to it. On the bad side, even with the update, the game was unstable under some conditions. The mini golf option was the only one that kept crashing after a few swings, but everything else in the game was stable, even when pushing the physics and weather engines to the extremes. The graphics are detailed and pleasant to look at but some slower machines may be forced to choose between this eye candy and good physics. For this game the best option is the latter. All in all, positives more than make up for any of the glitches found in the current code. If you like golf games, this is an option with a few enticing extras, mainly a good physics engine and customisable courses. Samuel Valdes Lopez
Competition Win one of five free copies of CustomPlay Golf 2010, just anwser the following question: Which of these is not a golfing term? a) Birdie b) Bacon c) Bogey Send your answer along with contact details to: games@ forgetoday.com
Reviews.Arts.
The plot to end paradise Theatre
Comedy
Paradise Lost SutCo
Zoe Lyons The Lescar
Being half way through John Milton’s Paradise Lost myself I was intrigued as to how Milton’s script could be adapted for theatre. I’m pleased I followed my curiosity as I found the beauty of Milton’s original script really shone through in this wonderful production. The script had been taken directly from the original text, which was done justice by the array of talented actors performing it. Selina Thompson played a wonderfully sinister Satan and the first half of the play was eerily dark. Satan’s fallen angels gave a first-rate performance, particularly a demonic, gurning Moloch played by Shelley Firth. The set design was impressive; ladders hanging from the ceiling illustrated the snakes and ladder effect of Satan’s miserable fall into Chaos and his hope of reining Heaven. A red, backlit curtain was a creative symbol of the portal to hell. After the interval the set
Zoë Lyons is slowly building a reputation as Britain’s funniest female. Her show, Miss Machismo takes her unique position of a gay comedienne and examines her rise to fame with riotous consequences. She takes on everyone from Germaine Greer (“a humourless old bag”), to her very own wife (“she looked the better at our wedding, the bitch. No one thought of the cattiness when they allowed civil partnership.”) She tears into Kerry Katona, a woman who can bring out her own perfume but since losing the Iceland adverts is “struggling to heat a pizza to feed her kids”. Amy Winehouse’s self-abuse earns Lyon’s most scathing joke: “Why do it to yourself Amy? Surely there are people cueing up to do it for you?” To be sure, the routine is not for the faint hearted. The jokes are fierce and it is easy to find fault in a female comic gaining success through mocking of other females who have
Eve (Sarah Raine) is tempted by Satan (Selina Thompson). was changed to represent Sarah Raine, was brilliant the Garden of Eden, using alongside Satan, who gave white drapes and green- a compelling performance hued lighting. By changing tempting Eve to eat the the set during the interval forbidden fruit. it successfully reflected the The clear-cut costumes contrast between the two served their purpose, halves of the play. Overall it the difference between was simple but effective. good and evil was shown The second half of the with black and white. performance began very This approach worked differently. A well cast Eve, particularly well at the end and a charming Adam of the play when Adam and played a harmonious Eve are banished from Eden couple, there seemed to be they are given black clothes a genuine affection between to wear. the two. Eve, played by It was a really good turn lose sight of who is supposed to be the ‘real’ Dorian. As yet another metaphor for the fleetingness of fame, it suggests both how the ‘it’ boy is always about to be replaced by another, and that Dorian himself is losing his own identity as he becomes trapped inside the persona he has created.
DanceTheatre Dorian Gray Lyceum
Richard Scott
Book The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton
As a first novel, The Rehearsal certainly makes a statement. Based around the aftermath of a sex scandal in a girls’ school, The Rehearsal deals with issues of self-discovery and sexual power in a world where adolescents are still children, battling adult perceptions and the prejudices of their peers. The plot follows no specific timeline, instead many events only become clear a few chapters after they are first mentioned. This is a technique which at first may be confusing, even frustrating, to the reader, but which allows each person to piece together the story for themselves and to impose their own interpretation on it. Initially the reader is thrown in at the deep end
Gallery Daniel von Sturmer Site Gallery
Most people will eagerly declare about themselves: ‘I know nothing about modern art’. This is not to say I know much more about ‘old’ art but for some reason art which strays from the medium of paint immediately seems more intimidating. It was therefore reassuring upon entering the exhibition to see no lengthy dissertations attached to the walls detailing the artist’s complex and baffling thought processes. Von Sturmer has clearly decided to let people experience his art instead of just reading about it. The exhibition consisted of six video works spread between two small rooms, all depicting a variety of objects moving in different ways. Von Sturmer, or perhaps his PR writer, describes his work as being “playful”, and I would certainly agree with this. Watching the myriad objects being clumsily manipulated by an off-screen entity, I was actually moved to smile several times. Certain of the videos centred on brightly-coloured moving blocks, and others explored a range of small everyday objects such as blue-tac and elastic bands.
