Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016

EDINBURGH

FESTIVAL Guide LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL

2016

2 SHO80 + THE WS E CITY GSSENTIAL UIDE

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RICHARD WILSON MEETS ANGUS DEAYTON

N A L A G N I M M U C

CECILIA BARTOLI JUPITER ARTLAND CURTIS STIGERS AMY LIPTROT SIMON MUNNERY

ESTIVAL F E H T T UPPER A S S I H R SINGS FO

DON GNU THE TEAM CAL MACANINCH

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EDINBURGH FESTIVAL GUIDE 2016

CONTENTS

FRONTLINES & FEATURES 11

News in Brief

12

Frontlines

Rik Mayall, Horse McDonald Adele tributes, bad puns and a festival quiz!

16

Richard Wilson & Angus Deayton Comedy pals give each other a good ribbing

20 Cecilia Bartoli The opera superstar brings Bellini to Edinburgh

23 Extreme research Acts who have gone to crazy lengths for their art

ART

P UP OUIRCK FREE WEEKL Y ISSUES FESTIVAL 3, 10 & ON WED 17 AUG

30 Facing the World Sketching the evolution of self-portraiture

34 Jupiter Artland Taking a trip to the West Lothian oasis of artistic calm

BOOKS 40 Amy Liptrot How technology and nature helped ease an addiction

43 James Naughtie Former Today man chills out with a Cold War thriller

44 1980s American movies August authors pick their fave US films

FRINGE 51

Comedy Mary Lynn Rajskub, Simon Munnery

67 Dance Don Gnu, Flip Fabrique

71

Kids King Arthur, How to Be a Rock Star

74 Music Colin Hay, The Terrestrial Sea

78 Theatre Cal MacAninch, Nassim Soleimanpour

INTERNATIONAL 96 Alan Cumming Singing sappy songs for his fans

99 Pierre Boulez Paying homage to the late great classical innovator

100 The TEAM US theatre group explores national identity

‘HIS LIGGING HAS BEEN THE FOUNDATION OF OUR ENTIRE HIP’ FRIENDS DEAYTON ON

JAZZ 109 Curtis Stigers The suave jazz man sticks it to Trump

POLITICS 112 TV dramas Why we can’t get enough of Borgen

TATTOO 116 The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

ANGUS RICHARD WILSON

The young performers lighting up Edinburgh Castle

OTHER FESTIVALS 119 Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival Virtual reality comes to the Assembly Rooms

CITY GUIDE 124 Old Town ABOVE PHOTO: RICH HARDCASTLE (RICHHARDCASTLE.COM)

COVER PHOTO: FRANCIS HILLS (FRANCISHILLS.COM)

131 Southside 137 New Town & Stockbridge

Published in July 2016 by The List Ltd Head Office: 14 High Street Edinburgh EH1 1TE Tel: 0131 550 3050 list.co.uk Extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication; however the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors it may contain.

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©2016 The List Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of The List Ltd.

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INDEX

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160 Festival A-Z

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OKING FESTIVAL BIOON INFORMAT

EDINBURGH ART FESTIVAL 28 Jul–28 Aug edinburghartfestival.com Telephone booking: Please call individual venues. Many events are free but ticketed

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL 13–29 Aug edbookfest.co.uk Telephone booking: 0845 373 5888 In person: The Hub, Castlehill; Entrance Tent in Charlotte Square Gardens

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 5–29 Aug edfringe.com Telephone booking: 0131 226 0000 In person: Fringe Box Office, High Street; University of Edinburgh Visitor Centre, Charles Street; Virgin Money Half Price Hut, Mound Precinct

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 5–29 Aug eif.co.uk Telephone booking: 0131 473 2000 In person: The Hub, Castlehill

WELCOME TO THE FESTIVAL With uncertainty reverberating over the future of Scotland, Britain, Europe, America and the world, Edinburgh’s festival season can help offer answers as well as providing distractions from the big questions. Once again, the capital is laying on a banquet of cultural treats to keep everyone excited and energised during July and August.

At first glance, there seems to be just too much going on. It’s a feeling that won’t disappear on the second or third glance, so it’s our job to help you navigate the minefield. Thanks to this Edinburgh Festival Guide, three magazines in August plus a website (list.co.uk/festival) and Twitter (@thelistmagazine) featuring all the best news, reviews and interviews, The List has got your back.

Not only that, we’re even offering you the chance to win tickets to our festival party (see page 159).

Over the following pages, we bring you interviews with Scotland’s renaissance man Alan Cumming, chartbusting jazz guy Curtis Stigers, edgy Fringe veterans Doug Anthony All Stars, and Chloe from 24. We hear how author Amy Liptrot sought salvation in Orkney, why actor Cal MacAninch stared into the abyss for his latest theatre role, and we get TV stars Richard Wilson and Angus Deayton into a room where they chew some funny fat.

We also take a look at 1980s American movies, modern political TV dramas, and dance shows for kids, while Simon Munnery recalls his 30 years of Fringe chaos. For tech buffs, there’s a peek into the virtual reality delights of a new digital festival, and fashionistas will enjoy hearing from a bunch of smartly dressed stand-ups. And in our City Guide, we explore the best restaurants, bars and shops across the capital.

More than a month of cultural magic and mayhem is shortly upon us. So, let’s forget our worries and focus on lapping up the biggest arts festival the world has ever known.

Brian Donaldson EDINBURGH FESTIVAL GUIDE EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS Festival Guide Editor Brian Donaldson

EDINBURGH JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL 15–24 Jul edinburghjazzfestival.com Telephone booking: 0131 473 2000 In person: The Hub, Castlehill

City Guide Editor Rowena McIntosh Words Kelly Apter, Niki Boyle, Laura Campbell, Rachael Cloughton, Neil Cooper, Thom Dibdin, Brian Donaldson, Mark Fisher, David Kettle, Rosie Lesso, Rowena McIntosh, Craig McLean, Carol Main, Susan Mansfield, Rebecca Monks, Simon Munnery, David Pollock, Donald Reid, Lucy Ribchester, Claire Sawers, Fiona Shepherd, Stewart Smith, Yasmin Sulaiman, Ben Williams

DIGITAL Andy Bowles, Andy Carmichael, Sharon Irish, Iain McCusker, Scott Henderson RESEARCH Rowena McIntosh, Murray Robertson, Alex Johnston, Rebecca Monks, Henry Northmore, Kirstyn Smith, Louise Stoddart ADVERTISING & SPONSORSHIP Chris Knox, Sheri Friers, Brendan Miles, Debbie Thomson, Jessica Rodgers, Jade Regulski, Rachel Cree

PRODUCTION Design & Art Direction Lucy Munro, Carys Tennant, Simon Armin, Stuart Polson Subeditors Yasmin Sulaiman, Paul McLean, Brian Donaldson THE LIST Director Simon Dessain Publisher Robin Hodge Editor Yasmin Sulaiman Accounts Sarah Reddie

FESTIVAL OF POLITICS 18–20 Aug festivalofpolitics.scot Telephone booking: 0131 348 5200 / 0800 092 7600 In person: Scottish Parliament, Horse Wynd

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TOP 25

Another year and another Edinburgh Festival with far too much to see and just over a month to catch it all. From sitcom stars to opera icons, and rude Aussies to Arthurian legends, we point you straight in the direction of those unmissable events

ART

SURREAL ENCOUNTERS

Salvador Dalí and his Mae West sofa lips, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Eileen Agar and Marcel Duchamp are all represented in this collection which takes its cue from surrealism pioneer André Breton’s line that ‘only the marvellous is beautiful’. See page 29. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, until 11 Sep. PHOTO: MALI LAZELL

FRINGE

JAZZ

I DON’T BELIEVE IT!

CURTIS STIGERS

After a lifetime away from the Fringe, Richard Wilson is back to resurrect his most beloved character. You probably wouldn’t want to live beside Victor Meldrew but from the safety of Row Y, he’ll be an absolute hoot.

See page 16. Assembly Roxy, 16–28 Aug.

With his JFK fashion sense and admiration for stand-up comedians, Stigers has long since put his early-90s pop success to bed. A smooth and sophisticated jazz man is here. Though keep an eye out for those biker fans of his. See page 109. Festival Theatre, 15 Jul.

6 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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TOP 25

FRINGE

MICHAEL MORPURGO’S KING ARTHUR

PHOTO: T+T FOTOGRAFIE

PHOTO: NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND AND TATE

Camelot. Excalibur. Lady of the Lake. Merlin. Guinevere. The legend of King Arthur has been enjoyed for centuries and Story Pocket Theatre will be giving it their own superb spin. See page 71.

Gilded Balloon at the Museum, 3–29 Aug.

ART

INTERNATIONAL

FACING THE WORLD

CECILIA BARTOLI

Self-portraiture has come rather a long way since the mid-17th century. This blockbuster exhibition looks at how artists have viewed themselves from the Dutch masters through to Chinese dissidents via pop art gurus.

See page 30. Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 16 Jul–16 Oct.

Bellini’s Norma gets the superstar treatment with Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli set to deliver an astonishing performance as the Druid high priestess trying to face down the brutal Romans. See page 20. Festival Theatre, 5–9 Aug.

BOOKS

JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER A heavyweight American author is always an excellent addition to any UK literary festival.

Typically, Edinburgh has scooped the modern daddy of them all with JSF in town to chat about his first novel in over a decade. See page 47. Charlotte Square Gardens, 28 Aug. PHOTO: STEPHEN LAWRENCE PHOTO: SIMON MURPHY

FRINGE

OTHER FESTIVALS

CABARET

FRINGE BY THE SEA

The world of Fringe cabaret is a veritable plethora of diverse joys. From Peter and Bambi Heaven (pictured) to Lili La Scala, and Betty Grumble to Great White Males, Edinburgh has got them all. See page 82.

Various venues, 3–29 Aug.

In a delightful spot far away from the madding Royal Mile crowd is North Berwick’s annual bash, this year featuring the likes of Geno Washington, Pauline McLynn (pictured), Alistair McGowan and Capercaillie. See page 121. North Berwick, 8–14 Aug.

INTERNATIONAL THE TEAM National Theatre of Scotland and The TEAM hook up for Anything that Gives Off Light, a piece about an American woman and a Scotsman who shed the layers of national identity to search for a deeper truth. See page 100. EICC, 18–26 Aug.

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TOP 25

POLITICS

FESTIVAL OF POLITICS

Another excellently varied FoP programme of events covering topics such as the future of Scottish sport, the refugee crisis, spin doctors, Borgen (pictured), the US presidential election and artificial intelligence.

Oh, and there’s LEGO! See page 111. Scottish Parliament, 18–20 Aug.

FRINGE

COLIN HAY He may have claimed to ‘come from a land down under’, but the Men at Work frontman was actually a boy from Saltcoats. For his Fringe show, he brings us a hot band and delivers some funny tales about the mad old music industry.

See page 74. Gilded Balloon Teviot, 15–28 Aug.

INTERNATIONAL

FRINGE

CHOTTO DESH

CAL MACANINCH My Eyes Went Dark dragged this acclaimed Scottish actor

Akram Khan’s company let us in on another unique example of cross-cultural storytelling from their leader as this much-anticipated production for children aged 7+ unleashes an evocative blend of dance, text, visuals and sound.

See page 104. EICC, 13 & 14 Aug.

to a very sombre and painful place in a play based on the true story of a tormented man who lost his wife and children before taking bloody vengeance. See page 78.

Traverse Theatre, 4–28 Aug.

8 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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TOP 25

AMY LIPTROT

Having survived a hedonistic London, Liptrot headed to her Orkney home for salvation. Her memoir digs deep into addiction. See page 40.

Charlotte Square Gardens, 26 Aug.

FRINGE

DOUG ANTHONY ALL STARS DAAS were once a big Fringe

INTERNATIONAL / BOOKS ALAN CUMMING The renaissance man is on EIF singing duty and pops into the Book Festival to discuss his life in showbiz. See page 96. The Hub, 6–27 Aug; Charlotte Square Gardens, 27 Aug.

TATTOO

INTERNATIONAL SIGUR ROS Those gloomy postrockers have got a bit more cheerful of late with some addictive pop tunes. Time for hopelandic heaven. See page 102.

Edinburgh Playhouse, 15 & 16 Aug.

THE ROYAL EDINBURGH MILITARY TATTOO

This annual explosion of colour, music, marching and dancing doesn’t get any less wildly popular. Among those taking part this year are the Royal Jordanian Armed Forces Band and the Imps Motorcycle Display Team. See page 116. Edinburgh Castle, 5–27 Aug.

PHOTO: EGGLESTON ARTISTIC TRUST

deal and they’re back with a tweaked line-up to relive the magic. See page 54.

Pleasance Courtyard, 3–14 Aug.

PHOTO: TRE

PHOTO: LISA SWARNA KHANNA

BOOKS

ART

OTHER FESTIVALS

HELEN MONKS

Fresh from television triumphs in Ben Elton’s Upstart Cow and Caitlin Moran’s Raised by Wolves, Helen Monks brings us a one-woman show with Dolly Wants to Die and a verbatim drama for Northern Stage in E15. A genuine rising star, yet already a Fringe quasi-veteran. See page 80. Underbelly, 4–28 Aug; Summerhall, 6–27 Aug.

I STILL BELIEVE IN MIRACLES Botanics-based gallery

DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT FESTIVAL A new player on the

celebrates 30 years with work from the likes of William Eggleston (pictured). See page 37. Inverleith House, 23 Jul–23 Oct.

Edinburgh Festival circuit takes over the iconic George Street venue. See page 119. Assembly Rooms, 4–28 Aug.

FRINGE

BOOKS

FRINGE

DON GNU

MG LEONARD

SIMON MUNNERY Who’s the Dadaist? The brains behind Cluub Zarathustra, the League Against Tedium, Buckethead and Alan Parker: Urban Warrior is that man, of course. Here he celebrates his 30th year of unmitigated Fringe chaos with a brand new Stand show and an evening of special guests in his dishonour. See page 63.

The Stand, 5–29 Aug; Famous Spiegeltent, 22 Aug.

PHOTO: STEVE ULLATHORNE

FRINGE

Danish dance duo Don Gnu adopt a fresh approach to the issue of masculinity and their show will have feet tapping and tongues wagging. See page 67. Dance Base, 17–28 Aug.

Terrified of insects, Leonard went to extreme lengths to cure herself of this phobia, and proceeded to write a kids book, Beetle Boy. See page 23. Charlotte Square Gardens, 20 Aug.

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Before The Fringe 25-31 July 2016 by arrangement with TIM WHITEHEAD presents

CABARET | LIVE MUSIC | BURLESQUE | CLUB NIGHTS

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CAMILLE O’SULLIVAN THE CARNY DREAM ‘A cross between Sally Bowles, PJ Harvey and Patti Smith... a major star’

The Scotsman

‘Queen of the Fringe’ (BBC) As seen on Later with Jools (BBC) camilleosullivan.com | edfringe.com | 0131 226 0000

8.30PM 4-22 AUG (not 10 & 15)

10 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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NEWS IN BRIEF ––––––– Snippets of stuff from across the festival –––––––

DAILY MAYALL

PHOTO: BBC

A young American theatre company comes to the Fringe with a drama about a student falling in love with his teacher. It might be good, but really, well, big deal, huh? Except, wait: the name ‘Rik Mayall’ appears to be attached to this project.

Now that’s enough to make us raise a wolfish, Rik-like eyebrow. Seems that Kevin Armento, the creator of Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, had been working with the late great Young One just weeks before his 2014 death, on a screenplay whose segments and spirit would wind up in PEMDAS. Catch it at Pleasance Courtyard (3–28 Aug).

PHOTO: ALESSANDRO DESCOVI

WALK THIS WAY The relationship between walking and visual art is explored in a series of Art Festival events under the banner of Walking Institute / Deveron Arts.

Leading a stroll from Ocean Terminal is Anthony Schrag who travelled on foot from Huntly to the Venice Biennale last year while he further explores the psychology of long-distance walking at Summerhall. Both events are on 12 Aug.

PHOTO: STEVE ULLATHORNE

SADDLE UP

BABBLE ROUSERS Curated by Luke Wright, the Book Festival’s Babble On spokenword one-day strand looks at protest, publishing and parenting.

Among those appearing on 20 Aug are 1980s alt-cabaret pioneer Attila the Stockbroker, Aisle 16 lad Ross Sutherland and Abbey Road poet Hollie McNish, while Wright himself delivers a breathless performance of What I Learned from Johnny Bevan.

Directed by Maggie Kinloch and written by Lynn Ferguson, Horse McDonald is being Careful during Gilded Balloon’s residency in the National Museum of Scotland (3–29 Aug). A one-woman theatre show with music, it tells of Horse’s difficult life growing up gay in 1970s Lanark and reflects on all the times she had to be, yep, careful.

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FRONTLINES ––––––– News | Gossip | Opinion –––––––

ADELE IS OTHER PEOPLE She once gave a sweary finger to the Brit Awards’ schedulers, got a bit upset about having to pay those pesky taxes and has been singing forever (and ever) about a lost beau. But we all love Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, don’t we? Well, don’t we? Seems that some Fringe acts are going a proper bundle over the Londinium chanteuse behind such groundbreakingly titled albums as 19, and um, 21 and, um um, 25. Tributes are pouring in. Well, four of them are anyway . . .

■ Adele is Younger Than Us (C nova, 3–29 Aug, 2.30pm); Jayde Adams: 31 (Voodoo Rooms, 6–28 Aug, 10.30pm); Jo Coffey: Not 25 (Southsider, 6–27 Aug, 8.15pm); Kai Hoffman: 39 (Fingers Piano Bar, 18–28 Aug, 4.20pm).

‘Something for the weekend, sir?’

Fellows of a certain vintage knew perfectly well what that little enquiry from a barber meant: ‘I’ve trimmed your greased barnet: would you now like a complimentary rubber?’ Come the Fringe, your weekend fun could just as easily be taking place in a Clerk Street hairdresser’s when Ruby Rouge Hair Salon becomes a venue in its own right as one of several intriguing site-specific hotspots. In Foiled, chief style engineer Sabrina attempts the impossible when an unemployed (and

balding) actor drops by for a careersaving makeover.

Not Too Tame have a pair of venuecentric shows: in Electric Eden, a group of misfits take over a disused building (actually Electric Circus), while they also bring back their pub-based immersive drama Early Doors at the Jinglin’ Geordie.

Framed very loosely on the thricemade movie, The Lady Vanishes is a near four-hour affair taking you from the door of Summerhall and onto a 60-minute bus journey to Haining

House by Selkirk where a slow, meditative and potentially quite eerie experience awaits. The Summerhall innovation continues with One Hundred Homes which is set in a small wooden cabin as Yinka Kuitenbrouwer muses over the concept of home. Her project is ongoing throughout August as she pays daily visits to Edinburgh folks in order to produce ever-evolving material.

And in Wrecked, just six passengers / audience members get into a stolen car at Assembly George Square Gardens to learn how Sam’s life has gone horrendously wrong. Strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride, folks.

■ Full show details at list.co.uk/ festival

PHOTO: ALEX BRENNER

SITE UNSEEN

Clockwise from main pic: Jayde Adams, Adele is Younger Than Us, Kai Hoffman, Jo Coffey

Foiled

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11:45 Summerhall (V26) 13:45 Assembly George Square Studios (V17) 15:00 Dance Base (V22) 17:15 Dance Base (V22) 18:30 ZOO (V124) 20:45 ZOO Southside (V82)

BOX Office T: 0131 226 0000 https://tickets.edinfringe.com

taiwanseason16 taiwanseason

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PHOTO: AL

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K-MORRIS LAN POLLO

S E N I L T N O R F ––– ––– – ion pin

YOU’RE PUNBELIEVABLE

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Everybody loves a good play on words or a neat little twist of letters. A pun, if you like.

A casual flick though the Fringe programme reveals a barrel-load of the blighters.

A vast amount are based on a comedian’s own name (Jaywalking or Ctrl Alt Delamere or The Calman Before the Storm and so forth and so on) but here we’ve gathered up a number of standalone efforts which will have you grinning or grimacing . . .

Fingering a Minor on the Piano

IT’S A FESTIVAL QUIZ!!!

Fancy coming along to the festival party to end all festival parties? Yes, that’s right, it’s The List Festival Party on Thursday 4 August. We’re giving away a pair of tickets for that must-be-at shindig, but to stand a chance of winning you need to answer these ‘tricky’ questions . . .

Call of Dudey Nuns n Roses Gorilla in the Midst Trolleywood What’s the Tory?

Mourning Glory Lord of the Strings Renonsense Man Joking Hazard True Defective Electile Dysfunction Stage Against the Machine

Which one of these is the correct name of a show by Russian clowny types Derevo? a) Once b) Twice c) 3rice d) Hunners Of these Australian actresses, which one played Lady Macbeth in a 1999 outdoor production? a) Kylie Minogue b) Dannii Minogue c) Nicole Kidman d) Dame Edna Everage Name the Tim who has not won an Edinburgh Comedy Award? a) Minchin b) Vine c) Key d) Berners-Lee Which festival venue is set to be demolished in the next few years? a) Pleasance Courtyard b) Purple Cow

c) Pleasance Dome d) Edinburgh Castle Pip Utton has played a number of political leaders down the years.

Which one of these has he not portrayed? a) Thatcher b) Hitler c) Churchill d) Salmond Which Scottish actor controversially pulled out of his Festival of Politics appearance in 2006? a) Alan Cumming b) Sean Connery c) Robert Carlyle d) Brian Cox A sadly deceased US comic won the Critics Award in 1991: which one of these stand-ups was it? a) Robin Williams b) Joan Rivers c) Bill Hicks d) Mitch Hedberg

Which one of these films was not a surprise movie when the Film Festival did such things? a) Analyze This b) Triumph of the Will c) LA Confidential d) Spirited Away Which one of these is a current Art Festival venue? a) Mars Cultureplace b) Uranus Entertainment Base c) Jupiter Artland d) Mercury Rev Name the Richard who was temporary steward of the Book Festival in 2009? a) Holloway b) Madeley c) Dawkins d) Clayderman

Easy, right? Now just email your answers to brian.donaldson@list.co.uk by Friday 29 July. Good luck . . .

Daftwerk Sextremist Trickhead Newcastle Brown Male Further Ted Home is Where the Harp Is Let’s Get This Partly Started Girls Just Wanna Hear Puns

■ In order to protect the heavily guilty, we’ve allowed the acts and companies responsible for the above crimes against letters to remain anonymous. But you can track them all down by searching those puntastical titles at list.co.uk/festival

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DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT FESTIVAL 04 – 28 AUG 2016

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RICHARD WILSON & ANGUS DEAYTON

16 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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RICHARD WILSON & ANGUS DEAYTON

ONE FOOT IN THE FRINGE

Good pals and former sitcom buddies, Richard Wilson and Angus Deayton just so happen to be performing separately at the same festival for the very first time. But, as Craig McLean discovers, they’re unlikely to see each other’s shows and they certainly won’t be painting Edinburgh red together Photography: Rich Hardcastle

I

n Soho’s Groucho Club, the favoured London private members’ hangout of the older, more discerning actor and creative, two friends are spending an enjoyable morning. They’re being photographed like the Blues Brothers (well, they’re wearing shades), comparing thoughts on the appointment of José Mourinho as manager of Manchester United (their shared team, despite one of them being Scottish and the other one being from Surrey), and trying to work out if they can avoid seeing each other’s Edinburgh show.

‘I think fortunately they’re on at roughly the same time,’ says Angus Deayton. ‘So each of us will never be able to see either of them.’

‘Good,’ replies Richard Wilson with a satisfied slurp of coffee.

They might be appearing (separately) on the Fringe in the same year for the first time, but the actors initially met on the set of One Foot in the Grave, the much-loved BBC sitcom that began in 1990 and ran for six series (and seven Christmas specials).

They became firm friends: Greenock-born Wilson (79 when we meet but 80 by the time the Fringe starts) is godfather to the son of Deayton (60) and the pair have had the misfortune of holidaying together. But they’ve never previously been interviewed as a twosome. ‘No, but that’s because we don’t want to be,’ opines Wilson in the dry, mutually-ribbing

manner that characterises most of their exchanges this morning. This pith-taking summit is occasioned by their turns at this year’s Fringe.

After a one-off fund-raising outing last year at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre, Wilson is resurrecting Victor Meldrew (and taking questions from the floor) in a live performance of a Grave episode, while Deayton is restaging two scripts from his cult BBC Radio 4 parody show Radio Active (alongside Helen Atkinson Wood, Philip Pope and Michael Fenton Stevens).

But, as evidenced by the following conversation, what the Fringe really needs is a Deayton / Wilson double-act . . .

Angus, what makes Richard a good godfather to your son?

Richard: I’m not a good godfather!

Angus: He is, he’s the most generous godfather . . .

R: Generous is not necessarily good. I have big gaps where I don’t see

him.’

How old is he?

A: 15.

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RICHARD WILSON & ANGUS DEAYTON

Richard, why bring back Victor Meldrew?

R: I had been mulling it. And [One

Was there an instant rapport?

R: I can’t remember.

A: Well, it turned out that Richard

Foot in the Grave creator] David Renwick wrote one episode called ‘The Trial’, which Angus wasn’t in . . .

A: . . . and obviously I haven’t watched it. Oh, it’s been broadcast?

I thought it was considered slightly inferior and never put out.

R: Yes, it was made and broadcast and actually got very high ratings!

The idea was that Victor was on jury service and was on his own, on call. And it was raining, so he couldn’t get out into the garden.

He couldn’t do anything so he just moped about, bored out of his skull. It’s the one where he puts the yucca plant in the bathroom.

Which we don’t do, but in the stage show we pretend there is one.

was a fan of the radio show that I was doing at the time, which ties in beautifully with this interview.

It was called Radio Active and we’re taking it to Edinburgh this year for the first time in 800 years. It’s really 37 years? That’s a statistic that I don’t think I’ll be repeating. I’ll just say ‘a while back’. 37 years, that’s terrifying . . . But actually I was first there in ’78, in a show written and directed

by Richard Curtis. The scripts we’re doing this year are ones Geoffrey Perkins and I co-wrote, two radio recordings from 1984.

One is the making of a Dickensian drama and the other is a review of the radio’s output that week called ‘Did You Catch It?’ So it’s basically a re-enactment of two radio recordings.

The show ran until 2000, but it was only ever six episodes per series . . .

R: David didn’t want to write more

than six and I didn’t want to do more than six. The BBC wanted us to do more . . .

A: Yes, but they know nothing.

They want you to do 56. It’s because all the American series come these days in packages of 26 or something. But the great strength of British writing is smaller series written by one writer rather than a whole team of writers like they do in the States. Fawlty Towers was only six episodes per series for two series. The Young Ones was the same. It’s a magic figure.

R: Do you know that in these big American series, actors have to agree to do seven years? For the audition! Before you’ve got the part!! Bloody ridiculous. It’s all changing.

Did you know each other before making the sitcom?

A: No, the first time we met was on

the set of One Foot in the Grave, when I turned up to do it.

R: Then I discovered that not only was Angus a Manchester United supporter but he had this very lovely friend who was a director there.

So you sucked up to Angus on the off-chance he might get some plum VIP freebies at Old Trafford?

A: Basically. That’s been the

foundation of our entire friendship.

Richard wants to lig.

R: So we became very good friends and indeed went on holiday quite often. And obviously I’m godfather to his son. So it’s not just superficial showbiz.

A: It’s not just for PR. But it is mainly.

Richard, are you looking forward to the socialising aspect of Edinburgh?

R: I always get very tired; there

are so many drinks sessions and you see so many shows. Some of them are brilliant of course . . .

A: . . . and some of them aren’t!

That’s part of Edinburgh! And now, of course, it’s a sign of the times that I’m seeing not just friends’ shows but friends’ children’s shows. Half my friends’ children are now doing standup. Last year, I remember Steve Coogan at the Foster’s Awards ceremony saying that there was something like 653 comedy shows. I just thought, ‘how does anyone get noticed these days?’

It’s really difficult. The size of the comedy brochure is roughly the same size as the brochure used to be for the whole festival in my day. It has burgeoned.

Will you find time to hang out together in Edinburgh?

R: No. A: We prefer not to actually see

each other.

R: l will go and see his show, if timings allow. But otherwise, probably no contact.

A: It’s possible we may meet up for a tomato juice early one evening. But that’s it.

I Don’t Believe It! An Evening with Victor Meldrew, Assembly Roxy, Roxburgh Place, 0131 623 3030, 16–28 Aug (not 22), 5.30pm, £16– £17.50 (£15–£16); Radio Active, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 4.20pm, £12–£15 (£11.50– £13.50). Previews 3–5 Aug, £6.

18 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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+++++ ‘YOU COULD SEE THIS

EVERY NIGHT AND NEVER TIRE OF IT’

THE MIRROR

PAUL MERTON RICHARD VRANCH LEE SIMPSON SUKI WEBSTER AND MIKE McSHANE

PLEASANCE COURTYARD 11-21 AUG 4PM 0131 556 6550 pleasance.co.uk 0131 226 0000 edfringe.com

BY ARRANGEMENT WITH MANDY WARD ARTIST MANAGEMENT

mickperrin.com comedystoreplayers.com

Photo: Caroline Webster

BEARDYMAN 18-24 AUG Pleasance Grand 11.45pm

ORLANDO BAXTER 3-29 AUG Pleasance Attic 7pm

JOHN HASTINGS 3-29 AUG Pleasance Attic 9.30pm

KATY BRAND 3-29 AUG

Pleasance Upstairs 4.45pm

LOLLY ADEFOPE 3-28 AUG Pleasance Beside 6pm

LOYISO GOLA 3-29 AUG Pleasance Bunker 2 8pm

TOMMY TIERNAN 5-28 AUG

PAUL MERTON’S IMPRO CHUMS

SALLY & LILY 15-21 AUG

pleasance.co.uk

gildedballoon.co.uk assemblyfestival.com

11-21 AUG Pleasance Grand 4pm

Assembly One 8pm

SARAH KENDALL 3-28 AUG Assembly Five 6.45pm

Gilded Balloon Debating Hall 7.30pm

paulmerton.com

MAX & IVAN 3-28 AUG

Pleasance Queen Dome 8.20pm

TONY LAW 4-28 AUG

Assembly Hall Rainy Hall 8pm

mickp errin .com

list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 19

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29/06/2016 19:17

CECILIA BARTOLI

norma major ER / DECCA

Across three decades, Italy’s Cecilia Bartoli has graced many iconic stages and performed some of opera’s most famous roles. Carol Main profiles a classical music superstar

PHOTO: ULI WEB

A

name that is shared with the patron saint of music, even saying ‘Cecilia’ out loud – with ch’s and Italianate long eeee-type vowels – evokes the sound of music. Add the surname Bartoli and an opera phenomenon is the result. Born in Rome, to parents who were both professional vocalists (her mother was her singing teacher), perhaps it was inevitable that Cecilia Bartoli would have a career in music. That it would be quite so stellar was less predictable.

Bartoli is one of the best-selling classical artists of today, with her sales success coming from the result of complete integrity in what she does. For Edinburgh International Festival audiences, the chance to hear her sing the title role of Norma in Bellini’s tragic tale about the oppressed (ancient druids) and their oppressors (Romans) is second to none.

For anyone still without a ticket, the phrase ‘sell your granny’ comes to mind. Given its world premiere at the 2013 Salzburg Whitsun Festival (of which Bartoli has been artistic director for the past five years), the production of Norma which is staged in Edinburgh has also been seen at Zurich Opera and Monte Carlo Opera.

It’s a production very much driven by Bartoli, and uses a new critical edition of Bellini’s score, restoring his original tempi, dynamics, phrasing and a tonal palette that suits both the music and Bartoli’s exceptional voice.

So what’s all the fuss about? Firstly, just listen to her. A coloratura mezzo with an astonishing range of vocal colour, the big number in Norma is ‘Casta Diva’, a prayer to the moon. As well as her recording of Norma, there are plenty more classics to choose from in her repertoire.

Here are six of the best.

Sospiri – Decca 2010 – chilled arias collection

At the age of 50, Cecilia Bartoli has a l i off operatic i roles l totally ll nailed, il d with ih long string quite a few of them first taken on board in her 20s, a time when most opera singers are just warming up.

For the most part, Bartoli has homed in on Mozart and the bel canto era of early 19th century Italian opera, although, more recently, she’s looked to the castrato stars of Neapolitan opera of the 18th century. Here are just some of the many characters she has met along the way . . .

Othello – Decca Classics DVD 2014 – same directing team (Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier) as for Norma

1988 – Rosina, the rich and beautiful niece of the scheming Dr Bartolo in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville

Essential Mozart: 32 of His Greatest Masterpieces – Decca 2001 – the title says it all

1989 – Zerlina, the peasant girl who Mozart’s Don Giovanni attempts to seduce on her wedding day

Cecilia and Bryn at Glyndebourne – Opus Arte HD-DVD 1999 – songs and arias with everyone’s favourite Welsh bass-baritone

1990 – More Mozart, this time the trouser role of Cherubino at Opera Bastille in The Marriage of Figaro

Norma – Decca Classics 2013 – listen in advance of the show (or instead-of for the less lucky)

1991 – a less well-known operatic page, Isolier, in Rossini’s comic opera, Le comte Ory

The Barber of Seville – Decca 1991 – the cavatina ‘Una voce poco fa’ never fails to thrill with its vocal pyrotechnics

1996 – Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte for her debut at the Met in New York 1997 – Title role in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella) 2012 – Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, the first opera she put on as artistic director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival

Each time she sings a role it’s different, and Norma in Edinburgh will be no exception.

With the opera’s setting transposed to occupied Paris during World War II, the production presents Bartoli with new challenges, and audiences will be able to see why it was voted Best New Production of 2013 at the International Opera Awards.

Norma, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Nicolson Street, 0131 473 2000, 5, 7, 9 Aug, 7.15pm, £25–£140.

20 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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THE PIANIST 12:25 PM · Aug 4-29 Assembly Roxy Central

At the peak of high society entertainment sits The Pianist’s pianist. Impeccable in every aspect, he glides through life, never placing a foot out of step. He is, in a word: perfection. At least... that’s what he thinks.

(Circus, clown)

THE CHICKEN TRIAL 2:15 PM · Aug 3-28 Pleasance Courtyard The Cellar

Can art be put on trial? Yes says Swedish law system, that prosecuted art student Makode Linde, who brought a hat full of chickens to an art event. The Chicken Trial is a documentary fantasy based on the court case.

(Theatre - satire, political)

RED 9:00 PM · Aug 5-21 Dance Base

Carl Knif’s solo is dance on a knife-edge: an intimate portrait of an individual struggling with a red inner warning light. Red is a performance about extremes – subtle and full of personal courage.

(Dance) CARL KNIF COMPANY

twitter: @starttofinnish

www.starttofinnish.fi

From Start to Finnish is an annual showcase presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that represents the best in Finnish performing arts. Now in its 6th year, From Start to Finnish 2016 features Thomas Monckton in solo contemporary circus show The Pianist, political satire The Chicken Trial from ACE-Production and Carl Knif’s dance solo about emotional struggle RED.

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Are you under 21 and based in Scotland?

Experience the award-winning Young Pleasance with a two day workshop along with the chance to see this year’s Young Pleasance show, Alice Unhinged.

Find out more www.pleasance.co.uk/yp

22 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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EXTREME RESEARCH

extreme measures

The lengths some people go to for their festival show can be eyewatering. Claire Sawers girds her loins and speaks to a number of those whose research has stretched above and beyond

T

hey say great art often comes from great pain. The pain may vary: a sliced-off ear, a broken heart, living in squalor, 24 hours without a reliable Wi-Fi connection, but the basic notion is the same.

Sometimes, the artist must suffer before they hit the jackpot and come up with that groundbreaking work of genius.

This year’s Edinburgh Festival contains no shortage of diehard masochists. For example, illusionist and mind reader Colin Cloud will give himself a lethal injection onstage every night during his Fringe show, Exposé. Cloud will then be led by an audience member, telepathically, to the lifesaving antidote.

‘If I don’t take an antidote, I’ll be in real trouble,’ explains Cloud, who can’t name his exact poison yet for legal reasons. ‘I’ll have seizures, and vital organs will be damaged: needless to say, don’t try this at home.’ Cloud studied forensics before switching to magic, and blames

Sherlock Holmes for his morbid fascination with murder, suicide and faked deaths. ‘When planning a show, I look for an emotional hook.

The ultimate seemed to be putting my life on the line.’ Inspired by escape artist Harry Houdini and comedy hoaxer Andy Kaufman, Cloud is working daily with a personal trainer to improve his metabolism and will need medical checks (plus the thumbs-up from his insurers) before the show can go on.

Investigating a more serious side to lethal injections, English playwright Stephanie Ridings visited Huntsville in Texas, home to America’s busiest execution chamber. Intrigued by British women who fall in love with death-row inmates, she travelled with a filmmaker to the prison. ‘I’d done mostly online research in the past, but this subject seemed far more complicated. For some prisoners, having a pen pal is a lifeline and the only glimmer of hope they have.’ list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 23

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EXTREME RESEARCH

Ridings interviewed a retired prison guard who’d assisted in 85 executions. ‘Many suffer from PTSD after working in Huntsville. Just being in close proximity to the death house, I can understand why.’

She wasn’t allowed in the execution chamber, but joined protestors and family outside when a prisoner was killed. ‘Hearing his teenage daughter wail, “my dad is gone!” will sit with me forever.’

Ridings has combined footage from that trip with fiction to create a solo show, The Road to Huntsville. ‘I always enjoy doing research,’ says Ridings. ‘Although “enjoy” is not the right word for my trip to Huntsville. It was the first time I’d really gone into a world for my writing; though, in this case, a very messed-up one.’

Ridings isn’t alone in her desire to go deep with the research. Nick Cassenbaum visited every public Jewish steam bath in London to collect true stories for Bubble Schmeisis. Comedian Yianni Agisilaou geeked up by learning every Simpsons quote for Yianni: The Simpsons Taught Me Everything I Know. Robert Newman volunteered for a brain-imaging experiment and had a functional MRI scan before writing The Brain Show. Samantha Pressdee posed nude and tried yoni healing to cure her sex addiction for Sextremist. And choreographer Rhiannon Faith underwent cognitive behavioural therapy before creating Scary Shit.

Children’s author MG Leonard, appearing at the Book Festival with novel Beetle Boy, began researching simply to find something new to write about. ‘I’ve always been terrified of insects and slightly ashamed of it,’ she says. ‘I was pregnant with my first child and wanted to conquer my fear so I wouldn’t pass it on. I ended up falling down this rabbit hole into a wonderland: invertebrate-land!’

Her research took her behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum, onto eBay to collect antique scarab jewellery and into Pembrokeshire’s insect-restaurant, Grub Kitchen, to eat crickets.

‘I’m now absolutely obsessed, not to mention proud. A lot of fear is ignorance. Insects are often villains in fiction but I now realise they can actually be the good guys.’

America-based, South Korea-born author Helie Lee’s extreme research involved disguising herself as a man. The urge came after she’d gone to help relatives get out of North Korea. ‘I was standing at the border of China, staring into North Korea. I saw my family,

starved and terrified; there were soldiers with rifles, monitoring their every move. I was terrified for them, but all they could talk about was why I wasn’t married! My emaciated North Korean relatives felt sorry for me! I had a serious problem with that.’

So, Lee spent six months dressed as a man for Macho Like Me. ‘I worked out hard at the gym until I could bench-press 90 pounds. I stopped routines such as shaving, waxing, tweezing, and I researched “guy moves”: how they walk, stand, smile.’

Hanging out in stereotypically male-dominated spaces like basketball games, sports bars and the Playboy Mansion, Lee was surprised to discover the biggest giveaway of her biological gender: ‘my emotions. They showed on my face, my body, how I spoke. But quickly, I learned to rein it in to be accepted as one of the guys.’

She maintains that the most ‘extreme’ thing she did during the experiment was to stop talking so much. ‘Talking is how I make friends, solve problems, create, love. For men, the ability to control their feelings at first seemed powerful to me, but after spending time with them, I witnessed the toll and price men pay for this ability to shove down their feelings and just shake hands and move on.’

‘If I don’t take an antidote, I’m in trouble’

Colin Cloud: Exposé, Underbelly Med Quad, Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 9pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11). Previews 3–5 Aug, £7.

The Road to Huntsville, Summerhall, 0131 560 1581, 7–28 Aug (not 15, 22), 8.45pm, £10 (£8). Previews 5 & 6 Aug, £8 (£6).

MG Leonard, Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 20 Aug, 5pm, £7 (£5).

Helie Lee: Macho Like Me, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Bristo Square, 0131 622 6552, 6–29 Aug (not 15), 12.30pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10). Previews 3–5 Aug, £5.

For details of all other shows, go to list.co.uk/festival

Going to extremes: (above) Stephanie Ridings outside Huntsville; (previous page) Colin Cloud prepares to put his life on the line

24 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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18+ ONLY

8 - 29 AUGUST 22:30 daily www.pleasance.co.uk Tel: 0131 556 6550 list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 25

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PHOTO: DREW FORSYTH

SMART STAND-UPS

DAPPER LAUGHS KIRI PRITCHARD-MCLEAN I always wear sequins on stage. It comes from a deep love of drag queens, working men’s clubs and Christmas.

I think I would feel more self-conscious in a t-shirt and some jeans on stage than I do in a dead woman’s dress. Also, ‘tax deductible sequins’ is my favourite phrase and also a great name for a hip club night in a converted mill.

■ Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Hysterical Woman, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 6–29 Aug (not 15), 6pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£7–£9).

Previews 3–5 Aug, £6.

DAVID MILLS I think it’s ridiculous to say ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ when it comes to comedy. If I pay £12 to see someone, the least they can do is think about how they present themselves. As for the dark suit and dark tie: for me it’s a uniform. It’s totally neutral so I can be a blank canvas. A stylish, elegant, blank canvas.

That’s the cover of my book. Now I’ll fill in the pages.

■ David Mills: Shame!, Underbelly, George Square, 0844 545 8252, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 5.20pm, £10.50–£11.50 (£9.50–£10.50).

Previews 3–5 Aug, £6.

HENRY PAKER Up to the age of 35, you can wear pretty much whatever you want. After 35, jeans are only acceptable if you’re doing DIY or going through a divorce. From 35 to 37, an ironed shirt should be worn, tucked into smart trousers. When the belly starts to bulge, it’s blazer time. Post 40, all trainers look like they have been prescribed for medical reasons, so proper leather brogues are recommended.

After 50, all bets are off and you can revert to wearing anything you want again, as it literally doesn’t matter anymore.

■ Henry Paker: Guilty, Assembly George Square Theatre, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 14 & 15, 21), 8.20pm, £10–£11 (£8–£9). Previews 3–5 Aug, £6.

SHAZIA MIRZA When I started stand-up, I always dressed down on stage. I didn’t want to wear anything that would detract from what I was saying and didn’t want people looking at my shoes or breasts like they normally do, so I wore all black. Then one night I was doing a gig to 200 gay men and afterwards one of them gave me a pink sparkly top, saying, ‘you’d look good in that on stage’. It was a bit

Shirley Bassey / Barbra Streisand, but when I put it on I loved it. I’d never thought of wearing something like that before. Now gay men and Jewish women write to me, requesting that I wear it.

■ Shazia Mirza, The Stand 5, York Place, 0131 558 9005, 5–13 Aug, 6.15pm, £9 (£8). Preview 4 Aug, £8 (£7).

MATT FORDE I dress up for a number of reasons. Firstly, you’ve got to dress in a way that suits your comedic style. If I was doing material about smoking weed and pissing in skips then I’d probably dress differently.

Because my comedy is about politics and politicians, I think it makes sense to look smart.

Secondly, I’m putting on a show and I want to look my best. Finally (and this really is the main point), IT MAKES ME LOOK SLIMMER. ■ Matt Forde: It’s My Political Party (And I’ll Cry if I Want To), Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 5–28 Aug, 3.50pm, £12–£14 (£10–£12). Previews 3 & 4 Aug, £9.50; Matt Forde’s Political Party Podcast, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 17 Aug, 5.10pm, £12 (£10).

26 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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SMART STAND-UPS

Gift of the garb: (from left) Kiri Pritchard-McLean, David Mills, Shazia Mirza, Simon Evans

Being a modern comedian means more than just shambling onstage in a stained t-shirt and ripped jeans. Some stand-ups take their appearance very seriously indeed and wouldn’t dream of facing an audience without wearing sequins or a suit.

Brian Donaldson hears from Fringe acts who are dressed to kill KATHERINE RYAN My comedian friend Andrew Johnston came to support me last year, and was steaming his suit when I appeared in unicorn leggings and t-shirt.

He grimaced and sighed, ‘oh kitten, this just won’t do. They’ve come to see TV’s Katherine Ryan, not you!’

He gave me confidence to dress on stage the way I dress for TV. It’s a sign of respect for your audience. We’ve made a joke of it now, so when I walk on stage I always say, ‘hello, my name is TV’s Katherine Ryan’.

