She was a bad-ass Johnny Cash-like figure
Every film-going generation is on the hunt for the next Brando, Garbo, Poitier, Monroe or Olivier. In years ahead, people will wonder where the new Kaluuya or Driver or Pugh or Song will spring from. But when it comes to Nicolas Cage, well, there will never be another Nicolas Cage. Try to name as many of his films off the top of your head and you can probably reach 15-20 without too much trouble. Maybe a cup of strong peppermint tea will clear your mind enough to rattle out a further 30. Even if you do get to 50, that’s not even halfway to naming his entire filmography.
Of course, you can’t make 100+ movies in your life (bear in mind the guy is still in his 50s) and hope to imagine that they’re all classics; the words ‘direct to video’ crop up a little too often beside his 21st-century output. Yet anyone who can poke themselves with a sharp parodic stick by producing/starring in a film (about himself, kind of) entitled The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent is a star to be cherished. As the Cagemeister returns to our screens in Renfield as Count Dracula (finally), we pay homage to the man and his enormous myth.
That Prince Of Darkness may be dominating the thoughts of Cage-lovers everywhere but getting out and about in bright sunshine to take in the best of Scotland’s summer festivals is largely what we’re considering this issue. Indoors and out, there’s an impressive selection of events to take in, and seven of our writers have picked the ones that mean most to them.
Other things going on this issue include interviews with the talents behind an all-new stage version of Kidnapped, a look at Glasgow’s upmarket dining trend, a review of sculptures made with affordable materials, a close-up on bacteria (in the name of Edinburgh’s Science Festival), and Q&As with two showbiz legends: Richard Strange and Alan Cumming.
One curious coincidence has revealed itself this issue. Cars hitting living creatures are the trigger for major plot motivations in three TV shows we’re covering. Australian sitcom Colin From Accounts begins with a dog being hit by a motor (happily it survives with those responsible reluctantly taking care of the pooch). Scottish drama Guilt started with a hit and run. And then there’s Succession. For anyone who has yet to dip into this era-defining drama, it’s not too spoilery to say that a major character’s fate still seems interlinked with a disastrous accident back in season one. Any other weird coincidences you spot across the mag, please do drop us a line or just keep it to yourselves. Either way, stay safe out there, folks.
Brian Donaldson EDITORPUBLISHING
CEO
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Writers
Alan Bissett, Becca Inglis, Brian Donaldson, Carol Main, Claire Sawers, Claire Stuart, Danny Munro, David Kirkwood, Eddie Harrison, Emma Simmonds, Fiona Shepherd, Gareth K Vile, Greg Thomas, Haneen AlEid, James Mottram, Jay Richardson, Katherine McLaughlin, Kelly Apter, Kevin Fullerton, Lucy Ribchester, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Megan Merino, Murray Robertson, Neil Cooper, Paul McLean, Peter Ross, Rachel Ashenden, Stewart Smith, Suzy Pope
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Exactly 50 years on from its release, writer and performer Alan Bissett declares his undimmed love for Pink Floyd’s classic album The Dark Side Of The Moon and hails its power to still move listeners
Let’s get something out of the way first: Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon, which turns 50 years old this month, is the best album ever made. None of its closest peers (Abbey Road, Led Zeppelin IV, Rumours) have anything like its unique blend of thematic cohesion and sonic diversity. Dark Side’s concept (the stresses and strains which turn ordinary men and women insane, such as money, time, work, mortality and war) communicates to every human on the planet, regardless of background, ethnicity or political standpoint. ‘If you feel like you are going insane,’ the album tells us, ‘don’t worry, we all do. In fact, madness is the only sane response to an insane world.’
The empathy of this message could account for Dark Side being the third bestselling album of all time. But neither Michael Jackson’s Thriller nor AC/DC’s Back In Black (the only two which have sold more copies) can boast such weird features as a barrage of alarm clocks suddenly going off, a woman screaming and moaning for four minutes, or random voices muttering philosophical bon mots in the background.
The fact that it has sold 45 million physical copies (plus its streaming footprint) means the amount of people who have actually heard it surely numbers among
the billions. Billions of people have gone on exactly the same 42 minute and 35 second-long journey since 1973 (one best enjoyed with lights and phone off, and headphones on) and felt utterly moved by the end of it. In our atomised, multimedia and divided age, there is something deeply reassuring and human about the whole planet rallying around the same uplifting cultural touchstone. It also invented techno, but that’s another story.
Unfortunately, while critics and the public have reached consensus about the album’s enormous legacy, Pink Floyd themselves remain bitterly divided over it. Bass player and lyricist Roger Waters, who quit the band acrimoniously in 1985, recently told The Telegraph that ‘I wrote The Dark Side Of The Moon. Let’s get rid of all this “we” crap!’
As though to prove it, Waters has announced that he’s re-recorded the album without the rest of Pink Floyd, featuring bass solos and spoken-word passages in place of the incendiary flourishes of David Gilmour’s guitar, late keyboardist Richard Wright’s generous splashes of colour, and Nick Mason’s tense drum fills. I’m sceptical. But I’m also in favour of anything which distracts stoners from going on about how it’s the perfect soundtrack to The Wizard Of Oz Alan Bissett is a ‘playwright, novelist, performer, bletherer’ who can be found at alanbissett.com
In this series of articles, we turn the focus back on ourselves by asking folk at The List about cultural artefacts that touch their heart and soul. This time around, Rachel Ashenden tells us which things . . .
Made me cry: I occasionally well up at the mere thought of the donkey scene in The Banshees Of Inisherin! Hopefully that’s not a spoiler, but you should have seen it by now anyway.
Made me angry: The hostility towards Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
Made me sad: The number of clickbait articles with headlines along the lines of ‘*insert woman artist* forgotten from *insert art movement*’ or ‘*insert woman artist* rediscovered for her contributions to *insert art movement*’. If you dig deep into the historical records, it’s often far more nuanced than this. We need new angles for writing about artists who are women.
Made me think: Six months on from visiting The Milk Of Dreams, the 59th International Art Exhibition in Venice, I’m still thinking about all the extraordinary artists I was exposed to. It was such an amazing visitor experience and overstimulating in the best possible way.
Made me think twice: Rachel Maclean’s Mimi on Perth High Street, a total inversion of the consumer experience. As an installation, Mimi also upends the concept of a gallery space in its provocative strategy of showing passersby art before they even identify it as art.
This month’s playLIST features songs by Rhiannon Giddens, Alex G and Lewis Capaldi, as well as a selection of Scottish summer festival headliners to accompany our feature. Plus, keep an ear out for a TV theme tune that will no doubt stir up some excitement . . .
Scan and listen as you read:
Being required to read all the so-called ‘classics’ at school has varying levels of success in indoctrinating children as lovers of literature. As far as force-fed books go, Great Expectations remains one of my all-time favourites. Perhaps this has made me more sympathetic to the countless stage, film and TV adaptations (28 according to my research) trying their hand at reimagining Pip’s journey to gentlemanhood.
Of course, this does not make them immune to criticism, which begs the question: is this remake any good? After delving in myself, the pacing of the story, quality of production and Olivia Colman’s particularly dark and perverted take on Miss Havisham get my stamp of approval.
Have we seen it before? Sure. But with Dickens being firmly embedded in the English literature curriculum, it seems fitting to have a remake in line with every generation of students subjected to reading it. Besides, do we complain at the seasonal wheeling out of A Christmas Carol or the infinite runs of Oliver Twist (albeit usually in musical form)? Unless the back catalogues of Shakespeare, Jane Austen or Robert Burns are being accused of overuse, I imagine Dickens, and indeed Great Expectations, will stay in the ripe-for-adaptation canon for the foreseeable.
As a cracked mirror reflection of our back-page Hot Shots, this slot is all about the publicity pictures that have pinged into our inbox recently and made us go . . . oh dear. Oh no. Oh no no no!
Is that Michael ‘blow the bloody doors off and expose my limited acting ability’ Caine hopping aboard the SS Brexit, a political turd of which he’s an avid supporter? Or perhaps it’s retired Royal Marine Harry Brown who, after beating up hoodies a decade ago to appease the bloodlust of rabid Daily Mail readers, has been conscripted by the king like an arthritic Rambo? No, this is from Caine’s new flick The Great Escaper, in which an octogenarian war vet cuts loose from a care home to attend a 70th anniversary bash in memory of the D-Day landings. Syrupy patriot-pandering tripe, then, that’ll feature more saluting to merry England than Nigel Farage’s soggy wet dreams. Alfie, how far ye have fallen.
Once again, we sit Megan Merino and Kevin Fullerton down in front of a contentious bit of current culture and ask them to write about it straight from the heart. This time, they check out the latest TV version of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and ask: do we really need another adaptation of this literary classic?
There’s good reason to re-adapt Great Expectations for the modern age; it’s a brilliant story crammed with rich characters, eccentric humour and an interesting (if arguably dated) interrogation of Britain’s straitjacketed class system. But after a revolving door of Miss Havishams and more Pips than an incredibly long stocking, Dickens’ classic feels trapped in amber.
The BBC’s latest adaptation finds Olivia Colman taking on the jilted spinster and, well, doing pretty much what everyone else did. The colour grading is dark and dour like Mike Newell’s 2012 adaptation, while the washed-out costumes look like almost every BBC period drama from the past 20 years. Almost a century of film and TV retellings have made this formerly vibrant tale feel creakier than the rooms of Satis House. Rather than feeding viewers yet another helping of Victorian-flavoured gruel, we need directors and writers to take a revolutionary approach to adapting Pip’s trauma-laden adolescence. Alfonso Cuarón’s 1998 version of Great Expectations transplanted him to contemporary New York and, although flawed, it showed how a fresh approach can reinvigorate an old story. Dickens is too good for his work to be shackled aboard that snoozeinducing term ‘heritage drama’. Let’s give him the modern adaptation he richly deserves.
What does ‘summer festival’ mean to you? It may well conjure up images of unseasonal downpours (though in Scotland these are simply known as ‘downpours’) and mud-packed fields full of soil-strewn strangers slipping and bumping into one another to a backdrop of Britpop’s former glory hunters or electronica’s newest saviours. Health and safety nightmares on various levels.