Von Sturmer at play. They all spoke to me of childhood play and I received a strong impression that von Sturmer enjoyed making the videos. The videos were all vaguely aesthetically pleasing and interesting enough that I watched several of the loops twice over. I also found the general atmosphere of the exhibition relaxing: the audio from the videos mostly consisted of a series of thumps and crashes but this was strangely calming. Von Sturmer’s work wasn’t, for me, at all thought provoking, despite this being one of his artistic aims. I passively received impressions rather than actively thinking about anything much. In any case, whilst not being intellectually stimulated by the exhibition, I considered it an enjoyable 20 minutes. The exhibition continues in the Site gallery until the October 31 and is free admission. Rebecca Broadley
Fuse.
Richard Wilson as Dorian. muscular path through the under-city of coke parties, brothels and nightclubs that Wilde could only suggest. The picture of the book is replaced here with a photo-shoot in which Dorian serenades himself through the eye of a camera lens – an inspired depiction of narcissism that also proves that a wordless performance can successfully capture the wit Wilde achieved in his prose. The multiple photography, hung throughout the set from scene to scene, emphasises even more strongly the obsession with capturing and holding onto the transient power of beauty and youth. The other effective device in the performance was Dorian’s doppleganger, who appears at first on the edges of the stage and then invades it, so that we often
of the plot. There is no attempt by the author at conventional story-telling or scene-setting, and the reader is left trying to place characters and events in a coherent order. This unsettling narrative introduces us immediately to the saxophone teacher, the linchpin of the story, who guides the girls in their own discoveries through her own reality and fantasy. The two eventually become so interlocked that it is impossible to distinguish them, and the experiences of one character become the experiences of all. With this technique, Catton seems to be hinting at the homogeneous nature of each individual’s search for an identity. The merging of reality and fantasy is explicit in one particular subplot as the drama school presents the story of the sex scandal as an end-of-year production. As their show developed, the lives of one actor and a girl from the school become deeply intertwined and ever more complex. The book is very wellwritten, using an original style that is refreshing and engaging. Catton is an accomplished story-teller, painting a vivid picture with her insightful, and often cynical, use of language. The Rehearsal presents teenage angst and adult despair in an entirely unique way that manages to be both intelligent and cutting. Amy Patricia Smith
Friday October 9 2009
Dorian Gray has garnered rave reviews from the press throughout its tour, and the company’s performance at the Lyceum left us in no doubt that the approbation is deserved. The world has moved on since The Picture of Dorian Gray scandalised Victorian Britain. Wilde’s novel created furore because it hinted at a great swathe of immorality behind the façade of overripe mores and strictly buttoned decency. Most of its character’s excesses took place ‘off-stage’. In contrast, the mediasaturated culture of this modern Dorian Gray is all about the exposure that the cult of celebrity revels in. The opening sequences plunge us into the whitelight world of modelling agencies and shooting studios that stand in for high society, setting a lurid pace in which the writhing, self-contained expression of the individual dancers is at once obsequious and predatory. From here Dorian Gray (Richard Winsor), Basil Hallward (Christopher Marney) and Cyril Vane (Dominic North) go on to carve out their incestuous frustrations in a manic and
out; almost all of the seats were taken during the performance. Of course everything gets busier around freshers’ week, but there seemed to be genuine interest in the play. The cost of the tickets was five pounds, a bit more than usual for a SuTCo production. However the price was justified, and after speaking to others that had seen the production it seems this was a shared opinion. Jessica Nangreaves
fallen foul of fame’s dark side. But Zoë Lyons thrives here: she is disgusted with the lack of female idols in an age where fame is everything and sarcastically boasts of being placed 81st in a recent poll of the “Most Influential Gays in Britain”. It is clear that she dislikes pigeon-holing, and would like to be judged for her stand up and not her sexual preferences. The remainder of her routine pokes fun at the sillier side of the famous. How did P Diddy ever achieve anything with a stream of ridiculous names? And how can the Pope tell the world to focus on what’s important at home, and forget the financial strains of a recession when he leads the richest organisation in the world? The jokes met a good reception, with heavy chortling throughout an already warmed up audience. But they were not of the same high calibre as when Lyons is faced with a female who has taken a wrong turn. This is when she is at her side splitting best. True, her performance would benefit from greater variety of content but this show still highlights her as one of the country’s funniest, regardless of gender. Jonathan Burley
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Fuse.listings Friday October 9 - Thursday October 22 2009
email: listings@forgetoday.com
Fri 9
Sat 10
Sun 11
Mon 12
Tue 13
Wed 14
Thur 15
Up @ Odeon & Cineworld; £4.80 £5.30; Various times
Sarah Millican @ The Lescar; 9:30pm; £8 One of the funniest female comedians currently touring the country and the If.com Best Newcomer winner is back in Sheffield for the Grin Up North comedy festival, dispelling and reinforcing popular gender myths.