TOM ALLEN I’ve always liked the fantasy that BBC announcers wear dinner jackets to work, like a perfect office dress code. It seems to conjure up the idea of entertainment being an event and something to dress up for.

And I think I always want a show to feel like some sort of marvellous party.

SIMON EVANS I prefer to dress smartly for several reasons. Firstly, it really does seem to impress certain elements in the crowd on a purely visceral level that you are a figure of authority, and therefore absolutely not to be interrupted. That, of course, can occasionally backfire and end up proving to be a provocation.

Also, it demonstrates that you can dress smartly for any well-paid private or corporate function that a member of the audience might consider you for.

And it means that if you do swear for impact, that impact is all the greater for the fact that you appear so respectable, measured and disciplined. It makes it seem as though you really fucking mean it.

Behind all that, of course, is the same reason men wear suits to the office: because it minimises the risk of getting it wrong. Thank god comedians never have to confront ‘dress down Friday’.

AL PORTER I’ve always believed that with a face like mine, if you can’t hide it, decorate it! They say dress for the job you want, not the one you have. I’m not sure I want to be a 70s game-show host but that doesn’t stop me.

When I put on my first suit aged eight for ‘holy communion’, I grew several inches, such was the confidence boost. Finally, I realised I could play ‘dress-up’ in real life, not just in plays. I’ve rejected anything other than threepiece sartorial elegance (or sometimes kitsch gaudiness) since.

As a comedy fan, I’m obsessed with the likes of Frankie Howerd, Kenneth Williams, Larry Grayson and Dave Allen. Suited, booted and all hilarious in their own way. That’s the golden era to me. There’s a touch of wanting to channel that (my show is called At Large after Allen’s famous TV show), but honestly, I wear suits on stage because they’re all I wear off it.

It’s either them or my birthday suit . . . and I’d hate to be in the front row for that gig!

■ Tom Allen: Indeed, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 8.15pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10). Previews 3–5 Aug, £7.

■ Simon Evans: In the Money, Assembly George Square Studios, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 7pm, £13–£14 (£12–£13). Previews 3–5 Aug, £10.

■ Al Porter: At Large, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 10.40pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£10). Previews 3–5 Aug, £7.

■ Katherine Ryan, The Stand 6, York Place, 0131 558 9005, 4–13 Aug, 4.05pm, £12 (£11).

list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 27

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The UK’s largest annual festival of visual art

28th July— 28th August edinburghartfestival.com @EdArtFest

Festival commissions

Important historical exhibitions and modern surveys

Bani Abidi Roderick Buchanan Graham Fagen Sally Hackett Jonathan Owen Ciara Phillips Olivia Webb Solo presentations Jennifer Bailey at Collective, Donovan & Siegel at Edinburgh Printmakers, Kenny Hunter at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Damián Ortega at The Fruitmarket Gallery, Jonathan Owen at Ingleby, Christian Boltanski at Jupiter Artland, Barbara Rae at Open Eye Gallery, Jo Spence at Stills, Alice Neel at Talbot Rice Gallery

Art Late 4, 11, 18 & 25 August

Dazzle Ship Every Woman

by Ciara Philips

William Gillies and John Maxwell at City Art Centre, The Scottish Endarkenment at Dovecot Gallery, 30 years of Inverleith House, Celts at National Museum of Scotland, New Media Scotland with Travelling Gallery, The Art of the Garden at The Queen’s Gallery, Inspiring Impressionism at Scottish National Gallery, Joseph Beuys at the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, Facing the World at Scottish National Portrait Gallery New generation artists The Number Shop, Rhubaba, Edinburgh College of Art, Platform: 2016 - a festival initiative showcasing early career artists

Featuring a variety of exclusive after-hours gallery visits and performances including The List Festival Party The Spook School / Jonnie Common / The Van T's Info & booking at edinburghartfestival.com

See Dazzle Ship from Ocean Drive and Prince of Wales Dock where you will find a display on the history of Dazzle.

Princes of Wales Dock, Leith EH6 7DX (nr. Ocean Terminal: buses 11, 22, 34, 35, 36)

Media Partner:

Co-commissioner Dazzle Ship Scotland

#DazzleShip @1418NOW

Photography: Ross Fraser McLean / StudioRoRo Every Woman is co-commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival and 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions with support from Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, City of Edinburgh Council, The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust, Forth Ports, Sherwin-Williams, the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and by the Department for Culture Media and Sport.

Edinburgh Art Festival Core Funders & Dazzle Ship Project Funders

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ART LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL/ART

EDINBURGH ART FESTIV AL 28 JUL–28 AU

G

SURREAL ENCOUNTERS This all-star barnstormer of an exhibition may be subtitled ‘Collecting the Marvellous’, but it could so easily have been named ‘Collecting the Dreamlike, Erotic, Scary and Downright Odd’. Among the big hitters are Salvador Dalí with the iconic ‘Mae West Lips Sofa’, Max Ernst and his terrifying undergrowth of ‘La joie de vivre’ (pictured), Dorothea Tanning’s staircase weirdness in ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’, Picasso’s portrait of Lee Miller, and René Magritte with his threatening weather (‘Le Temps menaçant’). Try not to have nightmares now.

■ Surreal Encounters: Collecting the Marvellous, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Belford Road, 0131 624 6200, until 11 Sep, 10am–5pm (Jul, Sep), 10am–6pm (Aug), £10 (£8).

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ART FACING THE WORLD

FACE TO FACE

30 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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FACING THE WORLD ART

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s key festival exhibition commemorates five centuries of very different approaches to self-portraiture. Five of The List’s visual art critics pick one picture each from Facing the World and tell us why it really hits home

VAN RIJN: SELF-PORTRAIT, AGED 51 (1657) ‹ REMBRANDT CHOSEN BY ROSIE LESSO I first saw Rembrandt’s ‘Self-Portrait, aged 51’ when I began working for the National Galleries’ education department eight years ago. It’s a small and deceptively simple painting which has steadily grown into a firm favourite of mine over the years. Rembrandt captures the raw honesty

of his ageing, wrinkled face without artifice or idealisation, which led the way for centuries of artists to come. Those eyes hold the history of his life’s experiences, including bereavement and recent bankruptcy, revealing his creative tenacity even in the face of great struggle. Conveying

a quiet, golden light with the most restricted and subtle of colour palettes, he suggests the glow of candlelight in a lonely, dark room. The startlingly real sense of depth created draws you in, constructing the effect of looking through a window into a private other world.

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SAMUEL VAN HOOGSTRATEN: TROMPE-L’OEIL STILL LIFE (AFTER 1666) CHOSEN BY LAURA CAMPBELL

As a kid I made a beeline for paintings inscribed with the sort of drama that made the hair stand up on the back of your neck; the sort heavily dependent on chiaroscuro, with objects and limbs popping furiously from their frames. Samuel van Hoogstraten was the Salvador Dalí or Banksy of his day, commanding admiration from audiences awestruck by his daring and mimetic ability. A pioneering artist, he may even have invented the once popular genre of ‘pinboard still lifes’

or ‘quodlibets’ (whatever one likes). ‘Trompel’oeil Still Life’ is a quodlibet and self-portrait that surely reveals to us his sense of self-worth.

It may look like a random assortment of objects selected for their tactility, but they were in fact chosen to make the artist look grand and philosophical. In other words, this is an exercise in brand management. Samuel van Hoogstraten would have fared very well in today’s imageobsessed world. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 31

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ART FACING THE WORLD

CECILE WALTON: ROMANCE (1920) CHOSEN BY SUSAN MANSFIELD

Edinburgh’s chattering classes had plenty to chatter about when Cecile Walton’s self-portrait was first exhibited in 1920. The intimacy of ‘Romance’, where the artist holds her newborn son while a midwife massages her feet, took them nearer than they wanted to the world of childbirth. For all the serenity in her picture, Walton knew exactly what she was doing.

The daughter of Glasgow Boy Edward Arthur Walton, she knew her art history, knew that women in art are poised uneasily between the

Madonna and the Magdalene. Lying back like Manet’s Olympia with this baby in her arms, she played with the iconography: neither virgin nor whore, she was the woman wielding the paintbrush.

A few years after this painting, Walton gave up a promising career when her marriage failed and she had to find a job to provide for her two sons.

In the maturity and confidence of this picture, she seems to know already about the difficult choices she will have to make.

‘Neither virgin nor whore, she was the woman wielding the paintbrush’

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FACING THE WORLD ART

PAUL KLEE: GHOST

‹ OF A GENIUS (1922)

CHOSEN BY NEIL COOPER

I had a postcard of this for years. At first glance, it initially looks like the figure in the painting has two heads that are separated by a row of guitar strings. But when you look closer, you see it’s just one massive head on this long neck and skinny body. Even though the figure is standing disembodied on a kind of khaki-ish background (which he both blends into and stands out from as though he’s looking into a mirror), there’s a movement and musicality about it, like he’s shaking his head so the guitar strings twang in this blur of motion.

I imagine him as a character in a 1950s Halas and Batchelor cartoon set against a blaring jazz soundtrack that plays as this strange little figure goes about the world having adventures. While looking for inspiration, he no doubt gets into absurdist scrapes which he then goes home and paints.

MARINA ABRAMOVIC: ART MUST BE BEAUTIFUL, ARTIST MUST BE BEAUTIFUL (1976) CHOSEN BY RACHAEL CLOUGHTON

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In this work, Marina Abramović brushes her hair with a metal brush held in her right hand and simultaneously combs her hair with a metal comb held in her left hand. While so doing, she continuously repeats, ‘art must be beautiful, artist must be beautiful’ until her hair and face are destroyed.

The work is a powerful critique of the perverse and ultimately destructive demands placed upon women to be beautiful, both inside and outside the frame. I feel we owe a lot to Abramović and the other conceptual artists of the 1970s who used performance to reposition artistic representations of women.

In ‘Art Must Be Beautiful, Artist Must Be Beautiful’, Abramović’s body is a resilient material with meaning and value beyond the narrow parameters of conventional beauty and far more captivating than the passive nudes that dominate much of the artistic canon preceding it.

Abramović reclaims the gaze in a way that was radical at the time (and perhaps still is).

Facing the World: Self-Portraits from Rembrandt to Ai Weiwei, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Queen Street, 0131 624 6200, 16 Jul–16 Oct, 10am–5pm (Thu until 7pm), £9 (£7). list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 33

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ART JUPITER ARTLAND

ARTISTS IN WONDERLAND An oasis of artistic calm, Jupiter Artland continues to thrive and excite. Co-creator and curator Nicky Wilson tells Neil Cooper why this labour of love is like no other

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s the name implies, once you step through the gates of Jupiter Artland, you’re in another world. While Edinburgh’s city centre feels like a constant building site, a half-hour bus ride to West Lothian offers sanctuary of the most imaginative kind. For a decade now, Jupiter Artland’s science-fiction styled sculptured landscape has hosted a series of architectural and artistic interventions that allow contemporary work to breathe in a way that the restraints of a walled institution wouldn’t permit. Beyond the verdant greens and lush blue pools in ‘Cells of Life’ (the manufactured landform by American architecture theorist and critic Charles Jencks which greets visitors) are more than 30 permanent works.

These include pieces by the likes of Nathan Coley, Andy Goldsworthy,

Antony Gormley, Jim Lambie and Ian Hamilton Finlay. When Jupiter Artland opened for this year’s season in May, the permanent collection received two new additions: ‘Animitas’ is French sculptor Christian Boltanski’s first outdoor work in the UK, while Scottish artist Alec Finlay has made a new orchard-based piece, ‘A Variety of Cultures’.

Temporary works include ‘Piss Flowers’ by the late Helen Chadwick, songbirds creating music with electric guitars by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot in ‘From Here to Ear’, and a new floor-based piece

by Glasgow-based Hayley Tompkins. Jupiter Artland was created by art collectors Robert and Nicky Wilson in the 100 acres of their 17thcentury Jacobean home, Bonnington House. The grounds have been

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JUPITER ARTLAND ART

‘We continue to honour and beautify the landscape’

Grounds force: (clockwise from main pic) Antony Gormley’s Firmament; Helen Chadwick’s Piss Flowers; Christian Boltanski’s Animitas; Céleste BoursierMougenot’s From Here to Ear

open to the public since 2009, with Jupiter Artland developing an expansive programme which has tapped into the increasing profile forr sound and environmental-based art.

For the Wilsons, this is clearly a labour off love which, despite its non-institutionall status, has been shortlisted for the 20166 Museum of the Year Award. ‘It was ourr nt dream,’ says Nicky Wilson of her front garden. ‘We couldn’t just keep the doorr s; locked and have all this to ourselves; as since we opened, it quite literally has grown. Charles Jencks’ works took five years to grow, and that was a real test of our mettle.’

With an ongoing emphasis on showcasing younger artists alongside more seasoned practitioners, Wilson resists theming her choices, although she does concede that this year’s work, ‘all has a sense of humour and slight subversion of the norm, but in a way that audiences can continue to engage with’. A new indoor gallery space was completed in 2015, while an ongoing learning programme is becoming an increasingly key component of the Jupiter Artland ethos. ‘There’s a huge need for cultural engagement with schools and mental health groups,’ says Wilson. ‘Visual art is a very valuable part of life’s richness. One thing that property developers never consider is how people relate to their environment. What we do at Jupiter is continue to honour and beautify the landscape so that people can engage with art at the lightest level.’

Wilson’s personal connection to her programme is plain. ‘I was taught

by Helen Chadwick and seeing Christian Boltanski’s exhibition when I was a young artist in London completely changed my world: I want Jupiter Artland to be a Wonderland for everyone to explore. I live and breathe it.

I go to bed looking at the sculptures, and we are absolutely rooted in it.

We’re not a huge institution so it becomes about joy and community. Jupiter Artland is meant to be magic. People’s lives need a bit of Wonderland.’

Jupiter Artland, Bonnington House, Wilkieston, 01506 889900, until 31 Aug, Mon–Sun, 10am–5pm; 1–25 Sep, Thu–Sun, 10am–5pm, £8.50 (£4.50–£6; family tickets £23.50–£31.50). list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 35

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HIGHLIGHTS ART

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS It’s a lucky 13th year for the Art Festival with almost 50 exhibitions all across the capital giving a platform to a whole host of artists at various stages of their creative career I STILL BELIEVE IN MIRACLES To mark three decades of the Botanic Gardens’ gallery, 30 Scottish and international artists are featured in I still believe in miracles. Louise Bourgeois, Juergen Teller, Cy Twombly and Corin Sworn are indoors, while outside, five new sculptures will reflect on Inverleith House’s interest in merging nature with art. Inverleith House, Inverleith Row, 0131 248 2971 / 2849, 23 Jul– 23 Oct, Tue–Sun, 10am–5.30pm.

PHOTO: ROSS MCLEAN

CIARA PHILLIPS: EVERY WOMAN

Glasgo–w-based Canadian artist and Turner Prize nominee Ciara Phillips has developed a design for Dazzle Ship Scotland. Based on Norman Wilkinson’s technique of covering war ships in abstract designs as a means of foxing the enemy, Phillips’ work aims to draw attention to the untold stories of women in wartime.

MV Fingal, Prince of Wales Dock Leith, 0131 226 6558, until 28 Aug.

KENNY HUNTER: REPRODUCTIVE! The Edinburgh-born artist’s latest work draws on sculpture’s historic traditions, modern visual codes and new materials to explore the idea of what can be considered original and what is a copy or facsimile. Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Hawthornvale, 0131 551 4490, 30 Jul–24 Sep, Mon–Sat, 11am–5pm.

DAMIAN ORTEGA One of the key Mexican artists of his generation, Damián Ortega delivers some brand new sculptures. These will focus on how the forces of nature are acting on planet earth both of their own accord and in their relationship to humankind. Fruitmarket Gallery, Market Street, 0131 225 2383, 9 Jul–23 Oct, Mon–Sat, 11am–6pm, Sun, 11am–5pm (Jul, Sep & Oct), Mon–Sun, 10am–7pm (Aug).

EXPLORERS This year’s programme for children and families will feature workshops, activity stations and fun trails while Project Dazzle entices wannabe artists into Leith to work on their own eye-catching design. You can pick up your special Explorers brochure from participating venues or at the Art Festival Kiosk on Blair Street.

Various venues, 0131 226 6558, 28 Jul–28 Aug.

Kenny Hunter

JOSEPH BEUYS: A LANGUAGE OF DRAWING This Artist Rooms collection brings together over 130 drawings by the German artist covering his career from 1945 up to his death in 1986.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Belford Road, 0131 624 6200, 30 Jul–30 Oct, 10am–5pm (Jul, Sep), 10am–6pm (Aug).

MONUMENT WALKS One thing Edinburgh really has got going on is its collection of monuments. These walks will offer you fresh insight into the constructs on Calton Hill and the Old Town.

Various venues, 5, 12, 26 Aug, 0131 226 6558, noon, £5.

JO SPENCE A founder member of the 70s agitprop group, the Hackney Flashers, Jo Spence’s photography career could be split broadly into two sections: the feminist-socialist period and the domestic family life work.

Both are represented here. Stills, Cockburn Street, 0131 622 6200, 29 Jul–16 Oct, 11am–6pm.

GRAHAM FAGEN: A DRAMA IN TIME Fagen’s new work draws on histories that have shaped Edinburgh’s forms and ideas, and presents a narrative in neon illuminating life and questioning what lies beyond. By Jacob’s Ladder, Calton Road, 0131 226 6558, 28 Jul–28 Aug.

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THE SCOTTISH ENDARKENMENT This bumper exhibition features work from Alan Davie, Alison Watt, Douglas Gordon, David Shrigley and Christine Borland among many others. Dovecot Gallery, Infirmary Street, 0131 550 3660, until 29 Aug, Mon–Sat, 10.30am–5.30pm (Jul, Sep), Mon– Sun, 10am–6pm (Aug).

■ All events on every day and free, unless stated. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 37

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BOOKS LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL/BOOKS

EDINB INTERNATUIROGH BOOK FEST NAL IVAL 13–29 AUG

DAVID BOWIE

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

PHOTO: ISOLAR

It’s still hard to believe that the Thin White Duke is no longer among us. While he left behind a stunning final album in the shape of Blackstar, there remains a sense that even more fine music was in his locker.

Cultural commentator Paul Morley launches a biography, The Age of Bowie, in discussion with Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway, as the legacy and legend of the Brixton-born David Jones is celebrated in full.

■ Paul Morley: David Bowie – Life of a Legend, Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 25 Aug, 7.15pm, £12 (£10).

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PHOTO: LISA SWARNA KHANNA

BOOKS AMY LIPTROT

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AMY LIPTROT BOOKS

FIELD WORK After a dangerously hedonistic spell in London, Amy Liptrot headed for Orkney in order to rebuild her life. Stewart Smith talks with a writer who believes that technology and nature can go hand in hand

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lending memoir and nature writing, The Outrun tells the story of Amy Liptrot’s recovery from alcoholism, and her complex relationship with Orkney.

After ten increasingly chaotic years in London,, Liptrot returned to her home island at the age off g 30, coming to understand her addiction and finding new ways of being in the natural world. The book’ss en success has delighted Liptrot, but she’s been taken al aback by the personal reactions from individual readers. ok, ‘There are quite a lot of ways into the book, whether it be people who are interested in the natural world or the Scottish islands, or people with rural backgrounds,’ she explains. ‘And then also, of een course, people who are interested in or have been ems touched by, or who have even experienced problems with addiction themselves. I’ve had people asking me to sign copies of the book that they’re going to give l, as to somebody who’s maybe struggling with alcohol, a way of opening a conversation with them. It’s not a reason why I wrote the book, but I’m pleased that itt can be used in that way.’

Liptrot writes frankly about her addiction and the highs and lows of a hedonistic east London lifestyle. Fond memories of tipsy afternoons spent idling with friends in London Fields are juxtaposed with bleaker recollections of late-night solo booze runs and disintegrating relationships. Returning to Orkney after a stint in rehab gave Liptrot an opportunity to rebuild her life but she resists the temptation to present the island as an idyllic retreat.

‘I didn’t write it as a self-help book or tourist guide,’ Liptrot insists.

‘I wrote it because I felt that I wanted to make something beautiful.

Maybe the book is slightly misrepresented in people saying, “oh, it’s about Amy returning home to heal herself”. Things don’t tend to work like that. It was a much more practical choice to return to Orkney, which I did because I was out of work and had no money.’

While living on the island, Liptrot worked at her parents’ farm and spent a summer monitoring corncrakes for the RSPB. As a result, her relationship with the land is different to that of more romantically inclined writers. ‘What’s been most fertile for me in terms of learning, understanding and also writing about the natural world has been when I’ve been working in the land, rather than simply going out for

wa walks.

So whether it’s building the drystone dykes on the farm or doing the survey work, looking for co corncrakes or actually immersing myself in the sea, I ffound that this was how I was able to understand a pl place more deeply and get more out of it in terms of w writing.’

Although Liptrot has rightly won acclaim for the ccrisp beauty of her Orkney writing, her depiction of u urban places is equally vivid, informed, as it is, by aan islander’s perspective. ‘I think that what I have rrealised, which I didn’t back when I first lived in London, was how much the landscape that you grew up in stays with you. There’s something in me that’s kind of looking for a horizon or overlaying the landscapes of my mind onto the city. So there are passages in the book where I’m seeing the skyscrapers and imagining that they’re cliffs, or seeing a light on top of a building and imagining that it’s a lighthouse; or hearing the sounds of traffic and thinking it’s the sea. I think that’s something I’ve had to face up to: the kind h i k off homesickness that I carry with me.’

Somewhat in stark contrast to writers who argue that digital technology has alienated us from nature, Liptrot has a more positive take, writing of her evenings spent researching local history and natural phenomena online.

In the book, she was keen to show the ways in which different types of technology could actually help people learn about the natural world. She does this by citing instances of people tracking sightings of orcas on social media or using astronomy apps on their smartphones.

Liptrot believes that being online allows her to exist in two places at once, connecting her with ‘the ghosts of my past’ and helping her to deal with homesickness.

‘I think writing about the internet, particularly in conjunction with the natural world, throws up lots of interesting imagery and juxtaposition. And indeed, in computing language you’ve got lots of metaphors from the natural world: streams, cloud, virus, field, mouse.

It’s something I enjoy writing about and will continue to do so. I’m experimenting and trying to push myself.’

Amy Liptrot & Melissa Harrison, Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 26 Aug, 10.15am, £12 (£10). list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 41

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Book and browse events: www.edbookfest.co.uk

The beautiful green space of Charlotte Square Gardens in the centre of Edinburgh is transformed into a magical village of tents and walkways, theatres, cafés, bookshops and grassy areas to sit, read and soak up the Festival atmosphere.

800 authors in 750 events including:

Ali Smith • Ian Rankin • Jonathan Safran Foer • Eimear McBride Erica Jong • Thomas Keneally • Edna O’Brien • Alan Cumming Miranda Sawyer • Maggie O’Farrell • Frederick Forsyth Lionel Shriver • Hadley Freeman • Chris Brookmyre Philippa Gregory • Mark Haddon • James Kelman • Kate Tempest Chris Packham • Jackie Kay • Packie Bonner • Billy Bragg Janet Ellis • Lemn Sissay • Val McDermid • Jonathan Dimbleby Chris Boardman • Stewart Lee • Michel Faber • Frank Gardner Alexei Sayle • Tracey Chevalier • Shappi Khorsandi • Nina Stibbe Irvine Welsh • Melvyn Bragg • Jessie Burton • Ray Mears 42 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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JAMES NAUGHTIE BOOKS

‘I hope readers will smell Paris as they read’

PHOTO: HUGH DICKENS

SPRING WATCHER The dramatic events of Paris 1968 inspired James Naughtie to write his second novel. David Pollock talks to the Today programme’s revered former host about making a Cold War spy story feel authentic

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o many, the association between James Naughtie’s educated Scottish tones and their own early-morning journalistic wake-up call is hard to break. For 21 years until last December, he was one of the main voices of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, having earlier hosted The World at One and The Week in Westminster.

As a young print journalist, he learned his trade on Aberdeen’s Press & Journal, The Scotsman, Washington Post and as The Guardian’s political correspondent.

The current BBC News special correspondent and books editor has previous in prose. His numerous works of political non-fiction include 2001’s The Rivals which centred on the story of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s fraught relationship: Naughtie’s work was used as source material by Peter Morgan in writing the excellent 2003 television film The Deal. A similarly informed, densely political backdrop inspires Naughtie’s own Cold War thrillers, 2014’s debut The Madness of July and this year’s Paris Spring.

‘I started The Madness of July about four years ago, and it felt quite natural,’ says Naughtie. ‘It had been bubbling away inside for a long time; I’ve been writing something nearly every day since I became a newspaper reporter in the 1970s. Towards the end of the first book, I understood properly what authors mean when they talk about “finding a voice”. In the second book it’s there more strongly, and I think it’s better as a result. Broadcasting and newspaper journalism are all about telling a story, about describing what it’s like to be there. That’s a good start in writing fiction, but there’s a whole new world that I’m learning.

That’s one of the reasons why I’m enjoying it so much.’

That second novel will be the focus of discussion at his Book Festival appearance. ‘It’s set in Paris in 1968, the year the city was in flames and a student revolution filled the streets,’ he says. ‘It’s a time I remember very well, though I was still at school in Banffshire and there weren’t many cobblestones being thrown at the police. The Cold War was in a brittle state with America bogged down in Vietnam and the Soviets alarmed by a reforming government in Prague. When the students took to the streets in Paris it was as if the old order was being threatened everywhere.’

Against this backdrop, Naughtie has dived into the Cold War intrigue with a story set around Paris’ British Embassy and the young spy Will Flemyng, in a prequel to the 1970s-set Madness of July.

‘If good stories are about characters who face dilemmas, spy stories offer you the perfect backdrop, because the consequences of getting things wrong are so serious,’ he says. ‘They dramatise the struggles we all have about how much to say and how much to hold back. Anybody who likes a tense story has to be a devotee of writers like Graham Greene and John le Carré; they helped to create a world in which characters don’t seem to be plot mechanisms but come alive. They proved how the Cold War setting works and, 25 years after the whole thing ended, I think it still does. I hope readers will smell Paris as they read, and I hope this book makes them want to turn the page.’

James Naughtie, Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 22 Aug, 11.45am, £12 (£10). list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 43

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BOOKS AMERICAN MOVIES

E L B A T ACCEP ? s 0 8 E iN TH It was the decade that brought us smoking replicants and scary twins, time-travelling cars and flying bikes. As Hadley Freeman brings her literary paean to memorable movie characters such as Harry, Sally and Baby to Charlotte Square Gardens, we hear from a bunch of festival authors about their favourite 80s US films

CHRIS BROOKMYRE THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985) For a film iconically synonymous with its decade, in the UK you could have blinked and missed its theatrical release. Thus, by the time I saw it in 1986, I had left school, but was fascinated to see its dynamics evoked in a way that was familiar and yet exotic. The reason this film has endured is that though its clothes and music date it, the experience depicted is as universal as it is timeless. Molly Ringwald’s Claire wouldn’t need to be scrolling her iPhone for a modern high-schooler to relate to her.

The Breakfast Club won a permanent place in teen hearts because it told them, ‘I feel your pain’. And if you’re scoffing at the idea of self-obsessed middle-class teens being in pain, then congratulations: you are Mr Vernon.

21 Aug, 8.15pm, £12 (£10).

IAIN MACWHIRTER BLADE RUNNER (1982) The film that towers over 1980s Hollywood is Ridley Scott’s ‘neo-noir’ masterpiece. Quite literally, since its dark industrial skyline, with towers puffing flames, is almost the main character. Loosely based on Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, it became the template for a genre of dystopian, ‘cyberpunk’ sci-fi. The casting was inspired, with Harrison Ford as the reluctant replicant hunter, Rutger Hauer in his only great role as the killer cyborg (the original terminator), and Sean Young as the replicant who thinks she can fall in love. The soundtrack was exemplary, mixing sound effects with music fragments.

Unfortunately, the studio added a daft happy ending. But the message of Blade Runner is that, human or replicant, no one gets out of this alive. 15 Aug, 1.30pm, £12 (£10).

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AMERICAN MOVIES BOOKS

PHOTO: URSZULA SOLTYS

‘No one gets out of this alive’ JENNI FAGAN THE SHINING (1980) Like all the greatest films, The Shining has not tired with time. The eerie hotel, the amazingly paranoid character of Jack Torrance as he descends into madness, and his terrified wife Wendy all portray a true terror that laces the entire film with a dark edge. Visually, the iconic image of the twins in their blue dresses in that claustrophobic, never-ending corridor, or the little boy on his bicycle, stand out. Once you’ve heard the cry of ‘here’s Johnny!’, you never forget it. 19 Aug (with Andrew McMillan), 7pm, £8 (£6); 20 Aug (reading workshop), 1pm, £15 (£12); 25 Aug (with Sara Taylor), 8.30pm, £8 (£6).

IAIN MALONEY BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) This is still as good today as it was when it first blew me away, like Marty McFly testing out Doc Brown’s new amplifier back in 1985.

It’s just the perfect blend of science fiction, comedy and drama, and packed with truly iconic moments. The premise alone is genius: a young man accidentally travels back in time and finds his own existence threatened when the young version of his mother fancies him instead of the young version of his father. His mission: to ensure his parents get it on. An alltime classic. 25 Aug (with Glenn Patterson), 3.45pm, £8 (£6).

CHIMWEMWE UNDI DO THE RIGHT THING (1989) pestering swelter / the sweat stored at the small of a back / in the neon arch of an elbow / in that soft packsaddle they named the season for / & the way the air / pulls itself taut as a clothesline / we could hang our costumes from // when they said heat they meant / we would forget our names / & be reminded what it is to / store light. / no, it’s the humidity / or the fresh white kicks / or the heavy lessons of a misplaced step / or an object in motion. the question is / what means document / when the life is transcription / & the lens is built in. 16 Aug (with Agnes Török), 7pm, £8 (£6).

PHOTO: AL HIGGINS

PHOTO: AGNES DALE PHOTOGRAPHY

Jack Nicholson portrays eerie paranoia in The Shining. Cheer up, Jack, it could be worse: at least you weren’t in Heaven’s Gate

ROB DOYLE BLADE RUNNER (1982)

This is one of the films I’ve seen the highest number of times. It’s comfort viewing: I can very easily settle into the aesthetic, the mood, the gorgeously melancholic Vangelis soundtrack, the burnt-out skylines and the android poetry.

I await the rumoured sequel with optimism of the will and pessimism of the intellect. 22 Aug (with David Szalay), 8.30pm, £8 (£6).

■ All authors appear at Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888.

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BOOKS AMERICAN MOVIES

Vogue and Guardian writer Hadley Freeman is so obsessed with 1980s American movies and all the life lessons held therein that she wrote a book about it. In this extract from t introduction to Life Moves Pretty the Fast, she writes about her sheltered upbringing and how it was blown apart by a boy called Ferris . . .

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DIAN PHOTO: LINDA NYLIND/GUAR

was born in New York City in 1978 meaning that, while I did exist in the eighties as more than a zygote, I wasn’t yet a teenager either. Instead, actual teenagehood for myself felt aas distant and desirable as the moon. I was a typical older child ffrom a middle-class Jewish family: well-behaved, anxious, bookish, and therefore especially curious about the vaguely imagined freedoms I fancied being a teenager would bring. My little sister and I weren’t allowed to watch television stations that showed commercials – yes, I come from one of those families – meaning that our viewing options were limited to Sesame Street and whatever our mother allowed us to rent from East 86th Street Video. When I was nine years old, she, for the first time, allowed me to rent something that featured neither animation nor starred Gene Kelly: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I couldn’t believe it. How on earth could she – the dorkiest mother EVER, who only ever gave us FRUIT for dessert, I mean I ask you – let me watch such a film? This movie featured BOYS, actual real life BOYS! Kissing girls – with their tongues! Within the extremely limited framework of my life experience on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, my mother had basically allowed me to rent hardcore porn (tongues!).

Ferris proved to be a mere gateway drug, and I became such a heavy user of East 86th Street Video that for my tenth birthday my parents gave me my o own membership card. I was soon mainlining the c classics: Mannequin, Romancing the Stone, Good M Morning Vietnam, The Breakfast Club, Short Circuit, IIndiana Jones, E.T., Spaceballs, Coming to America, T Three Amigos!, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, aanything produced by Touchstone Pictures and aabsolutely everything featuring the two actors who I assured my little sister were the real talents of our er era: Steve Guttenberg and Rick Moranis. My highbrow ta taste, which has lasted all my life, was forged then.

T These movies, which were largely seen as junk when th they came out, were deeply formative, and everyone I kknow in my generation feels exactly the same way.

Th They provided the lifelong template for my perceptions of funniness (Eddie Murphy), coolness (Bill Murray) an and sexiness (Kathleen Turner). They also taught me mo more about life than any library or teacher ever would.

My parents could have saved literally thousands of dol dollars, jacked in the schools and kept the membership to E East 86th Street Video and I’d still be essentially the sam same person today.

Had Hadley Freeman, Charlotte Square Gardens, 084 0845 373 5888, 21 Aug, 7.15pm, £12 (£10); Life Moves Pretty Fast is out now in paperback, pub published by 4th Estate.

46 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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HIGHLIGHTS BOOKS

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS The calming environs of Charlotte Square Gardens will reverberate to the sound of Booker winners, heavyweight American authors and some local legends RAJA ALEM & ABIR MUKHERJEE An intriguing double bill with Raja Alem, the winner of 2011’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and the Glasgow-raised Abir Mukherjee whose novel A Rising Man n is set in Raj-era Calcutta. 17 Aug, 8.30pm, £8 (£6).

ALI SMITH The mercurial Invernesian helps get the Book Festival off to a flying start as she launches a new series of four inter-linked novels. 13 Aug, 11.45am, £12 (£10).

KATE TEMPEST A literal storm descends onto Charlotte Square as the playwright and poet unleashes her debut novel, The Bricks that Built the Houses. 13 Aug, 8.15pm, £12 (£10).

HOWARD JACOBSON One of many Shakespeare-related events all over the city in August, the Booker winner discusses Shylock Is My Name, his re-imagined Merchant of Venice. 17 Aug, 5pm, £12 (£10).

LIONEL SHRIVER The We Need to Talk About Kevin author is dipping her literary toes into the near-future with a highly-anticipated new novel, The Mandibles. This is the tale of an American family being pushed to the edge as their nation steps towards another financial meltdown. 20 Aug, 11.45am, £12 (£10).

MALORIE BLACKMAN For ages 12 and above, the hugely popular children’s author Malorie Blackman (her Noughts and Crosses series is a must-read) introduces a new novel. With its shades of Othello, her Chasing the Stars features an intergalactic love affair which doesn’t leave everyone best pleased. 20 Aug, 3.45pm, £5.

Lionel Shriver

JAMES KELMAN The only Scottish novelist to have won the Booker Prize is in town with his new fiction. Dirt Road taps into Kelman’s own experiences of travelling around America in his teens as he depicts a grieving Scottish father and son on a musical journey through the South. Whatever you think of his work, Kelman’s opinions are always worth hearing. 21 Aug, 3.15pm, £12 (£10).

ERICA JONG Fear of Flying turned Erica Jong into a 1970s literary superstar. Now, she’s giving us Fear of Dying, the story of a 60-year-old woman haunted by the shadow of death which looms ever nearer. 24 Aug, 5pm, £12 (£10).

IRVINE WELSH He’s been clocked recently on the set of Trainspotting 2, and in this event Welsh revisits that tale’s most notorious character. He’s even given Begbie a new lease of life in The Blade Artist, a spin-off for this ‘small psycho’. 27 Aug, 9.45pm, £12 (£10).

JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER On the EIBF’s penultimate day, it gets the heavyweight contemporary US novelist that it deserves. In Here I Am, his first novel for over a decade, Safran Foer imagines an escalation to the Middle East conflict seen through the perspective of a battling New York family. 28 Aug, 8.15pm, £12 (£10).

■ All events at Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888.

PHOTO: JEFF MERMELSTEIN

Raja Alem list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 47

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48 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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29/06/2016 19:18

FRINGE LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL/FRINGE

EDINB FESTIVAL UFRGH RINGE 5–29 AUG

PHOTO: CHRIS HERZFELD

AURORA NOVA The award-winning visual theatre and dance organisation that launched in 2001 is back at the Fringe with a bang, spreading its influence across the city in venues such as ZOO, Summerhall, Pleasance Courtyard and Assembly Roxy. Among the Aurora Nova programme is The Pianist, in which Thomas Monckton spends a mere 50 minutes trying to sit down and start his recital; Pss Pss, a captivating clown work for adults; Nassim Soleimanpour’s innovative new theatre piece Blank; Teatro Delusio, a silent mask-comedy; and A Simple Space (pictured), a family show starring some jaw-dropping Australian acrobats. 2016 looks like being the year of a super Nova.

■ For full details of all shows, see auroranova.org/ edinburgh-2016. See feature on Nassim Soleimanpour, page 87.

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BROUGHT TO YOU BY

29/06/2016 19:55

Theatre Tours International Ltd

www.theatretoursinternational.com

Guy Masterson's 2016 Season Fe 23rd sti val

Shylock

13:15 75 m

Villain? Victim? Or is Shylock far more intriguing? Guy Masterson's globally acclaimed Stage Award nominated performance returns. +++++ "...deserves to be packed out every show!" (Scotsman) +++++ "Everything we want from theatre!" (FringeReview) +++++ "Innovative. Delightful. Exceptional" (Independent)

CHOPPING CHILLIES 14:50 60 m

From Kerala to Camden, an epic, mystical tale of loves, loss and soul-food. A cobbler and a cook concoct a delicious transcontinental enchantment as tragedy and chance entwine. A delightful, poetic, magical story that conjoins the spirit of India with the heart of London. Directed by Olivier Award winner, Guy Masterson. ++++ &ODLU :KLWHÂżHOG LV ZRQGHUIXOO\ ZDWFKDEOH 7KUHH :HHNV

Guy Masterson - Comedy Love & Canine Integration 17:40 60 m

The dog came with Eurozone wedlock and the next 8 years tested everything - marriage, career and sanity...

A tormented, often hysterical life of poo, piss and pooches... +++++ "When Guy Masterson takes you on a journey, strap yourself in. It's a full-throttle ride!" (Adelaide Advertiser)

03 - 28 Aug

(not 15th)

50 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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30/06/2016 14:33

Y D E M O C : E G N FRI

COMETH THE HOUR Best known as sarky Chloe from the humourless 24, Mary Lynn Rajskub is forging a serious path in stand-up.

Brian Donaldson gets the thumbscrews out to discover if she’s battle-ready for a full month in Edinburgh

W

hen your stand-up show-title refers to the most famous TV show on your CV, surely it’s perfectly legitimate to be asked questions about it? Fortunately, Mary Lynn Rajskub is free, easy and very forthcoming with her opinions and memories about 24, the conspiracy thriller which ran for nine full seasons (24 nerds will claim it’s eight and a half given that the most recent London-set plot lasted only 12 episodes). The innovative show (each episode spanned a real-time hour, minus ad breaks and, presumably, toilet breaks for agents in the field) introduced millions to Chloe O’Brian, the most sarcastic counter-terrorist officer and computer whizz the fictional world has ever known.

All of which made life a little awkward when Rajskub’s stand-up career ran parallel to being Chloe.

‘If audiences are really into 24, I’ve developed a way to satisfy their sweet tooth,’ she insists. ‘When I first started stand-up, there was a disconnect and they’d be like, “why is Chloe on stage?”, so I’d address it and indulge them for 20 minutes. But those times could also be the most fun because I’d then take people off down a different road with my material.’

Chloe was invaluable to both the show and its permanently scowling figurehead Jack Bauer (played with a renegade menace by Kiefer Sutherland) as she turned around initial audience antipathy to become a 24 mainstay. Appearing in 125 episodes, Chloe was second only to Bauer as the longest-running character in a show that wasn’t afraid to dispatch major personnel, long before Joffrey had Ned Stark’s head on a spike. Sadly, any future series will have to do without Chloe. Rajskub’s description of this scenario is shrouded in a 24-esque fog of confusion.

‘Will Chloe be back? I would go ahead and say absolutely not. That’s part of the reason I’m doing the festival as I’m trying to carve a new path for myself.

Sadly it’s not my choice to have Chloe continue or not; that’s down to the people in charge, and they really did not have an interest in that. I was surprised how not tired I was of playing her, and could see her further development if she was in charge of CTU.’ So, the producers have categorically said ‘no more Chloe’? ‘They haven’t come out and said that they won’t write more Chloe storylines, but it’s been made clear to me without them actually saying anything. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 51

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FRINGE:COMEDY MARY LYNN RAJSKUB

BOXSETS

‘I’m not going to be playing DVDs of 24 and then taking questions’

‘Chloe’ isn’t the only person appearing in Edinburgh who has been on US TV. Here’s a handful of other small-screen veterans

JOE DEROSA

T job is over and I move on; I don’t sit The h here and expect to get a call as it’s not a c conversation I expect to have with them . . . ’ Perhaps only Jack Bauer and his i interrogation ‘methods’ would be able to get t the true heart of that one. to Despite being central to the most humourless show in TV history (prior to Chloe injecting sarcasm into proceedings, we only really had Bauer’s Counter Terrorist Unit nemesis George Mason playing the witty card), Rajskub’s background is firmly rooted in comedy. Her CV is packed with appearances in the likes of Modern Family, Flight of the Conchords, The Larry Sanders Show, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, though there is the odd dramatic intervention such as Helter Skelter, where she played a member of the murderous Manson Family, and the Harrison Ford-helmed crime thriller Firewall.

She admits that 24 Hours with Mary Lynn Rajskub will only mention her time on the show in passing (‘I’m not going to be playing the DVDs and then taking questions about it’) as she intends her Fringe stand-up debut to focus on her own life away from screen endeavours.

‘It’s a very personal story based on relationships and how they kind of suck, so I’m writing from that perspective. I’m reconciling all the crazy things I’ve done in my past with the fact that I’m probably in the only mature relationship I’ve ever had. I previously did a show which dealt with accidentally getting pregnant to my husband who I’d only known then for about three months, so this show is the next stage of my life. It’s really about the mechanics of relationships: how we can love somebody after once hating them and how we can get longevity, and not just crash and burn.’

Crashing and burning is something that many comics try desperately to avoid when playing a long, gruelling month at the Fringe. Have a look at Hannibal Buress Takes Edinburgh on Netflix for proof of someone really not coping with the August slog. ‘It’s going to be a completely new and unique experience for me,’ Rajskub admits. ‘I’ve played a lot of comedy clubs where I’ll do six shows at weekends but nothing will be like this. I’ll drink lots of liquids and maybe take a Pilates class. Other than that, I’m just going to pretend I’m on Broadway.’

24 Hours with Mary Lynn Rajskub, Assembly George Square Studios, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 8.20pm, £11–£12 (£9–£10). Previews 3–5 Aug, £8.

Radio show host and former musical comedian, DeRosa makes his Fringe stand-up debut on the back of parts in extremely cool small-screen affairs such as Louie, Inside Amy Schumer, Better Call Saul and Bored to Death. Underbelly, Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, 6–28 Aug (not 10, 15, 22), 9pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £6.

CHRIS GETHARD Highly-anticipated Fringe debut from another chap who has shown up in Louie and Bored to Death as well as Broad City, Parks and Recreation and The Office (US version of course). Pleasance Dome, Bristo Square, 0131 556 6550, 6–29 Aug (not 15), 10pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10). Previews 3–5 Aug, £7.

CHERRY JONES Formerly President Allison Taylor in 24 and poet Leslie in Transparent, Jones stars in the classic Tennessee Williams play about ‘gentlemen callers’ and so forth. The Glass Menagerie, King’s Theatre, Leven Street, 0131 473 2000, 7–20 Aug, 7.30pm (11, 13, 17, 19 Aug, 2.30pm), 21 Aug, 1pm, 6pm, £14–£38.

Previews 5 & 6 Aug, 7.30pm, £12–£32.

BILL BURR Two shows in the biggest Pleasance room of them all from the acclaimed comedian who appeared in Breaking Bad as Patrick Kuby, an ex-Boston cop who became one of Saul Goodman’s henchmen. Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 8 Aug, 3.45pm, 11.40pm, £25.

MICHELLE WOLF A former Bear Stearns and JP Morgan Chase banker, Wolf clearly saw the light and got into showbusiness, most notably contributing to The Daily Show in this Trevor Noah era. Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 9.30pm, £11–£13 (£9–£11). Previews 3–5 Aug, £6.

52 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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BEAT THE QUEUES

Introducing Pleasance Plus, our contactless ticketing service, new for 2016

Keep an eye out for our mobile box office team at the Courtyard and the Dome

Free to join!

Cheaper tickets every Monday & Tuesday list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 53

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30/06/2016 15:24

FRINGE:COMEDY DAAS

54 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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DAAS COMEDY:FRINGE

MOB RULERS Boisterous Aussies and musical comedy Fringe favourites Doug Anthony All Stars are back with a bang. Craig McLean stands clear and learns that there’s no point being subtle when you’re holding a sledgehammer

T

hey’re back. The Australians who blazed a (literally) riotous trail through the Fringe in the mid to late 80s.