But these days, a summer festival, as our following critics’ choices prove, is a multi-faceted and many-taloned beast. From boutique gigs to literary gatherings and tasteful garden parties to events aimed at helping the most vulnerable in society, all such stereotypes go straight out the window. Over the next five pages, there is, quite literally, a festival for everyone. You can even leave your (water) repellent poncho at home for some of them.
helping the most vulnerable in society, all such stereotypes go straight
So you’re asked to review TRNSMT in 2022 and you think to yourself ‘surely that’s a festival for the young team, not a bearded 32-year-old like me whose music taste alternates between miserabilist rock and outwardly aggressive electronica?’ Nonetheless, you chop the greys from your beard and head along, convinced that you’ll be besieged by foetal-faced teens who’ve had their umbilical cords removed by ushers at the entrance. Then you get in and, like a gust of wind pushing you forward, those cobwebs of self-consciousness are blown away and replaced by that elusive thing called ‘fun’.
You pick at the musical buffet before you, like a dieter on a cheat day, flitting between three stages and rediscovering the hyper-real excitement of pop. Bemz tears apart the River Stage with rap flows machine-tooled for dancing; Sigrid struts across the Main Stage with lively and lairy confidence; Fontaines DC assault the air with shouty verve, injecting a streak of darkness into the heatwave-bright Sunday; Maxïmo Park invite you to bathe in mid-noughties nostalgia. And then there’s Lewis Capaldi, a man whose formulaic balladeering you can’t bring yourself to enjoy but whose warmth of spirit radiates from the stage like an enveloping bear hug. Such is the beauty of TRNSMT, a festival that confounds expectations at every turn. No matter your age, taste in music or general disposition, Glasgow Green’s annual blow-out draws you in with unashamed enthusiasm. Wander away from its three main stages and you’ll encounter down-and-dirty DJ area The Boogie Bar, an amusement park that could put M&Ds to shame, and a ceaseless variation of food and drink stalls. So much to do, no way to cram it all in. And that’s TRNSMT in a big boisterous nutshell: here to give you a good time if you’re open-hearted enough to let it.
TRNSMT, Glasgow Green, Friday 7–Sunday 9 July.
After experiencing many chaotic, grotty music festivals over the years, I realise the festival-going experience is often a test of endurance, with fleeting moments of euphoria designed to keep you coming back for more. Now the fairweather swimmer of the summer festival world, I insist on staying clear of leaky tents, stinky Portaloos and flat fields that turn to mud baths. Call me insufferable but I’d much rather spend a long weekend inside well-kept, scenic grounds with a freshwater stream and an artisan coffee cart. Maybe even a wellness tent where I can do a quick child’s pose to recharge my batteries.
In other words, I want to be at Connect, a civilised boutique festival on the edge of Edinburgh where the grounds and supporting programme are every bit as delightful as watching a headliner (although, with boygenius topping Sunday’s bill this year, even the Chef’s Table manned by Barry Bryson would struggle to top that). There’s storytelling, meditation, circus acts and, just in case the Fringe hasn’t offered up enough laughs, comedy too.
A particular favourite during last year’s event was the Tiny Changes stage which featured the likes of Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler and The National giving surprise acoustic performances. Seeing Jamz Supernova at the Unknown Pleasures stage, which backs onto a lake on the hillside, was also a highlight. But, of course, the best part of Connect (the pinnacle for this tent-hating, indoor plumbing-seeking snob) was the journey back into town on a Lothian bus each night, where my own bed was waiting for me with open arms.
Connect, Royal Highland Showgrounds, Edinburgh, Friday 25–Sunday 27 August.
Formerly called Refugee Week, Refugee Festival Scotland covers around 100 events across the country, leading up to World Refugee Day on 20 June. It’s the chance to celebrate (loudly and joyously or in quietly contemplative ways) the refugees who have found their home in Scotland and who contribute to our rich and ever-diversifying culture.
The festival is run by the Scottish Refugee Council, but a multitude of events are hosted in tandem with other organisations based around human rights. In 2017, as part of the festival, I took part in Amnesty International’s Imprisoned Writers readings at Glasgow’s Hillhead Library where myself and a few other local writers were invited to read aloud pieces written by survivors of torture. It was an intimate event, a chance for survivors to be heard, and for listeners to contemplate the ordeals which bring people to refugee status.
In a total contrast of atmosphere, last year Maryhill Integration Network celebrated their 21st birthday. A vibrant and colourful party, it was full of music, food and art created by people who make up the MIN community, many from refugee backgrounds. A sense of refugee ownership of the festival starts even at the planning stage. Last year, the Museum Of Things (a collective of refugee artists) designed the festival advertising and promotional artwork. This year, the festival’s theme is hope. Expect events from sports matches to film screenings: the breadth of the festival is beautifully diverse.
Refugee Festival Scotland, various venues across Scotland, Friday 16–Sunday 25 June.
Zines epitomise Scotland’s DIY cultural scene and have surged in popularity since the inception of Glasgow Zine Fest ten years ago. Tiny trinkets of creative minds, zines are idiosyncratically indicative of the scope of self-publishing as a low-cost and lo-fi democratic tool. Glasgow Zine Fest is organised by Glasgow Zine Library, a heart-warmingly welcoming space in the heart of Govanhill, where you can rummage freely through shelves of offbeat zines. Inside this treasure trove, I dare you to find the marvel that is Butt Springsteen. Yes, it’s a celebration of Bruce Springsteen and his butt.
Glasgow Zine Fest marks a highly unique meeting of creators from across the country. Every year, up to 80 zine makers and small presses join forces to showcase their handmade creations. In 2018, Glasgow Women’s Library memorably brought along some of their feminist favourites from the archive, including a zine called Brick which seeks to debunk taboos around abortion.
The weekend is jam-packed full of events, providing a platform for inspiring speakers and workshop leaders; notably, Decolonise Fest held an event on DIY decolonial publishing in 2021. Inclusivity is the beating heart of Glasgow Zine Fest, which prides itself on being both affordable and accessible, much like the media of zines.
Glasgow Zine Fest, CCA, Glasgow, Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 July.
music ~ literature
kids activities ~ workshops ~ discussions
yoga ~ wellbeing ~ curiosity
Shooglenifty | Rachel Sermanni
King Creosote | Sam Amidon
Alice Faye | Awkward Family Portraits
Beth Malcolm | Bruach | Carse Voices
Daniel Martinez Flamenco
Gnawa Trance Fusion
racecar | Samba Sene & Diwan
Siskin Green | Tern
16-18 June 2023, Perthshire
Adult weekend tickets £99~ Kids go free! solasfestival.co.uk
The name alone tells you that Aye Write is a smart yet down-to-earth festival: the colloquial language, the wordplay, the multiple meanings and that soupçon of attitude are all to be found at Glasgow’s annual book festival. There is grandeur too, as the festival takes place (mostly) within the Mitchell Library’s marbled Edwardian opulence, one of the city’s great civic spaces, designed to be populated by Glaswegian masses, as well as being a home-from-home for many students, and lovers of a subsidised café.
Aye Write was founded in 2005 but feels like it has been in existence for much longer; the hallmark of any good festival is how hard it is to remember a time when it was not around. Over the years, it’s celebrated native authors, from big beasts such as Edwin Morgan and William McIlvanney to current crime queens Denise Mina and Louise Welsh, as well as welcoming international writers from Lionel Shriver to Jo Nesbø and Hollywood superstar Kathleen Turner.
Politics and crime fiction are always well represented but it’s the array of music writing events to which I gravitate (I’ve even chaired a couple myself). In recent years, Aye Write has hosted appearances by Tracey Thorn, Bobby Gillespie, Edwyn Collins and Tim Burgess, though a personal highlight was witnessing Stuart Cosgrove’s emotional appearance promoting Young Soul Rebels, his autobiographical appreciation of Northern Soul. Just like the book, the event radiated humour and humanity, as well as a fascinating fan perspective on a cherished culture. May is the month when the Mitchell Theatre’s foyer space will become bookshop, gathering place and talking shop for a city that loves to gab, debate and get stuck into a right guid book.
n Aye Write, Mitchell Library, Glasgow, May dates tbc.
When a woman wearing a going-out dress knelt on an Edinburgh pavement outside a former municipal lighting depot and put a large chunk of chalk in her mouth, it was the prelude to a five-hour trip that saw her crawl in a circle onto neighbouring streets, before arriving back at her start point. As the woman marked out a path (chalk still in her mouth), the white line on the pavement resembled a snail trail.
This was Magdalene, Are You Satisfied With The Experiment?, a durational ‘installaction’ by Polish performance artist Karolina Kubik. Presented in honour of seminal theatre director Tadeusz Kantor, this event opened 2015’s edition of Hidden Door, the multiple arts festival that burst onto the scene a year before when it transformed a row of abandoned vaults on Market Street into ad-hoc art spaces.
As an opening statement of a festival resembling an arts village in some radical republic, Kubik’s appearance was the perfect pointer of things to come. Since then, Hidden Door’s residencies at Leith Theatre, Granton Gasworks and the Old Royal High School have galvanised Edinburgh’s grassroots artistic underground.
At Leith Theatre, Edinburgh band FOUND became the first act to appear there in more than 25 years. Other favourites include a live soundtrack to Fritz Lang’s 1927 dystopian film, Metropolis tag-teamed by four electronic composers, and Rules Of The Moon, a collaboration between Glasgow poet Rebecca Sharp and Liverpool-based sonic auteur Philip Jeck.
This year, Hidden Door moves into the former Scottish Widows HQ (rebranded as The Complex), just across from the Royal Commonwealth Pool. Whatever emerges, Kubik’s fusion of avant-garde intervention and civic spectacle was the perfect foundation to build on, and remains a marker for Hidden Doors past, present and future.
n Hidden Door, The Complex, Edinburgh, Wednesday 31 May–Sunday 4 June.
Kelburn Garden Party was the first festival I went to when I came to Scotland, and it’s been the axis of my summer calendar ever since.
Tucked away on the west coast, it’s a small but perfectly formed carnival of sound and colour. You’d be hard pushed not to be charmed by Kelburn Estate’s sprawling verdant grounds, where 4000 revellers meet within sight of the glittering Firth Of Clyde.
I always say that Kelburn is a festival for crate diggers. It’s where I discovered artists like Alabaster DePlume, Dizraeli and Kampire, and caught some of music’s most boundary-breaking innovators. I’ll forever cherish being swept up by Goldie’s drum & bass voyage at The Landing Stage, the crowd cheering to the sight of a jellyfish in Max Cooper’s A/V show, or the whole festival being abuzz about a visitation from conscious rapper Akala.