Etheria @ Redhouse; 6pm; £5 A day of deliciously dark acoustic music featuring Sieben, Dyonisis, Paul Pearson, Rhombus, Fallen Trees and Trouble Breathing. Plus, for your fiver you get free soup and rolls.
Johnny Foreigner @ The Harley; 8pm; £5
Sally Goldsmith + John Lyons + Mike di Placido @ Showroom; 7pm; £4 NUS An evening of diverse poetry with three original voices. Both Sally Goldsmith and John Lyon are award-winning poets whilst ex-professional footballer Mike di Placido’s work focuses on his youth team days at Manchester United.
Noah and the Whale @ Leadmill; 7pm; £12 Having shot to fame in the summer of 2008 with their hit single ‘5 Years Time’, Noah and the Whale returned this year with their new album The First Days of Spring.
Enter Shikari @ O2 Academy; 7pm; £16 Having toured relentlessly in their early years and around the release of their debut album, Enter Shikari are now an extremely popular hardcore act who have also managed to find a place in the mainstream.
Continuing Pixar’s amazing strike rate for making brilliant family movies, Up charters the great adventure of a 78-year-old balloon salesman (and an eightyear-old stowaway) as he sails away in his home to South America to fulfil a lifelong dream. Film Unit: The Damned United @ SU Auditorium; 7:30pm; £2 A fact-meets-fiction account of Brian Clough’s doomed spell at Leeds United, detailing his relationships with right-hand man Peter Taylor and arch-rival Don Revie.
High Contrast + Benga + more @ Plug; 10pm; £10adv
The Slits @ Corporation; 7pm; £12 The all female punk band from the ’70s reformed in 2005 with a combination of new and original members. They’re out touring again and have a new full length album scheduled for release this month. Jamie T @ O2 Academy; 7pm; £15
One of the country’s best drum and bass record labels, Hospital Records, have curated an awesome night featuring artists from their own roster and other big name DJs.
Mon 19
Tue 20
Wed 21
Thur 22
Richard Hawley @ The Lyceum; 7pm; £20 Critically acclaimed guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer Richard Hawley (who is also a bit of a local legend) will be performing for the very first time at the Lyceum.
The Fire Poet, Sirish and The BuddhistPunk @ The Lescar; 8pm; £3 Tim Holmes aka The BuddhistPunk is a performance poet. Whilst living in Sheffield he published a collected works and tonight sees him return to the city to revisit this work alongside new material.
Russell Kane @ Memorial Hall; 8pm; £10
Film Unit: Tony Manero @ SU Auditorium; 7:30pm; £1.80 Spanish film in which a serial killer is obsessed with John Travolta’s disco dancing character Tony Manero from the ’70s film Saturday Night Fever.
Johnny Candon @ The Lescar; 8pm; £5 Johnny Candon and Michael Legge perform a brand new sketch show and generally prick about for your pleasure.
Franz Ferdinand @ O2 Academy; 6:30pm; £20
Stornoway @ Plug; 7pm: £6adv A group of super smart gents from Oxford with an inclination towards hats, tweed, checked shirts and folkish pop music.
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus @ Showroom; 8:40pm; £4.30 The imagination of director Terry Gilliam produces another weird and wonderful story in which a travelling theatre company gives its audience much more than they were expecting.
Bat for Lashes @ Octagon; 7:30pm; £17adv With Brit and Mercury prize nominations, Bat for Lashes is one of the most fascinating and progressive female pop musicians in the UK right now. Joining her on her nationwide tour is Yeasayer.
Peter Hook @ SU Auditorium; 7pm; £8 NUS
Sun 18
Sat 17
Tibor Fischer was born in Stockport of Hungarian parents. He was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his first novel Under the Frog which won a Betty Trask award. He was also nominated as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists.
The Australian stand-up comic has become a frequent visitor to the UK, regularly appearing at the Edinburgh Festival and on British TV shows such as Mock The Week. He is now touring the country with his 11th solo show Inflatable.
The hit BBC sitcom, written by Victoria Wood, has been turned into a stage show and is visiting Sheffield as part of its first ever tour.
Fri 16
Synthetic @ The Raynor Lounge; 9pm; £3.50 A night of classic and contemporary electropop with the DJs playing all the hits from the likes of Depeche Mode, La Roux, Kraftwerk, Hot Chip and many more.
Dinnerladies @ The Lyceum; 7:30pm; £12.50 - £23.50
Casiokids + Shake Aletti @ Fusion; 7pm: £6.50adv The Norwegian electro pop quintet are another of Moshi Moshi Records exquisite finds as the label releases the band’s third single.