The trio of all-singing, all-swearing, all-scabrous standups with a not-so-fine line in political and sexual material.

The comedy troupe who could stop the laughter dead in its tracks with a perfectly soulful, utterly ‘straight’ version of ‘Heard it Through the Grapevine’. They are the Doug Anthony All Stars, an act fast-tracked to global success by the Fringe – they were nominated for the Perrier Award in 1988 – and they’re returning to Edinburgh 12 years after a ‘farewell’ tour of their homeland.

‘Before we came to Scotland in ’87, we were not thinking in festival terms at all until we got to the Adelaide Fringe, and that was so damn enjoyable,’ remembers golden-voiced Paul McDermott of the DAAS’ early days.

‘Then someone said, “have you heard of Edinburgh?”

“No, where’s that?” So that was instantly the next thing we wanted to do because the Adelaide Fringe had just given us a taste for that instantaneous connection with a great number of people. And we thought, “if Edinburgh is bigger and brighter and brassier than Adelaide, let’s go for it”.’

‘We were very much into the mob dynamic and there were beer fights and actual fights,’ says Tim Ferguson with a wistful air. ‘The locals want to cut loose; they don’t just want to go to comedy and have a laugh. They want someone to walk on and go, “well, you’re all drunk, do what thou wilt!”’

In 1987, the unknown DAAS were booked into the Pleasance for the Fringe’s final week only. But such was their anarchic brilliance (and their willingness to dive armpit-deep into the Edinburgh ‘experience’) that they quickly became a word-of-mouth sensation. Returning annually, for eight years they were reportedly the Fringe’s best-selling act. ‘That first year, we were busking for the opening two weeks because we didn’t have a whole run,’ recalls McDermott. ‘We didn’t even have a place to stay when we arrived. We eventually got a place in a flat because another group didn’t turn up. And because they didn’t turn up we got their slot in the first week. It was all just incredibly fortuitous.’

Now, after several years working apart in Australia, they’re here again. Well, to clarify: most of them are back. Richard Fidler, who played the role of oftbullied milksop guitarist, has not joined the DAAS reunion, a rebirth that began as a 30th anniversary oneoff in Australia in 2014. ‘Richard’s got a nationally syndicated radio show,’ explains McDermott. ‘So just for one hour every day he gets to talk to whoever is the most interesting person around, and he didn’t want to give that up to come on tour and be funny and adored.’

‘And also some of the material we do could put him in a very awkward position with the government broadcaster ABC,’ says Ferguson.

For example? ‘We had a song back in the day called “Maria”, with rambling, absurdist lyrics,’

begins McDermott. ‘But under the Abbott government we brought that back with new lyrics: “I know a guy whose name is Tony Abbott, and he is a cock, a cock, a motherfucking cock”. And we’d sing that about every member of the front bench of the Liberal Party (and throw in a couple of Labour people), then we’d throw it wide to the audience to allow them to express their hatred of someone in particular. So, some nights we’d go for 15 minutes with people venting about the government; or governments in general and issues around the planet.’

‘Some people do very fine, clever and witty political comedy,’ acknowledges Ferguson. ‘We just go for the sledgehammer.’

So, completing the trio this time round is comedian / guitarist and old DAAS pal Paul ‘Flacco’ Livingston, himself an Edinburgh veteran.

When I speak to the DAAS via Skype from the midst of an Australian tour, he enters the hotel room by crawling on the floor before adopting a largely gnomic silence. When asked what he brings to the rebooted troupe, Livingston replies, ‘age, wisdom and charm’.

He also brings a much-needed extra pair of (working) legs. Ferguson suffers from multiple sclerosis and is now wheelchair-bound. As fans might expect, the Dougs are hilariously upfront about his illness in their new show.

‘Scary, tragic and sad is where our comedy tends to live’ ‘A lot of the stuff that we’re talking about is who we are now,’ says Ferguson. ‘So, the unstoppable approach of death is now a real thing.

And we have people like me with disabilities, and the taking care of parents or relatives whose wheels have come off: that’s a very rich vein.

Of course it’s scary and it’s tragic and it’s sad, but that’s where our comedy tends to live.’

‘Then of course there’s still sex,’ McDermott chips in. ‘I’ve written a song about porn exhaustion.’ How high, generally, is the sex quotient?

‘With Tim? Oh, it’s high,’ shoots back McDermott. ‘He doesn’t get a lot of say in it. Get him on the right pills, he has no idea.’

In similar niceties-ignoring vein, Ferguson insists he didn’t have to think hard about the logistical practicalities of going back on the road.

‘Nah, I’ve got an entire team doing whatever I say! l’m on really strong pills, so I don’t think for more than ten seconds!’ he laughs.

‘Yeah, he never had to think about it!’ shouts McDermott. ‘It’s just the rest of us have to every moment of the day and night. What I’m not looking forward to at all are the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. That’s gonna be fun with the wheelchair.’

On stage, or on the streets, the reborn DAAS are on a roll.

Doug Anthony All Stars, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 4–14 Aug (not 8 & 9), 10pm, £15 (£14). Preview 3 Aug, £10. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 55

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PETER STRAKER

SINGS BREL 7.45PM

4-11 Aug £15/£12

A privilege to watch, one of the must see shows of the fringe.

Scotsman

Do yourself a big favour and just go WhatsOnStag

Should not be missed BroadwayBaby

DIRECT FROM LONDON 8 NIGHTS ONLY “Like you've never heard before” “Catch Straker whilst he's still on this earth” WOS

PeterStraker1

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56 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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30/06/2016 12:35

ST ANDREW

SQUARE GARDEN 5 jul - 29 aug

Returning for a third year this outdoor arena has proven to be the best and brightest new Festival hub in the city.

St Andrew Square Garden will also play host to The Spiegeltent, plus the best in free outdoor entertainment, fantastic bars and mouthwatering food concessions!

www.thestand.co.uk | tickets: 0131 558 9005

www.OUTSTANDINGTICKETS.COM list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 57

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30/06/2016 12:35

PHOTO: PATRICK TURPIN

PHOTO: STEVE ULLATHORNE

FRINGE:COMEDY OFFSPRING

Dad’s army: Annie and Rory McGrath; (right) Ed Night and Kevin Day; (following page) Elliot and Mark Steel

58 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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29/06/2016 19:56

OFFSPRING COMEDY:FRINGE

RITES OF OFFSPRING Performing a debut stand-up show at the Fringe is daunting for anyone. But the pressure surely only increases when you’re the progeny of a famous comedian.

Ben Williams meets three young comics hoping to follow in their fathers’ footsteps

A

nnie McGrath, Ed Night and Elliot Steel have two things in common: they’re each making their Fringe solo debuts this year and they all have established comedian fathers. McGrath is the daughter of writer-presenter Rory, Steel is the son of political maestro Mark, and Ed Night’s dad is stand-up and Match of the Day 2 regular Kevin Day (don’t panic, the reason behind Ed moving from Day into Night is coming soon . . . ).

Not that these three offspring are all worried about expectations and legacies. Their attitudes towards this year’s Fringe range from the ‘anxious’ McGrath through ‘all right, actually’ Night, to Steel, who admits he’s ‘confident’ and says so, well, confidently. I sat down with the trio to talk family values and following in the footsteps of funny fathers.

What made you want to be comedians?

Annie: Comedy was never part of the plan. I auditioned for a sketch group at Leeds University and got in. When I left uni I thought, ‘I’d rather do this than work in an office’.

Ed: I never really wanted to do stand-up. I’ve been hanging around with comics for years: they’re all pricks! But I did a gig because I’d been writing stuff down, and I really enjoyed it.

Elliot: I was kicked out of college. For the sake of the interview, say that I burnt the place down. But it was really because I didn’t keep up with coursework. I’ve always loved comedy and thought, ‘I’ll give it a go’. It got very serious very quickly . . . I don’t even know if it’s what I want to do!

Do your comedy roots add any extra pressure?

Annie: Yes. I remember when I was 12, a girl at school saying to me, ‘you know your dad’s a comedian? Well, you’re not very funny, are you?’ It’s obviously stuck with me.

Elliot: I’m young so I’m arrogant. I started when I was 16 and I’m 19 now. I’d be terrified if I was 30 doing this for the first time with everyone thinking, ‘that’s Mark’s lad’. But he’d probably have been dead for years by then.

Actually, that could have helped the Edinburgh show.

How much have your dads influenced you, comedically?

Elliot: The circuit’s changed since our parents started. In the 80s and 90s, left-wing ideas weren’t the norm.

So to do now what our parents did then would actually be hack.

You’re calling them ‘hack’?

Elliot: They weren’t back in the day!

Ed: But they are now! I took a bit from my dad when I started: I stood still behind the mic stand like him so I didn’t shake as much and show the nerves. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 59

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FRINGE:COMEDY OFFSPRING

Ed, you used to tech your dad’s shows, right?

Ed Yeah, since I was 13. Being able to watch his show every Ed: day and see it change has been an incredibly valuable experience.

Elliot: I haven’t seen my dad’s show once in Edinburgh.

I’ve been at the biggest arts festival in the world and was like, ‘nah, I’m just gonna stay in and watch TV’.

Are your fathers supportive of you performing?

Annie: Yes, but he has the anxieties of the things he’s been thr through from performing, too. He’s more nervous watching me than anyone else.

Ed: My dad has never seen me gig. I won’t let him. To start with he thought I was Charlie Big Bollocks, but now he’s very happy about it.

Elliot: I dunno. I’ve never spoken to him about it . . . this has made me realise that I actually have quite a bad relationship with my dad!

Do you mind if reviews mention your fathers?

Elliot: I have no problem with it; it’s valid enough and people are curious.

But if they come to see me expecting my dad, they’ll be disappointed.

Annie: For me, it’s less of a comparison because he’s a man. Plus I’m not going to go on stage and do Three Men in a Boat. It’s not what I want to use to sell my show, but I’m not going to pretend that he’s not my dad.

Ed: The first line of my first review read, ‘Ed Day, son of Kevin Day’. I wouldn’t have minded it, but I hadn’t talked about it on stage. But since I’ve changed my name it’s not a comparison that invites itself as easily.

Did you change it to deliberately distance yourself from your dad?

Ed: No, it was a Spotlight issue! There was already an Edward Day. I chose Ed Night because I’m petty. And that’s what my show is about: changing my name and south London.

Annie and Elliot, what are your shows about?

Annie: Mine is seven characters that aren’t really characters, they’re exactly the same. So if people don’t get on board with the first one it’s going to be a really long hour!

Elliot: Mine’s called Netflix ‘n’ Steel. Which doesn’t even work as a pun!

Why choose that title then?

Elliot: Because with a south London accent it does work!

I got a review calling me ‘the voice of my generation’, so the show’s about how I don’t want to be the voice of my generation. But with jokes, I hope. It’s not just me reiterating points for an hour.

Annie: Or just reading out really good reviews?

Is there anything you particularly want to achieve at this year’s Fringe?

Annie: To quit comedy for good! No, for me, it’s about getting better and more confident as a stand-up.

Ed: I just want to get used to doing a show every day.

Elliot: I want my old teachers to come and see me in a sell-out room. If they came to see me I’d probably just call them ‘fucktards’ for an hour.

Annie: Can The List publish ‘fucktards’?

Elliot: Oh, sorry. ‘Nitwits’ then.

Ed: ‘Fucktards and Nitwits’.

Elliot: That’s what I should’ve called the show!

Annie McGrath: The Seven Ages of An, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 3–28 Aug (not 17), 4.45pm, £7–£9 (£6.50–£8.50). Previews 3–5 Aug, £6; Ed Night: I’m Amazed it Has a Title, Gilded Balloon at the Counting House, West Nicolson Street, 0131 622 6552, 3–28 Aug (not 15), 5.30pm, £5; Elliot Steel: Netflix ‘n’ Steel, Gilded Balloon at the Counting House, West Nicolson Street, 0131 622 6552, 3–28 Aug, 6.15pm, £6; Mark Steel’s in Toon, Assembly Hall, Mound Place, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 9.30pm, £13–£14. Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £10.

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NORRIS & PARKER COMEDY:FRINGE

GALLOWS HUMOUR Sharing a birthday and bleak sense of fun, Norris & Parker are set to raise merry hell at the Pleasance. Brian Donaldson hears from a pair who revel in the darkness

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ast Fringe, double act Norris & Parker claimed that All Our Friends Are Dead. For their 2016 affair, they want to See You at the Gallows. Dark enough for you? Well, it could have been a whole lot worse, as Katie Norris explains. ‘There’s a blog called The Worst Album Covers of All Time, albums from the 60s to the 80s with really odd artwork and mental titles like Let Me Touch Him, Jesus Use Me and All My Friends Are Dead.

One of them is called My Pussy Belongs to Daddy and we almost used that title for this year’s show.’

Before things had gone too far, something made them change their minds and the relatively knockabout See You at the Gallows is now the title that will adorn the pair’s posters all around town. ‘In the end, we didn’t want to alienate people who don’t really know us,’ insists Sinead Parker. ‘People who do know us would be well aware that it wasn’t an attempt to simply be gratuitous or vulgar, but we didn’t want to just come across as having a shocking title. Still, we really do love that title and may well use it in the future . . . ’ Sketch shows and double acts with an edge about them are, of course, de rigueur at the Fringe, but venue-wise there may be a curious pattern developing. Norris & Parker will be in the Pleasance Attic this year (having played in The Caves last Fringe) and they follow in some rather bleak footsteps. Penny Spubbs Party, Toby and Gein’s Family Giftshop have all skirted a controversial line in that room (Michael McIntyre debuted in the Attic, but we’ll let that one go).

‘We’ll be asking all the audience to disrobe as they enter and we’ll be performing naked,’ speculates Parker. ‘Just to keep everyone cool, we’ll be having sprinklers installed.’ Reflecting on their predecessors Sarah and

Lizzie Daykin (Toby), and Katy Wix / Anna Crilly (Penny Spubbs), Norris notes, ‘maybe they just like putting all the mad women in the Attic. The style and content of the show will certainly fit an attic vibe.’

An addition to this off-kilter atmosphere will be the live musical accompaniment they’re laying on. Pianist Chris Thomson has been dubbed a Victorian hipster, all of which seems to gel nicely with the ye olde capital punishment ‘n’ executioner fun that their act alludes to.

‘We’re really excited about him playing live and being dressed like that,’ enthuses Parker. ‘I think the Victorians were the original hipsters, what with the facial hair, the clothes and the penny farthings. We’ll have some original songs but he’ll be underscoring the show as well. We really like the idea of a Victorian aesthetic, but there will also be a 1980s vibe in there too. We’ve written a gritty 80s northern crime drama sketch inspired by the Yorkshire Ripper.’

All of which sounds both entertaining and a mite chilling. But at least the crowd will be cloaked in the safety of darkness where they’ll be able to enjoy the show unaccosted. Or will they?

‘A lot of the time we interact with the audience, but if things ever go wrong we like to acknowledge that as well,’ states Norris. ‘We’ll probably have some stocks and a noose to warn any hecklers.’ Parker concludes: ‘there’ll be a nice threatening, menacing atmosphere. It’s always the sign of a good comedy show if someone physically shits themselves.’

Norris & Parker: See You at the Gallows, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 6–28 Aug (not 21), 10.45pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£7–£8.50). Previews 3–5 Aug, £6. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 61

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Box Office: 0131 622 6552 | gildedballoon.co.uk

WINNER - Best Newcomer.

NZ THEATRE AWARDS

“... a beautiful gem of a show - don’t miss it!”

THEATREVIEW

by Henry Naylor Writer-Director of Echoes & The Collector -22'89 3( !/38 2;'82!ধ32!£ 8-2+' >!8&9

3:45pm

3 - 29 August

0131 622 6552 GILDEDBALLOON.CO.UK

Gilded Balloon Teviot Aug (Not 15thRoom & 22nd) Billiard 3.45pm 3 - 29th Gilded Balloon Teviot - Billiard Room

4:30pm

3 - 29 August

Gilded Balloon Teviot Dining Room

Get Rid of the Minstrel

10:30pm

15 - 28 August

Gilded Balloon Teviot Debating Hall

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SIMON MUNNERY COMEDY:FRINGE

S A W T I W E N K Y E ‘TH E B O T G GOIN , T N A I L L I BR SO IT WASN’T’

imon Munnery S ce n si rs a ye 0 3 It’s been comedians w Fe e. g in Fr e th n first set foot o tly innovative, n e st si n co so n e e have b ght, well, Fringey. daring and downri ne retrospection, re se f o t n e m o m During a morable shows he recalls four me

CLUUB ZARATHUSTRA II (PLEASANCE COURTYARD, 1997) ‘You’ve had that workshop for six months and all you’ve got to show for it is two mops and a computer that doesn’t work,’ said my manager on the first night when it had all crashed horribly. He had a point. I was weeping but carrying on with the conversation anyway.

But the mops were very long, the computer eventually worked and the show attracted a cult following with people seeing it multiple times. They particularly liked the Self-Knowledge Impregnator, a huge box containing

Jason Freeman

Julian Barratt

Kevin Eldon

PHOTO: EDWARD MOORE

Richard Thomas Simon Munnery

Stewart Lee

Sally Phillips

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FRINGE:COMEDY SIMON MUNNERY

a powerful flash that burned the word ‘cunt’ into your retina, designed as a weapon against hecklers. Magically, there was one great night when Rickyy Grover acted as a doorman wearing a dress and carrying the audience onee by one to their seats while whispering threats in their ear. That was thee night Channel Four were in, and six months later I was sitting on the buss thinking, ‘blimey, I’ve got quarter of a million pounds to spend on hats’..

Happy days.

BUCKETHEAD: PHENOMENON ANON AND ON (ASSEMBLY ROOMS, 2004) It began with Trilogy the year before at The Stand, where I did threee different shows in rotation: The True Confessions of Sherlock Holmes,, Onward and Upward and Buckethead: Way of the Bucket.

Buckethead mark one was the hardest to stage: it used a live videoo link to the backstage toilet, multiple sound cues and actors (Jeff Green,, Andrew Bailey and my first and current wife Janet). It was Andrew whoo had introduced me to the bucket two years before as a method of practicingg the harmonica: I remember the two of us wandering down Dundas Street,, buckets on head, parping away on our harps. It might not have been Dundass w Street. Anyway, the show worked once (maybe) over the month, so I knew there was something in it, but not enough to justify three actors and a brainache of tech.

For Melbourne, I converted it into a one-man play. It still had sound cuess (interrogator’s questions) until the penny dropped and I realised whenn you’re wearing a bucket you can do multiple voices and no one can tell. I love how the unnecessary gets stripped away. I ended up with a play thatt could be performed by one person under a tree, which I did in September in Stoke Newington. Unfortunately, it was a horse chestnut tree, hazardous for the audience but less so for me. I was wearing a bucket at the time.

ELIZABETH AND RALEIGH: LATE BUT LIVE (UNDERBELLY, 2008) I played Elizabeth to Miles Jupp’s Raleigh. The first night was dreadful: we’d never used the radio mics before and they played up so that we were getting the local taxi office coming through the PA. We ploughed on with the dialogue while the stage managers stood behind us fiddling with wires.

One night I had a stomach upset, it was nearly my cue and I needed a toilet fast. I found a cubicle but was physically prevented from entering by the vast hoops of my skirt. Eventually I solved the problem and went in sideways, did my business and made it to the stage with seconds to spare.

What larks!

LACONCEPTA(ALLOVERTHEPLACE,BUTMAINLY GAYFIELD SQUARE, 2011 AND 2012) PHOTO: STEVE ULLATHORNE

‘All the rigmarole of haute cuisine without the shame of eating’ was the tagline for this parody of a restaurant for two people, then four, then eventually eight. It started as a sketch in my Annual General Meeting (a title I thought would become funnier as the years passed but didn’t) at The Stand but it needed to stand on its own. And this it did, mainly in Gayfield tobello beach and the Square at the top of Leith Walk, but also on Portobello Meadows: although prop-heavy, it packed down intoo a suitcase, a criterion I still use for a show. Does it fit in a suitcase? Then it can be done.

I became a little worried about the legality of performing in a public garden but then noticed the police station opposite: if it was illegal I’d surely have been arrested by now. Being for small numbers meant I had to perform it five times a day to be economically viable, and although it rained a good deal that year (‘do you enjoy the dampness of the sauna but dislike the excessive warmth? Visitt Edinburgh in August, home of lateral rain’), it onlyy rained once during a show.

On the last night I did an impromptu performancee in the flat where I was staying for Stand members of staff; they laughed like drains and it was wonderful to se be doing it indoors again. It went so well that those eight went and got another eight members of staff for se. a second sitting, which was a bit of a flop, of course.

They knew it was going to be brilliant, so it wasn’t.

Simon Munnery: Standing Still, The Stand, York Place, 0131 558 9005, 5–29 Aug (not 15), 4pm, £12 (£10). Preview 4 Aug, £9; Simon Munnery and Friends: 30 Not Out, Famous Spiegeltent, St Andrew Square, e, 0131 558 9005, 22 Aug, 6.45pm, £14 (£12).

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VENUE 26

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 2016 " If you were to stick a pin in the Summerhall programme you would be almost certain to come up with a show that would surprise and delight in equal measure."

Lyn Gardner The Guardian

Box Office

0131 560 1581 General

0131 560 1580

3 Aug - 28 Aug

info@summerhall.co.uk www.summerhall.co.uk Photographer - Linnea Rundgren, Radiolaria

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E C N A D : E G N I FR Danish duo Don Gnu have set their sights on examining what it is to be a man right now.

Lucy Ribchester meets them in Aarhus to discuss gender imbalance and dodgy shoes

MALE ORDER

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asculinity: it’s not exactly invisible in mainstream culture. From The Odyssey to Hamlet and the mono-gender domination of this year’s Oscars, male identity is very much front and centre in our cultural consciousness. You could even argue that it might not need more attention.

But Danish dance company Don Gnu do not agree, believing the subject requires a rethink.

For the past six years, this duo – ‘Don’ (Jannik Elkær) and ‘Gnu’ (Kristoffer Louis Andrup Pedersen), with guest appearances from Simon Beyer-Pedersen as ‘El Chino’ – have been building a trilogy to explore beyond the existing archetypes projected onto men in order to discover a balance with which they feel more aligned.

‘We were confused about what it was to be a man today,’ says Elkær. ‘We were both born in the 70s, a time when the man had to be soft. You have to be able to have all your feelings and start to listen. At the same time we have to be masculine. In 2010 there was this thing: how can you be a real man?

People were starting to go out to nature: a sort of male therapy.’ The result of their exploration is Men in Sandals, with M.I.S.: All Night Long being the final instalment and the one they’re bringing to Dance Base.

We meet just after they’ve kicked off the Danish Plus festival in Aarhus with a gala performance. The show has gone down well with its mash-up of slapstick, posturing, misplaced competitiveness, 70s ‘taches and martial arts stunts, all blending into a weird tangle of celebration and mockery. The pair admit that their onstage characters, Don and Gnu, channel extreme versions of themselves: Don is alpha and mischievous while Gnu is quieter and ‘passive aggressive’. El Chino, meanwhile, represents a challenge to straight white masculinity with his elegant chaos.

But beyond sending-up masculine folly, there’s also tenderness at play in a striking tango, a tragi-comic attempt at grace involving a plank and a couple of well-placed socks, and a bizarrely beautiful finale (starring yet more socks, this time paired with sandals). ‘In Denmark, there’s this really bad fashion of having men in sandals,’ Elkær says. ‘For us it was like a symbol of trying to take everything apart.’ Pedersen jumps in: ‘to take all the layers away’.

‘It’s about being tough but still having the soft layer of socks in between,’ Elkær says. ‘We are pretty secure in Scandinavian countries but at the same time we want to search for the roughness inside us. So there’s a bit of joking about this male tendency of trying to push borders and push the limits, but still needing to be safe.’

There are some who would argue that giving more time and space to gaze at the male self is just perpetuating a gender bias that has been prevalent on stage and screen for centuries. When I ask whether the two men, after all their exploration of gender, have become feminists, they are bashfully evasive, saying they don’t know enough about it to commit to an answer.

Still, M.I.S.: All Night Long is hugely entertaining, and with its eccentric humour and aim of challenging rather than cementing ideas of masculinity, it’s a welcome breath of self-reflection.

‘We want to search for the roughness inside us’

Don Gnu: M.I.S. – All Night Long, Dance Base, Grassmarket, 0131 225 5525, 18–21 Aug, 1pm; 23–28 Aug, 9pm, £12 (£10). Preview 17 Aug, 1pm, £10 (£8).

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FRINGE:DANCE FLIP FABRIQUE

TOP 5 DANCE Time to get pumped up with these five shows platforming the best of streetdance, hip hop and breakin’

PHOTO: CODY CHOI

PHOTO: ALEXANDRE GALLIEZ

SMOTHER From 201 Dance Company comes this returning show, the story of a broken encounter between two men which touches on themes of addiction, obsession and the ‘c’ word. That’s right, ‘commitment’. ZOO Southside, Nicolson Street, 0131 662 6892, 7–27 Aug, 3.20pm, £12 (£10). Previews 5 & 6 Aug, £8.

CATCH ALL Kelly Apter chats to Bruno Gagnon about Flip Fabrique’s exciting new circus dance show, a mix of acrobatics, aerial and rubber balls

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Sharing a double bill with Indian dance exploration Silent Space, Swedish company Lin Dylin’s SKAL explores macho culture within hip hop in a show that’s been doing the European rounds since early 2015. Dance Base, Grassmarket, 0131 225 5525, 9–14 Aug, 1pm, £12 (£10).

Previews 5–7 Aug, £10 (£8).

Once on stage, if it looks like they’re having as much fun as the audience, that’s because they are.

‘We’ve all known each other for more than ten years. We had fun together back in circus school, and still a true value of Flip Fabrique is to make joyful shows that people can connect with and that make you want to jump on stage and play with us.’

FEEL-LINK Lithuania’s Low Air Urban Dance offers up an energetic duet about a man and woman who have failed to find true love.

Feel-Link features music by Nina Simone and James Blake. ZOO Southside, Nicolson Street, 0131 662 6892, 8–20 Aug (not 14), 12.10pm, £12 (£10). Previews 5 & 6 Aug, £8.

Flip Fabrique: Attrape Moi, Assembly Hall, Mound Place, 0131 623 3030, 6–29 Aug (not 10, 15, 22), 6pm, £15–£16 (£13–£14). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £10.

360 ALLSTARS BMX riders, basketball players, B-boys and a live soundtrack make for an exhilarating experience which encapsulates the very essence of ‘crowdpleasing’. As one reviewer put it, ‘if it spins, it’s in’. Assembly Hall, Mound Place, 0131 623 3030, 6–29 Aug (not 15), 4.20pm, £15–£16 (£13–£14). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £10.

BANG! TO THE HEART

PHOTO: JOE RONDONE

hen Bruno Gagnon and his friends graduated from Quebec City Circus School, they had a lot of tricks under their belt. But it wasn’t until hitting the road with world-renowned companies such as Cirque Éloize and Cirque du Soleil that they fully honed their craft. ‘To be part of an industry giant like Cirque du Soleil helped us understand about logistics, travelling, and the world in general,’ says Gagnon. ‘It also taught us how to improve our methods as artists. Overall, it was the best school ever.’

Suitably educated, Gagnon formed Flip Fabrique and began touring Canada with his dynamic brand of contemporary circus. Making its Edinburgh Fringe debut, the company will perform Attrape Moi (‘Catch Me’), a show filled with acrobatics, hula hoops, aerial work and big rubber balls. Like all circus troupes, repetition is the name of the game, practising the same routines over and over until they achieve a perfect balance of safety, precision and wow factor. The groundwork of all that was laid when the Flip Fabrique gang was stilll in school.

‘When we were all at circus school, wee would train for 25 to 30 hours a week,’’ recalls Gagnon. ‘We spent between sixx and 15 years there before going on tour ass ut professional artists. Now, we work about te 40 hours a week for three months to create s, a new show and have it ready in our bodies, then warm up for two hours beforehand.’

SKAL

NUE Dance Company bring a touch of Italy to ZOO with ‘just an urban tale’ of two brothers falling for the same girl. But what happens when the gang-led streets pose danger to both love and life?

ZOO Southside, Nicolson Street, 0131 662 6892, 6–28 Aug (not 10, 15, 22), 10.20pm, £12–£14 (£10–£12). Preview 5 Aug, £10.

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Museum After Hours

Friday Fringe Takeover

2014

2015

Enjoy hand-picked performers, music, comedy and bars, plus exclusive access to our spectacular exhibition Celts

Friday 12, 19 & 26 August 19:30-22:30

£18/£16 Over 18s only Includes admission to Celts

www.nms.ac.uk/afterhours

DELIVERING ADELAIDE TO EDINBURGH Made in Adelaide delivers to Edinburgh a showcase of South Australian talent — come and see Adam Page, Michaela Burger, Gravity and Other Myths and many more.

W W W. M A D E I N A D E L A I D E . C L U B

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Written By Giles Andreae and Russell Ayto Adapted For Stage By Oliver Lansley

Praise for Captain Flinn DQG WKH 3LUDWH 'LQRVDXUV

WINNER OF THE PRIMARY TIMES CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARD ‘LOTS OF FUN’

★★★★ TIME OUT

‘MAGICAL’

★★★★★ FEST

3rd August - 29th August 2016, 10.30am Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance One %R[ 2IoFH www.pleasance.co.uk www.lespetitstheatre.com

‘BRILLIANT’

★★★★ ONE 4 REVIEW

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Un Untitle

FRINGE : KIDS

POCKET WATCH The legend of King Arthur, Camelot and Excalibur has charmed millions through many generations. Kelly Apter talks to stalwart actor David Gant about taking on the mythical role he’s longed for since childhood

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t all starts with a young boy, both onstage and off. In Story Pocket Theatre’s new production of King Arthur, a drowning child is rescued by an old man claiming to be Arthur Pendragon. As his story unfolds, the audience is transported back to the days of Camelot, Excalibur, Lancelot, Lady of the Lake and the myriad other characters populating this exciting legend.

Meanwhile, up on stage, actor David Gant will finally fulfil an ambition he’s held since he himself was a young boy. ‘When I was at school, we used to go on trips to the cinema, and I remember seeing the musical Camelot with Richard Harris as the king,’ recalls Gant. ‘And from then on I wanted to play him. He’s just one of those iconic characters that it would be superb to play.

So when I met up with Story Pocket Theatre and they talked about me taking on King Arthur or Merlin, I told them I’d always wanted to play King Arthur: and now I am. I hope I can serve him well.’

A stalwart of both stage and screen, including parts in Gandhi, Brazil and Braveheart, Gant has performed in everything from serious drama to panto. For him, joining Story Pocket Theatre – known for its highly inventive physical storytelling – has been an exciting new challenge which started with the source material: Michael Morpurgo’s 1994 novel, Arthur, High King of Britain. ‘I found Michael’s book to be extremely adventurous and at times very moving; as is the script which has been adapted from it. And Story Pocket Theatre has a wonderful gift for telling stories, which takes us all right back to the beginning, to when you lie in bed as a child and someone tells you a story.’

For the past few years, Story Pocket has been building a strong reputation and loyal following at the Fringe. Its debut production in 2014, Arabian Nights, featured a talented cast using a clever set and their own skill to bring alive tales from One Thousand and One Nights. Then, in 2015, the company returned with A Pocketful of Grimms and Storyteller, Storyteller (both of which are back this August).

With King Arthur, not only have they enlisted Gant for the title role, but Sarine Sofair, who played Lhara in Game of Thrones, will take on the parts of both Guinevere and Lady of the Lake. It’s testament to Story Pocket’s ethos and vision that such high-calibre actors are keen to work with them; and that Morpurgo himself is their patron, commending them for ‘sharing stories in a bright, imaginative way’.

So far, Story Pocket has proved itself adept at choosing tales that both children and adults want to see and hear. But it’s how they deliver them that counts and, as Gant says, the company’s energetic style fires the imagination of all who see them.

‘With very physical storytelling, you have to connect with the audience and get them to connect with you,’ he says. ‘So instead of them just sitting there and watching, you involve them in the piece, particularly the children, in order to capture their imagination.’

‘I hope I can serve him well’

Michael Morpurgo’s King Arthur, Gilded Balloon at the Museum, Lothian Street, 0131 622 6552, 6–29 Aug (not 16, 22), 2.45pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10). Previews 3–5 Aug, £6. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 71

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FRINGE:KIDS HOW TO BE A ROCK STAR

ROCK ON

TOP 5 KIDS Children love a little fright, so here are five shows with elements of what cinemas like to call ‘mild peril’

CHILDREN’S HAUNTED UNDERGROUND EXPERIENCE Having spent over two decades sending shivers down local and tourist spines, Auld Reekie Tours turn their attention to the kiddiewinks with this PG-rated show for brave ones who love a spot of paranormal activity. Tron Kirk, High Street, 0131 226 0000, 5–29 Aug, 1pm, 3pm (9 Aug, also 4.30pm), £10 (£8, family ticket £32).

THE SNOW QUEEN

Thom Dibdin talks to ‘professional idiot’ Tessa Waters about telling a story through movement and getting kids to smash it out the park

C

omedian, clown and now performer / creator of children’s show How to Be a Rock Star, Tessa Waters says she has been ‘a professional idiot from day dot’. Growing up in small-town Australia, she was raised on a staple diet of Hollywood slapstick, big dance numbers and Bette Midler. Her true joy, however, lay somewhere between Mr Bean and Shirley Bassey. ‘I did try to be a serious actor for a while but was never accepted into the fold,’ she insists. ‘Even when I tried to be serious, something funny would happen and it would all fall apart. It’s important to accept and embrace who you are and I’ve never looked back.’

Having spent half a decade on the comedy circuit, she took herself off to Paris to study clowning with Philippe Gaulier in 2014. The relocation was inspired partly by the idea of spending a year living in a place where, ‘it’s OK to eat a whole wheel of cheese every day’, but more by the fact that her own move into physical and visual comedy had left her hungry to learn again and to challenge herself.

‘Moving, wobbling, grooving and dancing make me feel amazing,’ she says. ‘I love watching someone tell a story just through their movement; it allows your brain to dream around the story they’re telling and brings a different kind of depth to your experience of the show.’

One of Waters’ favourite parts of How to Be a Rock Star is when she gets the kids to create their own ‘signature dance move’ that celebrates ‘who they are and how they feel about their bodies. It is so inspiring to see them just smash it out of the park every time. Then there’s the joy on their faces when everyone in the audience learns their move!’

How to Be a Rock Star, Assembly George Square Gardens, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 6–29 Aug (not 17), 3.15pm, £8 (£6). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £5.

Will Kai and Gerda escape the clutches of a sinister Snow Queen? For this C theatre adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale, best bring a jumper to protect you from the ice palace’s chill.

C scala, St Stephen Street, 0845 260 1234, 3–29 Aug (not 15), 11.30am, £7.50–£9.50 (£3.50–£7.50).

BUMP Clinky just can’t get to sleep because of all those unexplained noises in the house.

A show for those who need reassurance about things that go bump in the night.

Quaker Meeting House, Victoria Terrace, 0131 220 6109, 9–13 Aug, 1.15pm, free.

DR FRANKENSTEIN’S SPOOKY DISCO Heriot Watt Drama Society invite you into the Bier Keller for a jive and a boogie (and probably the ‘Monster Mash’) alongside a guy with a bolt through his neck.

Frankenstein Pub, George IV Bridge, 0131 226 0000, 15–29 Aug, noon, free.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! DINOSAURS! If your town was under threat from a gang of dastardly dinosaurs, what would you need? Well, a brave girl troll, goblin wizard and fire-breathing dragon would be handy. Check. Hispaniola, Drummond Street, 0131 226 0000, 6–27 Aug (not 8, 15, 22), 12.20pm, free.

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Labour party: Colin Hay with Men at Work (below) and his hot new band (left)

Colin Hay hit the big time as part of 80s Australian rock band Men at Work.

As the Saltcoats lad returns to Scotland, he tells Brian Donaldson that universal fame certainly has its ups and downs

I

f there was one animal that Colin Hay feels a kinship with, he reckons it’s the wombat. ‘I used to go into the bush a lot and you’d come across echidnas which are like porcupines; they’re pretty interesting fellas. But I do have a soft spot for wombats; I may look a little like one. It’s a cross between a bear and a rock. A black snake once rose up and was looking at me. I’m blind in my right eye and couldn’t see him at first but it’s amazing how quickly you can run when you have to. There are a lot of things in Australia that could fuck with you.’

It’s certainly a long way from the Saltcoats of his birth where the biggest threat to your health was a piece of excrement getting washed up on land: ‘the “shitey shore” they called it. That was its affectionate term.’ Hay’s family moved out of Scotland when he was 13 and headed to Australia where the singer-songwriter would eventually find colossal fame with Men at Work. ‘Down Under’ was the band’s biggest hit, an addictive and idiosyncratic tune which topped the British charts at the beginning of 1983 and led to world tours such as supporting David Bowie on his Serious Moonlight live juggernaut. Everything might have seemed ripper in the Men at Work garden, but Hay admits the band was constantly on the cusp of imploding.

‘When we were starting to peak commercially, it was kind of over internally which is a sad thing to say. It became quite Spinal Tap very quickly; the other guitar player was unhappy being in the band, while the drummer didn’t like the manager so got his sister, who knew nothing about rock‘n’roll, to manage him. I was drinking way too much which I continued to do until I finally stopped. I was probably a bit inflated as I was the guy who wrote and sang the songs, and got a lot of the attention.’

After the enormous global success of albums Business as Usual and Cargo, the inevitable break-up finally happened, with Hay only staying in touch with the band’s Greg Ham, the pair working on and off together until around 2002. ‘I always had this fantasy of doing something again with Greg because he was a very talented guy, but he checked out instead four years ago. It’s sad because he was one of those guys you imagined getting old with.’

While he is perfectly happy these days to perform some of the old songs (he even appeared

in a lengthy dream sequence during a 2002 episode of quirky medical sitcom Scrubs, singing the band’s late ‘83 hit ‘Overkill’), Hay has 12 solo albums to call upon whenever he plays live. The most recent one, Next Year People, arrived last year.

We’re chatting backstage at the Pleasance Courtyard in April, during a pre-Fringe tour of the UK. He returns in August with a live band (featuring his long-term drummer, his singer wife, Cecilia, and two Cuban musicians Hay says he’s stolen from his spouse’s band) and a whole heap of tales from the past as well as more recent times. The show’s title, Get Rid of the Minstrel, comes from an incident which rather neatly sums up the fickle nature of fame.

‘I was on a radio show in Albany, Western Australia, and the DJ said that in the next half hour I was going to sing a couple of songs and he was going to tell the audience how to get rid of Argentinean ants. So I played a song or two and we were chatting, and then a woman asked him when he was going to talk about the ants as it had been more than half an hour. She said, “get rid of the minstrel!” So, you can have this massive commercial success where you’re playing to hundreds of thousands of people, and in a few short years you could be in competition for airspace with Argentinean ants.’

Among his family connections is a niece who has had little fear of playing second fiddle to a bunch of insects.

As early as 11, Sia was proving to her uncle Colin that she could well have a bright future in the music business.

‘She’s always been pretty special,’ he admits with an avuncular pride. ‘There are very few people with her talents; she has an amazing melodic facility, great lyrical skills, and can put songs together very quickly. She told me a few years ago that she wasn’t keen on going out on the road because it did something strange to her so she decided to stay behind the scenes and write songs for people. She thinks what I do is probably an old-fashioned way of doing things by going out on the road to promote my music.’

Despite having all those albums to his name, Hay continues to feel energised by stepping out onto a live stage in front of brand new audiences. ‘In a way, I’m starting again, because you’re playing to people who might have no idea who you are. A lot of my audience is young because old people are too lazy to go out. Seeing people in the crowd in their 30s is great because if you were just playing to people of my age it would be a bit bleak.’

‘It became quite Spinal Tap very quickly’

Colin Hay: Get Rid of the Minstrel, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Bristo Square, 0131 622 6552, 15–28 Aug, 10.30pm, £12–£14 (£11–£13). list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 75

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FRINGE:MUSIC THE TERRESTRIAL SEA

TOP 5

WET WET WET

MUSIC It might not be the same as seeing them in the flesh but it’s not far off. Here are five hot tribute shows

DIRTY HARRY ULTIMATE TRIBUTE TO BLONDIE / SENSATIONAL DAVID BOWIE TRIBUTE BAND A bittersweet gig this one, with the country’s foremost Blondie and Bowie tribute acts taking to the stage for three hours of classic hits and idiosyncratic fashion decisions. Liquid Room, Victoria Street, 0131 226 0000, 28 Aug, 7pm, £17.50 (£10).

PHOTO: TOMMY GA-KEN WAN

The Terrestrial Sea is an immersive audio-visual performance exploring the Cromarty Firth.

Niki Boyle chats to its creator Mark Lyken about seeing oil rigs at the bottom of a garden

T

he first thing you should know about The Terrestrial Sea is that it’s big. The song cycle (written by sound artist Mark Lyken) and accompanying film (shot by Emma Dove) were inspired by, and created on, the Cromarty Firth, a deep estuary roughly 20 miles north of Inverness that’s a popular spot with heavy industries. Chains, cranes and boats all loom large on-screen, while Lyken’s synth drones and found sounds create an atmosphere that’s wet, weighty and intimidatingly massive.

‘These structures are monumental, they’re surreal and, aside from environmental concerns, they’re quite beautiful,’ says Lyken ahead of a three-date engagement for the 45-minute work at the Filmhouse. ‘Watching it in a more cinematic environment is ideal; the thing about these works is that they are performance, but they’re very cinematic so they lend themselves well to scale and for people to be right in amongst this environment.’

Originally just four pieces that Lyken recorded himself on-site, the project grew in scope

when Dove was commissioned by Glasgow arts organisation Cryptic to contribute a visual element.

The fact that she grew up just five minutes away from Cromarty made her own perspective all the more valuable, though not to the detriment of Lyken’s.

‘As an outsider, I see things differently from Emma,’ he says. ‘I would point out things that she couldn’t see anymore because they were so familiar. I guess if there’s a massive oil rig at the bottom of your garden and you grow up with that, you don’t really notice there’s a massive oil rig at the bottom of the garden. Whereas I’m like, “what the hell is that?”’

In addition to the impressive sense of scale, Lyken says the Filmhouse run will be ‘the first performance of the new surround sound version’ of The Terrestrial Sea. Prepare to dive deep.

The Terrestrial Sea, Filmhouse, Lothian Road, 0131 228 2688, 16–18 Aug, 4.30pm, £10 (£8).

SINATRA AND ME In the company of some rather famous family members, Richard Shelton recently witnessed a performance from Ol’ Blue Eyes’ granddaughter AJ Lambert. Will they return the compliment when he transforms himself into the iconic Rat Packer? Frankenstein Pub, George IV Bridge, 0131 226 0000, 5–14 Aug, 1pm, free.

THE RISING For those not lucky enough to catch The Boss on the E Street Band’s River tour, get yourself lost in a flood of Bruce. In true Springsteen style, this will be a non-stop epic affair clocking in at the 180-minute mark. Citrus Club, Grindlay Street, 0131 226 0000, 20, 27 Aug, 7.30pm, £10.

HENDRIX AND ME! Having played the legendary voodoo child in The 27 Club, Edinburgh’s Aki Remally is really the only man who could take on the monumental task of being Mr Jimi Hendrix for an entire evening. Merchant’s Hall, Hanover Street, 0131 226 0000, 19 Aug, 9.15pm, £20.

CRY ME A RIVER: THE SONGS OF JULIE LONDON With Kenny Ellis on bass and Malcolm MacFarlane on guitar, Kerry Jo Hodgkin will be rolling back the years with a heartfelt paean to the husky-throated American nightclub and jazz chanteuse.

Jazz Bar, Chambers Street, 0131 226 0000, 13 & 14 Aug, 2.30pm, £8 (£6).

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A R EG UL A R M U SI C PR E S E N TAT I O N

COMING UP IN THE FRINGE AT THE QUEEN’S HALL

15TH - 18TH AUGUST

Hard-hitting, side-splitting, always in your face, Rollins is an unmissable live powerhouse.

ASSEMBLY SPIEGELTENT

Self-deprecating comedy and walloping home truths!