Kelburn’s draw is about more than its music programme though. Its grounds are a veritable playground for festival goers. Kelburn Castle boasts a technicolour muralcovered facade, while a footpath snakes around its base up into The Neverending Glen, a hushed forest trail where surrealist artworks blend into their natural surroundings. Clamber high into the trees, the sound of the Kel Burn rushing beneath, and you’ll stumble on The Beech Plateau, known for its acid-house raves that erupt beneath a canvas canopy.
No matter the weather (which gets pretty unpredictable on this slice of coastline), Kelburners are uniquely up for it. At my first Kelburn, a gale blew away half the campsite on the Saturday night, but we all still emerged on Sunday ready for a dance. Last year, when a fine drizzle beset Optimo’s closing set, we zipped up our hoods and jumped in the mud. And who could forget 2018’s miraculous heatwave, when we basked next to our sound system of choice or sank gratefully into The Waterfall Pool?
Last summer I caught up with music programmer Chris Astrojazz at The Viewpoint Stage (the original home for Kelburn, when it was known as Viewpoint Session). The Fontanas were belting out their samba-tinged soul, and Kelburn Castle peeked out just over the bridge. ‘This, to me, is Kelburn,’ he told me, gesturing to the crowd dancing under the trees.
Kelburn Garden Party, Kelburn Castle, near Fairlie, Friday 30 June–Monday 3 July.
29 & 30
APRIL 2023
CITY HALLS & OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW
RYOKO AKAMA
BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
LINDA BUCKLEY
LUCRECIA DALT
WILLIAM DOUGHERTY
LUCY DUNCOMBE
RUFUS ISABEL ELLIOT
LIMPE FUCHS
MAAYAN FRANCO
PETER GARLAND
MARGRIET HOENDERDOS
INGRID LAUBROCK
ADAM LINSON
BUNITA MARCUS
CALUM MCINTYRE
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN
JÉRÔME NOETINGER
IAN POWER
SOMEI SATOH
CORY SMYTHE
CARL STONE
AKI TAKAHASHI
INGE THOMSON
ILAN VOLKOV
FERONIA WENNBORG
SEMAY WU
bbc.co.uk/tectonics
@tectonicsglas
Having picked out seven of the top summer festivals in Scotland this year, here’s another eclectic set of events to entice you out and about
BOSWELL BOOK FESTIVAL
Unique for being the only festival to exclusively cover biography and memoir, this year’s event features Michael Morpurgo, Barbara Dickson, Paterson Joseph and Val McDermid. Plus, there’s a children’s programme and online school events.
Dumfries House, Cumnock, Friday 12–Sunday 14 May.
PERTH FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
The Fair City hosts a diverse mix of entertainment such as Iain Stirling, Richard E Grant, Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers, Jools Holland and Roald Dahl’s The Three Little Pigs
Various venues, Perth, Thursday 18–Saturday 27 May.
FLY OPEN AIR FESTIVAL
This prestigious stately home will reverberate to the sounds of dance music over a frenetic weekend with beats by Denis Sulta, Barry Can’t Swim, Hayley Zalassi and DJ Heartstring.
Hopetoun House, South Queensferry, Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 May.
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY ARTS FESTIVAL
The country’s biggest rural arts festival is closing in on half a century of events with this year’s instalment platforming the likes of A Play, A Pie And A Pint, comedy from sketchy duo Shelf and cheeky lad Craig Hill, innovative folkies Talisk, spoken word with Patricia Ace, and pop-up arias from Scottish Opera.
Various venues, Dumfries & Galloway, Saturday 20–Sunday 28 May.
KNOCKENGORROCH FESTIVAL
Now marking 25 years of festivals in Galloway, this event boasts a diverse line-up of acts offering beats and roots such as Mungo’s Hi Fi Sound System, The Ragga Twins, Old Blind Dogs, Yiddish Twist Orchestra, An Dannsa Dub, Cenote Sounds Takeover and Akram Abdulfattah.
Knockengorroch, Galloway, Thursday 25–Sunday 28 May.
ORKNEY FOLK FESTIVAL
1983 was the debut of this award-winning event and another fine edition is promised here with concerts, ceilidhs, clubs and choirs all involved.
Various venues, Orkney, Thursday 25–Sunday 28 May.
WILDHOOD
‘Are your little ones born to be wild?’ asks this event featuring archery, circus skills, planting, mindfulness, pond dipping, Highland dancing and (arguably the pinnacle) messy play.
Tullibole Castle, Crook Of Devon, Friday 2–Sunday 4 June.
RIVERSIDE FESTIVAL
A decade of riverside events is honoured this summer with another top-notch line-up coming to town: Avalon Emerson, Éclair Fifi, Héctor Oaks, Kintra and Céleste are all due to be here.
Riverside Museum, Glasgow, Saturday 3 & Sunday 4 June.
ST MAGNUS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
Installations, theatre, dance, poetry and music all take centre stage in an evocative setting with appearances from Scottish Ballet, Alycia Pirmohamed, Gerda Stevenson and Hebrides Ensemble.
Various venues, Orkney, Friday 16–Friday 23 June.
EAST NEUK FESTIVAL
Crail, Anstruther and St Andrews are among the locations hosting events this year with this lot so far confirmed: Yeol Eum Son, Castalian Quartet and Queyras.
Various venues, Fife, Thursday 29 June–Sunday 2 July.
SUMMER NIGHTS AT THE BANDSTAND
An all-star gathering will light up Glasgow this summer including Siouxsie, Squeeze, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Sugababes, Saw Doctors and others not beginning with ‘s’.
Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, Tuesday 25 July–Saturday 12 August.
BELLADRUM TARTAN HEART FESTIVAL
Some genuine big-hitters are making the journey Highlandsward including Travis, Sigrid, Bastille, Scouting For Girls, The Bluebells and, get this, Kiefer Sutherland.
Belladrum, Kiltarlity, Thursday 27–Saturday 29 July.
OTHERLANDS MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL
A newbie on the festival circuit last year, this Perthshire event consolidates with the musical likes of Bemz, Harri & Domenic and Parliamo, plus comedy, installations and workshops.
Scone Palace, Perth, Friday 11–Sunday 13 August.
Northern Streams Festival of Nordic & Scottish Music, Song & Dance
TMSA Edinburgh & Lothians Branch, 27–30 April 2023 www.northernstreams.org
Oban Shanty Festival
TMSA Glasgow Branch, 23-25 June 2023 obanshanty.org.uk
TMSA Keith Festival
TMSA Keith Branch, 9-11 June 2023 www.keithfestival.com
Kirriemuir Festival
TMSA Angus Branch, 1-3 September 2023 kirriefestival.org
Visit our website for details of these and other traditional/folk music-related events happening throughout the year. We add events to our online calendar every month. Also check out our social media pages where we promote traditional/folk music events and activity from all over Scotland. www.tmsa.scot @TMSAScotland
For their latest venture, the creative duo behind a recent award-winning Jane Austen reboot are working more modern magic on a Scottish literary classic. Gareth K Vile caught up with Isobel McArthur and Michael John McCarthy to discuss their bold and funny take on Kidnapped
After the huge success of Pride And Prejudice* (*sort of), which scooped an Olivier Award, it’s hardly surprising that National Theatre Of Scotland came knocking on writer and director Isobel McArthur’s door for their latest commission. This time, she’s adapting a classic of Scottish literature, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, collaborating again with her Pride And Prejudice partner Michael John McCarthy, one of Scotland’s most dynamic composers for theatre. McArthur’s distinctive approach to familiar novels is iconoclastic, vibrant and, above all, engaging; her use of music drags what could be a nostalgic and sentimental retelling of a familiar old tale towards an immediate, contemporary relevance.
‘It was a good choice of novel to adapt for National Theatre Of Scotland because it is a Stevenson book that is about Scotland and Scottishness,’ explains McArthur. Of course, she quickly discovered an imaginative way into the dramaturgy. ‘In the copy that I got, the introduction was written by his wife: it became clear that it was her idea to write the book! And she was a bad-ass Johnny Cash-like figure: his protector and carer, and she edited his work. Her life was a huge adventure, and you can see where her life story mapped onto the novel. I thought she would make a fantastic narrator for our adaptation.’
McCarthy admits his delight at working with McArthur again. ‘I loved the chance to read the novel and speak to Isobel about its story,’ he says. ‘We made decisions collaboratively about which story beats should be in; how do you keep the core of the story but make sure it’s accessible to an audience? I think that her genius is an ability to understand a story, and to be somehow faithful and irreverent at the same time; it is really remarkable.’
By working closely with McCarthy, McArthur ensured that music was placed at the heart of the production. With an ensemble of ten (‘nine can play instruments,’ says McCarthy, ‘and all ten can sing!’) and the facilities offered by NTS, this Kidnapped promises a spectacle of scale and imagination. ‘We are blessed with a talented cast,’ McArthur admits. ‘And I’m able to be far better resourced, so I can take the technical possibility of the show much higher; in that respect, I feel very spoilt in what we have got to work with. It is all live music, dance sequences, all the actors playing the instruments. There’s lots to look at and enjoy.’
Much of the emotive power and humour in Pride And Prejudice’s retelling came from the cunning use of popular songs. Not only did these throw Jane Austen’s period drama into relief, they recognised how even apparently throwaway tunes retain an emotional resonance. With McCarthy ‘co-building’ this latest production, Kidnapped has an eclectic soundtrack. ‘There’s a real combination of music,’ says McArthur. ‘The pop music owes a lot to the 1980s.’ McCarthy adds that sourcing an authentic 1980s synthesizer sound was crucial; alongside the acoustic guitars, bass and accordion, there is a DX7 on stage. ‘The music world of the narrator is a lot more Americana standards, and some Scottish folk music,’ he says. ‘It is a real mix, wonderfully so.’ Kidnapped is known as an all-action adventure, racing across Scotland and showcasing Stevenson’s stylish prose and skill at conjuring melodramatic excitement. With Ryan J Mackay as Davie Balfour and Michael Cumming playing Alan Breck Stewart, the source material’s fervour should be maintained. This production, however, draws on another element. ‘I was surprised at how fun it was,’ confesses McCarthy. ‘Stevenson is witty! Brilliantly intelligent but not afraid to be silly; he is a good pairing with Isobel. There are some really silly bits in Kidnapped, the book; and certainly in this adaptation.’
