STAGE DURHAM FRINGE FESTIVAL @ VARIOUS VENUES

Words: Emily Ingram

Say what you want about Durham, but there’s almost always something weird and wonderful going on if you know where to look for it. This month is no different, as the always-eclectic Durham Fringe Festival is set to hit a range of venues across the city from Wednesday 26th-Sunday 30th July. For the uninitiated, the Durham Fringe is a grassroots community-led festival that aims to celebrate the best and brightest performing and visual arts that the city has to offer. It’s also the #1 event for making tourists stop on Cathedral green and proclaim, very loudly, “ooo, I wonder what’s going on in that big tent!”.

What ISN’T going on in that big tent? It’s a jam-packed one this year, with performers flocking from near and far to bring the goods. There’s set to be plenty of laughs from Amarpal Singh, Becky Heaviside and Metroland Comedy (among plenty of others); a huge host of Shakespeare and bard-inspired theatrical productions courtesy of Elysium Theatre among others; more magic than you can shake a comically long hanky at and even the odd family-friendly, space-pirates-hurtling-througha-trash-vortex extravaganza.

There’s also a ton of ticket deals, including three shows for 20 quid, which definitely shouldn’t be sniffed at. Be sure to check out the Durham Fringe website for the full programme of events, as planning your fringe experience ahead of time is your best bet for making the most out of this brilliant festival. Durham Fringe Festival takes place at various venues in Durham from Wednesday 26th-Sunday 30th July. www.durhamfringe.co.uk

Music

PICTISH TRAIL @ POP RECS LTD.

Words: Ben Lowes-Smith www.pictishtrail.co.uk

Johnny Flynn, aka Pictish Trail, has been ploughing a unique, untidy and unconventional furrow for twenty years, empowering others through his Lost Map Records and gigs on the Isle of Eigg, and has given a platform to the likes of Rozi Plain, Bas Jan, Seamus Fogarty and Free Love, among many others.

Flynn’s own music is special and idiosyncratic, and 2020 saw the release of Pictish Trail’s new album, Thumb World. Bold, weird, wild, wired, sonically luxurious yet never losing touch with its DIY-‘til-I-die roots, Thumb World is a voyage to the outer rings of Pictish Trail’s mind at its darkest, funniest and most inventive – a “plugged-in, fuzzed-out, fucked-up contemplation” on, as he puts it, “life repeating and gradually degrading, the inevitable cyclical nature of things, and the sense of there ultimately being no escape.” Pictish Trail’s performance at Pop Recs on Friday 21st July will also feature Guto Price of Super Furry Animals on the ones and twos, and he’s sure to provide deep cuts from an erudite record collection. Not one to be missed!

Pictish Trail plays Pop Recs Ltd., Sunderland on Friday 21st July.