0844 844 0444 WWW.TICKETMASTER.CO.UK WWW.HENRYROLLINS.COM

The Guardian

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THE CHAIR Fri 5 August

AN EVENING OF RYAN ADAMS Red-blooded WITH EASY stomp music from TIGERS Orkney Tue 9 August Americana collective pay homage to their biggest inspiration

GEORGE SQUARE

THE RED HOT CHILLI PIPERS Wed 10 & Fri 26 August Bagpipes with attitude & drums with a Scottish accent

15 - 18 AUG

PEATBOG FAERIES Thu 11 August

RURA Sat 13 August

“Barnstorming High octane Celtic instrumentals… just what dance music every Festival needs” (BBC Radio Scotland)

ERIC BOGLE Fri 19 & Sat 20 August “Hame” one last time for a couple of farewell concerts

DEAN OWENS AND THE CELTABILLY ALLSTARS Wed 24 August

SCOTTISH NATIONAL JAZZ ORCHESTRA CELEBRATE BRUBECK Sun 14 August Brubeck: An Incredible jazz legacy

KING CREOSOTE Thu 25 August

Fife’s Kenny Anderson, the Settin’ the Woods squeezebox on Fire: The Songs Casanova of Hank Williams

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PHOTO: BRONWEN SHARP

E R T A E H T : E G FRIN

M

atthew Wilkinson’s new play is intense. Such is the intensity of My Eyes Went Dark, that simply referring to it as intense will not suffice: this is a tragic case study of a man in breakdown, a modern tragedy which beats its audience with an emotional battering ram one line at a time. To offer some context, three weeks after Cal MacAninch took on the lead role, he became physically ill. The suspected-stroke kind of ill.

MacAninch (known for his TV roles in Mr Selfridge, The Awakening and Warriors) plays Nikolai Koslov, a Russian architect whose family dies in an air accident on their way to visiting him. Koslov believes that this crash was caused by the air traffic controller on duty and so sets about plotting his revenge. The character’s pain manifests itself in a big way, resonating physically through his body with numbness and headaches, even as he struggles with the raw agony of fresh grief.

Worryingly, just before the show opened at London’s Finborough Theatre, MacAninch found that his own body was reacting to Koslov’s story in an unexpected yet eerily familiar way. ‘The fingers in my left hand went numb,’ he says, describing the experience. ‘The numbness went up my arm and into my chest and all down my torso. I went to the doctors straight away and they thought I was maybe having a stroke. They’ve got a direct line to the stroke surgeons at the hospital and we spoke to one of them straight away. She said she thought it was a really bad migraine and, sure enough, that night I had one. It wasn’t until a couple of days later that I realised my character suffers from these terrible headaches. I’d developed the symptoms of my character without even realising it.’

There’s a lot to unpick in My Eyes Went Dark and a lot to feel uneasy about. It’s inspired by real events (the story of Vitaly Kaloyev), ensuring that the play cannot be written off as excessively dramatic: an air accident did happen and a man did lose his wife and children. As a father of three

himself, MacAninch found the last part particularly difficult to deal with.

‘It was a really hard thing to do, to think about your dead children,’ he says. ‘I found it horrendous being away from my kids and then conjuring their deaths every day. It was pretty full on.’

So why take on such a project, such a turbulent story, which affects you long after the last audience member has left? For MacAninch, the answer was simple: he had to. But his decision to take on Koslov was not an easy one. ‘I read the play eight times before I said yes to it. I had to go down to London. It was equity minimum wage. It wasn’t one of the big theatres, it was a pub theatre, and my agent didn’t want me to do it. But I’d read it eight times and I said, “this is what I want to do”.’

Ultimately, it was the quality of Matthew Wilkinson’s writing that convinced him. ‘I had met [Wilkinson] briefly, but I didn’t know him,’ he says. ‘Out of the blue I got sent this script, spoke to him on the phone and expressed how much I loved the play and what he had written. He cast me from that phone call. As an actor, these are the scripts you live for. You can go and do all sorts of TV and the scripts there are always very mixed. This is just so rich. You don’t do acting to be wealthy and famous: these are the words that you live to express and communicate.’

Every other character in the play is brought to life by one actress: Thusitha Jayasundera, whose own TV credits include Holby City, Doctor Foster and

‘The doctors thought I was having a stroke’

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CAL MACANINCH FRINGE:THEATRE

HIS DARK MATERIALS Ignoring the advice of his agent, Cal MacAninch plunged headlong into an emotionally and physically draining play based on a real-life tragedy.

Rebecca Monks talks to an actor who very nearly went over the edge

PHOTO: MARC BRENNER

Silent Witness. Both actors had to work together to create a believable and affecting performance, something which MacAninch credits to her hard work. ‘It was hard for Sitha to create all the other characters because she had to bring them to life,’ says MacAninch. ‘That was a difficult rehearsal process for her, trying to make them all believable and different. For me, it was a question of working through the points in the piece and the emotional tapestry.’

Judging by the rave reviews My Eyes Went Dark received in London, both actors were clearly more than up to the task. But leaving the story behind once the curtain goes down can be tricky. ‘I don’t think it is easy to let it go especially when you have to go on stage and do it the next night,’ he says. ‘I needed a drink after every show, just to release the tension.’ But for him, the discussion it generated made it worthwhile. ‘People would want to talk about the play afterwards, about what it threw up for them, and that was very cathartic for me. It wasn’t like I was coming out furious or anything like that, but I was deeply affected by it, and it was difficult to let that go.’

The show has a full run at the Traverse, so there’s undoubtedly much more discussion to come. ‘I think the Traverse will be a great space to play in,’ he says. ‘There’s something brilliantly intimate about having it in a small place. I’m pretty sure audiences will react to it well.’ And with MacAninch being an Edinburgh resident, he’ll be close to his family, which is important for him. ‘It’ll be dead children again, but at least I’ll be at home with them.’

My Eyes Went Dark, Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, 0131 228 1404, 5–28 Aug (not 8, 15, 22), various times, £18.50 (£8.50–£13.50).

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FRINGE FEATURE HEADLINE HERE

Channel 4 sitcom Raised by Wolves made her a familiar TV face, but Helen Monks is at the Fringe to get political on stage. Mark Fisher hears from an actress who feels part of a betrayed generation

I

f Helen Monks didn’t exist, Caitlin Moran would have had to invent her. Happily, Monks saved her the bother. The story goes that as a University of Sheffield undergraduate, Monks approached Moran at a book signing session and suggested she should cast her in the writer’s semiautobiographical sitcom, Raised by Wolves. Monks looked so much the part that she landed the role of excitable teenager Germaine, a fictionalised version of Moran herself, in two highly acclaimed and hugely entertaining series. For Monks, it was the part she was born to play.

‘I went to this massive comprehensive girls school in Birmingham where we all acted exactly how the characters act on the telly,’ she says. ‘It always baffles me when that is seen as outsidery when, for most people, it is normal life. Particularly from the teenage angle where a girl who is as horny as a boy is regarded as different. But girls masturbating: that’s just normal.’

She brought a similar flavour of authentic youth to the part of Shakespeare’s daughter in Ben Elton’s recent all-celebrity sitcom Upstart Crow, but what’s animating Monks today is her annual pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Fringe.

‘Theatre gives you this massive freedom,’ she says. ‘All you need is the venue, then you can do anything you want. That’s what’s amazing about the Fringe.

What I really love is scouting out the most bonkers stuff. Even when it’s rubbish, how amazing it is that human beings have the freedom to express themselves, make political points, make theatre about their own histories and their own stories.’

This time, she’s here with two shows. First, there’s E15, a verbatim drama she co-wrote about the women who fought back against Newham Council’s plan to force them out of their homes. On its debut last year, The List praised its ‘ferocious political focus’. ‘We felt it was important to do something that was political and of our time,’ Monks says.

‘We’ve been campaigning with the mums for the last year and a half. And for us, the politics came first.’

And then there is her new one-woman comedy Dolly Wants to Die, also produced by Sheffield’s Lung Theatre, about a ‘potty-mouth, chain-smoking toy doll’ who’s had it up to here with Cameron’s Britain.

She’s been road-testing sections in stand-up comedy clubs, shaping the material based on what people find funny, but it promises to be an equal mix of vitriol and laughs.

‘Originally, it was quite angry,’ she says. ‘I feel like this is the worst generation to be young since the war. I’m surrounded by friends who are so unwell in terms of their mental health and I do feel a lot of that is circumstantial because we’re so poor and there are so few opportunities.

But the more angry I got, the more people would laugh. So the show is more like a collective experience to all laugh at how awful everything is.’

Monks insists that the comedy in Dolly comes from a character getting so bogged down in everything that’s wrong with the world. ‘You’ve got to choose your battles, and it’s very easy when you’re young and selfemployed to be self-righteous about everything, but it’s about trying to find the hope and the places you can change things. The hope is to find a way of understanding it, regaining control and making people feel empowered.’

Dolly Wants to Die, Underbelly, Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, 6–28 Aug (not 17), 4.10pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £6; E15, Northern Stage at Summerhall, Summerhall, 0131 560 1581, 8–27 Aug (not 10, 17, 24), 6.30pm, £11 (£9). Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £9.

‘The more angry I got, the more people would laugh’

TSTORY OY

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DRIFTWOOD ASSEMBLY GEORGE SQUARE

24 HOURS WITH MARY LYNN RAJSKUB

ASSEMBLY GEORGE SQUARE

MICHAEL GRIFFITHS: COLE

I DON’T BELIEVE IT! AN EVENING WITH VICTOR MELDREW

ASSEMBLY GEORGE SQUARE

ASSEMBLY ROXY

16 – 28 Aug, 17:30

4 – 28 Aug, 15:30

3 – 28 Aug, 20:20

4 – 29 Aug, 18:00

ATTRAPE MOI

STARMAN

360 ALLSTARS

BRIEFS

ASSEMBLY HALL

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ASSEMBLY HALL

ASSEMBLY HALL

4 – 29 Aug, 18:00

4 – 28 Aug, 20:45

4 – 29 Aug, 16:20

4 – 21 Aug, 22:30

(GLQEXUJK )RRG )HVWLYDOb 27 - 31 Jul George Square Gardens 15 Jul - 29 Aug Open daily

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 3 - 29 Aug

Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival 15 - 24 Jul

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29/06/2016 19:20

FRINGE:THEATRE CABARET

LIFE IS A

CABARET From sex clowns to transvestite cowboys, and singing amputees to dancing magicians, the Fringe has all its cabaret bases well and truly covered. Here, we asked a selection of acts to sell us their show in a mere 50 words . . .

RACHAEL CLERKE AND THE GREAT WHITE MALES: CUNCRETE I’ve been dressing as a bloke for years. I’ve always wanted to be the singer in a punk band. And concrete genuinely turns me on.

Are you up for four sweaty women dressed as the worst kind of great white male, making noise and dancing in wet cement?

Summerhall, 0131 560 1581, 5–26 Aug (not 8, 15, 22), 10pm, £10 (£8). Preview 3 Aug, £8.

BRIEFS

SVEN RATZKE: STARMAN

Briefs is the illegitimate love child of circus and cabaret. The shotgun wedding reception of burlesque and drag. The award-winning mongrel of variety and vaudeville. Briefs is a 60-minute high-intensity glitter bombing of serious skill, feisty fashion, club-kid kook and burlesque with balls.

Starman is a dazzling musical trip into the world of David Bowie and my own life. From London to Berlin, it’s the story of meeting strange creatures. Hear beautiful music that touches your heart and makes you dance on your chair. This is a unique rock ‘n’ roll p cabaret experience!

Assembly Hall, Mound Place, 0131 623 3030, 6–21 Aug (nott 8, 15), 10.30pm, £16–£17.50 (£15–£16). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £12.

Assembly George Square Gardens, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 15, 22), 8.45pm, £15–£16.

Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £10.

A CUP OF TEA WITH LADY C Edinburgh, are you ready for me? After my early years and marriage, the snakes and vipers in the jungle – I’m not referring to the animal kind – were a dawdle. I’ll be telling all in my one-woman show. I’ll be bringing my tiara, naturally, and a lot of fun and feeling.

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Bristo Square, 0131 622 6552, 6–28 Aug (not 16), 3pm, £12 (£10). Preview 5 Aug, £5.

GRUMBLE: SEX CLOWN SAVES THE WORLD Feeling confused, overwhelmed and suffocated by the seemingly unfeeling grinding of a sociopolitical landscape bereft of humanity and hurtling us towards Orwellian catastrophe? You sound Betty to Grumble! With cer ceremonial precision an and deranged wit, Betty G Grumble enslaves her au audience with a powerful ccall to arms.

U Underbelly, Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, 6–28 Aug 0 ((not 10, 15, 17, 22), 8.45pm, £10.50–£12.50 (£9.50– £11.50). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £6.

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CABARET THEATRE:FRINGE

ANYA ANASTASIA: TORTE E MORT – SONGS OF CAKE AND DEATH I love crafting clever, bawdy lyrics with layers of meaning, while keeping the ‘eeeeeeee’ thrill to performing live. So, I ask myself: how can I sing this song as a decapitated head in a cabinet? How can I hide the fact that I’m naked using only my ukulele . . . ? Simple little questions like this.

Assembly George Square Theatre, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 6–29 Aug (not 15), 6pm, £10–£12 (£11). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £6.

NILS BERGSTRAND: THE ONE LEGGED MAN SHOW

THE RAUNCH Discover who has the fastest tits in the West, get taken on a horse ride by a transvestite cowboy, go tripping on peyote cactus juice with the condemned. See whips being cracked, knives being thrown, ghost riders flying on hoverboards, and lasers being fired from places where the sun don’t shine.

Underbelly’s Circus Hub, Middle Meadow Walk, 0844 545 8252, 6–22 Aug (not 15), 7pm, £17.50–£18.50 (£16.50– £17.50). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £9.

LA CLIQUE ENCORE!

The true story of how an amputee came to be. I’ll sing heartbreaking and, surprisingly given the subject, humorous songs. Through storytelling, I manage to turn my own tragedy around, sharing honest observations that may change your relationship to disability. You’ll certainly cry. You’ll possibly laugh.

Since 2004, we’ve played over 10,000 performances, winning Olivier Awards and launching countless careers along the way.

Our show reinvented a genre and is now the hallmark. We always provide a night to remember, forever surprising, sexy, funny and dangerous! A guaranteed, gold-plate Fringe fave!

Spotlites, George Street, 0131 240 5047, 5–28 Aug, 3.15pm, £10 (£9). Preview 4 Aug, £9.

Famous Spiegeltent, St Andrew Square, 0131 558 9005, 3–29 Aug, 9.30pm, £22 (£20).

LILI LA SCALA: ANOTHER FUCKING VARIETY SHOW I have a passion for variety and AFVS gives me the perfect outlet to bring some of my favourite acts together to create a night of glorious vaudeville. I also adore gowns, so there will be plenty of those too. And songs.

Enough songs to keep everyone happy. It’ll be cracking.

Pleasance Dome, Bristo Square, 0131 556 6550, 6–27 Aug (not 15, 22), 11pm, £9.50– £10.50 (£8.50– £9.50).

Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £6.

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FRINGE:THEATRE CABARET

THE FINAL, FINAL FAREWELL TOUR OF DICK AND DELORES DELRUBIO This is the DelRubios’ farewell tour and their last days as a married couple. This will be Delores’ eighth divorce after marriages to Elvis Presley and Donald Trump. She considers herself a much older Taylor Swift and believes Edinburgh may get new songs from their divorce. Dick won’t comment.

TheSpace @ Surgeons Hall, Nicolson Street, 0131 510 2384, 15–27 Aug (not 21), 12.05pm, £10 (£8; family ticket £6.50).

PETER AND BAMBI HEAVEN: THE MAGIC INSIDE We are the Gold Coast’s most deluded dancing magical duo and, after our first Australian world tour, we’re packing those tucker-bags and coming to the Fringe. However, due to some visa / cash-flow problems we’ve had to fire the ensemble cast, but rest assured Edinburgh, magic will still happen.

Assembly George Square Gardens, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 10.30pm, £12–£13. Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £8.

CABARET WHORE PRESENTS . . . LA POULE PLOMBEE

THE FABULOUS PUNCH AND JUDY SHOW If you’re looking for a comedy that is jampacked with violence, lashings of sex, obscenity, bare bums, spectacular costumes and make-up, look no further. We reckon The Fabulous Punch and Judy Show is good oldfashioned camp fun and we’re thrilled to be bringing it back to Edinburgh.

HORNE

Voodoo Rooms, West Register Street, 0131 556 7060, 5–28 Aug (not 8, 15, 22), 6.30pm, £10–£12.

PHOTO: STEVE ULLAT

We return to the Fringe with the most popular of our Cabaret Whore characters, La Poule Plombée. Her thrilling stage presence and extraordinary vocals make for a high impact show. It also features co-writer Michael Roulston as her pianist, sidekick and dogsbody. Their story is tragic and darkly hilarious.

HOT BROWN HONEY

MICHAEL GRIFFITHS: COLE

We will make you laugh until you cry, clap until your hands bleed and shake every part of what your mama gave you. Fierce and unapologetic, Hot Brown Honey is a celebration of undeniable proportions. Take a breath, check your privilege at the door and let’s get sticky!

Last year it was Annie Lennox, the year before it was Madonna. Now I’m putting Cole Porter under the microscope. Spend an hour with ‘Cole’ at the piano as I sing some of your favourite tunes and regale you with tales from his truly outrageous life.

Assembly Roxy, Roxburgh Place, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 15, 22), 8.20pm, £15– £16 (£14–£15).

Assembly George Square Gardens, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 6–29 Aug (not 16), 6pm, £10–£12. Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £6.

Previews 3–5 Aug, £10.

Gilded Balloon at the Counting House, e, West Nicolson Street, 0131 622 6552, 2, 6–29 Aug (not 16, 23), 9.45pm, £8 (£6.50). Previews 3–5 Aug, £5.

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PACHAMAMA PRODUCTIONS, NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND, THEATRE ROYAL STRATFORD EAST & REGULAR MUSIC PRESENT

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‘Awe inspiring’ TIME OUT

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‘The most politically engaged and enraged British musical since Blood Brothers’ EXPRESS

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‘True raw power’ METRO

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‘A significant milestone in Scottish musical theatre’

‘The kind of explosion of great popular theatre that every city and every nation needs’

TELEGRAPH

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SCOTSMAN

‘A blazingly empassioned and humbling show’

Original cast photo: Robert Day

HERALD

In association with Citizens Theatre & Richard Jordan Productions.

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14:20 (90mins) 04 - 28 AUG

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NASSIM SOLEIMANPOUR FRINGE

MIND THE GAP

Berlin-based Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour made waves with an innovative work that he was banned from seeing for two years. Yasmin Sulaiman talks to him about his new play which is crafted by the audience

W

ith White Rabbit Red Rabbit about to enter its sixth year at the Fringe, Nassim Soleimanpour is riding high. Having premiered at Edinburgh in 2011, the work which involves an actor reading a script blind, now numbers thousands of performances around the world, with everyone from Alan Cumming to George Takei, and John Hurt to Kate Dickie having taken part. But this Fringe, the playwright’s fans will also get to see a whole new work from the Berlin-based Iranian.

Famously, Soleimanpour didn’t get to see Rabbit until it had been touring the world for two years, with the Iranian g ove r n m e n t denying him a

passport after he refused to do national service. In order to find out what audiences thought of the play, his email address is revealed during the show, inviting people to get in touch. Blank, Soleimanpour’s new play at Summerhall this August, is a direct result of his reception to the outpouring of emotion.

‘One of the main things that really pushed me to write this play was the thousands of emails that I’ve been receiving since 2011, when we opened White Rabbit Red Rabbit,’ he tells me over the phone from Berlin, his new home.

‘In Rabbit, I put my email address in the play and asked audience members to email me or find me on Facebook.

At the time,

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FRINGE NASSIM SOLEIMANPOUR

Bunny business: John Hurt and Kate Dickie go through their paces in White Rabbit Red Rabbit

PHOTO: CHRIS TAYLOR

LK NIALL WA PHOTO:

ER

‘It’s a very weird story machine’

I didn’t have a clue I’d be under this bombardment of different emails, mostly very kind ones from people all around the globe.

That was, and still is, a very deep journey in itself. We’re used to having this play performed simultaneously in different countries, and sometimes I wake up in the morning to 60 or 70 emails.’

In Blank, Soleimanpour hands the narrative reins to the audience.

Each night, a different person will fill in the ‘blanks’ in the script and tell their story. ‘I wanted to find a way to reach more of those stories [from the emails],’ he says. ‘I thought that this was actually my mission now; I owe this to everyone. Rabbit was a very personal story which I sent out into the world. Now I receive thousands of personal stories, from people who have cancer, people who have lost their partners, people who have thought about suicide. So I thought I owed them a story machine. I should design a machine which can be used every time in a room to help this hive-mind share their stories with each other.’

Blank isn’t about putting a chosen audience member on the spot; instead, it’s a joint effort between that person and a performer, to tell a story that’s already been written (their past) and one that’s not yet happened (their future). As a former designer and engineer, structure is very important to Soleimanpour and he constantly refers to Blank as a ‘mechanism’.

‘It’s a very weird machine,’ he explains. ‘I’ve watched it a few times and I’d say I’m happy that it’s built. The type of story being made in Blank is partly true because it’s full of facts from real people. You get a random audience member on stage, and then question this person:

what’s your name? Where were you born? What do you do as your profession? These are facts written by this person. I decided to get married to my wife five years ago, and this is writing the story of my life. This is a kind of collaborative writing.’

It also highlights a process of writing and re-writing that the playwright first noticed in Rabbit, as actors across the globe added their own personality. ‘There are thousands who did that. I’m always amazed at how spontaneous and creative they are. It took me about six years to write 40 pages. They could do it in a few hours.’

Despite the huge success of his debut play, Soleimanpour has famously gone on record to say he didn’t like it the first time he saw it. ‘As you can tell, I’m stupidly frank,’ he laughs. ‘The BBC called me and said, “what’s your feeling about it?” and I said, “I didn’t like it; I can write a better play”.’

But with this new outing, it looks like Soleimanpour is finally happy. And he’s made peace with his first hit as well. ‘Technically, Blank is way stronger than Rabbit. I feel very confident about Blank, while I’m in love with Rabbit. We are like good close friends. Rabbit helped me and convinced me to write Blank. That’s a good thing. I really owe this play.’

Blank, Summerhall, 0131 560 1581, 8–28 Aug (not 22), 6.30pm, £12 (£10; family ticket £42). Previews 5–7 Aug, £10; White Rabbit Red Rabbit, Assembly George Square Studios, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug, 4pm, £10–£12.

Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £8.

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“Something wickedly funny this way comes.”

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13:25 4 - 28 AUG

THE ROOSTER REBELLION A new play by

Anthony L. Mariani Time: 21:10-21:55 Previews: 5-6 Aug Show Dates: (8,9,10,11,12,13) (15,16,17,18,19,20) Aug

Starring

Jon McKenna Augusta Woods Rowena Bentley Richard Oliver Music By

Stewart Harding

The story of Shell (Jon McKenna), the ex-history teacher who is now homeless and lives in an abandoned Aldwych ghost station deep in the underground of London. Reece-Anne (Augusta Woods) the student who runs away from her religious, zealous mother Mrs. Wheeler (Rowena Bentley) to take care of her teacher. They panhandle together in front of the National Gallery competing with Norris a homeless Veteran (Richard Oliver) for handouts. Live original music by (Stewart Harding).

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HIGHLIGHTS FRINGE

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS Helpless dogs, space rockers, a Balkan brass band, intimate acrobats, eggy bagel, an intrepid snail, a male comedienne, and ‘gentle corpses’: the Fringe just got even more Fringey NISH KUMAR If you thought last year’s show title was long, cop a load of Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Unless You Shout the Words Real Loud.

Guaranteed funny, though, which is the main thing, right? Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 6–28 Aug, 8pm, £9–£12 (£8–£10.50).

Previews 3–5 Aug, £6.

WHITEOUT

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS From Ipdip Theatre comes this charming interactive story in which Cirrus the dog needs all your help in getting his sheep back. There are three productions a day here so you have no excuse for not getting your very tiny ones along. Royal Botanic Gardens, Arboretum Place, 0131 226 0000, 8–27 Aug (not 10, 17, 24), 11am, 1.30pm, 3pm, £5.

ROBERTSON

GLASGOW GIRLS Ahead of an autumn UK tour, Cora Bissett’s music-filled drama about seven teenagers fighting for refugee rights makes a very timely return, offering vivid proof of the power of teenagers and a community with a cause. Assembly Hall, Mound Place, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 10, 15, 22), 2.20pm, £16–£17.50 (£13–£14).

Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £12.

PHOTO: JAMES

The latest from choreographer Natasha Gilmore and Barrowland Ballet explores bi-racial relationships.

ZOO Southside, Nicolson Street, 0131 662 6892, 9–27 Aug (not 15, 22), 5pm, £12.50 (£11). Previews 5–7 Aug, £10.

RICHARD GADD One of the breakthrough comedy acts of last year’s Fringe, the occasionally terrifying Scottish innovator is all Monkey See Monkey Do this time around. Best discover for yourself what the fuss is about. Banshee Labyrinth, Niddry Street, 0131 226 0000, 6–28 Aug, 9.45pm, free.

GRANDADDY The Californian space rockers were split for some six years before coming back together again in 2012. So, because you never know when you might lose a good thing, why not try to nab a last-ditch ticket for this Nothing Ever Happens Here gig.

Summerhall, 0131 560 1581, 22 Aug, 8pm, £23.

FERN BRADY After a swinging Fringe debut last year, Brady (pictured above) is back with the cheekily titled Male Comedienne. Gender, class and religion all get it in the neck this time around. The Stand 2, North St Andrew Street, 0131 558 9005, 5–28 Aug (not 15), 12.10pm, £9 (£8). Preview 4 Aug, £8 (£7).

PHOTO: ROBERT DAY

IN FIDELITY Following up his acclaimed Bullet Catch and Quiz Show, Rob Drummond has written a piece which combines a live onstage first-date with evolutionary theory and scientific research. All in the name of love.

Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, 0131 228 1404, 5–28 Aug (not 8, 15, 22), various times, £18.50 (£8.50– £13.50). Preview 4 Aug, 4.45pm, £12.50 (£8.50).

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Glasgow Girls

JAMES ACASTER OK, so you’ve opted to vote for someone else four years running in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

This time, though, how about you just go ahead and give it to the act who is head and shoulders above pretty much everyone of his stand-up generation? This is what many people are saying, and it’s hard to violently disagree with it. After 2015’s paean to Chilean miners, private detectives and ecclesiastical desserts, this time he’s pressing the Reset button. Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 6–28 Aug, 7.30pm, £11–£14 (£10– £13). Previews 3–5 Aug, £8.

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FRINGE HIGHLIGHTS

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS CONTINUED CIRCA A jaw-dropping and heart-pounding experience for all is on the cards here as five Circa performers reveal up-close acrobatics in an elegant and intimate encounter. Underbelly, George Square, 0844 545 8252, 6–29 Aug (not 10, 16, 23), 6.55pm, £17.50– £18.50 (£16.50–£17.50). Previews 3–5 Aug, £11.50.

HACKNEY COLLIERY BAND

HOT DUB TIME MACHINE One of the most popular party nights on the Fringe, this year’s HDTM extravaganza is deemed to be the biggest rave in the festival’s history.

And they’re probably bang on. Corn Exchange, Newmarket Street, 0131 443 0404, 12 & 13, 18 & 19 Aug, 9pm, £18.50.

TOMMY TIERNAN The Irish comedy firebrand returns after that improv experiment of ’15 for his first full run in absolute yonks. Back on script and Out of the Whirlwind, expect a masterclass in the art of stand-up. Gilded Balloon Teviot, Bristo Square, 0131 622 6552, 6–28 Aug (not 12), 7.30pm, £15–£16 (£14–£15). Preview 5 Aug, £9.

A rock, afro-beat, jazz, hip hop and Balkan blitzkrieg awaits as the band who helped play out the London Olympics delivers three explosive nights of brass band mayhem.

Check out their upbeat ska version of ‘Heroes’, released in Bowie’s honour soon after his death. Assembly George Square Gardens, George Square, 0131 623 3030, 19–21 Aug, 7pm, £14.50 (£11).

PHOTO: LUKE MACGREGOR

CASTING CALL WOE You might want to believe that the material in this show is from a spoof website. But no, the tales of outlandish casting calls are bona fide and genuine – e.g. ‘a beautiful and gentle corpse. Females aged 20 to 30, New South Wales, Australia’.

Gilded Balloon at the Museum, Lothian Street, 0131 622 6552, 15–28 Aug, 4.30pm, £8–£10 (£7.50–£8).

Circa

SPENCER JONES Watching someone clown around might never have been this much fun.

Jones is back with his 2015 hit The Herbert in Proper Job at Underbelly, while new one, The Herbert in Eggy Bagel, gets The Hive treatment.

Underbelly, Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, 6–28 Aug (not 15), 5.20pm, £11–£12 (£10–£11). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £6; The Hive, Niddry Street, 0131 226 0000, 4–28 Aug (not 15), 8.50pm, £6 in advance or Pay What You Want.

AHIR SHAH A comic who should be waaay bigger than he is at the moment, Shah switches on Machines, a philosophically opinionated rant about democracy, technology, terrorism, history and (there had to be something less serious coming) lizards. Cabaret Voltaire, Blair Street, 0131 247 4704,, 4–28 Aug, g, 1.30pm, p , free.

O IS FOR HOOLET The way in which the Scottish language is perceived, taught and owned is at the heart of this interactive theatre piece by Ishbel McFarlane (pictured below) as she portrays Scottish writers and linguists from Liz Lochhead to Robert Burns. Scottish Storytelling Centre, High Street, 0131 556 9579, 12–29 Aug (not 15, 22), 7pm, £10 (£8).

THE SNAIL AND THE WHALE Julia Donaldson experts Tall Stories bring another of her tales vividly onto the stage as we meet a tiny snail on her trip round the world by hitching a lift on the tail of a humpback whale.

Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance, 0131 556 6550, 4–21 Aug (not 6, 17), 11.50am, £9.50–£11.50 (£8.50– £10.50). Preview 3 Aug, £7.

CHRISTINE BOVILL’S PARIS A little slice of the French capital descends upon Edinburgh as the award-wining chanteuse channels the likes of Piaf, Brel and Aznavour for seven evenings of pure indulgence.

Famous Spiegeltent, St Andrew Square, 0131 558 9005, 12 & 13, 15, 18–21 Aug, 7.45pm, £15 (£12).

ARLANE PHOTO: IRENE MCF

THE CUBAN GYPSY From Havana Ballet comes an effervescent show which mixes traditional Gypsy dance styles (tap, flamenco, belly dancing) and Gypsyinspired pop tunes. All of which is given an inevitably infectious Cuban twist. Assembly Roxy, Roxburgh Place, 0131 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 15, 22), 10pm, £13–£15 (£12–£14).

Previews 3–5 Aug, £10.

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22:10 4 - 28 AUG

GAGGLEBABBLE AND NATIONAL THEATRE WALES WITH WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE

A PLAY WITH MUSIC ADAPTED FROM STORIES FOR ADULTS

PREPARE TO EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED SCRIPT AND LYRICS BY DAF JAMES MUSIC BY LUCY RIVERS CONCEIVED BY DAF JAMES, HANNAH MCPAKE AND LUCY RIVERS

GAGGLEBABBLE.CO.UK

6.05PM (1 HR 15 MIN) 3-5 AUGUST : £6 6-28 AUG : £10 - £12 (NO MON PERFORMANCES)

ROALDDAHL.COM

NATIONALTHEATREWALES.ORG

2 FOR 1 : FRIENDS OF THE FRINGE #WONDERMANFRINGE

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INTERNATIONAL LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL/INTERNATIONAL

EDINB INTERNATUIROGH FESTIVALNAL 5–29 AUG

PHOTO: MARIO DEL CURTO

SHAKE Premiered in 2001, Shake helped ignite British director Dan Jemmett’s career in France. A decade and a half on, he’s back in Blighty with his vibrant and playful re-imagining of Twelfth Night set in a 1970s seaside resort. Accompanied by a soundtrack featuring Herb Alpert, Percy Sledge and Geoff Love & His Orchestra, we meet shipwrecked twins, a ventriloquist’s dummy and some run-down beach huts. In the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death, it’s time to really Shake things up.

■ Shake, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Grindlay Street, 0131 473 2000, 11–13 Aug, 7.30pm, 12 & 13 Aug, 2.30pm, £10–£32.

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BROUGHT TO YOU BY

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INTERNATIONAL ALAN CUMMING

‘I want to be as personal and intimate as possible’

PHOTO: FRANCIS HILLS

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ALAN CUMMING INTERNATIONAL

SAPPY TALK ‘I

’ve certainly been in the business of being open and authentic of late,’ acknowledges Alan Cumming. Asked to do a two-week run at the Cafe Carlyle in New York, he wanted to create a whole new show that was both revealing and intense. ‘What I really like about singing in this form is how raw it can be and how bare you have to be to do it. I thought that if I was going to do another of these shows, I really wanted to go for it. I want to sing songs that really mean something to me, be a bit more vulnerable and authentic. I want it to be as personal and intimate as possible.’

His Edinburgh International Festival show, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, is a hedonistic, latenight cabaret of music and honest anecdotes. ‘I think of cabaret as a smorgasbord of emotions,’ he says. ‘I really love that you can be laughing your head off one minute and suddenly something happens and it’s really touching or moving. There are some hanky potential moments; for me as well, actually, even now after doing it for so long. But it’s also hilarious: I tell a lot of funny stories.’

What’s happened to Cumming in recent years has helped provide plenty of new material for a personal performance. In 2010 he appeared on the BBC’s genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are?, where he traced his maternal grandfather who served as a motorbike dispatch rider during World War II. Cumming subsequently wrote Not My Father’s Son, a family memoir documenting the complex relationship with an abusive father and his own deep-seated questions about his parentage.

This new show has songs for both his father and grandfather. ‘It’s easier for me to present myself in the stories because I’m a storyteller, I’m Scottish and

Alan Cumming has been performing at the Edinburgh Festival for four decades. As he brings his late-night cabaret to The Hub, Rowena McIntosh chats to this New York-based Scottish star about winging it on the Fringe and a man called Trump

I’m used to doing funny stories and being open in that way. It’s been an interesting journey to do that with the songs.’

Audiences will be treated to a range of numbers: one from Scotland, one from France, a Noël Coward song, one Cumming wrote with his musical director Lance Horne for a condom commercial and hits by Annie Lennox, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus. ‘Every song is in there because I connect to it in an emotional way and I feel that my singing brings something to it and lets you hear it differently. There is little point in me singing a song that everyone knows and is a nice song: why would you bother?’

This will be Cumming’s fourth decade performing at the Edinburgh Festival. It was 1984 when he made his debut as part of comedy double act Victor and Barry alongside drama-school buddy Forbes Masson.

He doesn’t look back on any early performances with embarrassment, but sometimes can’t quite believe their gall. ‘In early Victor and Barry shows we would be on stage, not knowing what we were doing. We either wouldn’t have finished the show or I’d be playing a song on the piano thinking, “I’m not sure if I know all the chords to this”. In retrospect that was part of what made it special; that energy and the fact that we were at our best when just kind of winging it.’

A star of stage and screen, with ‘808 and a half’ performances of Cabaret and seven series of hit US drama The Good Wife under his belt, he’s a guaranteed venue sell-out now. But his debut Fringe was similar to the experiences of many a fresh-faced performer taking on Edinburgh in August. ‘That first year, I remember we did a show for no one; for like, a cat. I also remember the feeling (which I’m glad I found out about early on) where you’re walking along the street and you see list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 97

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INTERNATIONAL ALAN CUMMING PHOTO: STEVE VACC ARIELLO

ever there was a reason for Americans in general to understand that they’ve got to get their shit together, this is it. I’m going to be working hard when I get back to make sure it’s not him.’

Cumming has already had the displeasure of meeting Trump. ‘It was last year at the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary party and I was invited because I had hosted it once. My husband Grant and I were sat next to Donald Trump in the audience. It was me, Grant, Donald Trump and his wife, and then across the aisle was Sarah Palin! I was like, “what the fuck; how did we end up in this corner”?’

In 2007, after an extended period away from the Scottish theatre, Cumming performed at his first Edinburgh International Festival, taking the title role in The Bacchae by the National Theatre of Scotland. ‘I loved that, it was really fun. It was also kind of intense as it was the first time I’d been on a Scottish stage in 16 years. I remember it was a really big thing: “Alan Cumming returns to the Scottish stage after 16 years”. So, of course there was a lot of pressure. Also, the play is about a man returning home wanting the respect of his family, so there were lots of layers. It really was great to be back.’

Not content to feature in just one of the capital’s festivals this summer, he’s also returning to the Edinburgh International Book Festival to launch his new book, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams, a collection of showbiz anecdotes and personal photographs. Or, as he puts it, ‘I’m double dipping this year’.

Edinburgh is a special city for Cumming. ‘It’s really the first place I ever performed. I’m kind of loathe to say that Victor and Barry in 1984 was professional, but it was the first place where people paid money to come and see me. And it’s definitely where I look back at as the place where I cut my teeth and learned about performing. I did a play at the Traverse Theatre in 1988 called The Conquest of the South Pole and that transferred to The Royal Court. That was a big deal for me, it was a big change in my life. There have been lots of things like that: the first feature film I did was at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. It’s really been a very big part of my life.’

PHOTO: TRE

‘Some people are predisposed to Trump’s bigoted rhetoric’

this discarded flyer in the gutter and some footprints on your face. That just never changes, no matter how successful you get.’

That cat must have given him a decent review, as Cumming’s acting career flourished, taking him to London and New York, where he is now based.

A political activist who was a prominent voice in Scotland’s independence campaign and recently starred in a Spike Lee-directed advert for Bernie Sanders, he passed his US citizenship test in 2008 so he could vote for Obama. But what is it like to live in a country where Donald Trump is a presidential candidate?

‘Urg. It’s so embarrassing. There are two reasons this has happened, I think. Number one: it has become apparent that people are so angry that we’ve had a black president. There is an added layer to it as there is economic racism in America because black people used to be their slaves and used to be in an economic position lower than them. Now they have a chance to let that rage out because someone is encouraging it and condoning it. Also, the standard of education in America is so poor.

You have a lot of not very well-educated people who don’t analyse things, who are much more predisposed to be affected by horrible bigoted rhetoric like his.

I think those two things are like the perfect storm. If

Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, The Hub, Castlehill, 0131 473 2000, 6–27 Aug, (not 10, 14 & 15, 22), 10.30pm, £30; Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 27 Aug, 6.45pm, £12 (£10).

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PIERRE BOULEZ INTERNATIONAL

The late Pierre Boulez was a celebrated composer, conductor, thinker and firm Edinburgh favourite. Ahead of a tribute event marking his passing earlier this year, David Kettle hears from those at the EIF who were transformed by the Boulez magic

PHOTO: KEYSTONE PICTURES USA_REX_SHUTTERSTOCK

‘HE WAS A MUSICAL GOD’ erman-born composer and conductor Matthias Pintscher was a close friend and colleague of Boulez, following in his footsteps as artistic director of Paris’ Ensemble Intercontemporain, the contemporary music group that Boulez founded in 1972. He conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in the International Festival’s Boulez celebration concert

G

or that educational thing we seem to inherit that tells us we’re never qualified enough to understand it. Even in his last years, when he was still able to walk, he used to move fast. We younger people would struggle to keep up with him. That’s the image I’ll always have of him: someone who is always walking forward. Don’t look back, just keep moving forward.

I was never actually Boulez’s student, but we had a very special connection. The first time I met him was at the Lucerne Festival. The general manager had set up a lunch for just Pierre and me, and I was so scared because I felt like I wasn’t ready for him to ask me questions about my music. In fact, we chatted about visual art, films, all sorts of other things. There was an instant level of recognition. After that, we’d sometimes spend a whole day together, just talking about a single piece of music; almost like two nerds.

The French have a beautiful word for a world premiere – création – which shows a creative spirit towards new things. The electronic music studio IRCAM, the new music group Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Lucerne Festival Academy for young musicians, Paris’ new Philharmonie concert hall: none of these institutions would have existed without him, but he was actually building houses for us to live in and for us to fill with music.

On the surface, his music has the most intricate construction, but inside there’s an unbelievable richness of emotion and colour. These waves and washes of sound are seemingly controlled on the outside, but inside always ready to erupt. Some listeners think they’re not qualified to listen to more complex music, whatever that means, like that of Boulez. But of course they are. Everything has evolved and developed over time, and we should embrace that. That’s how you should approach complexity: simply strip off the fear

French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard was a founding member of Boulez’s Ensemble Intercontemporain and maintained a long and close relationship with him

I first got to know Pierre when he was asked by President Pompidou to found the electronic music studio IRCAM, and he decided to found the Ensemble Intercontemporain too, which I joined as pianist. For me he was a musical god who took music in a completely new direction.

Before I met him I’d decided that I wanted to devote a large part of my musical life to living composers and he reinforced me in that belief. Of course he was very famous and influential, but he also helped in a very discreet, modest way; I remember him carrying music stands around or helping out so that a group could play better. He had a very clear idea of what a musician should be, even in an era like ours where fame and celebrity have perverted so many things.

Yes, his music is complex and challenging, but so is Beethoven, so is Bach, and so much other music too.

It’s demanding, but what it delivers is irreplaceable. It’s not music written for easy listening, but then I’m not that kind of player either, so I’m very happy that his music exists.

Pierre Boulez: A Celebration, Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 0131 473 2000, 12 Aug, 7.30pm, £12.50–£45; Simpson, Tamestit & Aimard, Queen’s Hall, Clerk Street, 0131 473 2000, 12 Aug, 11am, £9–£31.50. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 99

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INTERNATIONAL THE TEAM

PHOTOS: EOIN CAREY

Giving their all: actors perform during a workin-progress sharing at the 2014 Festival

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THE TEAM INTERNATIONAL

The TEAM and National Theatre of Scotland have collaborated on a tale revolving around national identity. Yasmin Sulaiman speaks to Rachel Chavkin and Davey Anderson about the Highlands, Scottish pessimism and The Karate Kid

LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT Chavkin and Anderson spoke to me before the Brexit result).

So, it’s never been a better time to take a closer look at the myths which surround national identity.

‘I think a huge part of the story is a commentary around the tropes of Highland atmosphere,’ says Chavkin.

‘One of the things we became obsessed by in the research was that everyone thought the Highlands were ugly until Walter Scott made them beautiful. And with the invention of this mythic noble past, the landscape is suddenly given a new light. I think this is the story of three people who come up against the story they tell themselves as individuals and as citizens of their country.

And so, we are very aggressively reckoning with the romance that has been hung upon the Highlands, as well as some of the actual historical narrative of that place.’

‘This show feels like part of how you make sense of the current day,’ adds Anderson. ‘Is it a crisis? Is it a series of crises? Is it a questioning and an awakening of political identity, sense of self and questioning of everything you felt to be solid before? It feels like politically we’re in a real period of flux, and it’s exciting to try and address how things that have happened in the past are continuing to shape our political present.’

And, as Anderson notes, the title too is one for the ages. ‘The idea of anything that gives off light feels like someone is searching for something, kind of fumbling about, trying to find the thing that gives meaning to their existence. And so mostly that’s what it’s about. That mood of frantically searching for something that gives off light, the thing that you can hold on to and take hope from.’

PHOTO: NEW YORK TIMES

T

he Rapture, the Civil War, the housing bubble: the TEAM’s high-concept and masterful tackling of American history and politics has made them one of the most exciting theatre groups in the world. And it’s a point of local festival pride that their success began in Edinburgh, with Fringe First winner Give Up! Start Over! (In the darkest of times I look to Richard Nixon for hope) having appeared at C venues in 2005.

Since then, they’ve returned with Particularly in the Heartland, Architecting (with the National Theatre of Scotland) and Mission Drift, all at the Traverse and all Fringe First winners.

Now, after a five-year gap, they’re back with another NTS co-production, Anything that Gives Off Light, in the slightly glitzier setting of the Edinburgh International Festival. ‘It’s probably always useful to just think about it as a Fringe show because otherwise I would buckle under the stupidity of premiering a show at an international festival,’ laughs director Rachel Chavkin. ‘I can’t really think about that too much.’

As well as being their first official EIF appearance (discounting a workshop for this show in 2014), it’s also the first TEAM affair not set in the US. Anything that Gives Off Light takes on the Scottish Highlands and its mythic appeal, as a London-based Glaswegian with his granny’s ashes and an American on honeymoon without her husband take a road trip north.

‘Like so many things, it began in a bar,’ recalls Chavkin. ‘I was hanging with Davey Anderson, Sandy Grierson [who excelled in last year’s Lanark] and [Northern Stage director] Lorne Campbell. We were joking about the point at which different American movies would end if they were made in Scotland. The one I remember most vividly is one of them screaming, “if The Karate Kid was made in Scotland, it would end when Daniel San breaks his leg!”’

Anderson, who worked on Architecting with the TEAM in 2008, and is associate director alongside Chavkin, remembers the night too.

‘Rocky came up as well,’ he adds. ‘In any of these sporting underdog movies, you have the small guy who triumphs against all odds, which is not the stories we tell ourselves in Scotland.

Quite often there’s a doom-laden miserablist pessimism in our fiction, which stems from a social realism and trying to tell truthful stories about people’s experiences throughout Scottish history. But it’s become a kind of genre about a negative self-image and pessimistic narrative arc. It’s interesting to compare those things and think about how can we explore that in a story.’