As an NTS production, it seems that Kidnapped speaks both to the literary and cultural history of Scotland. But it rejects the simple nostalgic view of our past, determined to offer a contemporary narrative that is entertaining, playing with both the novel’s conventions and an idea of ‘the musical’. As McCarthy says of McArthur’s work: ‘it’s always so heartfelt, and this show subverts what people expect when they watch an adaptation of Kidnapped.’
Kidnapped, Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, until Saturday 1 April; Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Wednesday 5–Saturday 8 April; Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Tuesday 11–Saturday 22 April.
An Oscar winner who has appeared in some truly awful movies, and a man with a very colourful off-screen past. Nicolas Cage is all that and plenty more. As the method actor reinvents himself once again as Dracula, James Mottram takes us inside the curious cult of this ‘Hollywood extremist’
Question: what’s the best four minutes and 13 seconds you can spend on the internet? Steady now. Let’s keep it clean. I’d like to suggest ‘Nicolas Cage Losing His Shit’, a compilation of the great Hollywood star doing what he does best. Posted on YouTube in 2011, this slavishly edited clip-reel has had almost a million views. Cutting to Clint Mansell’s wailing score from Requiem For A Dream, it features Cage stomping, shouting, swearing, screaming and, in one scene, reciting the entire alphabet at top volume.
All the excerpts are taken from films belonging to the more unhinged corners of Cage’s canon such as erotic thriller Zandalee (where his selfdestructive artist covers himself in paint) or crime caper Deadfall (as a moustachioed goon having a child-like tantrum on a bed). Needless to say, it’s hugely entertaining; rather like Cage, an actor who has never been scared of cranking things up to the max. This is not just over-acting in the Al Pacino hoo-ha way. No. This is Cage Rage, a sort of rocket-fuelled, outon-a-limb intensity that few actors dare to get close to.
Across a 42-year career, Cage has shown the courage to take on the wildest of characters, even playing a version of himself in last year’s The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent. Is he a joke? Or is the joke on us? This, after all, is an actor who won an Oscar for his searing portrait of an alcoholic screenwriter in Mike Figgis’ Leaving Las Vegas. He then went on to become one of Hollywood’s highest-paid names, starring in action vehicles like The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off. Since then, the cult of Cage has swelled exponentially.
Next up, he stars in Renfield, a horror-comedy that casts him as Dracula, surely a role he was born to play. While the spotlight is on the Prince Of Darkness’ titular assistant (played by British actor Nicholas Hoult), let’s face it, everyone who’s buying a ticket to this is doing so to see Cage play the palefaced icon. ‘I want a handful of nuns, a busload of cheerleaders,’ he demands, instructing Renfield to round up some virginal targets. The mind boggles.
Still, it’s nothing we shouldn’t expect from the 59-year-old Cage, whose love of cinematic blood-suckers stretches back to 1988’s Vampire’s Kiss. A flop at the time, this film featured him playing a literary agent who starts to believe he’s a member of the undead, leading to a legendary sequence as he runs down the street yelling ‘I’m a vampire! I’m a vampire!’. Over and over again.
Later, he produced the Oscar-nominated Shadow Of A Vampire, which cast Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck, the actor who played Nosferatu in the 1922 silent classic; the twist in this telling being that Schreck himself has a lust for blood. Renfield, of course, taps right into Cage’s penchant for larger-than-life caricature.
There’s something of the comic book about a lot of his characters. He famously used Marvel’s Luke Cage to supply his own stage name and came close to playing the Man Of Steel himself in Tim Burton’s shelved Superman Lives; that would surely have been one of the greatest incarnations of the DC Comics superhero to ever reach our screens. Since then, he’s given us Marvel’s bike-riding Ghost Rider and Big Daddy in Kick-Ass while he voiced Spider-Man Noir in the animated Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Rightly or wrongly, Cage’s reputation for being a Hollywood extremist drags around his Cuban heels. His marriage to the late Lisa Marie Presley lasted just 108 days, he named his son KalEl after Superman, and he’s prone to method-style moments of madness to find his characters (famously yanking two teeth out, without anaesthetic, when he was preparing to play a Vietnam veteran in Alan Parker’s Birdy). Nephew of film director Francis Ford Coppola, he’s almost like the black sheep of that clan, the sort you wouldn’t be able to take your eyes off at a family barbecue.
When The Guardian once interviewed him, the headline was ‘people think I’m not in on the joke’; a slightly doctored quote from the article that referred to how he and director Neil LaBute were ‘in’ on the absurdity of their 2006 remake of pagan horror The Wicker Man. That atrocious film is easily the most meme-worthy of Cage’s career (and that’s saying something), as he runs around in a bear costume, punching women and getting attacked by bees (‘not the bees!’).
Yet in a way, Cage clearly is in on the joke. Despite all the straight-to-video duffers, he’s still capable of unearthing B-movie gems like Mandy or the Richard Stanley-directed HP Lovecraft movie Colour Out Of Space, playing to the increasingly rabid fanbase who get their kicks from Cage hitting boiling point. Likewise, he knows when to dial it down, like in the recent Pig, as a reclusive truffle hunter who ventures into the Portland restaurant scene to go looking for his kidnapped hog. Cage has worked with some of the best directors in the world: the Coen Brothers (Raising Arizona), Martin Scorsese (Bringing Out The Dead), Paul Schrader (Dog Eat Dog), Brian De Palma (Snake Eyes). And roughly once every few years, he also delivers a bona fide classic, like his Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman collaboration Adaptation. Not many actors would score an Oscar nod for playing a maudlin screenwriter and his upbeat twin. But then, not many actors are Nicolas Cage.
ADAPTATION (2002)
Cage was Oscar-nominated (and should have won) for playing angst-ridden screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his annoying twin. A masterful spin on neuroses.
WILD AT HEART (1990)
His only ever collaboration with David Lynch, Cage’s Elvis-loving Sailor is both a lover and a fighter. Oozes charisma, especially in that snakeskin jacket.
MANDY (2018)
Chainsaws at the ready, Cage goes on a rampage after demonic bikers who killed his wife in this quintessential example of the actor being totally bonkers.
THE ROCK (1996)
The film that kickstarted his $20m Hollywood paydays, Cage’s Alcatraz-escaping, long-haired Stanley Goodspeed is one of the great 90s action heroes.
MOONSTRUCK (1987)
Cage romances Cher in one of his sweetest roles, proof that he’s just as capable of toning things down when the character calls for it.
10 Antigua Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3NH
WWW.KAHANIRESTAURANT.CO.UK
Hey Palu is a chilled cocktail bar in the heart of Edinburgh Old Town. Specializing in Aperitivo drinks, modern classic cocktails and Amaro.
Small plates are available to accompany your drinks and our menu focuses on the finest Italian ingredients such as; Truffle Pecorino cheese, Spianata piccante and Nocellara olives.
Hey Palu is already one of Edinburgh’s favourite spots in town for cocktails. Awarded the best cocktail bar in Scotland by SLTN awards and currently featured for the second year running as a UK Top50 cocktail bar.
Beautiful drinks, Great people, Excellent service.
49 Bread Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9AH |heypalu.com
This Van Gogh-influenced speakeasy is fast on track to being Glasgow’s worst-kept secret. Known for their innovative, high-concept cocktails and top-secret location, it’s no surprise that The Absent Ear has been ranked one of the Top 50 Cocktail Bars in the UK while securing a coveted spot on the GQ Awards Best Bar shortlist. This literal hidden gem masterfully blends theatricality with mixology, working with local artists to bring their menu (which doubles as a digital art book) to life. Enjoy unusual concoctions, such as their interesting take on a kebab (yes, a kebab), or leave your drink to chance with their ‘scratch and sip’ scratch-card cocktail. (Claire Stuart) n Location confirmed upon booking, theabsentear.com or @theabsentear on Instagram.
As two flash new destination venues open their doors in historic Glasgow buildings, David Kirkwood gets a sneak preview of what they’ll be dishing up
For the hospitality industry, there’s been no shortage of pessimism to go round in recent times. Many outlets have struggled to meet increasing costs, while trying not to simply pass them on to customers who have less expendable income. And yet, in this same period, Glasgow was garlanded by not one but two Michelin stars, three new seafood restaurants opened there, and more cocktail bars arrived than the city has had for ages, The bling, it would appear, is back.
And now the grand old RBS building in Royal Exchange Square (the old Borders/Zizzi) has a new resident, and they’ve spared no expense in their fitout. Banca di Roma is a spectacular 180-cover affair spanning two levels with all manner of pomp to make it an ‘event’ destination. Even when it was Zizzi, there was something cinematic about climbing the grandiose stone stairs just to enter. And now, a cocktail bar and balcony look down on the main space, the kitchen is in full view, and a chiller cabinet of big-boy steak sits to the side, while copies of famous Italian artworks (we’re talking high Renaissance) weigh down the walls. Oh, and there’s a big tree inside too, so it’s showy in all sorts of ways.
At the helm are the three Cozzolino brothers, who worked under Calabrian chef Francesco Mazzei at his Savile Row restaurant Sartoria. Mazzei himself was at the lavish opening, where DJ Fat Tony provided the tunes and a tasting menu gave a glimpse into what the restaurant plans for Glasgow. Excellent quality Italian ingredients should always shine, and they look like they will, with rich stuffed pasta, burrata, and battuta
di manzo (similar to steak tartare) all served at the event. One emphasis is on the powerful, vibrant flavours of southern Italy, another is on the importance of absolute crowd-pleasers like Highland wagyu beef lasagne or nduja-crushed potatoes.
A few hundred metres along the road, 1802 At Hutchesons Hall (from the same stable as Tabac and The Devil Of Brooklyn) will soon be getting in on the act. Currently expected to open mid-April, it’s a magnificent piece of A-listed 19th-century architecture, all pillars, statues and faded glory (originally built as a hospital). According to general manager Alexander Martin, that was the project’s starting point. ‘You’ve got to respect the history,’ he insists. ‘So in our upstairs restaurant we’ll be doing modern dining trends (small plates, bold combinations) but with a sense of occasion in this fantastic dining space in a listed building.’