Insane in the Brain @ The Lyceum; 7:30pm; £16 - £19 The classic story of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is injected with a large dose of hip-hop energy by Swedish dance company Bounce.
Jamie Treays’ particularly hard to place musical style has won over critics and fans alike. His debut LP Panic Prevention was heralded as a modern masterpiece by some and this years follow up Kings and Queens continues the trend of highly positive reviews.
Perhaps not quite the indie heavyweights they once were, but Franz Ferdinand still know how to make music “girls can dance to” as they demonstrated with their most recent releases “Ulysses” and “No You Girls”.
Sarah Dunant @ Showroom; 7pm; £4 NUS Sarah Dunant is a renowned writer, broadcaster, critic and the founding patron of the Orange Prize for women’s fiction. She has penned many international best-sellers including The Birth of Venus.
Mimas @ Redhouse; 8:30pm; Price TBA Mimas are a Danish act who make what they describe as “death indie”. They have already released their debut album The Worries in the UK through Big Scary Monsters Recordings.
Dreadzone @ Corporation; 7pm; £14adv Formed in 1993, Dreadzone are perhaps most celebrated for the way in which their unique sound incorporates many musical genre, including dub, reggae, techno, trance, and folk.
The Chapman Family @ Plug; 7pm; £6adv Despite having only released two singles so far, The Chapman Family’s fearsome postpunk style has already made them the darlings of all the right people, including Steve Lamacq and NME.
Intro Fiesta @ Octagon; 9pm; £4adv Organised by the International Students’ Committee, Intro Fiesta is a great opportunity for international and home students alike to make friends and meet people from all over the world at one big all night party.
Tibor Fischer @ Coffee Revolution; 7:30pm; £4 NUS
The indie rock trio from Birmingham are set to release their second album towards the end of the month and can currently be seen glaring back at you from the cover of the latest issue of Artrocker.
Adam Hills @ Memorial Hall; 8pm; £12.50
Film Unit: Four Weddings and a Funeral @ SU Auditorium; 7:30pm; £1.80 The classic romantic comedy that launched the career of Richard Curtis, introduced the world to Hugh Grant and led to Wet Wet Wet spending what felt like a year at Number One.
Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee @ Showroom; 8:30pm; £3
Napoleon IIIrd @ The Harley; 8pm; Price TBA A mock rock-umentary that tells the story of the doomed eponymous roadie and his hapless charge as Donk attempts to gatecrash an Arctic Monkeys show and get Scorz an opening slot. A highly original singersongwriter from Leeds, Napoleon IIIrd’s music is a tangle of sounds and melodies constructed from piles of antique organs and car-boot keyboards, strummed chords and driving glitchbeats.
Remembered Imagined Experienced @ Yorkshire Artspace: Persistence Works; 10am - 5pm; Free In her new exhibition, Sheffield based artist A. Rosemary Watson will explore the complexities and fragmented nature of memory.
Passion Pit + The Joy Formidable @ Leadmill; Fresh from his sellout 2009 tour Gaping Flaws and one month residency at the prestigious Melbourne comedy festival, Russell returns with his highly anticipated new show Human Dressage.
Appearing as part of the Off the Shelf festival, legendary musician Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order tells the story of the Hacienda - the fun, the music, and the lost money.
Horizon @ Cupola Gallery; 10am - 6.30pm; Free A solo exhibition by Sheffield based printmaker Isobel Walker. Through her work, she explores the tension between boundary and boundlessness, where the sphere of the earth meets the sky. Lucy Porter @ The Lescar; 9:30pm; £5
Von Haze @ Bungalows and Bears; 8pm; Free Adventures in the Beetroot Field present a special show with New York duo Von Haze. Their psychedelic punk rock has seen them support the likes of The Big Pink and Crystal Antlers in the Big Apple.
7pm; £9adv These electro kids from Massachusetts scored a hit in the UK with their first release “Sleepyhead”. Now they’re in Sheffield for the first time after they had to cancel their previous appearance due to illness.
The Tuesday Club: Chase & Status + DJ Friction + Joker @ Fusion & Foundry; £12 The first part of The Tuesday Club’s 11th birthday celebration sees Chase & Status playing live for the first time in the city.
Skellig @ The Lyceum; 1:30pm; £11.00 £15.00 The multi award-winning children’s book by David Almond comes to the stage. It tells the story of the boy Michael and his discovery of the mystical creature Skellig in the garage of his new home.
Comedian Lucy Porter’s latest solo show Fool’s Gold is a witty romp through the history of gold. In these times of recession, gold is prized more highly than ever but what’s so special about gold? The show will feature live alchemy, a tribute to Mr. T and a very valuable, big gold thing.