Anything that Gives Off Light stars TEAM regular Jessica Almasy, as well as Grierson and fellow Scottish actor Brian Ferguson, all of whom co-developed the play alongside Chavkin and Anderson. There’ll also be live music on stage from indie rock duo, the Bengsons. ‘Their music is so primal and raw,’ says Chavkin. ‘Both of them are obsessed with the traditions that bind Scottish music to American folk.’

This work has been about five years in development, against a backdrop of the Scottish referendum and run-up to the EU vote (both

The TEAM: Anything that Gives Off Light, EICC, Morrison Street, 0131 473 2000, 18–26 Aug (not 21), various times, £25.

Previews 16 & 17 Aug, £20.

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PHOTO: BRIAN SWEENEY

INTERNATIONAL POST-ROCK BANDS

POST-ROCK ACTION

The EIF has once again programmed some bands who would normally be considered ‘Fringe’. We compare and contrast three of the noisier acts on this year’s contemporary music bill

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POST-ROCK BANDS INTERNATIONAL

MOGWAI

SIGUR ROS

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR

Born

1995

1994

1994

Birthplace

Glasgow

Reykjavik

Montreal

If you had to describe their current sound

more synthy

more poppy

more darkness

Longest album track title

‘Stupid Prick Gets Chased by the Police and Loses His Slut Girlfriend’

‘Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm)’

‘She Dreamt She Was a Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone in an Empty Field’

Longest track

‘My Father My King’ (20 minutes 14 seconds)

‘Dauðalagið’ (13 minutes 0 seconds)

‘Providence’ (29 minutes 2 seconds)

Number of times they’ve appeared as themselves in The Simpsons

none

once

none

Most unlikely collaborators

French zombies

Joffrey Baratheon

Glenn Beck (google the American conservative commentator and GY!BE and be impressed / spooked by the mash-up results)

Recorded use of bagpipe sounds

no Scottish band could really give it a proper go after Big Country had long since nailed it

an online petition implored Jónsi to play a version of ‘Glósóli’ on bagpipes while on his solo tour

in the geographically confused 1996 track, ‘East Hastings’

What they said about themselves

‘it’s a great thing to polarize opinion’

‘we are simply gonna change music forever and the way people think about music’

‘music should be about things that are not OK or else shouldn’t exist at all’

What The List have said about them

‘all the relentless, unhurried grace of a turning cruise liner’ (album review, 2014)

‘four friends locked together at an almost psychic level’ (live album review, 2011)

‘like a small nomadic orchestra touring blasted hamlets after the apocalypse’ (live review, 2015)

What SPIN magazine said about all three of them

‘they share the same commitment for majestic churn’

If they were a TV show, they’d be ...

‘River City on . . . ’(insert choice of recreational imbibement here)

that recent Nordic Noir one in the Icelandic snow

the six Vancouver-filmed series of The X-Files as remade by Gaspar Noé

What they’re up to at the EIF

a live soundtrack performance accompanying the screening of Mark Cousins’ film Atomic

two gigs featuring some brand new songs

one concert plus a live hook-up with dance company The Holy Body Tattoo for monumental

Mogwai, 27 & 28 Aug, 9pm, £20–£30; Sigur Rós, 15 & 16 Aug, 8pm, £20–£30; Godspeed You! Black Emperor, 10 Aug, 8pm, £20–£30; monumental, 8 & 9 Aug, 8pm, £10–£32. All performances at Edinburgh Playhouse, Greenside Place, 0131 473 2000. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 103

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INTERNATIONAL DANCE FOR KIDS

STEP CHILDREN Two highly-anticipated dance shows explore life through young eyes.

Kelly Apter talks to a dancer and a choreographer who are doing it for the kids

W

hile the Children’s Shows section of the Fringe programme grows fatter by the year, the International Festival has remained a resolutely adult affair. Work behind the scenes with schools and reduced ticket prices for young people aside, the programme itself rarely ce targeted under-18s. But now, the inclusion of two dance works made specifically for families is set to change all that. Belgium’s Kabinet K and Britain’s Akram Khan Dance Company are both bringing shows which,, although markedly different, explore life through a child’s eyes. fe Chotto Desh (‘small homeland’ in Bengali) started life al as DESH, an Olivier Award-winning, autobiographical solo by acclaimed choreographer Akram Khan. Keen too make his first dance for younger audiences, Khan re-worked the show to include interactive animation, andd recruited two other dancers to portray him.

Dancing in alternate shows, Dennis Alamanos andd Nicolas Ricchini have the unenviable task of emulatingg Khan, one of the most unique forces in British dance, known for his captivating blend of Indian Kathak and contemporary dance. ‘We worked very hard with the assistant choreographer,’ explains Ricchini. ‘He trained us to be as close as possible to Akram’s body language so it was very intensive, but we also had room to put a bit of ourselves in there.’

The show itself has two strands: Khan’s own experience of striving to become a dancer against his father’s wishes, and the fictional tale of a young boy who angers the forest gods by taking their honey. Journeying between Britain and Bangladesh, Chotto Desh is alive with colourful animation, featuring elephants, crocodiles and butterflies, all of which Alamanos and Ricchini interact with, using precision timing.

‘That was actually the part we needed a lot of time to rehearse,’ says Ricchini, ‘because we are so close to the gauze on stage that we can’t see it, so we really had to work on the timing. But I think the result is really impressive, in the sense that at some point you forget that it’s animation.’

The underlyin underlying message of Chotto Desh is about adult / child relationships, and the need for children to forge their own path. This is something Kabinet K’s Raw also looks at, but from a very different angle. Inspired by the 2011 BBC documentary, Poor Kids, the show features seven children aged 8–12 who, on a stage strewn with stones, tin cans, a dirty mattress and dripping water, look after t their own welfare. Into this scene of perceived deprivation c come two adults, with Raw exploring how the group c changes as a result.

‘The children in Poor Kids spoke very frankly to th camera, and were pretty smart and clear about the the c circumstances in which they live,’ says co-choreographer Jo Laureyns. ‘We were very inspired by their resilience, Joke so we said let’s make a show about resilience, not knowing w where we would end up.’

T resulting show has played to 85 different audiences, The an although adults are sometimes more emotional in their and res response (something Laureyns puts down to nostalgia), age is less of a factor in terms of reaction. ‘There’s not much diff difference between audience members being young or old,’ says Laureyns. ‘It’s more about whether you are intuitive and open to the work.’

Chotto Desh, 13 & 14 Aug, 2pm, 7pm, £20 (£10); Raw, 27 Aug, 4pm, 7pm; 28 Aug, 2pm, 7pm, £20 (£10). Both shows at EICC, Morrison Street, 0131 473 2000.

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#EDINTFEST

THE GL ASS

M ENA G ERIE

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

TONY AWARD-NOMINATED BROADWAY HIT SHOW ‘John Tiffany’s stunning production... be prepared to have the breath knocked out of you’ New York Times

‘extraordinary… heart rending’ WBUR

‘glorious… it lights up the dark’

5–21 AUGUST BOOK NOW EIF.CO.UK 0131 473 2000

AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER DIRECTED BY JOHN TIFFANY

Supported by The Pirie Rankin Charitable Trust

Charity No SC004694

New York Times

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KILIMANJARO PRESENTS

LOUIS C.K.

Thursday 11 August

EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE LOUISCK.NET ALSO AVAILABLE AT: MYTICKET.CO.UK / SEETICKETS.COM / ATGTICKETS.COM 106 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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Fo

HIGHLIGHTS INTERNATIONAL

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS The EIF spreads its wings once again with another hugely ambitious programme marked by artists taking trips out of their comfort zone

HOPELESSNESS With Hopelessness, Anohni (the artist formerly known as Antony Hegarty) has delivered a dance album with powerful social messages. Aided by Ross Birchard (Hudson Mohawke) and Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never), the Playhouse will be home to a spectacular sonic and visual volcano.

Edinburgh Playhouse, Greenside Place, 17 & 18 Aug, 8pm, £20–£30.

PHOTO: BBC JOHN WOOD

SONGLINES An ambitious city-wide project, Songlines brings both organised and ad hoc singing groups together for a celebration of the musically expressive human voice. Various venues, 21 Aug. THE GLASS MENAGERIE Directed by John Tiffany (Black Watch, Alan Cumming’s one-man Macbeth), this is the work that catapulted Tennessee Williams towards global

PHOTO: YOURI LENQUETTE

Youssou N’Dour

The Glass Mena gerie

fame. Riddled with unreliable narrators, his iiconic t hi i ‘‘memory play’ l ’ stars Cherry Jones (24, I Saw the Light) as faded Southern belle Amanda Wingfield. King’s Theatre, Leven Street, 7 & 8, 10, 12, 14 & 15, 18, 20 Aug, 7.30pm; 11, 13, 17, 19 Aug, 2.30pm; 21 Aug, 1pm, 6pm, £14–£38. Previews 5 & 6 Aug, 7.30pm, £12–£32.

YOUSSOU N’DOUR Still fondly remembered by many for his ‘7 Seconds’ duet with Neneh Cherry, Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour proved to have many strings to his musical bow. Rumba, hip hop, soul and funk have all been utilised with an eye always firmly fixed on his African roots. Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 24 Aug, 8pm, £15–£34.

J LUTCH

The guests in question include choreographers Russell Maliphant, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Arthur Pita who have choreographed one new work each for this show. The Osipova in question is a major star in classical ballet who is dipping her pointed toes into the world of contemporary dance.

Festival Theatre, Nicolson Street, 12–14 Aug, 7.30pm, £12–£32.

PHOTO: MICHAEL

GURRELIEDER BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conductor Donald Runnicles’ association with the EIF stretches all the way back to the mid-60s as a schoolboy singer in the Edinburgh Festival Chorus. Schoenberg’s epic Gurrelieder has been chosen as the moment he brings down the curtain on his duties as BBC SSO Chief Conductor. Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 28 Aug, 7.30pm, £14.50–£47.

NATALIA OSIPOVA AND GUESTS

BARRY HUMPHRIES’ WEIMAR CABARET A little touch of Oz arrives on Lothian Road as Barry Humphries puts Dame Edna well behind him to curate and present two nights of ‘degenerate’ music from inter-war Germany.

Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 8 & 9 Aug, 7.30pm, £12.50–£45.

DEEP TIME Last year, 59 Productions stunningly opened the EIF with the Harmonium Project and they’re back with a music, lighting, animation and art spectacular which ambitiously draws on 350 million years of the capital’s history.

Castle Terrace Arena, 7 Aug, 10.30pm, free but ticketed.

THE TOAD KNEW The grandson of Charlie Chaplin and great-grandson of Eugene O’Neill, James Thierrée made his screen debut aged 15 as Ariel in Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books.

His circus, theatre and clowning background come to the fore in this bold production merging reality with dreams. King’s Theatre, Leven Street, 24–28 Aug, 8pm, £12–£32.

VIRGIN MONEY FIREWORKS CONCERT This spectacular finale to the festival season is never anything less than a musical and pyrotechnical extravaganza, and this year, Prokofiev, Bernstein and Shostakovich will be helping the month end with a sonic and visual explosion. Estonia’s Kristiina Poska takes on the conducting duties. Princes Street Gardens, 29 Aug, 9.30pm, £13.50– £30.

■ For tickets call 0131 473 2000.

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JAZZ LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL/JAZZ

EDINBURGUHES JAZZ & BLAL FESTIV 15–24 JUL

ALVIN YOUNGBLOOD HART ‘Boy got thunder in his hands!’ Any guitarist would kill for a quote like that and Memphis’ new blues hero Alvin Youngblood Hart surely couldn’t have believed his fortune when this comment was laid at his feet by the legendary Taj Mahal. The lifelong Thin Lizzy fan also realised a dream when his band played support act for Gary Moore on the late guitarist’s 2009 tour. Hot on the heels of gigs in Suffolk and Camden, Hart arrives in Edinburgh with the thunder no doubt rushing through those fingers and thumbs.

■ Alvin Youngblood Hart, Spiegeltent, George Square, 0131 473 2000, 15 Jul, 10pm, £16.

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CURTIS STIGERS JAZZ

TAKE A TRIP He’s formed unlikely friendships with comedians but can’t abide one particular US presidential nominee. Curtis Stigers tells Claire Sawers that sophisticated Edinburgh audiences keep him coming back for more

‘T

hat holding music was slowly turning me into a serial killer!’ laughs Curtis Stigers, when our connection is finally made. ‘It was that really bad smooth jazz, the stuff bordering on a porn movie!’

Obviously, the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival audience can expect something altogether classier from this American saxophonist and singer.

Last July, he performed in a Frank Sinatra centenary tribute concert alongside Jacqui Dankworth and the BBC Big Band, but this time around he’s excited to bring over a solo show, accompanied by his faithful touring band. ‘I have 25 years of albums to choose from,’ says the youthful-looking vocalist who borrows fashion tips from ‘1961 JFK’. ‘It means we can mix it up each night to keep things interesting. I like to chat up the audience and put on a show.’

Perhaps this charismatic vocalist says it to all the cities, but he insists that Edinburgh is always a highlight on his tour schedule. ‘I spend a lot of time working in the UK, and the further north you go, especially in Scotland, the warmer the response you get. Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, up there with Rome and Paris, but it’s a well-educated audience too: they always applaud in the right places for jazz solos.’

While he’s in town, Stigers is looking forward to visiting his favourite curry restaurant, Mother India (‘you can’t get a decent curry in Idaho’), and hopes to catch up with Glasgow comedian Fred MacAulay, who he met during a guest spot on the latter’s radio show. The pair are friends on Twitter, which Stigers admits he has become addicted to since joining in 2013. A quick browse of his account reveals he is staunchly anti-Trump

(‘he’s one of the worst human beings the world has ever produced’), an advocate for affordable housing and trans rights, a fan of Bob Dylan and Prince and, rather unexpectedly, has ice skated with Welsh comedian, Rob Brydon.

‘That happened as part of a crazy corporate gig we did in Geneva which Rob was hosting. It was this star-spangled event with dancing girls and an ice rink for guests. I was already a big fan of his after watching The Trip and The Trip to Italy. I think most rock stars would like to be comedians and vice versa. I’m definitely gravitating that way . . . Twitter is a good place to try out one-liners and smart-ass comments that might work on stage.’

Although Stigers seems sheepish about his 1991 breakthrough single ‘I Wonder Why’ (it reached number five in the UK charts), many of his fans remember it very fondly. ‘Sure, I have certain female fans who first knew me as this crooning, long-haired guy, but I enjoy introducing them, and their husbands, to new stuff I’ve been doing in the last ten years or so.’ And there’s one final surprise about the new Curtis Stigers: an invitation to record the theme tune to US TV show Sons of Anarchy opened him up to a whole new audience. ‘That was fun as hell to do. I think I probably have some fans in biker bars now. I could put on a nice suit and a skinny tie, and I’m sure I could ride with them.’

‘I probably have some fans in biker bars now’

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JAZZ PIXEL

TOP 5 JAZZ

PHOTO: BOB COLLINS

LISA MANN Portland’s guitar blues woman, and winner of the best bassist two years running at the Blues Music Awards, has just released Hard Times, Bad Decisions.

Picking up the bass at the age of 11 was clearly the best move she ever made.

City Art Centre, Market Street, 15 Jul, 7.30pm, £12.

PHOTO: SOLVEIG SELJ

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL CARNIVAL

ROCK SOLID Nordic jazz act Pixel started off aiming for an altogether different genre. Stewart Smith learns that this quartet are identified by a tight bond

A

ccessible and innovative, Pixel are one of Norway’s leading young jazz quartets. The group, which makes its Scottish debut at the Jazz Festival, features double bassist and singer Ellen Andrea Wang, drummer Jon Audun Baar, trumpeter Jonas Kilmork Vemøy and saxophonist Harald Lassen. With that translucent quality common to Nordic jazz, Pixel’s rippling, almost harmolodic saxophone and trumpet parts are set against indie-rock inspired rhythms and sweet pop melodies.

Their latest album, 2015’s Golden Years, ranges from ethereal balladry to jazz rock, lean grooves to cosmic improvisation, with Wang taking lead vocals on several tunes. Pixel operate as a collective and answer email questions as such. ‘We value a collective way of creating music,’ they explain. ‘In most cases, when one of us brings a new tune to a rehearsal it’s more like a musical idea or composition that’s not entirely finished yet. We then put our minds together to finish the composition or make a tune out of the idea.’

The group began as an attempt to play rock-like music without rock instrumentation, but over time their approach has broadened. ‘Many contemporary musicians don’t feel that they have to hone in on one specific style of music, or just do one thing which is good for the evolution of music. In Pixel we want to create the music that is the sum of the four of us and that we have fun playing. If our music can contribute to pulling more audiences to the jazz genre, that’s an honour.’

In the live arena, Pixel’s music never stays still. ‘As improvising musicians, it’s in our nature to try and let the music evolve naturally. We like to make small changes (and sometimes big) in harmony, arrangements and sometimes in melody to keep the music new for ourselves.’

More than 700 performers will be lining the streets for this year’s carnival including a variety of talent from South Africa, China, Portugal and the Netherlands, plus several acts from Scotland. As if all that wasn’t enough, there’ll also be giant puppets. The Mound, Princes Street, Grassmarket, 17 Jul, 2.30pm, free.

MAGNUS OSTROM BAND An integral part of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio (EST) until the band leader’s tragic death in 2008, Magnus Öström has taken his drumming talents on to form his own electrifying band. Latest evidence of his group’s success is the soaraway collection Parachute which fuses rock and jazz with distinct hints of prog.

Queen’s Hall, Clerk Street, 17 Jul, 8pm, £18.50–£22.50.

JAN GARBAREK GROUP The Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist brings his band to Scotland for their first gig together in over a decade. Coming along for what should be a memorable festival ride is the Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu whose work in jazz fusion is renowned. Festival Theatre, Nicolson Street, 20 Jul, 8pm, £22.50–£37.50.

SHAYNA STEELE Sacramento-born, Ramstein and Mississippi-raised Steele’s vocals have been heard on everything from the Hairspray soundtrack to Moby albums.

Her own latest release, Rise, effortlessly spans R’n’B, soul and jazz. Spiegeltent, St Andrew Square, 22 Jul, 10pm, £16.50.

■ For tickets call 0131 473 2000.

The Studio, Potterrow, 0131 473 2000, 18 Jul, 8pm, £15.50.

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POLITICS LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL/POLITICS

FESTIVAL OF POLITICS

18–20 AUG

MALCOLM TUCKER: THE ART OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER With the blink of an eye and a hearty curse, Peter Capaldi went from scary spin doctor to debonair Doctor Who. Over four series, two specials and one Hollywood spin-off, The Thick of It’s Malcom Tucker bullied, barracked and bulldozered his way through Whitehall, a phantom Machiavellian menace trashing any sense of decorum that might have existed in those corridors. But surely it’s not like that in real political life? Surely? Holyrood mag editor Mandy Rhodes chairs an event with three such special political advisers (aka SPADs).

■ Malcolm Tucker: The Art of the Special Adviser, Scottish Parliament, Horse Wynd, 0131 348 5200 / 0800 092 7600, 19 Aug, 11.30am, £6 (£4).

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POLITICS TV DRAMAS

POWER

BROKERS W

From the White House to Whitehall, we all love a good political drama on TV. As events revolving around Borgen come to the Festival of Politics, Brian Donaldson speaks to some interested parties

hen George W Bush was occupying the Oval Office hot seat, one opinion poll stated that Americans actually wished The West Wing’s Jed Bartlet was their president. More recently, Barack Obama was behind in similar ratings against 24’s David Palmer and Battlestar Galactica’s Laura Roslin, as well as Martin Sheen’s ever-popular POTUS. Even House of Cards’ Frank Underwood outpaced Obama; and this is the guy who pushed a journalist in front of a train, gassed a congressman in his own car and snuffed the life out of a cuddly canine.

But few party leaders have enjoyed more popularity both within a show and out in the public realm than Birgitte Nyborg, the fictional figurehead of Danish drama, Borgen. The show ended its final series in 2013, but its reputation as both an accurate portrayal of the messy machinations within the corridors of power and a solid human drama has kept it in the hearts of those who feast on Scandi TV. The fact that this year’s Festival of Politics is hosting an event with Borgen producer Camilla Hammerich as well as screening a key episode indicates an enduring fascination.

‘The rise to power of a country’s first female prime minister is fundamentally a good story,’ notes Hammerich when considering just what made Borgen such a hit. ‘It launches a range of dilemmas: a woman making her entrance in the centre of power and needing to work in an arena which has only ever seen a man in the lead is fascinating material. The dilemma between the busy work life and the dream of a perfect private life is a story many people can identify with.’

One of the key elements in making any drama a success is to have a central character viewers can believe in. Even someone as fundamentally monstrous as House of Cards’ Francis Underwood (whose character is based on Francis Urquhart from the original 90s British story) can still carry a lot of sympathy when the walls seem to be closing in on him.

But a thoroughly decent human being such as Birgitte Nyborg is almost too easy to like.

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TV DRAMAS POLITICS

Party people: (clockwise from main pic) Birgitte Nyborg takes advice from Kasper Juul in Borgen; Claire and Frank Underwood hatch another plot in House of Cards; The West Wing’s perennially popular Jed Bartlet; Birgitte casts her vote

‘It was important to the head writer Adam Price to make Nyborg an idealistic politician who actually wanted to change society in a way she thought was right,’ states Hammerich.

‘His ambition was to make a series without corrupt politicians who only work for their own benefit. Borgen was a tribute to democracy and Danish coalition politics. When Nyborg becomes prime minister, it turns out that it’s very difficult to rule a country, and that ideals can be hard to transform into real-life politics. Her personal integrity gets corrupted by power at times, but it was always important to us that the audience would understand her actions whether good or bad.’

Nabbing the role of Nyborg was a career-defining moment for Sidse Babett Knudsen and once she began studying for the part, a newfound respect for this most loathed of groups developed. ‘I think it was worth making a drama which showed the other side of politicians and showed that they’re human beings who are also trying to make a life,’ she told me during a trip to Edinburgh in 2013 while promoting Borgen’s final series. ‘I kept hearing the phrase “political game”, but it’s not a game; the pawns are made of flesh and blood and I get a little offended when I chat to somebody and they define all politicians in one way. There’s an arrogance towards them of, “well, they put themselves out there so they have to take everything that comes their way”. I don’t think so; it’s a job about responsibility and it would do us all a favour if we treated them differently.’

Politicians as regular human beings? It’ll never catch on. But do TV dramas really have a hope of maintaining interest and creating watchable yet credible stories when real life throws up the likes of Trump, Farage and Boris, the main players in their own often fevered political plotlines?

‘It showed that politicians are human beings trying to make a life’

Cultural commentator Stuart Cosgrove (also at the Festival of Politics for an event on television’s technological future) is a fan of political dramas while knowing what brand of fictional politician he likes to see on screen.

‘One of the most obvious reasons they have been successful is that politics and drama both thrive on the concept of “intrigue” where characters engage in connivance and back-handed dealings. It’s a great stage for deception.

But ultimately, I like a politician that can give you at least the hope of change albeit that the drama may drag them closer to the dark side. I prefer hope to cynicism, so I’d always go for a Birgitte Nyborg over a Francis Urquhart.’

Camilla Hammerich appears as part of Borgen Versus the Rest of the World, 18 Aug, 7.30pm, £6 (£4) and introduces the screening of a Borgen episode, 18 Aug, 9pm, free (all places must be booked in advance due to limited availability); Stuart Cosgrove appears as part of Switch on to Future TV, 18 Aug, 4.45pm, £6 (£4). All events at Scottish Parliament, Horse Wynd, 0131 348 5200 / 0800 092 7600. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 113

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POLITICS FESTIVAL CAFE BAR

THE BRICK OF IT TOP 5 POLITICS

PHOTO: SUSIE LOWE

THE FUTURE OF SCOTTISH SPORT While Scotland excels on the world stage in some sports (tennis and curling for two), there are far too many areas where we continually struggle to compete at the highest level (hello football). Olympic medallist Eve Muirhead (pictured), former rugby captain Jason White, and Louise Martin, ex-president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, get down to brass tacks. 18 Aug, 5pm, £8 (£6).

BARONESS SUSAN GREENFIELD The internationally acclaimed author, broadcaster and scientist is once more rummaging around in our brains. This event (‘The 21st Century Mind: Problems and Possibilities’) explores the pros and cons of digital technology on our minds.

19 Aug, noon, £8 (£6).

BARTON SWAIM

Fiona Shepherd takes a quick peek at the diverse attractions on offer in the Scottish Parliament’s Festival Café Bar, from LEGO to literature

G

iven the toil and budget which went into the construction of the Scottish Parliament building, it’s appropriate that an architecture and construction theme runs through the Festival of Politics’ cultural programme in its café bar. This year, the festival hub will be largely taken over by LEGO, with a team creating a map of Scotland out of everyone’s favourite plastic brick-based toy – the Falkirk Wheel might prove a design challenge – and a Brick History exhibit depicting political landmarks from the suffragette movement through to the inauguration of Barack Obama.

‘It’s a great opportunity to build something that reflects the locale,’ says LEGO master Warren Elsmore.

‘As well as having the chance to display some of our more politically related models for the first time, we’ll be using the height of the café bar to construct our giant map of Scotland.’

Jenny Lindsay is no stranger to the Festival of Politics, having hosted its first poetry slam as one half of literary / cabaret duo Rally & Broad. Now set up as Flint & Pitch Productions, she’s invited a host of artists to participate in a new spoken-word show News from Nowhere, inspired by the William Morris novel of the same name. ‘Amongst other things, he explored socialist thought, the built environment, labour, art and creativity,’ says Lindsay. ‘And we reckon this fits neatly with the broad theme of “the Architecture of Democracy”.’

Other happenings in the free programme include appearances by a group of Dabke dancers and singers from Bethlehem, a day of live acoustic music featuring winners of the Holyrood Rocks competition as well as Edinburgh music club Folksville, and a short film made in St Peter’s Seminary by artist Lydia Levett. This will coincide with yet more LEGO-related activity during family fun day on the festival’s Saturday, hopefully proving that if you build it, they will come.

A well-written and smartly delivered political speech can elevate any politician.

Barton Swain, author of The Speechwriter (dubbed by The Washington Post as ‘Veep meets All the King’s Men’) is in town to discuss the whys and wherefores of this potentially noble art. 19 Aug, 4.30pm, £6 (£4).

WHO WILL WIN AMERICA? This time last year, Donald Trump had entered the presidential race to chuckles.

Now, he’s planning to have the last laugh while the previously squabbling Democrats join as one to prevent him getting anywhere near the White House. Pollster Jason Boxt and Politico correspondent Glenn Thrush predict the largely unpredictable. 20 Aug, noon, £8 (£6).

VINCE CABLE The former coalition Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills is here to discuss his life in politics and the current economic landscape with new Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh. 20 Aug, 5pm, £8 (£6).

■ All events at Scottish Parliament, Horse Wynd, 0131 348 5200 / 0800 092 7600.

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POLITICS

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ROYAL EDINBURAGTHTOO ILITARY T

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‘THE FEELING YOU EXPERIENCE AFTER A PERFORMANCE IS ELECTRIC’ Each year the Tattoo welcomes over 1000 performers to Edinburgh Castle. Rowena McIntosh chats to young participants either making their debuts or coming back for more

F

irst staged in 1950, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is steeped d in tradition. Each year, the massed pipes and drums march over thee narrow drawbridge, a lone piper plays high upon Edinburgh Castle’ss ramparts and the national anthem is performed by military bands. Yett every annual outing of the Tattoo offers a unique show, with a differentt cast of troupes invited from countries across the world. n Such is the Edinburgh Tattoo’s global reputation that it sits high on the bucket list of many a dancer, piper or military performer. There’ss a special kudos of having ‘done Edinburgh’ (2009 with RAF Pipess w and Drums, since you ask) and its gravitas continues attracting new participants to be part of the legacy and to draw previous cast members back to the esplanade.

One returning performer is Elayne Seaton (age 21), a Highland dancer with Aileen Robertson School of Dancing who made her Edinburgh Tattoo debut at last year’s East Meets West-themed event. ‘After trying ballet and having watched Highland dancing on television, I started Highland dancing at the age of three,’ she says. ‘I asked my dance teacher if she could “teach me the dancing with the quilts on!” At eight I began training in Highland with my current teacher and dance director of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Aileen Robertson. She gave me the opportunity to excel in competitive Highland dancing and passed on her love of choreography to me.’

Elayne’s extensive Highland dancing CV includes the tattoos in Basel, Berlin, Virginia, Crete and Inverness, while she also performed with dancers from all disciplines during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In addition to all that, she was one of 20 dancers chosen from Scotland to perform at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo tour to Australia and New Zealand at the start of 2016, and one of eight Edinburgh dancers to appear in the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle. You can easily appreciate why she’s a dancer in high demand.

With an international career under her belt, what makes the Edinburgh Tattoo so special? ‘Performing in front of a home crowd makes me so proud to be Scottish. The setting right there on the castle esplanade offers an unrivalled experience for all the performers.’ Each year the Tattoo welcomes Highland dancers from across the globe for a combined routine, with just a matter of days to pull it together. ‘Performing as part of a team alongside dancers from around the world is an amazing experience and the electricity experienced by us after a performance has to be one of the most incredible feelings.’

Making a return to the Edinburgh Tattoo is the Imps Motorcycle Display Team. This daring collective showcases the discipline and precision expectant of a military tattoo, but from a group of performers aged six to 16. The Imps originated in the 1970s from the Hackney Adventure Holiday Project (a charity that provided breaks for underprivileged young people) when one of them found a dysfunctional old motorbike.

Today, looking resplendent in bright red jackets and white helmets, the troupe of youngsters perform internationally.

This year will be the first performance at the Edinburgh Tattoo for Imps member Justin Baniulus (12). After seeing the Imps on the internet, he was inspired to get involved. Justin has already ridden his motorbike for the crowds at Switzerland’s Basel Tattoo and has wanted to be part of Edinburgh’s version from the moment he joined the Imps. Cast members at the Tattoo rehearse at Redford Barracks from early August, with the chance to watch other acts running through their routines.

Justin is excited to see ‘the Kings Guard from Norway and especially the Jordanians as the team toured Jordan in 2014 at the invitation of HM King Abdullah II’. But what he’s most looking forward to is ‘performing at Edinburgh Castle as it is so well-known throughout the world. I have heard so many stories from older team members.’

That’s a sentiment no doubt familiar to Connie Roxburgh (10) who is a member of Edinburgh Tattoo stalwarts Erskine Stewart Melville Choir.

The Edinburgh school choir first performed as part of the 2013 Tattoo and have been invited back each year since. Connie began choir-singing at six years old. ‘I have wanted to perform in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for a long time, ever since our school started to provide the choir four years ago. I was really nervous about the audition but I was lucky enough to get in.’

Connie already has experience of singing to big crowds, having performed in the professional London touring production of Joseph with 40 fellow Erskine Stewart Melville singers and is relishing the chance to appear 25 times in front of 8800 people this August. Once smitten, it’s likely that she and her fellow Tattoo debutants will be back.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Edinburgh Castle, 0131 225 1188, 5–27 Aug, Mon–Fri 9pm, Sat 7.30pm, 10pm, £25–£300. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 117

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NORTH BERWICK | 8-14 AUGUST 2016

THE COOLEST F E S T IV A L UNDER THE SUN

8-14 AUGUST 2016 Hut, Tickets now on sale from the Ticket online at Quality Street, North Berwick and www.fringebythesea.com Artists include: Elkie Brooks Ian Rankin Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham The Manfreds Quatro Jazz Grant Stott Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band

DEFYING

Bombskare

Richard Navarro Alistair McGowan The Classic Jazz Orchestra Pete Firman Jo CaulďŹ eld The Hot Seats Roger McGough Inkanyezi Zezulu Dirty Harry

CONVENTION

Defying the norm since 1947 05 - 29 August 2016 | Tickets available at edfringe.com

www.fringebythesea.com SUPPORTED BY

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OTHER FESTIVALS LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL

TECH THAT

A new kid on the August block arrives with the Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival adding to our summer excitement. Niki Boyle discovers a brave new world of virtual technology

G

iven the importance of technology in our lives, it’s a bit surprising that Edinburgh, with its vast multitude of film, book, theatre, comedy, music, food, and assorted other festivals, has come so far without a dedicated open-to-all techie counterpart. Yes, the Turing and Television Festivals do cover digital matters, but they’re both much more geared towards industry professionals.

Enter the Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival, a brand new three-and-a-half week programme exploring the impact of technology on the arts and beyond. There’s an emphasis on interactivity and accessibility, with a selection of free events, hands-on demonstrations, workshops and keynote talks from digital entertainment leaders, not to mention a healthy programme of digital event screenings such as National Theatre’s Frankenstein (directed by Danny Boyle and starring Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch) and Monty Python Live (Mostly).

Perhaps most exciting for the technologicallyinclined among us is the festival’s focus on virtual reality (which for the remainder of the article we’ll refer to as ‘VR’: we’re all too aware of how painfully embarrassing it is to re-read dawn-ofthe-internet features praising the spelled-out-andcapitalised ‘World Wide Web’).

‘2016 is the year of VR,’ asserts EDEF director William Burdett-Coutts, citing the long-awaited release of the Oculus Rift headset (pictured left) in April and Sony’s upcoming PlayStation VR

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OTHER FESTIVALS EDEF

launch in October. ‘VR is becoming widely available to consumers, from the Google Cardboard which works on iPhones and Android (all you need for that is a cardboard frame) to HTC Vive which offers a full-body immersive experience.’

The HTC Vive’s creators are smartphone company HTC and game developer Valve, makers of the highly-revered Half-Life series which was launched in 1998.

‘The main focus forr consumers to date has beenn games, but there is more to thee tech than this,’ says BurdettCoutts. ‘People are waiting avidly to see what Facebook, which purchased Oculus back in 2014, will do with VR in a social context. No announcement has been made but it’s easy to imagine the social possibilities afforded by linked headsets and shared experience. Apple have yet to launch their offering but, as you would expect, there’s speculation about what this will be and when it will come.’

So we’ve got gaming and online interaction covered but what does VR mean for the likes of music and film, artforms that aren’t traditionally digital at their core?

‘We’ve seen high-profile artists such as Björk and Paul McCartney getting on board with VR and 360 to offer immersive experiences to their fans,’ says BurdettCoutts. Also included in the festival is IglooVision who will be bringing us a six-metre diameter cylinder to display shared 360 degree content in the EDEF tech hub.

But the festival is not just about access to content.

‘VR has been referred to in various places as an “empathy machine”, and some really interesting

OTHER EDINBURGH DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS IglooVision

content has been created addressing social and human issues,’ says Burdett-Coutts. ‘A film such as Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel, an original BBC commission launched at Sheffield Doc / Fest earlier this year, and The Guardian’s 6x9, a virtual experience of solitary confinement, give viewers an insight into the experience of often marginalised people.’

Outside of the arts, there are also exciting applications for VR in science. ‘At EDEF, we’re excited to present talks on the future of VR, including its use by NASA in preparation for Mars 2020,’ says Burdett-Coutts. ‘VR is a massive subject and we’re barely scratching the surface. But our intent with EDEF is to open people’s eyes to far wider-ranging possibilities of the medium than simply playing games. Though that is great fun too, and not to be discounted!’

Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival, Assembly Rooms, George Street, 0131 623 3045, 4–28 Aug. See edef.co.uk for full line-up.

The EDEF programme boasts a wide selection of digital event screenings, so if you missed the likes of Monty Python’s reunion show first time round, now’s your chance. Film fans should look out for a demo by Andy Serkis’ performance capture company The Imaginarium Studios (currently working on RSC’s The Tempest) and a screening of anti-horror Berberian Sound Studio with live sound effects.

NASA-funded social scientist Peggy Wu will discuss how VR is helping astronauts prepare for Mars 2020, and electronica pioneer Pierre Boulez will be celebrated in ‘Dialogue de l’ombre double’, a digital duet for clarinettist and ‘virtual’ partner.

■ For full details, see edef.co.uk

BLENDING IN Donald Reid tucks into a tasty mix of collaborations laid on by the Edinburgh Food Festival Drawing food ever closer to the full August cultural experience, Assembly’s Edinburgh Food Festival takes place in George Square Gardens in the week immediately before the Fringe begins. As its inaugural outing last year proved, a hub of good food in a fine location is a strong draw, with people enjoying a space to meet, mingle, play and picnic.

This year, that draw is only stronger with a decent array of street food from Scottish outfits such as Fresh Revolution and Alplings as well as bars, coffee stops and food stalls from engaged local producers including Plan Bee and Breadshare.

Some intriguing collaborations have been established for the week, including fruity food specialists Gibbons with the Taiwan tea infusions of TeaWon, and Brew Lab’s cold-brew coffee with Twelve Triangles’ doughnuts.

Adding to this mix, Assembly have programmed a daily line-up of talks, tastings, discussions and events including an interactive Scottish Food Showcase, meet-the-author cookbook sessions and Slow Food’s Taste Adventure for kids. There’s also food-and-drink-related entertainment in the on-site Spiegeltent Palais Du Variete with vintage afternoon tea dances, an evening

Brew Lab

Speakeasy, pop-up dining from Section 33, and a Ready Steady Chef competition hosted by chef Tom Lewis and fisherman Guy Grieve.

■ Edinburgh Food Festival, George Square Gardens, 0131 623 3030, 27–31 Jul.

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FOOL’S GOLD

Fiona Shepherd profiles Fringe by the Sea headliner Elkie Brooks

Top of the Pops viewers of a certain vintage may remember Elkie Brooks as an MOR chanteuse with big hair, a bluesy voice and a run of hit ballads in the late 70s / early 80s. But by the time she hit her commercial peak as a solo artist, she had almost 20 years of singing experience to draw on.

The artist born Elaine Bookbinder spent most of the 1960s casting about on the club and cabaret scene for the right vehicle to suit her husky voice, before coming to prominence in the early 70s as a lusty blues shouter in Vinegar Joe, where she traded vocal licks with the super suave Robert Palmer. Her unfettered rock-chick performance of ‘Proud to Be a Honky Woman’ on The Old Grey Whistle Test is still a joy to behold and she rode that momentum right into a solo career, gathering up hit renditions of the Lieber / Stoller composition ‘Pearl’s a Singer’, Chris Rea’s ‘Fool (If You Think it’s Over)’ and jazz torch song ‘Lilac Wine’ on her most successful album Pearls.

Proto-power ballad ‘No More the Fool’ was the last of her big hits, but Brooks has continued to release albums recorded in her home studio in Devon. From there, she operates a family cottage industry in defiance of the music industry’s diminishing returns. There’s a new album in the works and regular live shows which allow her to do justice to a career spanning more than half a century.

■ Elkie Brooks, Palais des Glaces Spiegeltent, North Berwick, 8 Aug, 8.30pm, £30.

THE RIGHT STUFF

Sara Maitland

BEST OF THE REST OF THE FEST

Niki Boyle finds the Just Festival hosting big names and tackling large themes Despite recent findings that roughly half the population of Great Britain now describes itself as ‘not religious’, questions of faith – and how it intersects with science, society and the arts – are still very much a talking point. Digging deep into these issues is Just Festival (as in ‘morally right and fair’ not ‘oh, it’s just a festival’), a three-week programme of talks, events and conversations exploring headlinegenerating topics from around the world.

Among this year’s notable attendees is LGBT activist Peter Tatchell, who’ll deliver a talk on sex education in schools and join a panel discussing human rights and censorship. Author Sara Maitland will be part of a debate on elderly isolation, while renowned Romanian-German musician Michael Cretu performs both as a soloist and

with the Manchester International Roots Orchestra.

Elsewhere in the programme, subjects such as feminism, fathers’ rights, FGM, climate change and the migration crisis are all up for examination, with input from artists, activists, politicians and journalists.

The message at Just Festival’s core is that progress is made by engaging with a variety of viewpoints. It might not change your mind on religion – nor should it – but starting a discussion seems a fair enough place to begin.

■ Just Festival, St John’s Church and Quaker Meeting House, 0131 225 64470, 5–28 Aug.

Celebrating its tenth birthday, Forest Fringe (11–20 Aug) will once again take over Leith’s Out of the Blue for a multi-arts showcase featuring Rosana Cade, Ryan Van Winkle and the Paper Cinema. Edinburgh International Fashion Festival (21–24 Aug) has confirmed that Stella McCartney will be participating, while over at Edinburgh International Television Festival (24–26 Aug), Russell T Davies, Sally Wainwright and Bruno Heller are all appearing. And techie extravaganza Turing Festival (18 & 19 Aug) promises events about architecture and scalability as well as full-stack marketing.

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FESTIVAL CITY One thing Edinburgh has in abundance each August is choice. Our Festival Guide will hopefully help you select shows and events from across the variety of festivals. Our City Guide is here to aid you in deciding where to eat, drink and visit when you’re not an audience member. From quick eats between shows to cocktail bars, top visitor attractions and swanky meals, we’ve got the lowdown on where to go in the capital. We’ve also asked a few festival pros, the artists themselves, for their pick of the city. Welcome to Edinburgh.

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DISCOVER STREET THEATRE ON THE ROYAL MILE AND LATE NIGHT ENTERTAINMENT ON THE COWGATE

OLD TOWN CITY GUIDE

EAT Cannonball Restaurant & Bar SCOTTISH Cannonball House, 356 Castlehill, Royal Mile, 0131 225 1550, contini.com/ contini-cannonball | £16 (set lunch) / £25 (dinner)

Historic Cannonball House is owned by the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and run as a three-storey bar and restaurant

by Victor and Carina Contini. Vintage tattoo posters line the stairs that lead to the Contini’s rarefication in the rafters. Try for a table with a castle view, but if not, no matter – others have sea views over the Old Town rooftops. The menu of rich but contemporary dishes revolves around an exhaustive Scottish sourcing policy across seafood, meat, game, vegetables, cheese and even condiments. The street-level bar has filling lunchtime plates including lobster thermidor mac ‘n ‘cheese as well as bar bites after 5pm and whisky tasting options.

Checkpoint BISTRO 3 Bristo Place, 0131 225 9352, checkpointedinburgh.com | £10 (lunch) / £17 (dinner)

An old shipping container with cut-away sides, parked in this big, white-walled space gives Checkpoint its shanty-chic vibe. There are tables inside the container while daylight floods the rest of the room. Coffee and laptops give way to the ‘daybreak’ menu until 5pm where options

MY PICKS

ALAN CUMMING I always say to people you should give L'Alba D'Oro (7 Henderson Row) a try, the fish and chip shop down in Stockbridge. It's so iconic. If we're going to be lampooned for deep frying everything, then people should go there and have some deep-fried broccoli or something. It's not just pizzas and Mars bars; there's joy in other ways. I love going to the National Museum of Scotland (Chambers Street) because Dolly the Sheep is there. I love Dolly. I love that gallery, it's got a very nice mixture of things and a beautiful big Victorian hall.

10

Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, The Hub, 0131 473 2000, 6–27 Aug (not 10, 14 & 15, 22), 10.30pm, £30.

include ‘Philfy’ rolls, bowls of noodles, miso broth or smoked haddock chowder, and ‘Po’Boys’ (big, spicy, Louisianastyle sandwiches). Evenings give way to ‘substantial stuff’ like haggis-stuffed pork belly, rump steak and moules marinière. There are 16 craft beers and 16 wines, almost all available by glass or carafe.

Spoon

Colonnades ARTS VENUE Signet Library, Parliament Square, High Street, 0131 225 0651, heritageportfolio.co.uk/cafes/ourcafes/colonnades | Closed Sat | £16 (set lunch)

The Colonnades restaurant opened in 2015 in the Royal Mile’s grandly gorgeous Signet Library, described by George IV in 1822 as ‘the finest drawing room in Europe’. Diners are surrounded by the legal tomes of the Advocates Library. The library is named for an ancient association of Scottish solicitors who are ‘Writers’ to Her Majesty’s Signet: look out for the monogramed Signetum or WS on the silver teapots and salt cellars as well as the Signet Gin and Signet Blend tea. Lunch is a delicious, elegant affair. Later there’s an opulent afternoon tea: tiers of savoury and sweet treats, from beef wellington pie to blueberry and violet eclairs.

Cucina ITALIAN G&V Royal Mile Hotel, 1 George IV Bridge, 0131 240 1666, quorvuscollection.com/gandv-hoteledinburgh/restaurants/cucina | £15.95 (set lunch) / £25 (dinner)

If you like your Italian restaurants trattoria-style – all terracotta walls and spaghetti with meatballs – don't go to Cucina. Here, the food is as modern and clean-cut as the space itself (it's located in the oh-so-swanky G&V hotel), and every dish is an intricately designed adventure in contemporary Italian cooking. Starters of note include scallops with cauliflower panacotta and braised octopus salad, while mains include pan-fried guinea fowl and stone bass in saffron sauce. There's also a small, but refined, selection of risotto and pasta.

And while the restaurant itself is almost intimidatingly well-designed, with interesting modern art prints lining the brightly coloured walls, the service is impeccable.