At street level, there will be a martini and aperitivi lounge, demonstrating the mixologist pedigree of the team’s other venues. But is Glasgow verging on having too many fancy bars these days? ‘I really don’t think so,’ argues Martin. ‘I honestly think that having more good-quality cocktail bars is an excellent thing for an area.’ It’s a fair point. The whole scene becomes energised as standards are raised plus the sheer scale of both these new ventures intrigues and excites. Glasgow just got a bit more gilded . . .
Suzy Pope reports on the latest news and openings as an Edinburgh street experiences a case of culinary musical chairs
Stuart Ralston’s new venture, Tipo, has just opened on the capital’s Hanover Street. Offering laid-back Italian food and wine, it’s Ralston’s third venue in Edinburgh, after Aizle and Noto, and is a joint operation with his brother Scott (former executive chef at The Compass Group). Meanwhile, another Hanover Street resident has moved out: The Pakora Bar is now in the massive former Pizza Express at Holyrood. But taking up their former home at 96 Hanover Street is Bibimbap, serving Korean favourites in jazzy surroundings.
Speaking of Korea, Gomo Kimchi, Glasgow’s small-batch kimchi makers, has opened a comfort food and poetry space just off Victoria Road, while north of the river, Korrito arrived on Great Western Road offering Seoul-style street food and sushi. Elsewhere in the city, bakery firm Morton’s Rolls almost became a casualty of the cost-of-living crisis; they had a rollercoaster of a month, ceasing production at the beginning of March only to be bought a few days later, saving 110 out of around 250 jobs. Fingers crossed that a similar ending befalls the beloved Hidden Lane Tearoom which is up for sale. And despite weathering the current economic climate, iconic Waterloo Street bar The Admiral was forced to close down; but in happy news for tipplers, it has announced a reopening just down the road.
Lastly, Paisley Food And Drink Festival returns for a third year on 21 & 22 April. Renfrewshire vendors such as cake and cocktail hawkers Fairfull, and wood-fired pizza people Scozzese will pitch up, alongside Japanese, Greek and Southern US offerings from across Scotland. Two Towns Down Brewing will also be in attendance, after opening Paisley’s first taproom at the end of March.
We pick a street and tell you where to eat.
Suzy Pope heads over to Tollcross in Edinburgh, exploring the area around Leven Street
HARAJUKU KITCHEN
A funky interior and some of the sharpest staff in the city keep this place feeling ontrend despite being a stalwart on Gillespie Place. The usual Californian-style sushi rolls (dragon, spider, rainbow) are served refreshingly chilled and the sashimi tastes as light as spring water.
THE WILDCAT
Low-lit and intimate, this tucked-away cocktail bar on Tarvit Street still feels like a secret. They’ll do you all the classics with finesse but the menu is all about their inventive signatures: a yuzu-flavoured gin number, and rum with apricot, pineapple and absinthe.
A WEE TASTE
Showcasing some of Edinburgh’s local produce on towering charcuterie boards, A Wee Taste is a dinky spot to while away an evening with a bottle of wine. The everchanging list has some intriguing Hungarian numbers and the sharing platters taste as good as they look; and they look damn good.
LUPE PINTOS
Anyone looking for handmade corn tortillas, niche tequilas or hot sauce that will blow your face off should make the journey to Lupe Pintos deli. The homemade guacamole is a clear highlight of the shop’s offerings; it’s also a treasure trove of Mexicana, craft beer and delightfully obscure wines.
KONJ CAFÉ
KONJ’s breakfasts and brunches lure folk in from afar. Persian breakfast with fried eggs, feta and walnuts or sweet omelette flavoured with saffron whisk you to the streets of Tehran. Plus, cakes soaked in honey and dusted with pistachios pair perfectly with perfumed tea. This place does supper clubs too.
Stepping through the familiar porticoes that marked the entrance of Mexican stalwart Pancho Villas for 30-odd years, it’s a surprise to find Scandi-chic lightwood chairs and muted greens and greys in its new incarnation. A casual set-up in the bar area at The Black Grape has a long, high-stooled table for those popping in for a glass, and a mezzanine dining area reserved for those indulging in the small-plates menu.
The unpretentious motto here promises ‘food, wine and good times’. The ‘wine’ it certainly delivers, with an extensive choice of rich reds and crisp whites. For aperitivo, it’s the deliciously lip-pursing ‘sour grapes’ or a classy negroni. The margarita nod to Pancho Villas has disappeared from the menu since opening, perhaps demonstrating that in just a few short months, The Black Grape has ripened into its skin.
The ‘food’ promise is delivered via small plates designed to share, featuring a medley of fresh seafood (possibly thanks to founder Murray Ainslie’s experience at The White Horse Oyster Bar nearby) and Scottish produce. Yakitori chicken skewers are pleasingly sticky with spring onion just the right side of charred. Nduja arancini have a hit of spice and soak up a bold pinot noir nicely.
But it’s the venison haunch that steals the show, rose-pink at its core and bejewelled with plump brambles. A tower of crisp potatoes somewhat overshadows dressed crab, but it’s a refreshing addition to an array of iron and salt-heavy dishes. ‘Good times’ are up to you, but tasty small plates, great cocktails, and a laid-back interior certainly provide the foundations.
(Suzy Pope)
n 240 Canongate, Edinburgh, theblackgrape.co.uk
The Finnieston venues which hit that sweet spot of cool, accessible, a bit exciting and not wildly pricey, really feel like they keep ‘the strip’ ticking over. A new addition to that list is local favourite Ramen Dayo which, having firmly ensconced itself over in Ashton Lane, has now taken on the old Alchemilla site on this side of the West End.
And it’s very stylishly done; all quirky Japanese street signs and decals, lots of lanterns and a neon orange glow throughout. As well as regular tables, there’s space for another 15 or so people on stools at the window or the bar. Part of creating broad appeal is the ability to actually get enough folk into your restaurant; Ramen Dayo looks the part and it’s kitted out to pack them in.
Let’s start with their tonkotsu, the best-known ramen dish, the one made with pork bones over a rolling boil with sliced pork belly. It hits all the spots it’s meant to: glossy to look at, silky in the mouth, comfortingly meaty and delicately salty, with noodles ever-so-slightly chewy.
Now, it’s not unreasonable to have a ramen bar do one or two types of broth. Here, the variety is striking. Shiitake X Porcini, spiked with a reduction of dried mushrooms and burnt garlic, leaves a ferocious whack of savoury on the nose and tongue like some wild experiment in how umami can you go. Tantanmen is defined by a clean hit of sesame, and with the TVP (textured vegetable protein) option goes a remarkable way to achieving the rich depth we associate with meat-based ramen dishes. The use of miso (in the Miso Black) and soy (in the marinaded eggs) are other striking executions of familiar flavours that both meat and vegetarian diets will appreciate.
Sides aren’t quite as exciting, but there are solid riffs on fried nibbles: chicken karaage, gyoza, pumpkin korokke (croquettes), takoyaki (octopus) with Kewpie mayo and spicy dip on the side. You know the drill. The broths, however, are excellent across the board. Ramen Dayo makes a lot of sense in its second home. (David Kirkwood)
n 1126 Argyle Street, Glasgow, ramendayo.com
In our regular drinks column, Kevin Fullerton tries a few tasty beverages and lets you know exactly what he thinks of them. This month we need Kevin to talk about . . . gin
Anyone who’s watched an episode of Coronation Street understands that the quality of a gin can be inferred by the amount it makes you cry. Any scene from Corrie featuring a G&T invariably ended with mascara running down a poor woman’s cheeks, as though a horrific revelation (‘Ken’s cheated on Deirdre!’, ‘Gail Platt’s murdered Leanne Battersby in the newsagent!’) was as natural an accompaniment to this spirit as a slice of lemon. With that in mind, I’ll be capturing the tears I shed in a small glass while consuming this month’s selection, letting you know how many millilitres of sadness juice I pour from my peepers. It’s either an adequate rating system or a cry for help. Either way, these are words on a page and they almost make sense, and really, that’s the most you can expect from me. Now, gin . . .
First in the glug-glug jamboree is Eden Mill’s Amarone Red Wine Cask Gin, a limited edition bottle with a distinctive flavour. Aged for 500 days and nights in an Italian red Amarone cask, this gin has the light tinge of rosé wine. The bottle itself is a triumph of dimpled glass and intricate curves that’ll put the other receptacles in your drinks cabinet to shame. While it has a spicy punch, there’s a lightness of touch here that means it’ll complement rather than overpower your preferred mixer. Tears cried: 330ml. New mascara applied.
Second in our imbibement processing facility is Holyrood Distillery’s Height Of Arrows Gin. Holyrood’s USP is the small number of botanicals used (juniper, beeswax and sea salt) to extract diversity from limitation. Bottle design-wise, this is a bruiser to Eden Mill’s ballerina, all chunky squares and harsh grooves. And much like its forbidding product design, the taste here is craggy and harsh when drunk neat but conjures a satisfying tang when mixed with tonic. They concoct a bitter medicine, but Holyrood Distillery knows what’s good for you. And unlike my pharmacist (despite the regular drinks invitations I proffer at Boots) they’ll get you very drunk. Tears cried: 300ml. New mascara applied. Looking on fleek.
Creative folks reveal their favourite watering hole
Glasgow is full of amazing bars and venues so this is a tough one. Sauchiehall Street is usually my favourite place to go as it’s always a great night out. Nice N Sleazy and Broadcast are two bars/venues that are reliably brilliant. Slouch is another go-to just round the corner from Sauchiehall Street. A bit further away from the centre I would choose the Tennent’s Bar on Byres Road in the West End. This is my local and it’s a proper good old-fashioned bar in an area close to my heart.
n Shambolics play The Garage, Glasgow on Saturday 15 April; U Serious Boi?! is released by Scruff Of The Neck Records on Friday 14 April.
Researched and compiled by The List’s food and drink team, tipLIST suggests the places worth knowing about around Edinburgh and Glasgow in different themes, categories and locations. This month we train our antennae on those spots that offer a bit of welcome economy (and often an appealing, freewheelin’ vibe) with their bring-your-own-bottle policy. We mention if there’s no corkage charge, but in other instances expect a modest fee
CHIZURU TEI
278 Morrison Street, chizurutei.co.uk
It might be the unassuming decor that keeps this place off-radar. But it’s a bonus that (probably) the best sushi in Edinburgh remains a secret. The fish is so fresh it could have come from Tsukiji market, while bento boxes, variety platters and a small corkage fee keep the bill pleasingly low.