Edinburgh Larder Café CAFE 15 Blackfriars Street, 0131 556 6922, edinburghlarder.co.uk | £7 (soup and sandwich)

A handy escape from the bustle of the Royal Mile, the Edinburgh Larder is a breath of fresh air with its sunny yellow chairs and bright windows. While soups and sandwiches may at first glance seem predictable café fare, they prove more impressive on the plate. An authentic commitment to Scottish seasonal produce is clear. There's porridge or full cooked breakfasts for early birds, plus a changing daily selection of homemade cakes such as gluten-free brownies and lemon sponge. Meat is sourced locally including beef from the Borders, where the Larder run the eatery at Whitmuir Farm, in addition to their popular bistro in Edinburgh’s West End.

La Garrigue FRENCH 31 Jeffrey Street, 0131 557 3032, lagarrigue.co.uk | £14.50 (set lunch) / £24 (dinner)

The string of award plates on the wall and certificates in the window are testament to this highly regarded restaurant's popularity. An Old Town favourite since 2001, La Garrigue's menu is a showcase of Languedoc cuisine – with staples like fish soup, cassoulet, roquefort soufflé, and saucisson, it's familiar and comforting French food, rich and filling but not presented without finesse. Many people will be defeated long before dessert, but it's worth keeping room for some of the beautifully made patisserie, such as choux buns filled with Nutella cream or lavender crême anglaise.

smoky baba ganoush. The overwhelming mains selection caters for vegetarians, fish and meat eaters alike. Kurdish and Iranian-style kebabs are a key feature, the vegetables marinated in tomato and lemon juice and the lamb tasty and tender. The restaurant is BYOB with no corkage charge, but offers a selection of non-alcoholic beers and wines. Partake in a puff of the shisha to round off, with a range of flavours to try.

The Grain Store SCOTTISH 30 Victoria Street, 0131 225 7635, grainstore-restaurant.co.uk | £14 (set lunch) / £40 (dinner)

Oysters, foie gras, pheasant, venison, halibut and lamb – the Grain Store lays out the finest Scottish produce on a menu set to impress. Its candle-lit nooks and crannies, traditional furnishings and a sprinkling of fairy lights creates a special atmosphere for intimate romantic liaisons or cosy family gatherings. This is one of Edinburgh’s oldest Scottish restaurants, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2016. Roasted pork belly beautifully complements seared king scallops as soft and smooth as butter. A tender saddle of lamb, crisp on the outside, is supported by a subtle chorus of devilled kidney, kale and glazed carrots. Quite simply, the Grain Store remains one of the city’s finest restaurants.

Hanam's KURDISH 3 Johnston Terrace, 0131 225 1329, hanams.com | £9.95 (set lunch) / £15 (dinner)

Slap bang in tourist central, with no tartan or shortbread in sight, the walls here are adorned with bright tapestries and there's a large menu filled with Middle Eastern food for sharing. To start, dip oversized flat bread into hummus and list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 125

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CITY GUIDE OLD TOWN

Meltmongers

In association with

Michael Neave Kitchen & Whisky Bar SCOTTISH 21 Old Fishmarket Close, 0131 226 4747, michaelneave.co.uk | Closed Sun/Mon | £9.95 (set lunch) / £28 (dinner)

QUICK EATS

Toasties, burritos and pig on a roll: cafes and takeaways to hit up when you need food, fast

THE BAKED POTATO SHOP 56 Cockburn Street, Old Town There's no tuna mayo in this vegan joint just off the Royal Mile, but normal or garlic butter potatoes can be loaded with cheesy baked beans, (soya) egg mayo or healthy quinoa and avocado salads. The potatoes are giant and if you don't fancy a tattie you can have the fillings in bread rolls or salads.

EL TORO LOCO 60 Grassmarket, Old Town Enjoy burritos, tacos and quesadillas loaded with slow-cooked meats and topped with beans, salsas and guacamole, all freshly made on the premises of this Mexican restaurant named after a crazy bull. Swing by in the morning for a breakfast burrito or huevos rancheros or make use of the late evening opening hours to grab a bite and a tequila before a midnight show.

MELTMONGERS 80 Bruntsfield Place, Southside Think cheese. Lots of gooey mature cheddar and gruyère, oozing out of fresh sourdough bread. Meltmongers is serious about all things melted. There's a recently launched breakfast menu, melts crammed with lemony grilled chicken and jarlsberg and, for dessert, the meltmallow: a Nutella, banana and marshmallow sandwich of dreams.

THE MOSQUE KITCHEN 31–33 Nicolson Square, Southside The Mosque Kitchen is a no-frills establishment; a large canteenstyle dining room, serving meat and vegetable curries, on paper plates with plastic cutlery, at low prices. Although basic, the curries are cooked fresh daily, served in generous portions, and are tasty and satisfying. Quick counter service with ready-to-go food means the staff power through the lunch queues.

PIG IN A POKE 95 Rose Street, New Town There are few things in life that offer such simple pleasure as pork between bread. In fact, it's a wonder there aren't more hog roast takeaways. Pig in a Poke delivers well-cooked meat, in a fired bun, with stuffing, crackling and apple sauce. As with many simple joys in life, the original way is still the best.

TUPINIQUIM Middle Meadow Walk, Lauriston Place, Old Town This green police box at the top of Middle Meadow Walk serves sweet and savoury gluten-free crêpes, with a sunny, healthy Brazilian spin. There's pressed juices and coffee, too, plus daily crêpe specials featuring the likes of butternut squash, spicy sausage, marinated lamb, chicken and lots of melted cheese.

Enjoy a pre-dinner drink in the whisky bar of this classy, mature and confident venue. Downstairs the modern, spacious restaurant offers distinctly Scottish dishes in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. West coast scallops make a strong and popular starter, and meat lovers won’t be disappointed if they follow that with a beautifully cooked Aberdeen Angus steak with dauphinoise potatoes, and juicy, lightly grilled cherry vine tomatoes. Sticky toffee soufflé is set to impress for dessert, as is a sweet wee banana tart tartin complemented by a rum and raisin Chantilly cream.

Monteiths BISTRO 57–61 High Street, 0131 557 0330, monteithsrestaurant.co.uk | £15 (lunch) / £25 (dinner)

An inquisitive meander under the twinkling lights of its entrance willow arch reveals Monteiths, a delightful basement cocktail bar and kitchen.

The impressive bar shakes a splendid cocktail, from a Speyside treacle Old Fashioned to a rhubarb and thyme negroni, all supported by a respectable range of regional whiskies and craft beers. The kitchen steps up to the plate with confidently composed and wellpresented modern Scottish cuisine.

Tender lamb rump with smoked artichoke and lamb bacon hits the mark and wonderfully rich Arbroath smokie risotto appears on a focused weekend lunch offer. This is a venue where the kitchen, bar and friendly front of house are in perfect harmony.

Mother India's Café INDIAN 3–5 Infirmary Street, 0131 524 9801, motherindiascafeedinburgh.co.uk | £15 (lunch) / £15 (dinner)

The tapas-style menu at Mother India’s Café allows you to start with a few smaller dishes and proceed from there. A range of lamb, chicken, fish and vegetable dishes are served quickly by friendly, unobtrusive staff while the café setting leads to an informal ambience where the food takes centre stage. Dishes taste clearly distinguishable: in the patina lamb, refreshing mint complements the heat from the spices, while the flavour of the tender lamb still comes through. You could easily picture yourself working through the entire menu, experiencing different flavours on every plateful.

The Mussel and Steak Bar FISH 110 West Bow, Grassmarket, 0131 225 5028, musselandsteakbar.com | £10.95 (set lunch) / £27 (dinner)

Despite being perfectly positioned to catch the tourist trade, the owners have avoided the temptation to become yet another churn’em-through Grassmarket pitstop. Instead, they’ve created a relaxed dining space out of a small and unusually-shaped, two-floor Old Town shopfront, which specialises

in quality, Scottish surf and turf.

You’ll find exactly what you expect here – kilo pots of mussels steamed in four different sauces and chargrilled, 38-day-matured rump, ribeye, sirloin, fillet and T-bone steaks. However, the menu goes well beyond this, offering scallops, haggis and satisfyingly stodgy desserts. With an extensive drinks list and an excellent fixed-price lunch deal, this bustling space provides some of the best eating in the Grassmarket area.

The Outsider BISTRO 15–16 George IV Bridge, Old Town 0131 226 3131, theoutsiderrestaurant.com | £12 (lunch) / £20 (dinner)

Given its location, the Outsider could just rely on passing trade: to its credit, it doesn't. Clever use of spotlights and candles means, despite high ceilings, there’s a cosy feel amid the dark charcoal walls, and if you manage to nab a seat by the far windows, there are spectacular views of the castle.

The lunchtime specials are deservedly popular and good value. In the evening, steamed mussels are plump and tender with an accompanying tin of chips. Star among puddings is lemon sorbet with a shot of icy vodka. There are some well-chosen wines from Great Grog, a nice range of cordials, but just two or three craft beers.

Spoon BISTRO 6a Nicolson Street, 0131 623 1752, spoonedinburgh.co.uk | £13 (lunch) / £21 (dinner)

Overlooking the Festival Theatre, Spoon’s funky first-floor room evokes hints of a 1970s sitcom set. An eclectic range of mismatched furniture is interspersed with frilly lampshades, flocked wallpaper and a backdrop of quirky curios and long-forgotten artwork. The experienced kitchen draws on a broad range of influences, with simply prepared bistro classics, big on flavour and respectful of season.

Blueberry waffles and a popular mixed grill feature on an all-day breakfast offer, with a splendid Sunday roast, as well as weekend brunch staples like eggs benedict and Arbroath smokies. Afternoon coffee and cake complements a fairly focused daytime menu which is later swapped for a rustic-style dinner menu.

Ting Thai Caravan THAI 8–9 Teviot Place, 0131 225 9801 | £8 (lunch) / £14 (dinner)

A stone’s throw away from Bristo Square, Ting Thai Caravan is perfectly located for students and its style and pricing reflect that. But whatever stage of life you’re at, it’s hard not to fall in love with delicious, reasonably priced Thai food served in a no-frills, streetfood style. The music choice is an eclectic mix of the staff’s own playlists and food arrives in takeaway-style cardboard containers. The classic pad Thai emerges steaming hot from the open-plan kitchen. A good array of side dishes are on offer, including a very moreish roti flatbread with chilli jam.

But be aware: the restaurant can’t be booked and is cash-only.

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AREA HERE CITY GUIDE

27 JUL

31 JUL

Edinburgh Food Festival is BACK THE RAGAROOF PLAYERS

SPEAKEASY SWING DANCE

SECTION 33 – FINE DINING

READY STEADY CHEF

Assembly’s Edinburgh Food Festival is back to tease and tantalise your tastebuds after its successful inaugural launch last year which attracted over 20,000 visitors.

Offering revellers a wide variety of Scotland’s finest produce to enjoy, food producers from around the country will fill the gardens, from Plan Bee Ltd to Breadshare; Fresh Revolution to Alplings, there’s something for everyone.

With the iconic Spiegeltent as its centrepiece, a variety of headline shows will take place over the five days providing great interactive entertainment.

ASSEMBLY GEORGE SQUARE

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/EdFoodFest

@EdFoodFest

EdFoodFest

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CITY GUIDE OLD TOWN

MY PICKS

In association with

DRINK

The Holyrood 9A

Andrew Usher & Co

The dark wooden bar spanning almost the entire length of the main room is well utilised, with 25 taps of rotating global and local brews served in four different sizes for optimal sampling. Beer also runs the length of the menu, cropping up in beer-battered onion rings and, more unusually, in mayo, mustard and icecream. Bulky burgers in 16 meaty and veggie styles are served in the obligatory brioche bun. Bar games also step back in time, with classics like Connect 4 to help while away a Sunday afternoon over a Bloody Mary – your hangover should cope with the competition after a vast Holyrood breakfast.

32b West Nicolson Street, 0131 662 1757, ushersofedinburgh.co.uk

CRAIG HILL My top tip would be Scran & Scallie (1 Comely Bank Road) in Stockbridge almost for the name alone! They consistently do amazingly tasty food.

There's a really warm Scottish wit about the place, like when the top of their menu says 'Sit ye doon yer welcome!' I would always recommend a wee trip to Dean Village – an old milling village under Dean Bridge. It's so picturesque and gives you the excuse to walk down the tranquil Water of Leith. It's a very chilled way to spend a day.

Craig Hill: Up and Coming, EICC, 0844 847 1639, 4–28 Aug (not 15, 23), 7.15pm, £12.50– £17.50 (£10–£15).

Wedgwood the Restaurant

The team behind this subterranean bar (named after the pioneers of Edinburgh’s brewing and distilling industries) are self-confessed beer nerds. Stocking a plethora of bottled beers, ciders and meads and with 20 beers on tap, there’s plenty of scope for them to pursue their obsession. Six of the taps are reserved for the output of the in-house microbrewery, which operates from behind glass walls in a corner of the bar. Food is largely carb-based (think burgers, hotdogs and mac and cheese) though those looking for something more adventurous might opt for moules-frites, bunny chow (a South African lamb curry) or grilled flatbreads.

The Bow Bar 80 West Bow, Victoria Street, 0131 226 7667, thebowbar.co.uk

On the historic curve of West Bow and Victoria Street, the Bow Bar remains delightfully traditional. That’s not to say their choice of tipples is outdated, however. Somehow, this little nook fits in an astonishing 310 single malts, eight cask ales and six kegs. Keeping things local, they dispense beer from Scottish brewers Fyne Ales, Tempest, Cromarty and others, as well as hunting down bottles of Belgian duppel, German lager and good old, all-American beer. If you enjoy your pint with a pie, get down before 3pm, grab a wee wooden table and get your chops round one from Findlay’s of Portobello.

9a Holyrood Road, 0131 556 5044, theholyrood.co.uk

OX184 184 Cowgate, 0131 226 1645, ox184co. uk | £15 (lunch) / £15 (dinner)

OX184 is big into its beer and much more booze beyond, including a huge range of whisky (the list runs to over 100). The cocktail list is another highlight of the drinking experience here, featuring classics with a twist and a beverage named after each of New York’s five boroughs, of which they’d be surely proud. The food menu includes quality burgers, long boys and steaks.

Food is available right up to 2.30am, which is always a good time for a sundae with a giant toasted marshmallow.

Pilgrim 3 Robertsons Close, Cowgate, 0131 557 3768, pilgrimbar.co.uk

With a bar built from retro-style suitcases and a choice of old cinema chairs or sofas wrapped in denim jeans to lounge

FOR CO FEST MPLETE LISTI IVAL LIS NGS SEE

T. FESTCO.UK/ IVAL

on, at first sight, Pilgrim’s sustainability ethos is on point. Their stock of Innis & Gunn and Williams Bros products shows off some of Scotland's best brews. Pilgrim’s offerings, in the main, are curated to keep their loyal student clientele happy; cheap spirits, wines and a very boozy Long Island Tea make a cheerful start to any night out. Hearty plates of mac'n'cheese, cottage pie and nachos are guaranteed to fill hungry tums. Plus, during the Fringe, they host spoken word performances.

The Regent 2 Montrose Terrace, 0131 661 8198, theregentbar.co.uk

The Regent is a comfortable pub. It’s the kind of place you could happily lose an afternoon ensconced in one of the deep sofas reading your book or surfing the web on the free wifi. Describing itself as a real ale gay pub, there are four real ales on tap, two of which rotate to accommodate guests. There’s also a broad selection of bottled beers, ciders, wines by the glass and non-alcoholic options. Grub comes in the form of quality pub eating. All the standards are well represented with options for

SCOTTISH 267 Canongate, 0131 558 8737, wedgwoodtherestaurant.co.uk | £12.95 (set lunch) / £28 (dinner)

There’s nothing unusual about bread and butter pudding with ice-cream appearing on a menu. But when it’s listed among the starters, you know this is a chef with imagination. Paul Wedgwood’s iteration features Isle of Mull cheddar and onion, while fennel is the dominant flavour in the ice-cream. A wine list with a lower mark-up than many similar establishments is another draw for diners who feast on mains such as three identically sized cylinders of tender rabbit which come neatly wrapped in pancetta and enhanced by chestnuts, barley, mushrooms and carrot purée. On the dessert list, a moist butternut squash cake with spiced pear and rosemary ice-cream is another playful deception of the taste buds.

WildManWood Pizza ITALIAN 27–29 Marshall Street, 0131 667 7001

This recent opening is fitted with a custom-designed wood-burning oven, fired by beech and oak chips. It is capable of temperatures approaching 600ºC and staff spent a month in Naples training at the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (where they finished top of the class). While pizza is the mainstay, the menu is an all-day offering from breakfast right through to late dining, with brunch items, grilled dishes and salads all available too. Accompany your meal with beer, wine or prosecco on tap.

OX184

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EDINBURGH’S FAMOUS FOSSIL SHOP 5 Cowgatehead Grassmarket Edinburgh, EH1 1JY

0131 220 1344 www.mrwoodsfossils.co.uk

Fancy trying some of the best cocktails in Edinburgh?

COOGATE BURGER

BUNS & PICKLES

CURRY OF THE DAY

TUCK SHOP FLOAT

TONY!

SLIDER

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tonysinghapex@apexhotels.co.uk 0131 300 3456

Join us at the North Bridge Brasserie for an extensive range of classic, contemporary and original cocktails.

Served every day until late.

North Bridge Brasserie 20 North Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1TR www.northbridgebrasserie.com

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CITY GUIDE OLD TOWN

Panda & Sons

In association with

MY PICKS IDIL SUKAN

vegetarians and vegans plus a selection of daily specials including fresh soup, tarts and curries.

Salt Horse Beer Shop & Bar 57–61 Blackfriars Street, 0131 558 8304, salthorse.beer

Just off the Royal Mile and Cowgate in the former Blackfriars, there is a shop one side of this dual unit selling all manner of beer, properly stored and ready to drink. The bar on the other has 12 rotating keg lines and a strong mix of UK and imported bottles and cans. Served alongside is small batch charcuterie, cheeses, house-made pickles, breads and seasonal bar snacks and specials. There's also a sneaky wee beer garden tucked out the back for warmer days.

Under the Stairs 3a Merchant Street, 0131 466 8550, underthestairs.org

COCKTAILS

From a Leith-al Weapon to a Monet Talks, there are plenty of expertly mixed, amusingly named drinks at these bars

THE BON VIVANT 55 Thistle Street, New Town Tucked down a cobbled lane behind George Street, the Bon Vivant is an intimate and stylish space with flickering candles and striking art deco wall art. The wooden gantry is stacked with classic and rare spirits, put to good use in their concise cocktail list. Try a Fizz á la Violette: Colonel Fox’s Gin, créme de violette, lemon juice, cream and soda. What's more all 44 wines come by the glass, carafe or bottle.

PARADISE PALMS 41 Lothian Street, Old Town

With only a small wooden plaque outside acknowledging its existence, Under the Stairs doesn't give much away until you’re down in its basement depths.

But cast any doubts aside: inside, old wooden tables, vintage-style chairs and a wood-burning stove create a definite home-from-home feel. On the cocktail side of things, they have all sorts of weird and wonderful tipples – a whisky-based ‘Sideboob’ or a ‘beetroot and wasabi Margarita’, anyone? Draught beer is limited, but the wine selection means business. On the food front, there’s a handful of vegetarian dishes. Otherwise, choose from the likes of duck, stuffed squid and venison.

Whiski

CRAIG CAMPBELL Dinner, lunch, or late night after a show, food-drink-andgood-cheer-oasis Bar Napoli (75 Hanover Street) is the only place to go! Did you say after show? Good food at night in Scotland!? Indeed I did! Hungry night owls on their Fringe prowl devouring bubbling homemade lasagne or fresh seafood dishes (try the monkfish gratin).

Opt-in for a Popeye's portion of house spinaci (spinach); this wonder is prepared bursting with spine-straightening l'il green chillis and is delightful every time!

Craig Campbell's 'Easy Tiger', The Stand Comedy Club, 0131 558 9005, 3–28 Aug (not 4,15), 10pm, £12 (£10).

119 High Street, 0131 556 3095, whiskibar.co.uk

Unlike the many souvenir shops nearby selling anything vaguely tartan, Whiski offers a truer representation of Scotland’s offerings, and doesn't blast out the unavoidable sound of screeching bagpipes while it’s at it. Instead, it provides a snug setting to sip on a pint of local beer from the likes of Williams

Bros, sample a dram or two of their 300-plus whiskies or have a glass of wine from an ambitious wine list. Good value is found in their lunch menu, where most dishes can be snapped up for less than a tenner. And for those supping here during the Fringe, there's footstomping traditional Scottish music to enjoy.

Neon signs, disco balls and the cocktail lounge vibe may transport you back to the beautifully tasteless 80s, but there’s nothing flavourless about the drinks at Paradise Palms. Choosing between the cocktails is a tough job, but is aided by enlightening descriptions. The bright blue Miami Nice is, as the menu promises, like a kiss from Don Johnson and the Buckfast Daiquiri allows you to sample the green-bottled beverage synonymous with Scotland.

THE LIONESS OF LEITH 21–25 Duke Street, Leith Best get comfy to pour over the menu of nearly 50 different cocktails at this Leith bar decorated with a glitterball, chandelier, mounted fake animal heads and trails of pretty white lights. Choose from well-crafted classics such as a Mojito or Bloody Mary, grab a fruity frozen Margarita if it's sunny or see what amusingly named beverage is cocktail of the week: Honey I Drunk The Kids, anyone?

No, I want a Leith-al Weapon.

PANDA & SONS 79 Queen Street, New Town Escape the outside world inside a prohibition-themed vintage barbershop. You get to enter through a masquerading bookcase door, and the fun doesn’t stop there. The formidable cocktails with punning names such as Juan Direction and Monet Talks are garnished with the likes of unexpected paprika and burning incense sticks attached by mini-clothes pegs. If you want to turn heads, order the Birdcage – theatrically presented in a glass dome filled with whisky, rhubarb and lemongrass shrub aroma.

Under the Stairs

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With the students on their summer holidays, the University of Edinburgh surrenders wholeheartedly to the festival season.

On Bristo Square, the student union houses the Pleasance Dome, with five venues offering theatre and comedy. Over the road is Gilded Balloon Teviot, a neo-gothic mini castle housing nine performance spaces surrounded by the food stalls and bars of the Gilded Garden, which is guarded by a suit of armour.

Down at George Square, Assembly have George Square Theatre, Studios and Gardens. In late July the Gardens are home to the gastronomic delights of Edinburgh Food Festival, while in August they are filled with tardis-like spiegeltents where you can see children's theatre, cabaret and music. Also on the square is Underbelly George Square, where shows take place inside a giant, upturned, purple cow.

Exit the square onto Middle Meadow Walk to find the sprawling green of The Meadows. Visit on a sunny day and you'll think the city has reverted to smoke signals as a mode of communication, as disposable BBQs pump out haze. It's legal to drink outdoors in Edinburgh (the rest of the country isn't trusted), so it's a popular outdoor spot to enjoy a cider or two on the grass as cyclists whizz by. Last year, the Meadows hosted the first major venue dedicated to circus and Underbelly's Circus Hub returns again for 2016.

On the east side of the Meadows, Summerhall, housed in a former veterinary college, is a good option for those wanting to sample a variety of performance genres without changing venues. So is the Pleasance Courtyard, where queuing for the 17 different venues has been perfected to an art. Just along from the Pleasance is ZOO's studio theatres, offering physical theatre, dance and new writing. t tree

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CITY GUIDE SOUTHSIDE

EAT Earthy Market Café CAFE 33–41 Ratcliffe Terrace, 0131 667 2967, earthy.uk.com | £12 (lunch)

The phrase ‘farm to fork’ is taken literally at Earthy Market Café. Most of the produce here is farm-fresh and organic, and what can't be plucked from the ground is locally and ethically sourced.

The café feels like a farmhouse with high ceilings, exposed beams, and chunky wooden tables; it's bright, airy and welcoming. There’s a generous garden with outdoor seating, a conservatory, and a market upstairs selling a wide variety of wholesome groceries.

Soups, sandwiches, and sharing boards showcase the produce with at least five seasonal salads on offer daily.

Field SCOTTISH 41 West Nicolson Street, 0131 667 7010, fieldrestaurant.co.uk | Closed Mon | £12.95 (set lunch) / £22 (dinner)

If you’re happy to forgo the faff of wine waiters and whatnot, you’ll find fine dining for a fraction at Field (if it did silver service, there’d be talk of Michelin stars). Its stage is simply set with straightforward surrounds: a front room-feel with a big black cow on one wall, black flock on the other. Pre-theatre it’s a steal, à la carte still a quality deal.

Scottish larder showcased, the menu reads like a joy – one of those from which you’d be happy having anything.

In association with

It’s classy, composed, contemporary cooking – skilful not showboating, playfully post-modern: artichoke cheesecake, venison rissole, goat’s cheese beignets, chicken confit ravioli.

Tuk Tuk

The Forest Café CAFE 141 Lauriston Place, 0131 229 4922, blog.theforest.org.uk | £6 (lunch) / £6 (dinner)

The Forest Café is a non-profit, volunteer-run art and event space which includes a vegetarian/vegan café. The small menu boasts vegan chilli, wraps, salads and soup. Hungry patrons won't be disappointed by the falafel or burrito plates loaded with three types of salad and fresh hummus. There’s also a selection of tasty cakes from Garvald bakery, a charity for adults with additional needs. The space is warm and comfortable but it feels more like a student common room than a café.

And while its appearance may not be to everyone's taste, certainly the inclusive ethos, welcoming spirit, and well-priced meals will win anyone over.

Knights Kitchen AFRICAN 126 Nicolson Street, 0131 667 7278, knightskitchen.co.uk | Closed Mon | £12 (lunch) / £15 (dinner)

This small Nicolson Street caférestaurant has been fitted out in shebeen-chic of rough wood, reed thatch, African print cloth and carved wooden face masks. Across the menu are dishes capturing the colour and vibrancy of the

continent, including cinnamon and corn pancakes with various toppings served for breakfast and brunch, okra fritters as a side and sharing plates of Masai Mara meats or African curries, including a Durban-inspired 'bunny chao' of chilli served in a scooped out bun. Treats abound, from nibbly, fiery dried sardines to sweet Kenyan mandazi doughnuts.

Out of Africa, a place that delivers on its promise of nourishment for the soul.

Nonna's Kitchen ITALIAN 45 Morningside Road, nonnas-kitchen. co.uk | Closed Mon | £15 (lunch) / £25 (dinner)

Chic blond wood and clean architectural lines give Nonna’s corner restaurant a relaxing modern flavour. But scratch the surface and it has an old-fashioned Italian heart. Tradition, family and good ingredients are the foundations of this neighbourhood stalwart. There is a menu del giorno, a well-conceived children’s menu, an extensive à la carte and a changing list of specials longer than most people’s memory. Seafood is carefully sourced and celebrated both in pasta dishes and in stand-alone splendour. Gamberoni are tender and tangy with baby tomatoes and shreds of chilli; and a luscious slab of halibut is served on a patchwork of rosemaryspiked, thinly sliced potato and seared Mediterranean vegetables.

Peter's Yard CAFE 27 Simpson Loan, Quartermile, 0131 228 5876, petersyard.com | £8 (lunch) / £15 (dinner)

‘Fika’ is an essential part of Swedish life. It means to take a break with coffee and something sweet. It’s a habit this Swedish café is trying to instil in the heart of Edinburgh, and judging by its popularity, it’s succeeding. The high ceilings, long sharing tables, and full-length windows make this a stylish venue for cake and conversation. All the breads, buns, and biscuits are kneaded

Peter's Yard

to perfection in the bakery at sister venue Söderberg. Breakfast consists of cinnamon buns, continental trays, and wholesome granola. Lunches are hearty and healthy open sandwiches, salads, and delicious soups such as beetroot and horseradish.

Saiko Kitchen VIETNAMESE 15 Roseneath Street, 0131 281 5613, saikokitchen.co.uk | Closed Sun/Mon | £12.45 (lunch) / £12.45 (dinner)

Inspired by owner Natalie Florance’s love of Vietnamese street food, Saiko Kitchen offers bountiful bowls of pan-Asian goodness at cheerful prices.

Starters are robust: Thai fishcakes a particular standout. They’re lightly flavoured with onion and chilli and fried

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SOUTHSIDE CITY GUIDE

CAITLIN COOKE

MY PICKS

Earthy Market Café

INSPECTOR SANDS Sodaeng (94 Buccleuch Street) serves up healthy, pretty cheap Korean dishes if you fancy something a bit spicy.

Sugarhouse Sandwiches (158 Canongate) is the place to go for a bread-based lunch. They do made-to-order sandwiches and have a selection of homemade soups for those chillier Edinburgh days. The Piemaker (38 South Bridge) is a MUST. Sometimes a Tatti Dog is all you need.

Theatre company Inspector Sands perform The Lounge, Summerhall, 0131 560 1581, 3–27 Aug (not 4, 15), 3.25pm, £15 (£12).

Tuk Tuk INDIAN 1 Leven Street, 0131 228 3322, tuktukonline.com | £16.95 (set lunch) / £16 (dinner)

FOR CO FEST MPLETE LISTI IVAL LIS NGS SEE

T. FESTCO.UK/ IVAL

to perfection. Mains are belly-fillers: the Hanoi chicken broth a lip-smacking bowlful of lemongrass-infused broth, chunky chicken, and liberal coriander and chilli. The sticky hoisin chicken salad is a mountain of tangy chicken, julienned vegetables, crunchy noodles and vermicelli. Sweet tooth? A dessert of banana and peanut butter ice-cream cake is a swooning send-off to an altogether delightful meal. An inexpensive restaurant that invites repeat visits.

with a pleasant aroma of herbs and spices. The South Indian menu lists an array of vegetarian dishes, many vegan and gluten-free. Rice and lentils are ground into batters to make typical South Indian delicacies like dosas and idlies. The massala dosai is a large, crispy, wafer-thin savoury crêpe, stuffed with seasoned potatoes, herbs and spices, and accompanied by a delicious trio of chutneys and a bowl of sambar.

Aside from the lovely food and atmosphere, Tanjore’s no corkage BYOB policy and fantastic value makes it a popular choice.

neighbourhood feel, with space for just 36 diners at a squeeze. Attracted by its eclectic cooking, full of big, bold flavours, locals beat a path to its door when it opened four years ago. You’ll need to book even on a wet Tuesday night as well as at lunchtime due to the popular £10 two-course deal. There’s plenty of spice in the starters, from chilli-fried chicken to pilpechuma spiced roast aubergine. You can choose a big dish to share like the ‘3 birds & beasts’ platter, or pick from the specials that change every few days.

With Indian street food served tapasstyle, Tuk Tuk offers a welcome alternative to traditional Indian dining. A bright and bold menu of over 30 dishes brings this corner of Tollcross just that little bit closer to the sights and sounds of Bombay. Inside, it's a strippedback, modern interior with Bollywood posters on the wall. Choosing can prove a challenge but it's difficult to be disappointed by dishes such as rich butter chicken served in cute copper pans, or gilafi lamb kebabs, light, herby and straight from the tandoor. BYOB, lots of long tables and a slightly raucous feel make it a great venue for larger groups.

Tanjore INDIAN 6–8 Clerk Street, 0131 478 6518, tanjore.co.uk | £8 (set lunch) / £14 (dinner)

Bustling with conversation, Tanjore feels calm, relaxed and homely,

Three Birds Restaurant BISTRO 3–5 Viewforth, Bruntsfield, 0131 229 3252, threebirds.co.uk | £10 (set lunch) / £20 (dinner)

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Holyrood Park & Arthur's Seat

In association with

DRINK

Greenmantle

56 North

The bar staff here pride themselves on their Scottish hospitality, which coupled with frequently changing guest ales and modestly priced pub grub, makes Greenmantle a favourite among locals.

The usual suspects of mac and cheese, beef and Guinness pie, baked tatties and nachos come in abundance, but these are no match for the showstopping buffalo burgers, direct from Puddledub Farm, Fife. The traditional pub décor features fairy lights, an impressive collection of coasters and humorous wall signs, while three large TV screens mean no large sporting event is ever missed.

2–8 West Crosscauseway, 0131 662 8860, fiftysixnorth.co.uk

Situated alongside the University, this stylish cocktail bar should be compulsory visit for anyone with even a passing interest in gin; the bar holds more than 200 bottles from around the world. Fortunately, the clued-up and approachable bar team will happily guide your choices. Meanwhile, from the kitchen, 'Bertha' (a blisteringly hot charcoal oven) sends out a steady stream of well-presented gourmet burgers and steaks, all served with beautifully crisp skin-on chips. Look out also for their seasonal secret gin garden, which provides a botanical haven during the festival.

The Auld Hoose 23–25 St Leonards Street, 0131 668 2934, theauldhoose.co.uk

GREEN SPACES

Glasgow might have bagsied the tagline 'Dear Green Place' but Edinburgh isn't short of grassy spots to enjoy a stroll or watch the world go by

PRINCES STREET GARDENS – NEW TOWN In daylight hours, Princes Street teems with shoppers, buses, trams and brave cyclists. Tucked behind the black railings are the grassy slopes and well manicured flower beds of Princes Street Gardens.

Grab a bench along the path running beside the Scott Monument or find a patch of grass between office workers eating lunch for thrilling castle views.

HOLYROOD PARK AND ARTHUR'S SEAT – OLD TOWN Holyrood Park is a 640 acre Royal Park adjacent to Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament. The highest point is the extinct volcano Arthur's Seat that towers over the city. Buy an ice-cream and mosey about the lower paths or head on up the slope. It's a steep climb in parts, but you'll be rewarded with unrivalled views across the capital.

NICOLSON SQUARE GARDENS – SOUTHSIDE Blink and you'll miss it, but beside the Festival Theatre, across from theSpace @ Surgeon's Hall and on the way to Edinburgh University is a teeny park. Its roadside location means it isn't exactly peaceful but it's a handy, central spot to enjoy a quick al fresco snack from one of the surrounding fast-food outlets before heading to your next show.

THE MEADOWS – SOUTHSIDE With so many Edinburgh dwellers living in tenements and flats, the Meadows acts as a giant shared garden. Here, picnics are had, dogs are walked and sports teams drill, while the criss cross of paths are alive with a constant stream of runners, cyclists and pedestrians heading to and from the city centre. Even outside August, there is always someone barefoot on a make-shift tightrope slung between two trees.

GREYFRIARS KIRKYARD – OLD TOWN Guarded by the statue of a loyal terrier is this ancient graveyard, where burials have taken place since the 16th century. It's the final resting place for several of the city's prominent citizens and certain tombstones are said to have inspired names in JK Rowling's Harry Potter books. Legend has it that it's also home to the Mackenzie Poltergeist: consider yourself warned.

Dating back to the 1860’s, the Auld Hoose has been recently modernised without losing its charm. Essentially a traditional (and child-free) boozer, there’s a diverse clientele, including those attracted by a jukebox stuffed full of punk, metal and goth anthems.

There are discounts for students and CAMRA members, along with a decent selection of ales and malts.

The food largely focuses on the standards – burgers, dogs, mac and cheese – with vegetarian and vegan versions available too. A plate of towering nachos certainly lives up to its reputation as one of the biggest in town.

44 West Crosscauseway, 0131 662 8741, greenmantlepub.co.uk

Henricks Bar & Bistro 1 Barclay Place, 0131 229 2442, henricksbar.com

Refurbished in early 2016, new lighting and flooring and a lick of paint have given this venue a warmer, brighter, feel while retaining a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere. There’s a strong emphasis on high quality drinks, with a good selection of cocktails, gins and whiskies and a keenly priced wine list. Catering to a broad market, including family groups, locals and theatregoers, the menu straddles the pub and bistro genres.

Haggis bonbons, fish and chips or wellflavoured burgers will keep the comfort food brigade happy while salmon terrine, gnocchi or witch sole should appeal to those wanting something lighter.

MY PICKS

Clerk's Bar 74–78 South Clerk Street, 0131 667 2701, clerksbar.com

There’s plenty going on at this Southside hostelry; in-house events include live music, quizzes, and big-screen football action at the weekends. There’s a reasonable selection of cask, draught and bottled ales, with an emphasis on ‘beer-miles’ and showcasing local breweries. The décor has a whiff of Americana about it with pop-art murals and wood cabin-style panelling on the walls.

Likewise, the menu heads towards the Tex-Mex side of the pub-grub spectrum with a selection of burgers, gourmet hot dogs and smoky ribs while tables are laden with a great range of spicy sauces.

The Cloisters 26 Brougham Street, 0131 221 9997, cloistersbar.com | Closed Mon

Bars like the Cloisters have ticked along for years and have perhaps never quite been given the recognition they deserve for surfing the wave of the craft beer movement – if not starting it off in the first place. Here, big beards and fancy beer flights are swapped for a quiet expertise, a warm welcome and a rotating range of 19 cask and keg beers from brewers like Pilot, Cairngorms, Alechemy and Black Isle. There’s a nicely edited range of bottled beers from Europe and further afield, and a decent, locally sourced burger to boot.

KAT WOODS Two places I love to eat as a treat (obviously I put it on the credit card as I like to forget how broke I am!): 1) Ting Thai Caravan (page 126). It's Thai food, with fresh, healthy flavours. Exactly what you need as a burger alternate.

It's a busy spot so go between 3pm and 5pm. 2) Spoon (page 126). A quaint tearoom with THE nicest lemon posset and ginger shortbread in the land! I actually crave it, from my first dalliance in 2014!

Kat Woods is writer/director of Mule, Gilded Balloon Teviot, 0131 662 6552, 3–28 Aug (not 17), 1.30pm, £10–£11 (£8).

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Two Tickets with Showguides from £19 quote LIST

chefs

tasting

SHOPPING

street food

Bisque Brasserie is a neighbourhood restaurant hotel which features casual gourmet food.

We’re open all day for brunch, lunch and dinner with a wide menu of classic brasserie favourites.

On long summer days enjoy alfresco dining on our garden terrace.

For menus and reservations: www.bisquebrasserie.com or 0131 622 8163 69 BRUNTSFIELD PLACE, EDINBURGH

with top chefs

edinburgh inverleith park

5-7 august

Swedish artisan bakery

PAVILION 1 Lister Square EH3 9GL

QUARTERMILE 33 Simpson Loan EH3 9GG

WEST END 31 Queensferry St EH2 4QS

EAST END *coming soon* 45 Broughton St EH1 3JU

foodiesfestival foodiesfestival.com com 0844 995 1111

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CITY GUIDE SOUTHSIDE

MY PICKS

In association with

an eclectic collection of gardening implements adorning the walls. It’s all just the right side of kitsch. Drinks-wise, there’s a broader than average wine list, some creative cocktails and 18 draught or cask ales. The food is very definitely a notch above pub grub, in both ambition and execution. With smart service, a well-crafted menu and a wide range of drinks, there’s plenty to bring you back to this patch of earth.

The Milkman

The Royal Dick Bar & Bistro 1 Summerhall, Southside 0131 560 1572, summerhall.co.uk/the-royal-dick | £14 (lunch) / £18 (dinner)

LUCY PORTER Choco-Latte on South Clerk Street. This little chocolate shop has always been somewhere I come for a mid-festival pick-me-up. They make their own cakes which are covered in sweeties and could probably satisfy the calorie requirements of the Scotland rugby team for a month. It's a tiny shop but it's crammed full of old-fashioned treats and confectionery creations. It's really worth bringing children here because it's totally a 5-year-old's idea of what heaven looks like.

Lucy Porter: Consequences, Pleasance Courtyard, 0131 556 6550, 3–28 Aug (not 15, 22), 5.30pm, £10–£14 (£8–£12).

The Potting Shed 32 Potterow, 0131 662 9788, thepottingshededinburgh.co.uk

Deliberately quirky, the décor of this gastropub puts a fresh spin on the gardening theme, with lampshades made from pots and garden pails, and

Across the courtyard at the back of this arts hub, you'll find Summerhall’s bar and bistro. Former vet students might recognise some of the bones and microscopes displayed. Enjoy one of a variety of Barney’s beers or Pickering’s gin from a tap, both brands which are brewed and distilled on site. There are also some great cocktails and a small wine list.The food menu features fish and chips with mushy peas, the Royal Dick burger, mac'n'cheese or ‘light bites’ like chips with blue cheese mayo.During the Fringe, Summerhall hosts over 100 shows, with theatre, music, dance and visual arts for all ages.

COFFEE STOPS

Where to get your flat whites, cold brew and hot chocolate spiced with Aztec chilli

ARTISAN ROAST 57 Broughton Street, New Town

The Southern

The beans come from Guatemala, Indonesia and Brazil, but the craft roasting is done in the heart of Edinburgh. Artisan Roast’s baristas pride themselves on knowing each coffee’s taste, aroma and crema artwork. There’s also Eteaket tea, plus hot chocolate spiced with Aztec chilli or rose and black pepper. Also 138 Bruntsfield Place, Southside; 100a Raeburn Place, Stockbridge.

22 South Clerk Street, 0131 662 8926, thesouthern.co.uk

BREW LAB

The Southern offers a fantastic selection of burgers, a battery of craft beers and a laid-back vibe. The bar has immediate visual appeal, with its high corniced ceilings, pale walls and astragal windows softened by wood furnishings and burnished copper lamps.

There is a killer selection of craft beers (from Scotland, the UK, Belgium and USA) and a compact wine and cocktail list. Fortunately, the savvy bar staff will happily dispense top tips on what your next tipple should be. The breakfast menu features the obligatory fry-up, pancakes or granola. At dinner, select from more than a dozen burger combos.

6–8 South College Street, Old Town Minimalist in design but lavish in technique, Brew Lab uses the latest coffee kit and knowledge to create caffeinated gold.

Each cup is measured, weighed, and timed to ensure the single origin beans are infused just so. Passionate baristas explain the processing of the bottled and tapped cold brew while showing off impressive latte art skills. Snacks include Lovecrumbs cakes. Also 3 Queensferry Street Lane, New Town

FORTITUDE COFFEE 3c York Place, New Town A cleverly transformed former shoe repair shop close to the bus station and tram terminus. Wall-mounted boards offer tips on what to order, the techniques used to make the drink, its source and tasting notes. Guest coffees change each week, while food choices include soups from Union of Genius as well as bagels, baguettes and scones.

THE MILKMAN Cockburn Street, Old Town Nestled away at the bottom of Cockburn Street, you’d be forgiven for not noticing the Milkman at first glance. The coffee here is toprate, with flat whites a particular highlight, and the baristas are all well-trained in the art of caffeine. This place may be small but it is mighty alright.

CAIRNGORM COFFEE 41a Frederick Street, New Town The interior of this independent coffee house displays hints of après-ski and Highland bothy. Cairngorm Coffee work with roasters from around the world and the knowledgeable staff are happy to give recommendations. Sustenance comes in the form of crunchy, cheesy sourdough melts. Also 1 Melville Place, West End.

FILAMENT COFFEE 38 Clerk Street, Southside

The Potting Shed

Formerly a much-loved Old Town pop-up, Clerk Street’s Filament serves excellent coffee supplied by Has Bean, Square Mile and guest roasters including Edinburgh's Williams & Johnson. There's also fine cakes courtesy of local home-baker Suki Bakes, pastries from North Berwick's Doorstop Bakery, and a handful of bagels from the Bearded Baker.

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CITY GUIDE NEW TOWN & STOCKBRIDGE

EAT

In association with

New Chapter

Café Portrait ARTS VENUE Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street, 0131 624 6421, heritageportfolio.co.uk | £7.25 (set lunch)

Even among the great and good looking down from the surrounding walls, the food takes centre stage. Arched gothic windows and high ceilings create a light, bright atmosphere to enjoy a hearty sweet potato and chilli soup, or a healthy summer salad of courgette, feta, pea and mint with rocket-lemon dressing.

The daily selection of soups, salads, sandwiches and mains (made in-house) are wholesome and imaginative, while afternoon tea involves indulging in the likes of well-balanced spiced berry scones, passion fruit éclairs and bold salted caramel brownies – making climbing the gallery stairs afterwards a bit of a challenge.

Contini Ristorante ITALIAN 103 George Street, 0131 225 1550, contini.com/contini-ristorante | £12.50 (set lunch) / £19 (dinner)

Tables are neatly filed among the vast corinthian columns of the former banking hall and, while there’s not a lot of elbow room, the atmosphere is so relaxing, the staff so positive, the food so promptly and perfectly presented, that no one worries. The menu changes monthly to reflect ingredients sourced from

MY PICKS

artisan producers in Scotland and Italy.

Burrata – an ultra-creamy mozzarella – is ambrosial, served with salty speck while fresh ravioli hold their spinach-andricotta filling perfectly in a luscious pool of butter, sage and caramelised almonds.

Contini is also big at breakfast time, offering everything from traditional full Scottish to organic porridge with spinach and hazelnuts, not to mention killer scrambled eggs and faultless coffee.

Café St Honoré SCOTTISH 34 North West Thistle Street Lane, 0131 226 2211, cafesthonore.com | £14.50 (set lunch) / £27 (dinner)

OLI FORSYTH If you're up for a few days and have some cash left over after buying tickets, then Maison Bleue (36–38 Victoria Street) will do you moules-frîtes and steak that will knock you out.