86–88 Morningside Road, masti.uk
If you’re not taken by one of Masti’s delicious mango lassis, you can bring your own drinks for free. Exposed stone walls and sleek décor make this one of the classier BYOB options, but the menu is comfort food classics: Goan fish curry, lamb bhindi and a particularly delightful chana masala.
PERA
57 Elm Row, turkishrestaurantedinburgh.co.uk
This tiny spot on Leith Walk serves up Turkish grill and mezze dishes allied to some of the friendliest service in the city. Homemade hummus sparkles with pomegranate seeds, boat-shaped pide are ideal for sharing, and the lamb and pistachio kofte certainly won’t leave you hungry. Cash only.
20a Leopold Place, toranj.uk
You might miss this basement restaurant if it weren’t for the scent of apple tobacco drifting up from the shisha courtyard in summer. Inside, it’s the scent of perfectly charred (halal) meat and freshly baked flatbread that whets your appetite for plates of Persian grill and traditional stews.
TUK TUK
16 Drummond Street, tuktukindianstreetfood.com
Low corkage fees on BYOB and fast-cooked, street food-style eats maintain Tuk Tuk as one of the best value restaurants in Edinburgh. Small curry dishes are made for sharing and the pau bhaji whisk you to the street stalls of Mumbai, all within an industrial-chic interior.
BAKED PIZZA AL TAGLIO
120 Duke Street, facebook.com/ bakedpizzaaltaglio
Baked specialise in al taglio Roman-style pizza: long-proofed dough so it’s bubbly and crisp, baked in a rectangular pan and loaded with inventive toppings. They also dabble in the thin, round ‘tonda’ variety. Corkage is £1 per person.
BANANA LEAF
192 St Vincent Street, facebook.com/ bananaleafglasgow
Having left their long-standing home on Old Dumbarton Road, the team at Banana Leaf recently moved into the city. Their simple, smart décor is a big step up from the old place, but it’s the same chefs, same excellent South Indian food, same nice prices and same free corkage.
CHILLIES WEST END
176–182 Woodlands Road, chillieswestend.com
For 15 years, this curry house has kept Woodlands spice-lovers happy, whether eating in or taking away. Familiar Indian dishes (pakora, tandoori grills, biryanis, naans) are elevated by fresh, vibrant flavours. There’s no corkage charge for BYOB, unless you’re in a big group (nine or more).
LITTLE HOI AN
26 Allison Street, facebook.com/littlehoianglasgow
Govanhill’s cosy Vietnamese diner does a great line in hawker-style street-food dishes, from crispy rolls and pho, to dumplings and wokfried noodle numbers. It’s unlicenced so grab beers or wine on the way in. Corkage charges apply.
SATU SATU
97 St George’s Road, satusatu.co.uk
This Asian diner is a bit different. That it does Chinese-Malaysian cuisine is fairly unusual; that it specialises in desserts (from sweet soups to bubble waffles) is downright idiosyncratic. It also
BAR SOBA
79 Albion Street, barsoba.co.uk
Bar Soba is a crowd-pleaser with its pan-Asian menu and enticing cocktails. Whether enjoying Thai curries, bao buns, dumplings or noodles, it’s a big bonus to enjoy an alfresco vibe while still being protected from the Glasgow weather.
CAFÉ GANDOLFI
64 Albion Street, cafegandolfi.com
Café Gandolfi set up shop in the old cheesemarket in 1979, when this part of town was in need of some TLC. Expect arty takes on Scottish classics and modern riffs on our national produce.
DAKHIN
89 Candleriggs, dakhin.com
This classy curry house specialises in South Indian dishes. Head-turning speciality dosas (large papery pancakes with spicy fillings) and idli rice cakes are joined by other regional delicacies.
NONNA SAID
26 Candleriggs, nonnasaid.com
This fun diner caters to pizza lovers who like a taste of Napoli. Toppings are eclectically global: think Philly cheesesteak or Jamaican jerk chicken, with street-food sides and cocktails.
TURKIYE EFES
97–99 Candleriggs, turkiyeglasgow.co.uk
Amid eye-catching balloon breads and weekend belly dancers, there’s plenty of top Turkish cuisine to enjoy here, from mixed mezze and grilled kebabs galore, to baklava and raki.
As Karen Mabon releases a special anniversary collection marking a decade of creativity, Claire Stuart meets the Scottish designer in her whimsical world of pattern and colour
Showgirls next to pink Cadillacs find themselves alongside a chorus line of Elvises. Factory workers carry giant blocks of chocolate or sweep up a waterfall of pastel bonbons, and cats are adorned in outfits straight off the runway. Welcome to the weird and wonderful universe of Karen Mabon’s prints.
The Black Isle-born designer launched her eponymous brand in 2013, creating elaborate illustrative scarves and loungewear rooted in evocative storytelling and a strong sense of nostalgia. Since then she’s collaborated with institutions from French department store Monoprix to Peter Rabbit and Agatha Christie.
And to celebrate ten years of the Karen Mabon label, she has taken a deep dive into the archives for a special anniversary collection. With such an expansive back catalogue, deciding which pieces to resurrect must have been a tricky task. ‘There were many designs that hadn’t really had their moment,’ Mabon insists.
Her Midnight Feast scarf, for example, featuring foxes rummaging among banana skins and old tin cans, is reimagined as part of an organic cotton pyjama set. Same goes with the Bedroom Floor scarf, which has been reworked into its own set sporting Tamagotchis, hair clips and dreamy candy-pink phones. ‘A lot of it was choosing
our favourites,’ Mabon says. ‘If we are excited about it, you have to trust that other people will be too.’
Mabon’s trust in her own instincts have allowed her to be a creative risk taker, something she deems essential when starting your own brand. ‘You have to get comfortable with discomfort,’ she states. ‘As a small business there is always going to be an element of risk. You must let go of perfectionism and a little bit of your ego. Sometimes it is all about getting the idea out. You just have to run with it.’
Karen Mabon designs find beauty in ordinary, familiar objects. This signature approach carries through into her latest spring and summer collection, inspired in no small part by the birth of her daughter.
‘I made my daughter an alphabet quilt for Christmas and next thing I knew I was designing an “ABC for adults” print,’ she explains. ‘We’ve also created a black and white design this season, because in the first few months babies only see in black and white. It all feels very domestic.’ Herein lies Mabon’s special talent: finding playful ways of taking quiet, everyday moments and transporting them to dreamland.
STUDIO,
I recently got this cute second-hand keyring as I have a horrible habit of losing keys! Just before Christmas, I accidentally flung my set in the bin (car key included) and couldn’t retrieve them. I am so grateful for my car as I have been a self-confessed bag lady since high school.
MAKEUP
ReJean founder and designer Siobhan McKenna empties her Hayley McSporran minimal crossbody bag, revealing her essentials to Megan Merino
Lunch Concept
I’m that girl who gets ready on the train or in the car while sitting at traffic lights. I never have enough time in the morning, so having my make-up on me means I can get ready if I end up having impromptu evening plans or just want to feel a bit more put together. My go-to lipsticks are Lisa Eldridge or Glossier. I’m obsessed with Erborian CC Cream for a natural face and Refy for my brows.
Every year I waste money on expensive but highly detailed planners in a bid to become more organised, and every year I fail miserably. I have a chaotic brain and have to make loads of lists to keep me right. I write these everywhere except my fancy planner: somehow I still manage to get all my shit done.
You’ll always find a needle and thread, an unpicker or a big pair of shears in my backpack. I often take home hand-sewing jobs from the studio to do in front of the TV that evening. Whether those jobs end up getting done is a different story.
LAPTOP
My laptop goes with me everywhere, followed very closely by my hard drive (that I need to back-up more regularly). I’ve had my wee MacBook Air for about five years, and it’s still going strong despite countless near-death experiences.
COMPOSTABLE DOG POO BAGS
My partner and I got a dog last summer; his name is Decks and he’s a rescue Staffordshire Bull Terrier. He is the cuddliest big baby in the world and I am completely obsessed with him. I rarely go out without a roll of these on my person.
Siobhan McKenna and weaver Christopher McEvoy create pieces using scraps from their respective spaces in an exhibition called Studio Floor at The Pyramid, Glasgow, Saturday 15–Saturday 29 April.
Claire Stuart is back with another trio of retail recommendations to check out in Glasgow, Edinburgh and online
Seasonless, personality-led designs make up the roster at this concept store, which brings together talented designers from Scotland and across the world. Sheer opera gloves can be found alongside sculptural felt bags, corsets made from deadstock fabric, and beaded necklaces. Bold, authentic and unapologetic, Lunch’s designers will leave you hungry for more.
lunchconcept.com, @lunchconceptstore on Instagram.
Specialising in small press and hardback fiction, Golden Hare brings together books you wouldn’t find anywhere else. The cosy shop
hosts in-store literary events and a monthly book club as well as offering monthly subscriptions or bespoke literature consultations for those requiring personal recommendations.
68 St Stephen Street, Edinburgh, @goldenharebooks on Instagram.
Nestled in the Cooperage (a cornucopia of independent Glasgow shops) is record store and café Some Great Reward. Run by seasoned music veterans with a passion for vinyl, it’s the perfect spot for finding new local music, stumbling across deep cuts or falling in love with old favourites.
674 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow, @sgr_recordcafe on Instagram.
Sleeping Beauty may be one of the ultimate Christmas shows, but tis would not be the season to be especially jolly if vampires were inserted into its fairytale mix. But Matthew Bourne has rarely settled for merely meeting expectations with his New Adventures projects down the years, and for this tour marking the tenth anniversary of his company’s Sleeping Beauty, the tale clearly required a reboot or two. As well as befanged bloodsuckers, there’s an animated baby and a steamy red and black nightclub which helps make this production a perfect gothic romance. (Brian Donaldson)
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Tuesday 11–Saturday 15 April.
Tectonics once again celebrates the best in experimental and new orchestral music.
Ingrid Laubrock tells Stewart Smith that manipulating and disorientating an orchestra can be fun
‘Standing in front of an orchestra, the vibration blows me away,’ declares saxophonist, composer and improviser Ingrid Laubrock.