If, however, you're up for the month, knackered, down to your last pennies and find that all the hangovers are blurring into one, then get yourself to Babylon Café off Nicolson Square. It's the closest thing I've found to a proper greasy spoon. I've had sausage and egg sandwiches there that have genuinely saved my life.

Writer/performer Oli Forsyth appears in Happy Dave, Pleasance Courtyard, 0131 556 6550, 3–29 Aug (not 16), 4.15pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£10).

This is the sort of place you’d expect to see French resistance fighters plotting the overthrow of the Vichy government over a hearty coq au vin and a bottle of Beaujolais. Other than the Beaujolais though, pretty much everything you’ll consume is actually Scottish. Cafe St Honoré is aiming for 97% sustainability - you won’t even find imported olive oil here. A subtly seasoned Perthshire Sika deer is melt in your mouth tender, accompanied by creamy fondant potato and offset with a rich Stornoway black pudding. Retro desserts with a modern twist include a fantastic vanilla rice pudding with almonds, raisins and home preserved rhubarb.

Earthy Canonmills BISTRO 1–6 Canonmills Bridge, 0131 556 9696, earthy.uk.com | £10 (lunch) / £18 (dinner)

Earthy by name and earthy by nature, this thriving rustic-style café bistro is a little bit Marmite, but if you like it, you’ll be back for more faster than you can say ‘seasonal, local and organic’. A shop that’s like a who’s who of worldwide Fairtrade and artisan produce (with a busy trade in takeaway sandwiches and salads) underpins a sit-in menu to take

you from breakfast and brunch through to bistro supper. Fresh soups, salads and dips such as sweet potato pepped up with ginger, cumin and pretty pomegranate seeds come with a selection of excellent artisan breads. Lovely desserts like damson and brioche pudding will leave you replete.

wall. A piquant goat’s cheese mousse harmonises elegantly with both the spiced sweetness of a gingerbread crumb and earthy beetroot. A deconstructed confection of treacle sponge, compressed apple and clotted cream ice-cream hits the sweet spot.

The Gardener's Cottage

El Cartel Casera Mexicana MEXICAN 64 Thistle Street, 0131 226 7171, elcartelmexicana.co.uk | £13.50 (lunch) / £13.50 (dinner)

SCOTTISH 1 Royal Terrace Gardens, 0131 558 1221, thegardenerscottage.co | Closed Tue | £22 (lunch) / £40 (set dinner)

El Cartel is spearheading a fresh approach to Mexican in the city, moving away from tired Tex-Mex to offer a more authentic street food-style menu of soft hand-pressed tacos and antojitos (snacks). Just across the street from sister venue the Bon Vivant, its dark grey interior is smattered with kitsch and colourful paraphernalia. All dishes on the concise menu can be shared, including the likes of baja cod tacos with chipotle crema and pomegranate salad, and quesadillas filled with chorizo, sweet potato and cow’s milk soft cheese. Hip hop beats and an extensive selection of tequilas, mezcals and frozen cocktails guarantee a party vibe.

For decades a sad, empty detached stone cottage sat below Calton Hill at Royal Terrace Gardens. Then in 2012, two chefs resurrected this New Town butand-ben, adding its own kitchen garden.

The Gardener's Cottage champions seasonal cooking and social dining. At long, candlelit communal tables, you are in full view of the open kitchen as it creates imaginative dishes from whatever the foragers or farmers bring in. When booking (as you must, and in advance too), they ask for dietary requirements, because you get what you’re given. Be reassured, though: the daily-changing seven course dinner, à la carte lunch, and weekend brunch will be at best excellent, at worst interesting, but always fun.

Forth Floor Restaurant

Leo's Beanery

SCOTTISH Harvey Nichols, 30–34 St Andrew Square, 0131 524 8350, harveynichols. com/restaurant/edinburgh-dining | £25 (set lunch) / £30 (dinner)

CAFE 23a Howe Street, 0131 556 8403, leosbeanery.co.uk | £9 (lunch)

Atop Harvey Nichols, that New Town shrine to prestige and glamour, the Forth Floor Restaurant has been striking a pose since 2002. This is obviously no run-of-the-mill department store eatery.

Satisfyingly, the pizzazz is provided by the food itself - seasonal Scottish produce intricately plated with precision and flair.

Delicate octopus carpaccio with crispy potato string and harissa mayonnaise is pretty enough to frame and hang on the

This café lies on a sunny corner of the New Town and boasts heaps of charm and a commitment to good food. Leo’s is a family affair; a husband-and-wife team churn out Taste of Scotland award-winning cakes and brownies. The basement location is surprisingly bright and filled with delightful personal touches like old family photos and reclaimed sewing tables for dining atop. The breakfast menu features free-range eggs and Bowers meat, as well as comforting specials of peanut butter, banana, and

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BOURBON Edinburgh’s newest late night bar and club will play host to an unprecedented lineup of guest acts and DJs for the duration of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from evening right through to 5am.

OPEN 12PM TO 5AM DAILY. FREE SHOWS RUNNING 12-10PM DAILY THROUGHOUT AUGUST. Visit our website www.bourbonbarclub.com to check out our latest shows, listings and events.

Food by The Ninja Kitchen served 12pm-late daily

BourbonEdinburgh

BourbonEdin

B

THE BEST OF THE FRINGE

W I N E, D I N E & S U N S H I N E 4 J U LY – 31 A U G U S T

FEST ON FORT H Join us this August for cabaret, comedy and cocktails.

Sunday 7, 14, 21 & 28 August Doors open at 7.30pm Dinner from 7.30pm, show starts at 9.30pm DIN N E R, CO C KTAIL & SH OW – £35 To book, please call 0131 558 9005 or visit outstandingtickets.com CO C KTAIL & SH OW – £15 To book, please call 0131 226 0000, or book online at edfringe.com

TH R E E COU R S ES A N D A CO C K TAI L for

£32

for

£22

F O R T H FLO O R R ES TAU R A N T

FO RTH FLO O R B R ASSERI E

Wednesday to Friday, 6pm – 10pm

Tuesday to Friday, 5.30pm – 10pm

Saturday, 6pm – 7pm

Includes Mondays in August

To book, visit harveynichols.com/summerdining

Terms and Conditions apply

list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 139

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CITY GUIDE NEW TOWN & STOCKBRIDGE

In association with

Red Door Gallery

cinnamon on chunky wholemeal toast.

Lunch is fresh soups, quiche, salads, and giant doorstop sandwiches filled with delectables like Blue Murder cheese, bacon, and pear chutney.

MY PICKS

Mussel Inn FISH 61–65 Rose Street, 0131 225 5979, mussel-inn.com | £7.95 (set lunch) / £23 (dinner)

INDEPENDENT SHOPS

Independent sellers of fashion, gifts and art: no tartan egg cups or musical Highland coos in sight

CURIOUS AND CURIOUSER 93 Broughton Street, New Town A purple-fronted gift shop selling illustration-based design items including cards and prints. There's also stationery, quirky homeware, retro handbags, scarves and Miss Ballantyne skin products.

EDEN 18 North West Circus Place, Stockbridge An independent fashion boutique stocking designer womenswear, accessories and jewellery from Spain, Scandinavia and beyond.

Brands include FRNCH, Kling, Coster Copenhagen and Hoss Intropia.

FRONTIERS MAN 4 William Street, West End A cool mix of clothing and accessories for the urban man, by brands including Oliver Spencer, La Paz, Corridor, Folk and Norse Projects.

Frontiers Boutique is just round the corner at 16 Stafford Street.

This popular Rose Street restaurant has been packing in and feeding hungry punters since 1998. Its menu features a range of straightforward seafood options, such as scallops, sea bass, oysters, prawns, shellfish pasta and surf and turf, as well as changing daily specials. But the stars of the show here are the eponymous mussels, sourced from Shetland and the west coast. Grab them steamed or grilled by the kilo or half kilo with a variety of sauces, from traditional white wine, shallots and cream, to more exotic Moroccan chilli, garlic, ginger, coriander and cumin. With good value set lunch and pre-theatre menus and plenty of outdoor seats, the Mussel Inn shows no sign of slowing down.

New Chapter SCOTTISH 18 Eyre Place, 0131 556 0006, newchapterrestaurant.co.uk | £9.50 (set lunch) / £21 (dinner)

Since its opening at the end of 2015, New Chapter has established a loyal following by combining good quality produce, skilful cooking and a chilled ambience.

The talent in the kitchen is evident in starters that showcase the quality of the ingredients – hand-dived Ullapool scallops combine with pork and black pudding terrine, curried apple and a cider foam to produce an exquisite balance of flavours. Fish options feature prominently among the mains, while beef cheek and ox tongue is enhanced by a bourguignon sauce. Desserts are a thing of beauty, but for the sweet-toothed diner, mandarin cake with chocolate orange ice-cream takes some beating. There are good wines offered by the glass or bottle to suit all budgets.

EPITOME

Passorn Brasserie

35 Dundas Street, New Town

THAI 97 Hanover Street, 0131 225 1430, passornthaibrasserie.com | Closed Sun | £13.95 (set lunch) / £27 (dinner)

The focus is on timeless functional design and quality craftsmanship at this women's clothing and accessories boutique. Shop for pieces

by Pomandere, Mih, MacKenzie Leather and Chloe Stora.

GODIVA BOUTIQUE 9 West Port, Old Town Fashion boutique mixing vintage clothing with handmade or ethically manufactured collections by contemporary designers. Browse silk scarves by Karen Makon, funky animal brooches by Erstwilder or colourful vintage items.

RAGAMUFFIN 278 Canongate, Old Town This shop is one of two in Scotland, the other located on the Isle of Skye. Ragamuffin stocks quality knitwear from Britain and Ireland, alongside clothing and jewellery from further afield. Browse for Dinky Dot tunics, Zuza Bart jackets and Aurea Vita dresses.

RED DOOR GALLERY 42 Victoria Street, Old Town The shop may be petite but Red Door stock art prints from over 100 illustrators, as well as fashion accessories, homeware, artist cards and jewellery. Plenty of pieces are inspired by Edinburgh or Scotland.

The décor is elegant, while staff are attentive and engaging, helpful with any menu queries and encouraging culinary adventure in a menu that trumps expectations. Start with some signature dishes – sam sa bai are seared, handdived, Orkney king scallops, blanketed with a creamy sauce of delicate Thai seasonings. Pla chao wang, crisp sea bass salad with coriander, cashews and mango, spills forth sweet and zingy out of its glistening tower. Ped ma kha, generous rounds of duck leg, deep fried and topped with tangy tamarind sauce, is deeply flavoured, fleshy and not fatty. A wellconstructed wine list cleverly hits value and quality, matching the Thai menu with verve.

The Roamin' Nose CAFE 14 Eyre Place, theroaminnose.com | £15 (lunch) / £21 (dinner)

This neighbourhood café and bistro tries

RASHDASH The Baked Potato Shop (56 Cockburn Street): a total Edinburgh must. We've been going there for years and they're still the best baked potatoes we've ever tasted, filled with an array of veggie and vegan delights. Maison Bleue (36–38 Victoria Street): great if you have some time to savour the elegant food and lovely surroundings. They do an excellent lunch deal. Victor Hugo Deli (26 Melville Terrace): gorgeous for a Parisian morning coffee and croissant overlooking the Meadows.

Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalen of RashDash appear in Two Man Show, Northern Stage at Summerhall, 0131 560 1581, 6–27 Aug (not 10, 17, 24), 8.15pm, £11 (£9).

to do it all and pretty much succeeds.

Daytimes are busy with locals and office workers tucking into brunch or a lunch menu of pasta, warm salads, burgers and Italian bites including homemade pesto and tapenade, cured meats and cheeses.

Come evening, the kitchen steps up a gear to produce a brief but brilliant choice of fish, meat, burger and vegetarian dishes. It’s a bustling place overseen by an engaging and attentive staff. Add in a smart but affordable list of good Italian wines alongside a wide choice of bottled beers, cocktails and liqueurs and you’ve got an irresistible neighbourhood eatery.

Steak STEAKHOUSE 14 Picardy Place, 0131 556 1289, steakedinburgh.com | £37 (lunch) / £37 (dinner)

Despite a smart but unassuming exterior, Steak, situated centrally near the Playhouse, has a truly impressive cavernous interior design. High ceilings with suspended wooden beams on thick twisted ropes and candles dotted throughout create a low-lit, sophisticated atmosphere, while a green banker lamp adorns each table. Soul music plays softly in the background as a team of friendly staff offer a highly professional service. Where this place really packs a punch is with its glorious steak. Cuts of beef, selected and hand cut by Donald Russell and matured for 21-35 days, are this restaurant's gem with sirloin, fillet and ribeye on offer - juicy and full of flavour..

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CITY GUIDE STOCKBRIDGE

In association with

STOCKBRIDGE A mere 15 minute amble from the city centre, Stockbridge is a picturesque neighbourhood boasting a wealth of independent fashion boutiques and design shops as well as foodie delights in the form of cafes, delis and restaurants

WENDY’S ICE CREAMS

BON TOT

29 Hamilton Place, EH3 5BA, 07391 432385, facebook.com/ WendysIceCreams

28 St Stephen Street, EH3 5AL, bon-tot.com, IG: @bon_tot

Wendy’s Ice Creams is a welcome addition to the thriving Stockbridge scene. Selling delicious ice-cream, there’s a fantastic range of amazing flavours and free toppings to choose from, as well as sundaes, artisan chocolates, confectionery, cards, coffees, teas and soft drinks, too.

Bon Tot is an independent children’s clothing and toy shop for design conscious parents, the first of its kind in Edinburgh. The focus is on great design, minimal Scandi style, high quality and unisex themes. Owner Kris Currie sources products from small brands around the world, offering some of the most stylish gear around for kids up to six years of age.

THE KILTED LOBSTER

FIELD GRILL HOUSE

112 St Stephen Street, EH3 5AD, 0131 220 6677, kiltedlobster.com

1 Raeburn Place, EH4 1HU, 0131 332 9977, fieldgrillhouse.co.uk

The Kilted Lobster is a seafood restaurant with a social conscience, serving up exciting, playful food showcasing Scotland’s larder, gardens, seas and lochs. The food is seasonal and sensational, using inspiring Scottish ingredients whilst nourishing community values through their social enterprise project, Cooking Up A Storm.

This 2015 addition to the burgeoning Stockbridge dining scene is a modern Scottish grill house, taking traditional dishes and putting a creative twist on them. Building on the reputation of sister restaurant Field in the Southside, Field Grill House uses the best seasonal ingredients that Scotland has to offer and the finest quality livestock from the Scottish Borders.

C SCALA

EDEN

C scala, Saint Stephen’s Stockbridge, 105 St Stephen Street, EH3 5AB, 0845 260 1234, cthefestival.com

18 North West Circus Place, EH3 6SX, 0131 225 5222, edenretail.co.uk

Part of the Fringe’s high-profile C venues, seek adventures galore in their spectacular new venue, C scala at Saint Stephen’s Stockbridge.

With sensational headline acts and a sprinkling of hidden gems, discover the stars of tomorrow in their 25th anniversary year. See the complete lineup and book online at cthefestival.com

Independent fashion boutique Eden presents an exclusively different selection of ladies’ fashion clothing, accessories and jewellery. With new deliveries daily, stand out from the festival crowd with European brands including Selected Femme, B Young and Smash. Eden also stocks the latest styles of 100% waterproof coats from label Protected Species.

MR EION: COFFEE ROASTER

KESTIN HARE

Dean Park St, Edinburgh EH4 1JN mreion.com

46 Saint Stephen Street, Stockbridge, EH3 5AL, 0131 220 5859, kestinhare.com

A sweetie shop for caffeinated grown ups offering a wide selection of single origin beans ethically sourced from across the globe. It’s the perfect place to pick up all the gear you need to perfect your home brewing! They sell to the home barista as well as wholesale directly from the Roastery, offering training and cupping events.

Established in 2014 Kestin Hare is a modern menswear label. Collections are designed in Hare’s Edinburgh studio and made in the UK, known for their clean, contemporary aesthetic and unique fabric sourcing. The store also offers a carefully curated selection of lifestyle brands such as Patagonia, Millican and Veja.

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NEW TOWN & STOCKBRIDGE CITY GUIDE

DRINK Bramble 16a Queen Street, 0131 226 6343, bramblebar.co.uk

Once found – which is a triumph in itself – Bramble goes on to push the boundaries of taste sensation with the likes of pancetta-washed Laird’s Applejack and salted caramel green tea vodka. But don’t be put off by these unusual ingredients. Everything from the sweetness of the Butter-Scotch cocktail to the tangy explosion of the citrusy Beverley Jane has been tried and tested by the knowledgeable bartenders, earning its place on the carefully constructed 22-item list. These exquisite concoctions are just as wacky as Bramble’s drinking vessels. This unique candle-lit haven is brought to life by contemporary hip-hop music.

Caorunn's Artist Garden 36 St Andrew Square, caorunngin.com

A new space brimming with apple trees, craft gin, good food and talented artists.

This outdoor gallery is located in front of the Royal Bank of Scotland and features live art and original artworks as well as music and other performances. Enjoy handcrafted, premium gin at the Caorunn & T Bar and sample Scottish street food, locally sourced and cooked fresh on-site.

There are also interactive workshops with hand crafting experience.

The Guildford Arms 1–5 West Register Street, 0131 556 4312, guildfordarms.com

First up, it's beautiful and everything you’ve heard about the ceiling, the gleaming dark wood and the brass twinkling in the gentle Edinburgh light is true. But pubs don’t stay open, in continuous ownership, for well over a hundred years just because they’re pretty. Beer is a serious business here, with a continuously changing range of cask and craft ales and beers gracing the taps. There’s always something new to discover – whether it’s a new brewer or a single cask of something special. The food is resolutely Scottish and perhaps a little dated, but everything’s prepared on the premises and service is swift and helpful.

During the Fringe, they host live jazz, blues and folk music.

Hamilton's Bar and Kitchen 16–18 Hamilton Place, 0131 226 4199, hamiltonsedinburgh.co.uk

This bar has become a busy Stockbridge local since opening in 2008. The long cocktail menu includes a banana and salted caramel Old Fashioned, a pecan and amaretto sour, and plenty seasonal concoctions in Mason jars with stripy straws. Weekend breakfast options include black pudding schnitzel with fried egg and caramelised apple or avocado with poached egg on sourdough bread with chorizo jam, plus gluten-free sweet potato hash browns with eggs and red pepper salsa. Vegetarians, those on gluten-free diets and dogs are well catered for, too.

99 Hanover Street 99 Hanover Street, 0131 225 8200, 99hanoverstreet.com

Don't let the deceptively plain exterior trick you. 99 Hanover's sultry interior –an exposed brick wall, softened by ruby velvet cushioning, mood lighting

and multicoloured patchwork sofas – is anything but boring. This quirky atmosphere comes to life with a daily DJ set. Drinks are outlined in the foolproof drinks report which unpretentiously displays the ingredients and dilution of each cocktail, alongside an illustration of its vessel. The cocktail list features drinks like Gin 'N' That containing mint, apricot preserve, lemon, crème de pêche and Tanqueray gin, and more unusual combinations which mix tequila and prosecco. The spirited bartenders whip up the classics on request.

Hoot The Redeemer 7 Hanover Street, 0131 220 0920, hoottheredeemer.com

A rarity in that it’s a great bar just a few steps off Princes Street, it’s entered via a dark stairway with a disguised doorway – in this case, a dummy fortune teller in a glass case which assails the customer in a broad Scottish accent. The funfair theme continues inside: DJs play from a modified Punch & Judy stall and a vending machine sells alcoholic ice creams. The cocktails are intended to be fun and unpretentious – the retro-themed list includes Days of Thunder (vodka, Blue Curacao, raspberries and soda) and Hopped Grasshopper, a fusion of crème de menthe and cacao with added hops.

BEER GARDENS

Cumberland Bar

Jeremiah’s Taproom

Where to grab an alfresco beverage when the sun shines on Edinburgh

7–8 Elm Row, 0131 556 8201, jeremiahstaproom.co.uk

THE BEEHIVE INN

As the craft beer revolution has gathered pace, so has this pub’s inventiveness in helping you enjoy it. Not content with serving three or four cask beers and over half a dozen kegs, they now offer their draughts in two-pint cartons to take away, plus over 40 varieties of cans and bottles in a brightly lit chiller cabinet.

There’s an American diner feel to the menu with a wide range of burgers and smoked bratwurst hot dogs. Beef patties can be swapped out for chicken breast or veggie burger, though meat-avoiders may struggle to see past the mac and cheese, breaded and served in a brioche bun.

Joseph Pearce’s 23 Elm Row, 0131 556 4140, bodabar. com/joseph-pearces

JP’s is a perfect example of the reinvention of the old man’s boozer for the top of the Walk’s bright young (and not-so-young) things. Part of Edinburgh’s mini-chain of Swedish bars, the menu bears a Scandi influence – expect smörgåsbords, hasselback potatoes and, of course, meatballs served with lingonberry jam. The cocktail list is interesting, with aquavit making the odd appearance, most notably in the Hot Bjorn Borg which packs a chilli punch. Keep your eyes peeled for regular Swedish events, like August’s traditional crayfish parties.

The Last Word Saloon 44 St Stephen Street, 0131 225 9009, lastwordsaloon.com

A refreshing alternative to the glitz and suits of the George Street scene, this excellent low-lit basement bar gets the balance just right between taking their cocktails very seriously, while keeping the atmosphere pretension-free. The Neko to Nezumi is an example of the bar’s many wonderful whisky-based concoctions; a heady hot drink for two, blending Ardmore single malt with vermouth and

18 Grassmarket, Old Town This grassmarket bar and restaurant has a history spanning over 400 years. Tucked out the back, beneath the Castle, is a garden terrace set over three levels that can hold up to 200 revellers on a sunny day. Inside, the two 50-seater performance spaces host stand-up comedy during the Fringe.

THE BLACKBIRD 37–38 Leven Street, West End Enter The Blackbird through an entrance topped by a bright orange bike, to discover one of the city's most spacious beer gardens.

The decked courtyard is full of lush pot plants and industrial style furniture, where you can spend an afternoon working your way through their summer cocktail list. The space is strung with fairy lights, should you still be enjoying Coconut Daiquiris or Rhubarb Old Fashioneds after sun down.

CUMBERLAND BAR 1–3 Cumberland Street, New Town Located in the city's elegant Georgian grid, this old school pub boasts a leafy, sunken beer garden. There's eight real ale taps with Alechemy, Pilot, Fyne Ales and Campervan Brewery all making appearances. If the weather turns, as it is prone to do in Scotland, take refuge inside by the open fire.

THE PEAR TREE HOUSE 34 West Nicolson Street, Southside AKA The Pear Tree, the venue boasts a spacious walled beer garden filled with picnic tables. There's an outdoor stage for live music and regular barbecues. The upper floors of the adjacent 18th-century building are home to the Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, one of the Fringe's largest free venues, with six rooms hosting free shows from 10am–2am.

THREE SISTERS 139 Cowgate, Old Town The courtyard of this student-friendly venue is normally packed with sports fans enjoying the big-screen action. During August, it hosts six rooms of free shows as part of Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters. Add in the outdoor bars, hog roast, and the 5am closing time, and you'll understand why it's not one for a quiet drink.

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CITY GUIDE NEW TOWN & STOCKBRIDGE

spices, filtered through a Japanese coffee siphon. Mezcal and tequila sit alongside strawberry jam, lime juice and rose liqueur in the Same But Different or there’s fernet, pisco or poppy liqueur for sipping.

In association with

European wine list is compact but varied and the ports and sherries are given prominent billing on the dessert menu to lead you further into temptation.

aficionados. They’ll match you with an appropriate malt you can savour with a well-chosen bar snack of smoked almonds, charcuterie or salted caramel chocolate.

MY PICKS

Queen's Arms The Lucky Liquor Co 39a Queen Street, 0131 226 3976, luckyliquorco.com

Forget the superstition – as all adherents to the cult of the cocktail know, 13 is the luckiest number especially when it refers to the lucky #13 at Lucky Liquor. 13 cocktails on the list, 13 bottles on the back bar, and a new list every quarter. Keeping it tight means creative, classy choices.

There’s a compact wine list, the usual mixers plus a range of bottled beers and two on the tap. Some elements of the mix are homemade, like their liqueurs, many of which are available on off-sale to take home and try your hand at knocking up a lucky #13 of your own.

49 Frederick Street, 0131 225 1045, queensarmsedinburgh.com

This cosy downstairs bolthole appeals to a wide audience – it’s simultaneously relaxed enough for a pint while watching the match yet smart enough for some serious cocktail action or a meal out.

The copper-topped horseshoe bar casts a cheerful glow, while the book-lined walls, squashy leather sofas and mismatched chandeliers contribute to its quirky charm. There are half a dozen local cask ales – plus all the usual mainstream options on draught -– along with a serious stash of malt whiskies, a decent wine selection and a cocktail list. Sharing platters include meat, seafood or a pie of the day with all the trimmings.

Smith & Gertrude 26 Hamilton Place, 0131 629 6280, smithandgertrude.com

New Stockbridge wine bar Smith & Gertrude combines its owners biggest loves – wine, cheese, music and books.

It’s a homely, unpretentious space with a well-stocked bookcase for customer reading and a record player where you can play music from a great vinyl selection.

The wine list is fat and chosen with discernment while the food choices extend only as far as cheese and charcuterie, but don’t suffer for it. Sharing boards, nibbles and Edward & Irwyn chocolates all feature, but the flights are a particular selling point – either trios of wines on their own or paired with cheese.

The Ox 49–51 London Street, 0131 556 9808, theoxedinburgh.com

Proudly self-identifying as a gastropub, the pub part takes place at street level and the craft beer box is very much ticked with Punk IPA and Schiehallion on tap and a good range of bottles. The spacious upstairs area is slightly more sedate in atmosphere and much more gastro.

Starters and mains are supplemented by 'small things', an assortment of hard-toresist snacks including smoked applewood and sun-blushed tomato arancini and 'bigger things', including steaks and an excellent handmade burger. The mainly

Scotch

The Street

The Balmoral Hotel, 1 Princes Street, roccofortehotels.com

2 Picardy Place, 0131 556 4272, thestreetbaredinburgh.co.uk

Tucked behind reception and lacking an on-street entrance, Scotch is easily overlooked. It’s a comfortable, clubby space, with the obligatory stag’s head and well-stuffed armchairs in tweeds and golden tones. Other drinks are available but really this place is mainly about the more than 500 malt whiskies which take up an entire wall of the room. Smart staff will happily deliver a digestible crash course in single malts for the novice or engage in detailed debates with whisky

This bright drinking den is perfect for people-watching and dancing – one of those places where you pop in for a quick one after work and end up holding court with a cocktail in each hand. There’s a real community spirit – staff are friendly, dogs welcome and there's decent food options. At weekends, the downstairs club comes into its own: local hero, DJ Trendy Wendy, has a regular Friday spot.

During the Fringe, drop in for cabaret and comedy, too.

ROBERT SHAW Caffè Espresso on Bank Street, near the top of the High Street. Try the delicious chorizo and manchego baguette, or Piera's outstanding homemade takeaway pasta and cakes.

Or Cafe Piccante at the top of Broughton Street: their deep fried Mars bar with ice-cream and chocolate sauce was my son’s favourite Edinburgh food experience.

Robert Shaw directs Poena 5X1, Underbelly Med Quad, 0844 545 8252, 3–29 Aug (not 17), 3.20pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).

“Fabulous food and genuinely lovely staff ” Gaby Soutar, The Scotsman

L U NCH A F T E R NO O N TEA D I NNE R S NA CK S L A T E NI G H T D R I NK S

Book a table at printingpressedinburgh.co.uk

Find us: T: 0131 240 7177 21 - 25 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PB

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The West End of Edinburgh is home to several of the city's permanent performance venues. Just off Lothian Road is the Traverse Theatre, whose Fringe programme continues their year-round dedication to new writing; the glass-fronted Royal Lyceum Theatre, which showcases a variety of plays as part of the International Festival, including several Shakespeare productions; and the Usher Hall, where you can see world famous composers, conductors and orchestras.

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Further west is the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Set in extensive parkland, the gallery hosts a collection of modern and contemporary art across two buildings as well as a sculpture garden. In addition to their permanent collection it's a partner venue for Edinburgh Art Festival and the starting point for one of their Art Late events, where you can enjoy artist talks, tours and live music at art spaces across the city.

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CITY GUIDE WEST END

The Atelier SCOTTISH 159–161 Morrison Street, 0131 629 1344, theatelierrestaurant.co.uk | Closed Mon | £14.90 (set lunch) / £25 (dinner)

Flash, bang, pow, wow! Get your phone out because you’re gonna wanna Instagram pictures of this meal. The Atelier’s chef likes an adventure and his experimental menu and stylish establishment is an unexpected addition to this West End neighbourhood. The upside is really good quality Scottish produce with a scattering of foraged accoutrements, and very good value. Try lightly cooked scallops presented like a work of art, piled high with Serrano ham, figs, Jerusalem artichoke and nasturtium.

Or fresh wild trout atop a colourful concoction of mini Scotch egg, rhubarb, quinoa, and fennel beside a pool of star anise hollandaise.

L'Escargot Blanc Restaurant & Wine Bar FRENCH 17 Queensferry Street, 0131 226 1890, lescargotblanc.co.uk | Closed Sun | £11.90 (set lunch) / £25 (dinner)

Cosy candlelit tables, old-style posters for classic movies and French liqueurs lining the walls, the impressive roomtemperature cheese board on display for all to admire – this place ticks all the boxes for a relaxed dinner. The produce is proudly Scottish with few exceptions: rabbit from France, and snails too when the Barra ones are in hibernation. The hearty food covers all the French bistro classics – fish soup,

The Atelier

tartiflette, cassoulet, and sausages all feature heavily. Nice touches like complimentary amuse-bouches and petit fours with coffee are an unexpected treat, and the addition of a wine bar at street level adds much to the restaurant's appeal.

Galvin Brasserie de Luxe BISTRO Caledonian Hotel, Princes Street, 0131 222 8988, galvinbrasseriedeluxe.com | £16 (set lunch) / £26 (dinner)

Mirrors and bentwood chairs nod to Parisian brasserie style but the slickness characteristic of Galvin’s belies its major league hotel proprietors. The menu has three strands. First up are the stars of the Scottish seas in all their simple glory, oysters on ice, lobsters and langoustine with mayonnaise. Next, from the grill, come steaks classically garnished with field mushroom, tomato and watercress.

But what really sets off a joyous rattling of pots in the kitchen is the handful of French brasserie classics such as plat du jour boeuf bourguignon or a cocotte of cassoulet.

Kanpai JAPANESE 8–10 Grindlay Street, 0131 228 1602, kanpaisushi.co.uk | Closed Mon | £14.20 (lunch) / £18.50 (dinner)

Kanpai's food is all about finesse, from the super-fine batter coating the tofu, to the delicate crisp yam noodles. Sushi here seems far more than the sum of its parts, even though those parts are pretty noteworthy; chef Max has pretty high spec for his fish, requiring Irish sea mackerel and Japanese tuna.

Such attention to sourcing results in the cleanest tasting sashimi around, even though you’ll have to leave your sustainability hat at the door. A sensibly concise drinks list (including some superb sake) complements rather than confuses the enticing menu, and service is as smooth and elegant as the rest of the package.

Milk

MY PICKS STEVE ULLATHORNE

EAT

In association with

SAMANTHA BAINES Hula Juice Bar and Gallery (103– 105 West Bow) is my favourite place to collect my pre-show thoughts over a carrot juice and soya earl grey (yep TWO drinks #winning). Scrummy food, bright colours and teeny tiny milk bottles make for a top café.

The staff tend to be beautiful Earth goddesses and they serve top healthy stuff so you will feel good about yourself afterwards, although you might consider wearing yoga pants out.

1 Woman, a Dwarf Planet and 2 Cox: Samantha Baines, Pleasance Courtyard, 0131 556 6550, 3–29 Aug (not 6), 3.30pm, £7.50–£10 (£6.50–£9).

Locanda de Gusti ITALIAN 102 Dalry Road, 0131 346 8800, locandadegusti.com | Closed Sun | £12.95 (set lunch) / £21 (dinner)

You could trip over the fresh produce in Locanda de Gusti. There it is, proudly displayed just inside the door – boxes of gleaming aubergines, tomatoes and lemons, waiting to be whisked into the kitchen and transformed into dishes that retain all the freshness and flavour the raw ingredients promise. There's a daily-changing menu that majors on high quality Scottish meat and fish, and vegetables sourced from the chef's native Campania. Pizza dough is made 24 hours ahead; bread is baked on the premises; everything tastes good and feels like it is doing you good.

Milk CAFE 232 Morrison Street, 0131 629 6022, cafemilk.co.uk | £8.50 (lunch)

The stylish and understated décor of Milk fits with their tagline of ‘fresh, seasonal, local, homemade food’. With breakfast, hot stuff, seasonal soups, burritos, sandwiches, salads and home baking, they offer much more than your basic café. There’s great gluten-free options like tasty feta, kale, pea and broccoli fritters served with herby slaw, rosemary and cumin-roasted vegetables, date and black sesame hummus and dukkah-spiced nuts. Or try the Indian burrito of black dhal with yoghurt, rice and dhal muth. Coffee is good too; enjoy it with a vegan choc truffle slice or courgette and poppyseed cake.

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Authentic Georgian Cellar Bar Freshly prepared and locally sourced seafood is our speciality Extensive wine list many by the glass, real ales and malt whisky Food served all day until 10pm Opening Hours Thursday–Sunday: Midday–Midnight Friday & Saturday: Midday–1am 13 Hope Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4EL T: 0131 225 8674 E: info@whighams.com

www.whighams.com

GLASGOW COMING SOON AUTUMN 2016 follow us at tuktukedinburgh

1 Leven Street Edinburgh EH3 9LH BOOK | www.tuktukonline.com call| 0131 228 3322

l’escargot bleu & blanc -YLUJO [^PZ[ \ZPUN [OL ILZ[ VM :JV[SHUK HUK [OL ÄULZ[ Scottish seasonal larder from top quality local suppliers 56 Broughton Street Edinburgh EH1 3SA 0131 557 1600 www.lescargotbleu.co.uk

17 Queensferry Street Edinburgh EH2 4QW 0131 226 1890 www.lescargotblanc.co.uk

@Lescargot_B

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CITY GUIDE WEST END

Mademoiselle Macaron

SWEET TREATS

Get your sugar fix with honeycomb doughnuts, cherry bakewell ice-cream or Irn Bru macarons

AFFOGATO 36 Queensferry Road, West End A gelateria offering authentic ice-creams, handmade on the premises. Choose from bestsellers like salted caramel to eclectic specials such as fiery dark chocolate and chilli. There's also a short menu of treats including generously topped waffles and homebaking to indulge in.

DEADLY DONUTS 21 Argyle Place, Southside

In association with

Navadhanya

Timberyard

INDIAN 88 Haymarket Terrace, 0131 281 7187, navadhanya-scotland.co.uk | Closed Mon | £8.50 (set lunch) / £26 (dinner)

SCOTTISH 10 Lady Lawson Street, 0131 221 1222, timberyard.co | Closed Sun/Mon | £30 four courses (set lunch) / £55 four courses (set dinner)

Navadhanya, a newcomer to Edinburgh’s Indian restaurant scene aims for fine dining cuisine. Inspired by regional Indian dishes and making the most of Scotland’s larder, the menu offers a refreshing twist while retaining authentic flavours. A choice of lamb, chicken, seafood and vegetable dishes offer innovative combinations.

Tandoori-grilled salmon delivers fish delicately marinated in paprika, roasted cumin, mustard and curry leaf, alongside a sweet mango sauce. Kali mirchi ka lobster, meaty chunks of lobster tail in a rich sauce of shallots, tomatoes and crushed red peppers, is bold in heat without masking the flavours of the sea and spices.

Timberyard is a conversion of a big old brick warehouse and former timberyard –hence the name. The vibe is post-hipster, post-industrial, gentrified dockland district: timber, timber everywhere; hefty bare white tables; tree trunks for drinks stands. The ethos is laudable: what’s not home-grown, smoked or hung is spotlessly sourced.

Each dish on a variety of tasting menus comprises a list of always artfully arranged, often intriguing, ingredients – a lexicon of foraged foodstuffs from knotroot to woodruff. Wash it all down with organic wine or a couple of cracking cocktails, and hear the appreciation of your constitution, for it is, indubitably, all good.

Sushiya

Vietnam House Restaurant

JAPANESE 19 Dalry Road, 0131 313 3222, sushiya.co.uk | Closed Mon | £14 (lunch) / £20 (dinner)

VIETNAMESE 1–3 Grove Street, 0131 228 3383, vietnamhouse.co.uk | £14.25 (dinner)

As cool jazz plays on the stereo, perch on one of the high stools for a bird’s eye view of the sushi chef as he works his magic. Starters such as seaweed salad with sesame will get the tastebuds tingling. Pan-fried dumplings are featherlight and complemented by a sharp dipping sauce. Emaki sushi is presented as bouquets of seafood joy, encased in a crisp seaweed cone containing moist rice, crunchy veg and smoky, unctuous eel. The sashimi selection takes things to a whole other level – ruby-red slices of succulent tuna and gleaming salmon which melts like butter, are perfect reflections of the restaurant’s meticulous attention to detail.

Here’s one of those hot-tip, secret restaurants that’s so consistently thrumming with happy clientele you realise it’s on the verge of not being a secret any more. Thatched-grass ceiling provides a Vietnamese hut vibe, with gorgeous paintings on the wall and vibrant wallpaper. Fresh spring rolls burst with mint, prawn and veg, and elicit groans of pleasure when dipped into a peanut sauce edging towards decadence with its caramel overtones.

Pho comes fortifying and in every variety you could hope for. Braised chicken drumsticks make for a mouthful of rich flesh, subtle coconut, and zingy lemongrass – a divine dish served atop a mountain of rice.

The Beer Kitchen by Innis & Gunn

It's best to know that 'deadly' is considered a compliment in the owner's native Tayside. Made freshly and with care, the flavour possibilities are endless: go classic with sugar, sophisticated with honeycomb and burnt sugar, or bold with maple cream and bacon (yup, real bacon).

MADEMOISELLE MACARON 22 Grindlay Street, West End Mademoiselle and her team craft rainbow macarons, with variations from traditional raspberry to whisky or Irn Bru. A choux bun in the shape of a swan or a Paris-Brest puffed up with cream are both tempting macaron alternatives alongside a cup of coffee in this fun French space.

MARY'S MILK BAR 19 Grassmarket, Old Town Former art student Mary pours her creative genius into weird and wonderful tubs of gelato. This quirky little retro Grassmarket hangout offers a daily changing lineup of ice-cream, with flavours including elderflower cider sorbet, cherry bakewell and white chocolate and basil.

TWELVE TRIANGLES 90 Brunswick Street, Leith Offering a small but perfectly formed selection of breads, pastries and doughnuts along with fine tea, artisan coffee and rich hot chocolates. The menu changes according to the whims of the bakers. Perhaps a pistachio custard doughnut or a cinnamon bun with cream cheese icing?

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WEST END CITY GUIDE

DRINK Akva 129 Fountainbridge, 0131 290 2500, bodabar.com/akva

A few muffling rugs, some mismatched furniture, a ping-pong table upstairs and a decent range of craft beers, ciders and cocktails means this is a fun hangout whether there are a couple of dozen people in or the place is mobbed. Other selling points include child friendliness (there’s a small baby play area at the 52 Canoes

back), a huge outdoor seating area on the canal, and strong food offerings; highlights include a chunky, Norwegianstyle fish chowder, a plate of Swedish meatballs served with mashed potato, dill gravy and lingonberry jam, and a smoked trout and salmon smörgåsbord.

The Beer Kitchen by Innis & Gunn 81–83 Lothian Road, 0131 228 6392, innisandgunn.com

Conceived and run by Edinburgh’s Innis & Gunn craft brewery, the Beer

Kitchen is following in the footsteps of competitors like Brewdog in delivering a barfront focal point for the brand. While the Beer Kitchen offers beer tasting sessions, beer flights and growlers to take away as well as offsales (there are 120 beers on their menu in total), the focus seems to be on the experience as a whole. Amid a fashionable assemblage of bare brick walls, snug booths and a more open area by the bar for lingering barflies, visitors will find a strong wine list, a modest range of classic cocktails and a quality food menu.

MY PICKS

The Blue Blazer 2 Spittal Street, 0131 229 5030

Amongst the art students, tourists, office workers and . . . dogs which make a regular appearance, the Blue Blazer’s loyal elders will tell you that this place, over the years, has barely changed a bit.

Have a gander at the personalised mosaic on the floor and the faded pictures of Edinburgh at the time of opening in 1975. Their seven revolving cask ale taps keep those in search of a local brew happy, with the likes of Fyne Ales Superior IPA and Speyside’s Bow Fiddle Blonde making regular appearances.

What really makes this old-school boozer stand out from the rest is their selection of 80-plus rums from all corners of the world.

Carters Tap 185 Morrison Street, 0131 228 9149, 50mls.co.uk/carters

Six beer taps include three guests drawn exclusively from around Scotland – including Alechemy, Barney’s, Pilot, Stewart’s and Harviestoun – as well as a range of 15 all-Scottish gins and a decent selection of whiskies. Built over two cosy split-levels, with the mezzanine hanging low over much of the bar, Carters is both classic and contemporary.

By the bar there are swivelling stools, mosaic floor tiles and padded knee rests, while behind the brick is fashionably stripped-back and the beer and gin ranges in particular are well-stocked.

52 Canoes 13 Melville Place, 0131 226 4732

While gin is definitely having a moment around town, 52 resolutely paddles its own canoe straight down rum river.

There's well over a hundred different brands and ages available, including Scotland’s own Dark Matter, with rum flights and tasting notes acknowledging the spirit’s serious taste credentials. This love of all things rum translates into a mean cocktail too – their Mai Tai is a strong contender for the best in the city – while homemade ginger beer elevates a simple Dark and Stormy to almost cult status. The tiki bar styling, warm welcome and generous side order of kitsch make this a grand choice for a fun night out.

The Hanging Bat 133 Lothian Road, 0131 229 0759, thehangingbat.com | £10 (lunch) / £10 (dinner)

The Hanging Bat is full of nooks and crannies set into split-levels of exposed brick, chunky wood and reclaimed furniture. Depending on your love for all things hoppy, the choice of 158 bottles and cans may be either overwhelming or exciting. However, the staff are

SUSAN CALMAN It’s my tenth year at the Fringe and I do Edinburgh rather differently these days. Instead of late night carousing, I go to bed early and spend my mornings exercising. The Meadows is best appreciated as dawn is breaking, devoid of the usual carousers and performers. During the day, Edinburgh is a cacophony of sound and fury. In the morning, on the cool grass, that green space is an oasis of calm. The only people I meet while running are other joggers, and we don’t speak, we simply nod and part company. We all respect that sweet sound of silence, just for a moment, before the city wakes again.

Susan Calman: The Calman Before the Storm, Pleasance Courtyard, 0131 556 6550, 3–28 Aug, 6.20pm, £10–£14 (£9–£13).

more than happy to share their love and understanding, gladly offering tasters of the six cask beers or 14 keg lines. For those who can’t settle on one, there’s a flight (five 1/3 pints) on offer. The food is all about meat, with an American accent.

That means pulled pork, ribs, or a choice of hotdogs , including the haggis-topped Greyfriars Bobby.

Heads & Tales 1a Rutland Place, 0131 229 3402, headsandtalesbar.com | Closed Mon

At Heads and Tales, G.I.Y. stands for Gin It Yourself, a neat ‘make your own cocktail’ concept that happily over-rides any bafflement at the substantial range of gins atop the bar. During the day, the space is home to the Edinburgh Gin distillery, whose working stills twinkle prettily from behind the main seating area. With evening-only opening, a no children policy, a hard to find entrance (keep your eyes peeled for a solitary, lit plaque above a staircase) and lovely, lovely gins, this feels like a forbidden, adult pleasure – in short, like you’ve died and gone to Gin Heaven.

Indigo Yard 7 Charlotte Lane, 0131 220 5603, indigoyardedinburgh.co.uk

Indigo Yard has survived, and thrived, for 20 years, despite being hidden down a side alley in the West End. This is largely

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CITY GUIDE WEST END

In association with

thanks to the attention it pays to its customers and their desires. Never ones to miss a trend, they are into craft beer in a big way, with 27 lines, including four rotating brews, to choose from.

The artisan feeling is also reflected in the décor – distressed wood and leather dominate the interesting double-height, split-level space. The atmosphere is welcoming and the menu offers classic dishes done well, from fish and chips or steak pie and mash to haddock risotto with a nicely poached egg.

ACCESSIBLE VENUES

MY PICKS

The Jolly Botanist 256–260 Morrison Street, 0131 228 5596, thejollybotanist.co.uk |

Dance Base

A selection of venues helping to make the festival more inclusive, with accessible spaces and programmes featuring signed, captioned, relaxed or audio described performances

CHARLOTTE SQUARE The Edinburgh International Book Festival has a fully accessible site for wheelchair users with level access or ramped access into all venues. The Book Festival schedules some British Sign Language (BSL) performances in advance in the adult and children’s programme and also operates an ‘on request’ service.