‘There’s such a huge amount of colour to play with. It’s just beautiful.’ Laubrock will be drawing on the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s palette of tones at Tectonics, with the delayed UK premiere of her composition ‘Drilling’. Laubrock was due to perform the piece at 2020’s edition of Ilan Volkov and Alasdair Campbell’s cutting-edge new music festival, only for covid to intervene. Three years on, she’s excited to finally be working with conductor Volkov and the BBC SSO, one of the world’s most adventurous orchestras. ‘I think what he’s doing is amazing,’ she notes. ‘I fully trust him.’
Laubrock’s place at the forefront of a new generation of composers and improvisers dissolving the artificial barriers between avantgarde jazz and classical music makes her a perfect fit for Tectonics. Born in Germany, Laubrock cut her teeth on the millennial London jazz scene as a member of the forward-thinking F-IRE Collective. Since relocating to New York in 2009 she has established herself as a leading figure in the creative music scene, collaborating with such luminaries as Anthony Braxton, Myra Melford, Mary Halvorson and George E Lewis, while also leading her own projects. These range from duos with her husband, drummer Tom Rainey, to largescale orchestral pieces. Attending a workshop in 2012 led by Lewis (a key figure in Chicago’s pioneering Association For The Advancement Of
Creative Musicians and a regular guest of Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra) helped Laubrock develop an approach to orchestral composition informed by her experience as an improviser.
‘I realised that with the right people or the right conductor, you can actually figure out ways of making it more my language or where I’m coming from,’ she notes, ‘rather than completely trying to invent myself into an orchestral composer.’
Commissioned by Cologne’s EOS Chamber Orchestra, ‘Drilling’ first appeared on Laubrock’s 2020 album Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt in small group and orchestral versions. Based on her dreams, the piece develops slowly, with soloists weaving improvised parts around relatively static blocks of sound from the orchestra. For Tectonics, two of the soloists
on that recorded version (pianist Cory Smythe and Laubrock herself) will be joined by Scottish electronic musician Adam Linson.
‘The electronics manipulate the orchestra in that piece’s first half,’ Laubrock explains. ‘It’s a very calm, very thinly orchestrated piece that the electronics bend and detune. So there’s this sense of destabilisation, but on a very subtle level.’ Smythe’s quarter-tone piano adds a further layer of disorientation. ‘It’s kind of disconcerting for the orchestra,’ Laubrock laughs, ‘because it makes them sound out of tune.’
Ingrid Laubrock appears at Tectonics with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, City Halls, Glasgow, Sunday 30 April.
CORY SMYTHE
In addition to performing with Ingrid Laubrock, the brilliant Smythe (pictured) presents a solo concert for retuned, prepared and processed piano, radically reinterpreting the standard ‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’ as a meditation on grief and environmental catastrophe.
Saturday 29 April.
RUFUS ISABEL ELLIOT
Having had one foot in the Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland and another in Glasgow’s DIY scene, this producer of OVER/AT (a trans, non-binary and genderdiverse label and project), brings us a newly commissioned work for the SSO’s strings that draws on folk ballads.
Saturday 29 April.
RYOKO AKAMA
Huddersfield-based Akama takes over the City Halls’ Recital Room with her installation shimatsu 13. Sculpting domestic appliances and scrap material into kinetic contraptions, Akama creates ephemeral situations that magnify silence, space and time.
Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 April.
LIMPE FUCHS
A rare chance to see this legendary composer, percussionist and instrument builder. At 81, Fuchs remains as adventurous as ever, bringing a spectacular array of resonant metallic tones and raw electronics to her performances.
Sunday 30 April.
Two of Glasgow’s most interesting sonic explorers (Duncombe as a solo artist, Wennborg with Soft Tissue) come together for a project exploring voice-based technologies. Through a collaborative process, the duo create intimate, tactile sonic experiences set within fictional worlds.
Sunday 30 April.
Tectonics, City Halls & Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 April.
Richard Strange is a popculture renaissance man who has moved from fronting pre-punk band Doctors Of Madness and hosting 1980s multimedia salon Cabaret Futura, to acting in Hollywood films and curating the National Review Of Live Art. And that’s just the half of it. Neil Cooper catches up with Strange as he tours An Accent Waiting To Happen, his evening of songs, stories and scurrilous gossip
Hi Richard, how’s the tour going? It’s such a joy to be out on the road again after the last three brutal years of uncertainty, fear and restrictions. I am a performer first and foremost, and without an audience a performer is a man looking into a void, a black hole.
What prompted An Accent Waiting To Happen? I have never really toured the show before. I have done a few isolated gigs but never got it into a shape where it works every night. I did a couple of shows in London last year and enjoyed them so much that I thought I should get out and reconnect with my fans of the last 45 years who have supported and sustained me through these dark times.
You’ve always moved between different media. How much does An Accent Waiting To Happen relate to Cabaret Futura, which coincided with that early 1980s wave of alternative cabaret? Well, some of the stories I tell are directly about Cabaret Futura, the club I opened in London and brought to Edinburgh in 1981 for a week-long residency as part of the Festival. As I recall, my guests then included a guy called Nick Cave with his band The Birthday Party (what an artist!), as well as Edinburgh heroes Richard Jobson, Everest The Hard Way and Jackie Leven. It was a time of radical change in people’s cultural habits, desires and needs. Music was moving away from guitar pop and post-punk into a number of interesting directions.
Going right back, Doctors Of Madness were arguably both before and after their time in terms of style and presentation. With Cherry Red Records’ re-release of their back catalogue as well as the recent Dark Times album, have Doctors Of Madness finally found their moment? Yeah, I always believed Doctors Of Madness to be a special, seminal band, unlike anyone else at the time. Remember, Bowie and Roxy had happened, but the music of 1974/5 was either prog rock or pub rock. And we were neither. We were difficult for journalists to categorise. Still are! The Guardian came closest when they described us as ‘the missing link between David Bowie and the Sex Pistols’. I’ll settle for that on my tombstone!
I gather Doctors Of Madness played Falkirk, with Johnny & The Self Abusers (aka Simple Minds) supporting. How was that? Aah, yes! The Maniqui in Falkirk. Great gig. Jim and Charlie of Simple Minds decided to form the band after they saw us supporting Be-Bop Deluxe in 1975. At that time, Doctors Of Madness were the only band with a sizeable following who would dare to put these new young bands on the bill with them. Jim asked and we said ‘sure’. Other bands were either scared or dismissive of them, constantly saying ‘they can’t play’ when that was totally missing the point. They didn’t claim to be virtuoso musicians. They were just angry kids kicking against the establishment in the only way they knew how. They knew we were their fellow travellers, even though we were five years older than them which is a generation in pop music.
Last time you were in Scotland, in 2011, you were curating the National Review Of Live Art. Quite a lively affair, I gather? That was such an honour to be invited to curate the NRLA. I was given free rein to create a piece of work and invite artists from all over the world to participate in the flagship event. That was, unforgivably, the last time I was in Scotland. I used to have my second home in Edinburgh in the mid80s, recording at Wilf’s Planet Studio on York Place, or on Broughton Street with Jamie Telford from Everest The Hard Way. That band became Richard Strange And The Engine Room and we had a global club hit around 1984 with a song called ‘Damascus’. Edinburgh was a great place to hang out . . . if you didn’t mind the hangover after a night out with Alan Rankine, god rest his soul!
As an artist, you move between acting in commercial films such as Batman and Harry Potter one minute, to working with Gavin Bryars and Gavin Turk the next. How much are they all part of the same performance collage? Well, as I say to my students ‘there are two sorts of artists: those who say “yes” and those who say “no”.’ I say ‘yes’ and figure out ‘how’ as I move along. I fell into acting through a chance meeting with Franc Roddam (Quadrophenia) at Cabaret Futura. He introduced me to an agent, and within a couple of years I had worked with Jack Nicholson and Tim Burton on Batman, Neil Jordan and Bob Hoskins on Mona Lisa, and Kevin Costner and Alan Rickman on Robin Hood. I am the luckiest man alive, as anyone who comes to the show will hear.
Your memoir Punks And Drunks And Flicks And Kicks came out in 2005. Obviously, you’ve done a lot since then. Any thoughts of a sequel? There is a whole lot more to tell. The cut-off point for volume one was 2001, when I was 50 years old and considered myself old enough to write a memoir (nowadays you’re old enough at 18!). But in the last 22 years so much has happened . . . doing the Lou Reed tour, The Black Rider tour with Marianne Faithfull and Tom Waits, NRLA, Tate Gallery, Glastonbury, performing my 1981 concept album The Phenomenal Rise Of Richard Strange in its entirety, and now making a new double CD with TV Smith of The Adverts called A DFFRNT WRLD
What should audiences who may not know your work expect from the show, then? An irreverent romp through the last 50 years of popular culture by someone who has lived it up to his neck, illustrated with songs, film clips, stories, anecdotes, scurrilous gossip, and shameless name-dropping!
Richard Strange: An Accent Waiting to Happen, Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Saturday 22 April. See more (much more) of this Q&A at list.co.uk
April springs into view in Edinburgh with a Comunn Tìr nam Beann concert featuring local Gaelic and Scots singers and musicians at Augustine United Church (1 April). Bothan Dhùn Èideann welcomes Inverness-based singer and poet Ceitidh Campbell to the city’s Kilderkin pub (7 April), while Scots Trad Award-winning Megan Henderson will be joined by Alistair Iain Paterson and Su-a Lee at Traverse Theatre (17 April).
Up in Aberdeen, the first of the month brings Srùbag, with Gaelic and music classes as well as conversation circles in the Boys Brigade Hall. At Glasgow’s Marriott Hotel, Beinn Lee and Rachel Walker are among the headliners at Eilidh’s Trust Tartan And Tiaras Ball (29 April), which includes a drinks reception, three-course dinner and live auction, as well as performances. Also that night, Lothian Gaelic Choir hold their Spring Concert at Morningside United Church in Edinburgh, with a mixture of Gaelic song arrangements, puirt-à-beul, and solo performances and poetry from the membership.
For Tradfest, it’s all about òrain mhòra, as Rona Lightfoot and Allan MacDonald play Traverse Theatre (29 April), while Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin convenes at the same venue (29 April–1 May) for workshops aimed at musicians aged 13–18. The last weekend in April brings the Beltane Fire Festival to the capital’s Calton Hill (30 April), an event which, their website tells us, contains ‘semi-nudity and uninhibited behaviour’. Let’s hope for good weather.