Infra-red hearing systems are available in all theatres except the two smallest. Collect a set of earphones from the Information Desk in the Entrance Tent.

DANCE BASE This Grassmarket venue was the winner of last year's inaugural Euan's Guide Award for accessible venues. Dance Base is fully accessible with lift or level access to all areas of the building and has accessible toilets and changing facilities. Fixed induction loops are provided at the reception counter and in studios 2, 3 and 4. A portable induction loop is available for use in other areas of the building.

EICC The conference centre venue offers signed performances of comedians Daniel Sloss, Craig Hill and Jimeoin. The venue has dedicated accessible parking spaces, a disabled access sliding door, lifts with grab rails to all levels and adapted toilets on each floor.

SUMMERHALL Not all spaces are fully accessible in this B-listed building. There is a step-free entrance to the venue on Summerhall Square and lift access to some of the first floor and basement spaces. You can arrange a familiarisation tour prior to events. Their Fringe programme features a number of signed, captioned or relaxed performances for both theatre and children's shows.

TRAVERSE THEATRE From the Cambridge Street entrance, there is level access to the box office at the Traverse, with lift access to the cafe bar and theatre and adapted toilets on both levels. Guide and hearing dogs are welcome and multiple shows on the Traverse's Fringe programme of new writing are audio-scribed or signed.

For more information, contact accessbookings@edfringe.com

The Jolly Botanist is an upmarket gin bar, with an impressive multi-page menu taking drinkers through over 50 brands of gin, with recipes torn from old books decorating the walls with suggestions for classic gin cocktails. Your average G&T is mostly T – so (rightly) the gin list also suggests a tonic to accompany your tipple as well as a recommended garnish to set the whole thing off: Caorunn with Fentimans tonic and a slice of apple, or Rock Rose with Fever-Tree and a sprig of rosemary being particularly successful pairings.

Lebowskis 18 Morrison Street, 0131 466 1779, lebowskis.co.uk

TIFF STEVENSON My favourite restaurant in Edinburgh is Bonsai (46 West Richmond Street). I’m loathe to recommend it though as it’s tiny and you will all go there!

It’s two minutes walk from my venue on Roxburgh Place and it has the best Dragon Roll in the business. This place is really about the food rather than the atmosphere. It’s pretty low on comfort, there are benches and they pack you in. The food is incredible and the same people have been running this joint for as long as i’ve been coming to the Fringe. Ten years . . . I know, why do I look so young?

Lebowskis is an Edinburgh must-visit, renowned for its relaxed, laid-back vibe, just the way the Dude himself would like it. Wooden floors and plain tables keep things simple and there are humorous touches like the gilt picture frame around the TV screen in the main dining area.

As well as its famous long list of White Russians – most asked for is the Big Lebowski, a double whammy of vodka, coffee liqueur, milk and cream – there are beers, wines and a specially devised cocktail menu including the fruity Merry Berry and marmaladey Burnt Ma Toast.

Best be hungry if you want to do justice to the mighty burgers.

remains solid. Tuck into naughty but nice mac'n'cheese bombs (fried cheesy pasta is never a bad thing) perhaps accompanied by a house special cocktail.

A decent all-rounder.

Red Squirrel

Teuchters

21 Lothian Road, 0131 229 9933, redsquirreledinburgh.co.uk

26 William Street, 0131 225 2973, aroomin.co.uk

Start with the beers, because here it’s all about the beers. With an ever-changing combination of local taps, the Red Squirrel pretty much guarantee you won’t get bored with your pint. Expect to see a good mix of brewers like Pilot, Williams and Alechemy on the taps, with guest appearances from Belgium and the US, too. Staff know their stuff, so if you’re feeling frisky why not ask for them to sort you out with a taster flight? There’s a compact menu, mostly featuring decent quality burgers, kids are welcome and service is slick.

Tucked away in a quiet street, Teuchters is a pub with laid-back charm, its wooden floors and comfy sofas offering space to relax and chat. The bar offers no less than 100 malt whiskies, a range of craft beers and three guest beers a month plus a good selection of wines. The pub is known for the casual style of its menu – dig your spoon into a mug (yes, a mug) of Cullen skink or haggis neeps and tatties. Pies are cooked to order or you can share a platter of meats or Scottish cheeses. A great neighbourhood pub, with friendly staff and an atmosphere that belies its central location.

Tiff Stevenson: Seven, Assembly Roxy, 0131 623 3030, 3–28 Aug (not 15), 7.10pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10).

Sygn 15 Charlotte Lane, 0131 225 6060, sygn.co.uk

Sygn clearly ticks a lot of bar boxes: a good lunch deal; a compact but decent wine and beer list for relaxed midweek nights; DJs and an expertly crafted cocktail list aimed at a younger, pre-clubbing crowd at the weekend. Of course, when you try to be all things to all people there’s a risk of not doing anything well, but thanks to the obvious care and thought that’s been put in behind the bar and in the kitchen, Sygn

FOR CO FEST MPLETE LISTI IVAL LIS NGS SEE

T. FESTCO.UK/ IVAL

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FESTIVAL GIN, ANYONE?

Join us for a taste of summer with Edinburgh Gin! This festival, our showstopping gins and liqueurs will be headlining three outdoor venues: The Edinburgh Gin Garden (at St Andrew Square) 15th July – 31st Aug Rutland Place Terrace (beside The Edinburgh Gin Distillery) 5th – 31st Aug

#EdGinGarden

East Princes Street Gardens (beside The Scottish Café) 5th Aug – 29th Aug

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/edinburghgin

@edinburgh_gin

@edinburghgin

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a In days gone by, Leith was a separate burgh but the two W settlements just couldn't keep apart. Now Leith Walk meets ne La ive ce Dr Pla Edinburgh city centre outside the Playhouse theatre and recently ton ith e l ris r ar ve n W I refurbished gay club CC Blooms, at a busy junction watched over by the statues of Sherlock Holmes and two curious looking ce ra d er oa nT R do on Eil giraffes. ist r ar W et is Broughton Street, a handy Running north from this junction tre nS o d Eil strip of cafés, bars and eateries.

This area is home to venues ill M e including the Street Bar, Outhouse (with live jazz and blues acts gi Lo ill M e in the evenings during the Fringe), and 48 Below, where LaughingLooggiie Mill L Horse present a programme of stand-up comics.

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Fewer Fringe venues ain't such a bad thing if you're looking for a break from crowds, queues and plastic pint glasses. Leith is where e ac ith Terr Inverle a large portion of Edinburgh students and young professional cheid Pa th ills nonm types liveRoand so doesn't rely on the tourist trade Caas much as other areas of town. There's a wide selection of independent restaurants Ro dn ne ey La S and great pubs, where you won't have to on sweep swathes of show t re n et Ca re C y re E leaflets off your table.

Road le og en Gl Leith is a creative community, with an ever-changing array of ce Pla re street art. Redeveloped waterfront area the Ey Shore runs borders -Coburg P lac e the Water of Leith. This is where several of the city's top chefs Sa have chosen to establish their restaurants and on a summer's day xe w Co n Ro bu erso rg Hend Wa St can enjoy waterside dining you or drinking: just don't make any re te Lane e sc ro lace re fL on P ei H enders th jokes about 'Sunshine on Leith' – they've already heard it. Royal C

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EAT Bodega MEXICAN 62 Elm Row, 0131 556 7930, ilovebodega.com | Closed Mon/Tue | £16.50 (dinner)

While many Mexican offerings in Edinburgh focus on traditional flavour combinations, a trip to Bodega breaks the mould. The soft taco selection reveals the international and street food influences which place this establishment ahead of the pack.

There’s globetrotting flavours such as Japanese-inspired avocado tempura with wasabi mayo, while a glance at the specials board steers closer to home with panko-coated haggis and sriracha.

Each taco unveils a new adventure but remains perfectly cooked and balanced. This Leith Walk taqueria is a festive, colourful yet snug space, with its cheery service and BYOB policy creating a celebratory atmosphere.

Bijou BISTRO 2 Restalrig Road, 0131 538 0664, bijoubistro.co.uk | £14 (lunch) / £20 (dinner)

True to its name, Bijou is a real, pocket-sized gem among the city’s independent restaurants. The décor evokes a backstreet Parisian bistro, especially if there’s something French and jazzy on the stereo, and despite overlooking Leith Links, you do half expect Amélie to pop in. The wee menu reflects the wee space and features handmade burgers; pasta such as wild mushroom gnocchi; and hot-smoked salmon fishcakes. There is also an ever-changing mix of specials. Add in a talented chef and some well-chosen wines from Great Grog, and it’s a winning combination.

L'Escargot Bleu FRENCH 56 Broughton Street, 0131 557 1600, lescargotbleu.co.uk | Closed Sun | £12.90 (set lunch) / £12.90 (set dinner)

This much-revered bistro in Broughton Street is home to true French cooking, produced with obvious passion and soul. The menu serves all the expected Gallic classics with a slight Caledonian slant. So you get Isle of Lewis mussels served ‘Cullen skink style’ with smoked haddock, or a duo of Borders roe deer and pigeon. Provenance is writ large in l’Escargot: it's now well known that the snails come from the tiny Scottish island of Barra (as far as possible), and you're as likely to find North Ronaldsay mutton on the menu as you are confit duck and French cheese.

La Favorita ITALIAN 325–331 Leith Walk, 0131 554 2430, vittoriagroup.co.uk | £10 (set lunch) / £19 (dinner)

The original Leith Walk pizzeria, La Favorita continues to produce pizzas of great quality with a serving of super-friendly service on the side. The pizza menu is extensive, and includes several non-tomato ‘white’ options.

Whatever your preference, they’re very

good, with great bases and gluten-free options, too. Most pasta dishes come as starters or mains, plus there are meat and fish mains to be found in among the carbs. The restaurant is especially popular with families: children are welcomed with (literal) open arms and their kids’ menu features favourites including smoked salmon pasta with broccoli in a creamy sauce.

Fishers in Leith FISH 1 The Shore, 0131 554 5666, fishersbistros.co.uk | £15 (set lunch) / £24.50 (dinner)

Laid out over two wood-lined rooms in the ground floor of a 17th-century watchtower on Leith waterfront, this restaurant has been producing reliably good fish and seafood since 1991 and shows no sign of changing her ways. À la carte starters of skate wings and salt cod brandade are satisfyingly salty, just how food from the sea should be.

The Fishers Favourites menu features time-honoured, tried-and-tested crowdpleasers such as oysters and mussels, fish soup and fishcakes, seafood platters and steaks, while veggie diners have their own menu. With an extensive wine list and a good value set lunch deal, Fishers offers something to satisfy everyone.

Khushi's INDIAN 10 Antigua Street, 0131 558 1947, khushis.com | £13 (set lunch) / £20 (dinner)

Los Cardos MEXICAN 281 Leith Walk, 0131 555 6619, loscardos.co.uk | £7.20 (dinner)

Inspired by a holiday in Colorado, Los Cardos (Spanish for 'the thistles') has been a popular Tex-Mex destination on Leith Walk since 2010. Although primarily a takeaway with limited seating space for 10, diners are welcome to enjoy their meals in nearby bars Victoria, Boda and Sofi's. The menu features burritos, fajitas, quesadillas and soft tacos with a choice of steak, chicken, pork, Macsween's haggis and vegetarian fillings. The quesadillas arrive precision engineered, enveloped in melted cheese within a handsomely grilled tortilla.

Portions are excellent value, friendly staff more than happy to talk you through your options, and even when it's busy the service is remarkably efficient.

Origano ITALIAN 236 Leith Walk, 0131 554 6539, origano-leith.co.uk | £13 (lunch) / £15 (dinner)

It can be hard to make antipasti seem interesting and original, but Origano manages it. The breads are infused with rosemary and garlic, and there is a wide selection of cured meats, from Parma ham to salami. The pizza here is something of local legend. With three size options to choose from, there's something for every stomach and there’s a good range of toppings to boot – everything from your classic margherita to something a little more special (they

aren’t afraid to bring out the truffle oil).

It just might be the best pizza this side of Leith Walk.

The Ox BARS & PUBS 49–51 London Street, 0131 556 9808, theoxedinburgh.com | £12 (set lunch) / £20 (dinner)

Proudly self-identifying as a gastropub, the pub part takes place at street level and the craft beer box is very much ticked with Punk IPA and Schiehallion on tap and a good range of bottles. The spacious upstairs area is slightly more sedate in atmosphere and much more gastro.

Starters and mains are supplemented by 'small things', an assortment of hard-to-resist snacks including smoked applewood and sun-blushed tomato arancini and 'bigger things', including steaks and an excellent handmade burger. The mainly European wine list is compact but varied and the ports and sherries are given prominent billing on the dessert menu to lead you further into temptation.

Pera: Turkish Mangal & Meze Bar TURKISH 57 Elm Row, 07756 122730, turkishrestaurantedinburgh.co.uk | Closed Mon | £5.95 (set lunch) / £14 (dinner)

This excellent Leith Walk café is shoebox-sized and frills are limited to some pretty coloured lamps and protective ‘evil eyes’, which only adds to the no-fuss charm. Breakfasts are recommended, including fabulously

Khushi’s has become an Edinburgh institution. Despite the unfortunate loss of their Victoria Street restaurant to fire back in 2008, the resilient family team re-opened three years later in this, their sixth incarnation.

The menu features old favourites like jalfrezi alongside more unusual offerings. Prawn kolhapuri delivers succulent marinated king prawns coated in a light crispy batter, with aromatic cumin and curry leaf. Homestyle chicken curry is simple, yet satisfying, with roast cumin, onion and tomatoes. To help refresh the palate, there are the ever-popular lassis plus a few more interesting fruit-based concoctions. Reliably tasty food, a bustling atmosphere and BYOB with no corkage explains its continued popularity.

Leith Chop House STEAK 102 Constitution Street, 0131 629 1919, leithchophouse.co.uk | £20 (lunch) / £30 (dinner)

Billed as a bar and butchery, you can perch for cocktails or craft beer in a slick urban bar space before heading through to the clamour of the dining room. Having scoured the best of local farms for the best of British, the Chop House is unapologetically meat-focused. Custom-built dry-aging fridges displayed behind glass invite you to feast your eyes on great ribs of beef slowly tenderising over Himalayan salt, while you ponder whether to opt for brown butter hollandaise or bone marrow gravy. Sharing joints are sold by market weight and price, aged for a minimum 35 days and permeated with the smoky char of an open-flame grill. list.co.uk/festival | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | THE LIST 153

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salty Turkish spicy sausage (sucuk), salami, eggs, cheese, warm bread, jam and tea, or upsize to the Sultan’s Breakfast with extra tahini dip and olives, or a veggie alternative. Hot mezze platters are a good overview for under a tenner, with squeaky halloumi, courgette, feta and mint fritters and pastrami and mozzarella pastries. Lamb and chicken dominate the mangal (charcoal barbecue) mains and there’s tagines for vegetarians.

Leave space for sticky baklava and potent coffee.

HIGH END

Punjabi Junction INDIAN 122–124 Leith Walk, 07865 895022, punjabijunction.org | Closed Sun | £5 (set lunch) / £12 (dinner)

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Enjoy a lavish dining experience at the hands of the capital's most innovative chefs

AIZLE 107–109 St Leonard's Street, Southside Aizle practises the art of 'bistronomie' – Parisian for bistro plus gastronomy. A blackboard lists this month's 'harvest', and that will get you googling. Then comes the parade, each dish an Instagrammable picture for a postmodern exhibition. Highlights include a caviar-dribbled, samphire-dressed turbot on Arran Victory potato purée. Whatever Aizle calls its art, it's tempting to call it a masterpiece.

CASTLE TERRACE 33–35 Castle Terrace, Old Town One of the city's most sophisticated restaurants, where beautiful food is presented with class and creativity. The extensive a la carte mains include a choice of land and sea but it's hard to see past paella Castle Terrace-style, packed full of fishy delicacies from a tasty octopus morsel to squid, salmon and monkfish. Equally impressive is a caramel soufflé dessert. The £29.50 lunch menu is both excellent and excellent value.

THE KITCHIN 78 Commercial Way, Leith A decade of running this eponymous restaurant has brought Tom Kitchin celebrity status and a Michelin star. He remains unwaveringly committed to showcasing Scotland's finest produce and diners are presented with a map tracing the provenance of ingredients. Mains feature stunningly presented hare pithivier, golden pastry encasing rich meat, served with pumpkin sauce. Among the technically accomplished desserts is feather-light apple crumble soufflé.

ONDINE 2 George IV Bridge, Old Town Fresh fish and fine seafood of this quality are hard to come by. A chunky fillet of pan-fried sea bass is flaky to the fork, seared Isle of Mull scallops shine, served in their shells, while a bowl of grilled Tarbert langoustines is marvellously multi-sensory and satisfyingly strenuous to eat. The imaginative wine list contains some unusual options, non-fish-eaters are well catered for and the friendly, efficient team makes the whole enterprise seem effortless.

RESTAURANT MARTIN WISHART 54 The Shore, Leith An institution of the Edinburgh fine dining scene. The vibe is one of consummate professionalism from the moment you step in off the cobbled street. There are stunning treats in store, especially if you take the plunge and try the six course tasting menu. Roast quail is pink, succulent and delicate, accompanied by a textured corn purée, and just outshone by a roast duck breast and crisp pastille off duck.

Community enterprise Sikh Sanjog set up Punjabi Junction on Leith Walk to help empower and inspire minority ethnic women in the community.

The café offers a short but interesting menu including starters, curries and a thali option, with an emphasis on authenticity and taste. Poppadums are light and crisp, with homemade pickles and chutneys. The methi chicken with fenugreek is a revelation, full of flavor and great value for lunch or an early dinner and there are daily vegetarian specials too. It’s worth leaving room for the taster plate of handmade Indian sweets to finish; all almond, cardamom and cinnamon goodness.

The Shore Bar & Restaurant

FOR CO FEST MPLETE LISTI IVAL LIS NGS SEE

T. FESTCO.UK/ IVAL

Tapa SPANISH 19 Shore Place, 0131 476 6776, tapaedinburgh.co.uk | £15 for two (set lunch) / £22 (dinner)

Evoking the tastes of the best tapas from across Spain, the team behind Tapa demonstrate a real passion to bring authentic and unusual dishes to Edinburgh. Cuts of pork (from the Iberian black pig) rarely used here, such as presa and the buttery rich secreto, are deftly griddled to retain the full flavour of the meat. Vegetarians won’t be disappointed with innovative creations like the popular berenjenas con miel, melting slices of aubergine covered in light batter and drizzled with honey.

Portion sizes are large, think raciones rather than traditional tapas. Great care is also taken over the drinks selection, with an exciting range of Spanish gins alongside the sherrys and Spanish wines.

MY PICKS

BISTRO 3 The Shore, 0131 553 5080, fishersbistros.co.uk | £15 (set lunch) / £22 (dinner)

Some Edinburgh dining spots have earned the right to be considered classics. Reliable, high quality, comfortable, welcoming – dining at the Shore feels restorative. If classics appeal, try a pile of mussels in unctuous cream, white wine and garlic or the fork-tender beef carpaccio with parmesan, pickled mushrooms and rocket, drizzled with pistachio & truffle dressing – an absolute stand out. Vegetarians are rewarded with creamy and savoury broccoli, walnut and blue cheese risotto. Mad Pie Mondays offer 2-for-1 bubbling fish or venison pies, and haddock and chips come Japanese-style crunchy coated in panko breadcrumbs.

Stack Dim Sum Bar CHINESE 42 Dalmeny Street, 0131 553 7330 | Closed Wed | £12 (lunch) / £15 (dinner)

Just off Leith Walk’s main drag, Stack Dim Sum Bar is an unassuming wee joint, but well worth a detour. Stack offers an array of boldly flavoured steamed or fried dim sum, all cooked to order. The char siu bun is a delightful example of its form, light and pappy on the outside with sweet, melting pork innards. The red bean paste trio is a juxtaposition of crispfried exterior and delectably sweet bean paste interior. And don’t think about giving the sensational chicken claws with black pepper a miss: slow braised to a tender, treacly morsel that’s lip-smacking and complex.

PATRICK TURPIN Cocktail bar Under The Stairs (page 130) is in the heart of the Old Town, but at the same time feels removed from the shit-storm going on above ground. I'm as bewitched by the festival as the next man – don't get me wrong, the Fringe stirs my cauldron – but once you've been at the festival for a couple of weeks, it can get a little trying. This basement bar is the perfect anti-spell: it's sophisticated, friendly and full of dark corners for doing dark deeds (not really, I went on a very unromantic not-date here in 2013).

Patrick Turpin: To Me You Are Perfect, Sneaky Pete's, 6–27 Aug (not 15), 6.15pm, free.

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BROUGHTON STREET CITY GUIDE

BROUGHTON STREET A street full of stylish bars, traditional pubs, restaurants and delightful eateries nestled underneath old tenement flats. While away an afternoon browsing the many independent shops lining this popular strip

REAL FOODS

NARCISSUS FLOWERS

37 Broughton Street, EH1 3JU 0131 557 1911, realfoods.uk

87 Broughton Street, EH1 3RJ, 0131 478 7447, narcissusflowers.co.uk

This Broughton Street stalwart has all the vegetarian, vegan, organic, fresh, local, seasonal, Fairtrade and free-from food and drink you need to see you through this year’s festival fun.

Serving the city for more than 40 years, Edinburgh’s original health food shop is open seven days a week, all year round, and has 12,000 products for you to choose from, in-store and online.

Standing proudly on the corner of Broughton Street and Broughton Place, Narcissus is one of the oldest residents on the street. Unmissable with their classic Edinburgh bay window showcasing a marvellous array of fresh blooms and botanical gems, Narcissus has long been the go to Florist and a moment of nature and calm within the busy city centre.

CONCRETE WARDROBE

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

50a Broughton Street, EH1 3SA, 0131 558 7130, concretewardrobe.com Established in 2000 by textile designers Fiona McIntosh and James Donald, Concrete Wardrobe contains a treasure trove of curated handmade products from Scotland’s top designer makers.

The store leads the way in promoting contemporary Scottish craft, building a reputation for high quality gifts from a mix of disciplines that are both covetable and affordable.

THE STREET 2b Picardy Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3JT 0131 556 4272 thestreetbaredinburgh.co.uk The Street has become a landmark on Edinburgh’s social scene. A trendy & popular mixed bar, independently owned, with friendly staff. By day the glass front makes it an ideal place to relax with a coffee & people watch, whilst at night it attracts a livelier crowd with a buzzing atmosphere.

93 Broughton Street, EH1 3RZ, 0131 556 1866, curiouserandcuriouser.com Curiouser and Curiouser is one of a pair of Indie shops run by Laura and Ian. Their stores are full of colour and fun, perfect for picking up a present for a loved one, or a momento of your trip to Edinburgh for yourself. As well as the original Broughton Street shop, a second Curiouser can now be found at 106 Bruntsfield Place.

THE BASEMENT BAR & RESTAURANT 10a-12a Broughton Street, EH1 3RH, 0131 557 0097, basement-bar-edinburgh.co.uk This Edinburgh institution has been a popular fixture on Broughton Street since the mid 90s. The warm and inviting basement venue serves up authentic rustic Mexican food, with locally sourced ingredients. Work your way through the list of imaginative, home-spun cocktails or try one of the many varieties of tequila.

PICKLES

L'ESCARGOT BLEU

56a Broughton Street, EH1 3SA, 0131 557 5005, getpickled.co.uk

56 Broughton Street, EH1 3SA, 0131 557 1600, lescargotbleu.co.uk

A charming retreat where you can chill out over a glass of wine, a beer or a coffee, either indoors in the relaxing bar, or out on the patio area. They serve a range of platters and light nibbles including an incredibly popular Scottish cheese selection, as well as chutneys, relishes, pâtés and, of course, pickles.

Dynamic couple Frederic Berkmiller and Betty Jourjon are the patrons and creative force behind L’Escargot Bleu (and sister L’Escargot Blanc). Their particular take on the classic French bistro fizzes with quirky Gallic charm.

A handsome dining room with vintage posters and big windows provides a suitable backdrop to bold cooking served up joyfully by mostly native French staff.

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CITY GUIDE LEITH

In association with

LEITH In this creative, portside neighbourhood you can step away from the festival hordes to enjoy a range of cosy pubs, funky cocktails bars and some of the best eateries the city has to offer

THE POND

LEITH DEPOT

2–4 Bath Road, EH6 7JT, 0131 553 0639, thepondleith.co.uk

138–140 Leith Walk, EH6 5DT, 0131 555 4738, leithdepot.com

Hidden in the darkest depths of Leith lies a little ray of light; The Pond is a cosy, relaxing pub where everyone, including dogs, are welcome. Escape the festival madness, relax with a malt whisky and lose yourself in one of the many books or board games on offer. Alternatively, enjoy a refreshment in the beer garden at the rear. Seasonal BBQs, live music and quiz nights also available.

A new and exciting addition to Leith Walk’s bar and restaurant scene, Leith Depot offers a wide variety of wines, craft and draught beers and a food menu with a great selection of vegetarian and seafood dishes plus bar snacks. The Venue upstairs offers live music and arts performances throughout the week.

TAPA

THE ROYAL YACHT BRITANNIA

19 Shore Place, EH6 6SW, 0131 476 6776, tapaedinburgh.co.uk Hitlisted in The List’s 2016 Eating & Drinking Guide, Tapa will invoke holiday memories of brilliant Spanish back-street bars and restaurants, alive with noise, bustle and great Spanish produce. Meat from the fantastic Iberian Black Pig takes centre stage here. Even with the unpredictable Scottish weather, you can savour stunning Spanish flavours at Tapa long after your tan’s gone.

Ocean Terminal, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6JJ, 0131 555 5566, royalyachtbritannia.co.uk Scotland’s Best Visitor Attraction.

Discover how the Royal Family and 220 crew lived and see where celebrities and world leaders were wined and dined. Explore five decks, all fully accessible, the Royal Deck Tea Room and Gift Shop. There is free parking, and buses to / from the city centre every 10 minutes.

THE LIONESS OF LEITH

CAFÉ DOMENICO

21-25 Duke St, Edinburgh EH6 8HH 0131 629 0580, thelionessofleith.co.uk

30 Sandport Street, EH6 6EP, 0131 467 7266, cafedomenico.co.uk

This award winning Gastropub and Cocktail Bar has been open since 2013. In that time, it’s become one of Leith’s go-to venues for food, cocktails and local beer. Eat and drink amongst eclectic décor, unique vibes and regular live music. A choice of boutique tea, artisan coffee, brunch and lunch all served daily. Or you can enjoy the seasonal main menu from 5pm.

A slice of Italy in Leith, family-run business Café Domenico has been serving up authentic cuisine since 1998.

With just a handful of tables this Italian gem offers traditional surroundings and characterful service. Visit for brunch, lunch or dinner to enjoy generous portions made from only the finest and freshest ingredients.

VICTORIA

PUNJABI JUNCTION

265 Leith Walk, EH6 8PD, 0131 555 1638, bodabar.com/victoria

122 - 124 Leith Walk, EH6 5DT, 0131 281 0159, punjabijunction.org

Victoria Bar is where the world meets Leith. The vibe is relaxed during the day, with board games and free books available, and buzzing at night as different nationalities mingle with the locals. Enjoy an ever changing selection of beers, wines, gins and whiskies and a packed events calendar of live music, DJs and singles nights.

Punjabi Junction offers a blend of traditional Punjabi, home-cooked cuisines mixing opportunities with social inclusion and support to women from the capital’s minority Ethnic background. The cafe offers cooking classes, outside catering and a fantastic experience of dishes packed with spice. The atmosphere is friendly, full of laughter and warm.

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LEITH & BROUGHTON STREET CITY GUIDE

The Roseleaf

Bodega

Beer & Skittles

MY PICKS GAVIN EVANS

CAITLIN COOKE

DRINK Basement, 14 Picardy Place, 0131 556 1289, beerandskittlesbar.co.uk

If you've ever wanted to travel the world one beer at a time, you can pretty much do so while sitting in this basement bar. You can even get a World Beer Tour Card to track your progress as you sample some of their 100 beers from around the globe. Start with their own craft lager, before moving onto international flavours such as Brooklyn Lager, Estrella and Caesar Augustus.

There’s also a solid range of cocktails: Strawberry Fizz is Bottega prosecco, strawberries, vanilla essence and vodka, while the Havana Rum mojitos go down very well indeed. The kitchen here serves up a range of meaty treats with regular specials.

and ciders in the fridge, you shouldn't struggle for choice. There’s no menu but pizzas from nearby Origano can be ordered at the bar. Although dogs are welcome, your kiddies are not.

Boda Bar 229 Leith Walk, 0131 553 5900, bodabar.com

This agreeably odd Swedish-themed bar has been a welcoming home from home for its happy customers for over a decade. There’s a strong emphasis on cocktails including a cocktail of the moment, but whisky drinkers aren’t ignored (with a corresponding malt of the moment). The beer selection changes with the seasons, with more fruit beers in summer and porters in the winter. Food, including takeaways, can be brought in since there’s no menu.

The Joker and the Thief 71 Elm Row, 0131 556 3274

Musical links extend beyond the bar’s name (based on a Dylan lyric) to the décor, with dozens of framed prints of iconic musicians covering the walls.

There are eight draughts, plus a further two hand-pumped beers on rotation (usually listed on the blackboard outside). When combined with another 30 to 40 mainly Scottish craft beers

The Leith Beer Co. 58 The Shore, 0131 554 2425, leithbeerco-edinburgh.co.uk

While the craft beer movement marches on, this no-fuss pub on The Shore might wrongfoot some customers with its title – it’s less of a specialist beer haven, and more an unpretentious chain pub doing good bargains on food and drinks. Bottles of Erdinger, Blue Moon and Raspberry Bacchus sit alongside Guinness and Tennent’s on tap or there are also early-week deals on wine.

Their aubergine and beetroot curry is a good veggie option among the pub grub standards (steak and ale pie, scampi and chips, lasagne with garlic bread) plus there’s a budget lunch special of a sandwich, side and drink for £5.99 every day, which is popular with locals.

Nobles Café, Bar & Restaurant 44a Constitution Street, 0131 629 7215, noblesbarleith.co.uk

This is surely one of Leith’s best looking pubs with its beautiful turquoise,

stained-glass, Victorian fixtures and dark wood surrounds. They have sectioned off a back area into a demure bistro and the cooking aims for the spot between gastropub and fine dining. Their late serving times are worth remembering too – they do food until 10.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Brunch is highly recommended – sweetcorn fritters with poached eggs and bacon, brioche French toast, or green chilli and chorizo scrambled eggs keep things interesting, and the team of laid-back bar staff will season your Bloody Mary and Bloody Marias just how you like them.

The Other Place 2–4 Broughton Road, 0131 556 1024, theotherplaceedinburgh.com

The friendly people behind this unpretentious Canonmills pub want to make it ‘feel like your second home’ – hence the name The Other Place.

The decor is somewhere in between Edinburgh and New York; there’s a historical map of the neighbourhood on the ceiling, with references to the Big Apple all over the menu and bare brick walls. The menu has plenty of American nods too; bowls of brisket beer chilli, pulled pork burritos and hot dogs can all be accompanied with fixins

DANIEL SLOSS Whenever travelling comedians ask me for the best place to get breakfast/brunch/lunch in Edinburgh, my go to is the Caffeine Drip (10 Melville Place).

Because it’s my go to. Everyday is a new weird soup where you’re thinking, 'There’s no way that can be good' and then not only is it good, but it’s your new favourite soup. The staff are great, the chefs are great and it’s just a really cool place to chill out in and have a cup of coffee and enjoy the free wifi.

Daniel Sloss: So?, EICC, 0844 847 1639, 4–28 Aug (not 15, 23), 8.40pm, (also 10pm Fri & Sat; not 5 & 6), £10–£17.50 (£10–£12.50).

of slaw, cajun fries or mini portions of macaroni cheese. They also do 120 beers, homemade ice-cream sundaes and bargain £3.50 prosecco with weekend brunch.

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CITY GUIDE LEITH & BROUGHTON STREET

In association with

RZSS

The Roseleaf

MY PICKS STEVE ULLATHORNE

23–24 Sandport Place, 0131 476 5268, roseleaf.co.uk

The Roseleaf is well worth a visit for its chintzy blend of unhurried service, comforting stodge and fresh ingredients.

They have served signature ‘Pot-tails’ here for almost a decade now, and judging by popular Mad Hatters Tea Parties (potent cocktails in teapots, loaded cake stands, optional hats), their twist on high tea is still a big draw. It’s family run and the staff mean it when they say they ‘try to make everyone feel at home’ – the hungover will find juicy Stornoway black pudding and salty Bloody Marys and vegans can share copious Gorgeous Grazer platters. Board games and Scottish beers give extra reasons for idling.

Sofi's 65 Henderson Street, 0131 555 7019, bodabar.com

ESSENTIAL EDINBURGH

Edinburgh Zoo

If you're visiting Scotland's capital during August, chances are the festival brought you here – but that doesn't mean you can't tick off a few of the classic visitor attractions

EDINBURGH CASTLE Royal Mile, Old Town Edinburgh's most-popular postcard vista is still a military base, as well as a World Heritage Site. See the Stone of Destiny and the oldest Crown Jewels in the British Isles; investigate the Prisons of War and the Great Hall; and hear the one o'clock gun – just don't be daft enough to ask what time it sounds.

EDINBURGH DUNGEON 31 Market Street, Old Town Head beneath the city to journey through Scotland's more gruesome history. Eleven actor-led shows combined with two underground rides bring to life the stories of murderous duo Burke and Hare, cannibal Sawney Bean and half-hangit Maggie. During August, you can also take part in Fringe show Deadly Dungeon Murder Mystery.

LOCKEDIN EDINBURGH 1 Summerhall Place, Southside The capital is home to five escape games but LockedIn Edinburgh at Summerhall is the only one themed and built around a real room, in the former animal hospital. Pit yourself and your team against the clock as you try to solve clues, open locks and discover what Dr C Lions is up to, in order to escape the room. There's a second escape room themed around the in-house Pickering's Gin distillery.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND Chambers Street, Old Town This extensive, and free, museum has galleries dedicated to Scottish history, the natural world, world culture and science and technology. In July, the museum opened the doors to ten new galleries showcasing over 3000 objects, many of which haven't been on display in a generation.

EDINBURGH ZOO Corstorphine Road, West End Spread across 82 acres of sloping parkland, Edinburgh Zoo is home to all manner of beasts and beasties, with daily keeper talks and hands-on encounters. Look out for lions, meerkats, two giant pandas and a gang of penguins that are allowed out of their enclosure every day for an afternoon march.

One of four Leith links in the chain of six Swedish independent bars across Edinburgh, expect their signature chummy welcome. Drinks wise, they love special edition cocktails (Pimms cups, hot buttered rums, aquavit to sip on Swedish holidays) and stock single malts, rums and gins, plus a small selection of bottled and draught beers.

What you won’t find is any food to soak up the booze (don’t blame us for not warning you), just bags of crisps and nuts, and free popcorn on movie nights.

As they put it, Sofi’s bar just wants to be, ‘the port in the storm, the little squeeze in a hug, home from home.’

Teuchters Landing 1c Dock Place, 0131 554 7427, aroomin.co.uk

Whisky fans will find their eyes popping at the selection of single malts behind the bar, and the selection of board games and Scrabble makes it a fun place to kill time.

Foodies will appreciate the seafood and shellfish – available in a large, show-off seafood platter or battered Shetland scallops on a roll with tartare sauce. Half pint and full pint mugs of stovies, risotto Cullen skink and Lockerbie mature cheddar macaroni remain popular and good value filler-uppers, or there are chunky burgers and gourmet hot dogs too. On a summer's day you can soak up the sun on the outside deck.

The Tourmalet 25 Buchanan Street, 0131 555 4387

Named after a notoriously difficult Tour de France mountain climb, this cyclingthemed bar is a friendly, traditional pub, brimming with character. The real attractions are the Scottish, Belgian and particularly German bottled beers, the latter sourced directly, with the selection changing every couple of months.

There’s no football shown, but the big cycling races are projected. With Andre the gorilla in the corner, the Battle of Britain being played out on the ceiling, and fish tanks and a tree in the snug, there’s a relaxed quirkiness to this boozer that should appeal, whether you arrive on two wheels or two legs.

Treacle Bar and Kitchen 39–41 Broughton Street, 0131 557 0627, treacleedinburgh.co.uk

When Treacle’s staff are regularly asked why they have a monkey on their

KAI HUMPHRIES Hive 'til Five (15–17 Niddry Street) – you have to experience the scummy night club that the locals tell you to avoid to really experience a city. Leave your dignity at the door and come out with a story you'll tell for years. Visit Arthur's Seat: I recommend doing this at the end of your night out to watch the sun come up while you're still drunk. I guarantee that when you get to the top you won't be the only drunk who's had that idea.

Kai Humphries: In Full Colour, Gilded Balloon Teviot, 0131 622 6552, 3–28 Aug, 7.35pm, £7.50–12.50 (£5–£10).

sign, their simple response is, ‘Does a monkey need a reason?’ This perfectly captures what this Broughton Street bar and kitchen is all about; doing exactly what they want, the way they want to.

Inside, it feels as if a child has had his own way with the interior designer, choosing comic character wallpaper for a wall facing 200-year-old exposed brick.

Their mischievous creativity has also helped shape a diverse menu, drink a vodka Asian Hooker with a large bowl of ramen, or play it safe with a chicken pie and pint of Drygate’s IPA. The Windsor 45 Elm Row, 0131 556 4558, windsoredinburgh.co.uk |

If your local has long since celebrated its centenary year, it must be doing something right. There’s no food, aside from toasties and nachos, but there’s a surprisingly wide selection of booze at sensible prices (their four cask ales are all under £4). Complementing the two dozen malts is an even bigger range of British, Spanish and French rums that can be sampled via a tasting board (also available for whisky and gin if you’re feeling adventurous). Rugby and football are shown across three screens and there are free treats for your four-legged pals.

This understated gem is an asset to the neighbourhood.

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WIN TICKETS TO THE LIST FESTIVAL PARTY pick up our free weekly festival issues on Wed 3, 10 & 17 Aug

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Terms & Conditions: Competition closes Fri 29 Jul. See list.co.uk/offers for full t&cs.

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FESTIVAL INDEX A-Z OUR A-Z OF SHOWS, EVENTS AND ACTS 24 Hours with Mary Lynn Rajskub 51 360 Allstars 68 Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh! Dinosaurs!

72 Abir Mukherjee 47 Adele is Younger Than Us 12 Ahir Shah 91 Akram Khan Dance Company 104 Al Porter 26 Alan Cumming 96, 125 Ali Smith 47 Alvin Youngblood Hart 108 Amy Liptrot 40 Angus Deayton 16 Annie McGrath 58 Anthony Schrag 11 Antony Gormley 34 Anya Anastasia 82 Attrape Moi 68 Aurora Nova 49 Babble On 11 Bang! To the Heart 68 Baroness Susan Greenfield 114 Barry Humphries’ Weimar Cabaret 107 Barton Swaim 114 Bill Burr 52 Blank 87 Borgen Versus the World 112 Briefs 82 Bump 72 Cabaret Whore 82 Cal MacAninch 78 Camilla Hammerich 112 Casting Call Woe 91 Cecile Walton 30 Cecilia Bartoli 20 Céleste Boursier-Mougenot 34 Cherry Jones 52 Children’s Haunted Underground 72 Chimwemwe Undi 44 Chotto Desh 104 Chris Brookmyre 44 Chris Gethard 52 Christian Boltanski 34 Christine Bovill’s Paris 91 Ciara Phillips 37 Circa 91 Colin Cloud 23 Colin Hay 74 Craig Campbell 130 Craig Hill 128 Cry Me a River: The Songs of Julie London 76 Cuban Gypsy, the 91 Cup of Tea with Lady C, a 82 Curtis Stigers 109 Damián Ortega 37 Daniel Sloss 157 David Bowie 39, 76 David Gant 71 David Mills 26 Deep Time 107 Dick and Delores DelRubio 82 Dirty Harry Ultimate Tribute to Blondie 76 Dolly Wants to Die 80 Don Gnu 67 Doug Anthony All Stars 54 Dr Frankenstein’s Spooky Disco 72 E15 80 Early Doors 12 Ed Night 58 Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival 119 Edinburgh Festival Carnival 110 Edinburgh Food Festival 120 Edinburgh International Fashion Festival 121 Edinburgh International TV Festival 121

FO INF R ALL TH EDINBUORMATION A E BARS A RGH RESTA BOUT UR ND SEE OU PLACES TO ANTS, WHICH R CITY GUI VISIT, DE KICK PAGE 1 S OFF ON 23 Electric Eden Elkie Brooks Elliot Steel Erica Jong Explorers Fabulous Punch and Judy Show, the Facing the World Feel-Link Fern Brady Festival Café Bar Festival Quiz Flip Fabrique Foiled Forest Fringe Future of Scottish Sport, the Get Rid of the Minstrel Glasgow Girls Glass Menagerie, the Godspeed You! Black Emperor Graham Fagen Grandaddy Grumble Gurrelieder Hackney Colliery Band Hadley Freeman Head in the Clouds Helen Chadwick Helen Monks Helie Lee Hendrix and Me! Henry Paker Hopelessness Horse McDonald Hot Brown Honey Hot Dub Time Machine How to Be a Rock Star Howard Jacobson Iain Macwhirter Iain Maloney I Don’t Believe It! I still believe in miracles In Fidelity Inspector Sands Irvine Welsh James Acaster James Kelman

12 121 58 47 37 82 30 68 91 114 14 68 12 121 114 74 91 52,107 102 37 91 82 107 91 44 91 34 80 23 76 26 107 11 82 91 72 47 44 44 16 37 91 133 47 91 47

James Naughtie Jan Garbarek Group Jayde Adams Jenni Fagan Jo Coffey Jo Spence Joe DeRosa Jonathan Safran Foer Joseph Beuys Jupiter Artland Just Festival Kabinet K Kai Hoffman Kai Humphries Kat Woods Kate Tempest Katherine Ryan Kenny Hunter Kiri Pritchard-McLean La Clique Encore!

Lady Vanishes, the Lili La Scala Lionel Shriver Lisa Mann Lucy Porter Luke Wright Magnus Öström Band Malcolm Tucker Malorie Blackman Marina Abramović Mark Lyken Mary Lynn Rajskub Matt Forde Max Ernst MG Leonard Michael Griffiths Michael Morpurgo’s King Arthur Michelle Wolf M.I.S.: All Night Long Mogwai monumental Monument Walks My Eyes Went Dark Nassim Soleimanpour Natalia Osipova Nick Cassenbaum

43 110 12 44 12 37 52 47 37 34 121 104 12 158 134 47 26 37 26 82 12 82 47 110 136 11 110 111 47 30 76 51 26 29 23 82 71 52 67 102 102 37 78 87 107 23

Nicky Wilson Nils Bergstrand Nish Kumar Norma Norris & Parker O is for Hoolet Oli Forsyth One Hundred Homes Patrick Turpin Paul Klee Paul Morley Peter and Bambi Heaven Pierre Boulez Pixel Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally Rachael Clerke Radio Active Raja Alem RashDash Raunch, the Raw Rembrandt van Rijn Rhiannon Faith Richard Gadd Richard Wilson Rik Mayall Rising, the Road to Huntsville, the Rob Doyle Robert Shaw Robert Newman Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Samantha Baines Samantha Pressdee Samuel van Hoogstraten Scottish Endarkenment, the Sensational David Bowie Tribute Band Shake Shayna Steele Shazia Mirza Sidse Babett Knudsen Sigur Rós Simon Evans Simon Munnery Simple Space, a Simpson, Tamestit & Aimard Sinatra and Me SKAL Smother Snail and the Whale, the Snow Queen, the Songlines Spencer Jones Story Pocket Theatre Stuart Cosgrove Surreal Encounters Susan Calman Sven Ratzke Switch on to Future TV TEAM, the Terrestrial Sea, the Tiff Stevenson Toad Knew, the Tom Allen Tommy Tiernan Turing Festival Vince Cable Virgin Money Fireworks Concert Walking Institute Who Will Win America?

Whiteout Wrecked Yianni Agisilaou Youssou N’Dour

34 82 91 20 61 91 138 12 154 30 39 82 99 110 11 82 16 47 140 82 104 30 23 91 16 11 76 23 44 144 23 116 146 23 30 37 76 95 110 26 112 102 26 63 49 99 76 68 68 91 72 107 91 71 112 29 149 82 112 100 76 150 107 26 91 121 114 107 11 114 91 12 23 107

160 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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HAVE A LAUGH AT OUR EXPENSE

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ST ANDREW

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Tickets: 0131 558 9005 | www.thestand.co.uk | www.outstandingtickets.com 162 THE LIST | Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016 | list.co.uk/festival

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