(Marcas Mac an Tuairneir)
When I’m writing, a little voice in my head says, ‘what would David Cross think of this?’ When I was a teen, I was absolutely obsessed. He tapped into the teenage, immature liberal rage I had toward George W Bush and religion, and I was hooked. When I was 18, I bought Let America Laugh on DVD and would watch it endlessly.
Back when I lived in New York circa 2009, I was at stupid boring work one day, very busy not following my dreams, when I saw that David Cross was going to be at a low-profile club downtown. I left work and went by myself. There were three comedians on the bill, all dudes. David Cross came out last and I don’t remember anything he talked about on stage, probably because I was freaking out that I was ten feet from him. Also probably because I was high. When the crowd was slowly shuffling out, a bearded guy wearing a baseball hat in thick black glasses in front of me turned around and said ‘how d’you get outta this place?’, sort of to me, sort of to himself. It was him. ‘Ah hhuhhh hahaa dunno,’ I think were my exact words.
After I finally started doing comedy myself, I was surprised to find out my style is very different from his. I prayed to the comedy gods to be weirder and more alternative like David Cross or Maria Bamford, but alas. This year, my full debut hour deals with some deep dark stuff, and I’m really proud of it. But at the end of the day, I do wonder if my heroes like David Cross would approve. If you know him, maybe invite him along?
Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, Saturday 15 April.
Watch a ballet, contemporary or ballroom show anywhere in the world and chances are the component parts will be roughly similar. But the wonderful thing about traditional dance is that each country has its own individual style. So when the Traditional Dance Forum Of Scotland programmes its now annual international Pomegranates Festival (as part of Tradfest), you know to expect a fascinating cocktail of movement. A mix of professional workshops and public performances, Pomegranates celebrates the uniqueness of different cultures while searching for crossovers between them. Such as Edinburgh-based artists Ariana Stoyanova and Alexis Street, who were brought together by the Forum in 2021 to explore their respective passion for Bulgarian folk and Scottish Highland dance. The resulting duet, Thistles And Sunflowers Dance Fusion, will form part of a triple-bill alongside folk dancers from Germany and a new piece based on Chinese folk dance. Cut open a pomegranate and you’ll find a multitude of seeds; much the same can be said for this festival. Alongside traditional dance is what Iliyana Nedkova, curator at the Traditional Dance Forum Of Scotland, calls ‘artforms galore’ including live music, film, poetry and visual art. ‘The seeds of live trad music that we planted last year have grown, and we now have a trad musician-in-residence, Jon Bews,’ says Nedkova. ‘We’ve invited performance poet Ian McMillan, who has a Scottish heritage, to also be one of our resident artists along with German-born contemporary visual artist Gabriel Schmitz, who studied at Edinburgh College Of Art.’
Nedkova recalls that in 2022, the festival embarked on a mission to explore connections between traditional dance and hip hop. ‘We felt that as our culture continues to diversify, so do the definitions of traditional dance, hip hop and Scottishness. So this year we’ve invited Kemono L Riot, who was born in the Democratic Republic Of The Congo and raised in Glasgow, to be our hip-hop dance artist-in-residence and choreograph our hip hop-themed festival finale.’ (Kelly Apter)
Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, Friday 28–Sunday 30 April.
For artist Kexin Liu, using bacteria to print textiles has proved strangely comforting. As Lucy Ribchester discovers, she’s set to teach others at the Edinburgh Science Festival about creating art from a much-maligned organism that lives in us all
‘My own loneliness drew me into it.’ Artist Kexin Liu is discussing how she came to work with an unlikely source of ink for printworking: bacteria. Liu has created work from once-living things before; past projects have included a series of elegant mini-sculptures of taxidermy and silver. But it was during the isolated times of the pandemic that she discovered an unexpected affinity with some creatures who lived much closer to home.
‘I was actually quite depressed for a while because of the lack of connection with people,’ Liu says. ‘During my depression I was searching online, and I came across this video on the human microbiome, the idea that there are small creatures within me that accompany me the entire time. It was kind of comforting.’ Liu began developing techniques for painting and printing with specific strains of pigment-producing bacteria, and is now bringing her knowledge to Edinburgh Science Festival in a workshop on printing with microbes.
Those aged six and over can sign up and will have their own bacteria art to take home at the end. And if your curiosity about micro-organisms is piqued, it isn’t the only event at the festival placing bacteria centre stage. For over-14s interested in learning more, Professor Sebastian GB Amyes is presenting A Very Short Introduction To Bacteria. Liu herself explores micro-organisms in an exhibition entitled 3607 (named after the number of bacteria species detected in her body) as well as presenting a talk on the subject.
Pigmented bacteria has, says Liu, been around for a while in the art world, most significantly in the fashion industry, where it is used as a sustainable dye: it doesn’t get more organic than bacteria. There is no special process for bringing out the bacteria’s colour; mother nature has already taken care of that. ‘Some microbes secrete pigments, or they hold it inside their cell. And when they die, the pigment leaks out. There are multiple reasons why they do that. It’s a kind of self-defence mechanism; pigment has antibacterial qualities and they kind of use this pigment to ward off other bacteria.’ Think of it as akin to a squid or octopus spraying ink to fend off predators, only on a microscopic scale.
Liu is not complacent about the powers of this tiny substance, stressing that safety is taken seriously at her workshops. ‘I’m lucky to be collaborating with Dr Keira Tucker. She has a PhD in microbiology and we’re definitely going to go through the health and safety first. Then we’ll have a demonstration on how to use the bacteria. People will have their own time to play and experiment. And at the end of the day, they’ll get a piece of cotton textile to take home.’
3607, Saturday 1 April–Monday 15 May; 3607: Talk, Saturday 1 April; Printing With Pigmented Bacteria, Saturday 8 April; all events at Summerhall, Edinburgh; A Very Short Introduction To Bacteria, National Museum Of Scotland, Tuesday 11 April.
A five-star sensation when they last visited Scotland in February 2020, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra return as part of their first UK tour with new chief conductor, Eva Ollikainen. Top of the bill is ‘METACOSMOS’ by the orchestra’s composer-in-residence, Anna Thorvaldsdottir. ‘Anna’s music is a pure miracle,’ says Ollikainen. ‘It’s like a spiritual journey, a sort of cleansing, which gives space for the listener to reflect.’
This piece, which was originally written for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, is as much about human experience as it is rooted in the universe’s creative chaos. It was inspired by the idea of falling into a black hole in space, a metaphor for the unknown. ‘Something happens in the mind when you listen to Anna’s music,’ says Ollikainen. ‘It is a privilege to be able to say that she is “our composer”, and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra know her music better than any other in the world.’
As well as giving opportunities for a wider audience to hear new music, touring is also important to orchestras in maintaining international relationships. ‘You could become very introverted if you just stay in your own home,’ says Ollikainen. ‘It’s also important in developing the orchestra’s sound. By repeating the same repertoire on a tour, it brings the ensemble even more together, to be even more in the moment.’
Other works for this UK tour include Tchaikovsky’s ‘Symphony No 5’ and alternating piano concertos by Rachmaninov and Beethoven, with Stephen Hough, the orchestra’s current artist-in-association, as soloist. ‘He is incredibly intelligent as a musician,’ says Ollikainen, ‘but so humble as a human being. He’s also someone who lives in the magic of in-the-moment.’ (Carol Main)
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Sunday 23 April.
Jasleen Kaur grew up in Pollokshields, not far from the venue where her new solo show, Alter Altar, has just opened. ‘When I was invited to have a show at Tramway, the local geography is what came to my mind first,’ says Kaur. ‘I was born a few blocks away and it’s where my mum and granny still live, down the road from Kenmure Street, the site of community resistance against the deportation of two Sikh men in 2021. Next door is the newly built gurdwara, a place of communal worship that was also a site of political education for me growing up.’
Kaur’s work shifts between filmmaking, writing and installation, often using objects and motifs whose domestic familiarity alludes to a shared Sikh-Muslim heritage. Through effects of scale, shape and texture, the London-based artist presents these materials in new contexts and formats that are both playful and subtly disorientating. For her 2018 show, I Keep Telling Them These Stories, at Glasgow’s Market Gallery, Kaur suspended a giant cotton shirt (or kurta) from the top of the gallery walls, draping it across its floor. A line of glazed terracotta flowerpots, each in the shape of a sandalled foot, beat a mysterious path along the surface.
Kaur’s exhibition at Tramway will incorporate kinetic and musical sculptures that remix the soundscapes and visual identity of the local area. Axminster carpets, bottles of ‘blessed Irn-Bru’, football scarves, and family photographs are among the items reworked to suggest new possibilities of cultural identity. The show will also feature a large-scale hanging suggesting a cloudy sky or heavens, and a car draped in an oversized doily, an expression of ‘migrant desires’. ‘In this show I am having a conversation with personal histories,’ explains Kaur, ‘exploring improvisation and political mysticism as tools to reimagine tradition and inherited myths.’ (Greg Thomas)
Tramway, Glasgow, until Sunday 8 October.
Japanese filmmaker Makoto Shinkai turns his attention to natural disasters as he champions the power of animation for younger audiences with new movie Suzume. He tells James Mottram how earthquakes and tsunamis have created a particular resilience in his compatriots
This March marked the 12th anniversary of one of Japan’s most destructive earthquakes. A 9.1-magnitude tremor, the strongest in that country’s history, struck off the north-east coast of Honshu, causing a deadly tsunami and killing an estimated 15,500 people. ‘I would say the 2011 earthquake changed Japanese society profoundly,’ says filmmaker and animator Makoto Shinkai, when we meet in Berlin’s Adlon Hotel. ‘It changed my mindset and changed the way I directed my movies.’
Since then, Shinkai’s breakthrough films Your Name (2016) and Weathering With You (2019) have touched on ecological topics, while his latest effort Suzume deals directly with a world rocked by natural disasters. The film, which has already become a huge hit in Japan, follows the titular 17-year-old girl (voiced by Nanoka Hara) who lost her mother in the 2011 earthquake. One day, she meets Souta who is on a mission to close off portals across Japan that are letting in evil spirits which manifest in the form of cloud-like crimson bursts of energy.
What follows is a beguiling mix of magical realism, adolescent fantasy and sobering reflection on ecological catastrophe. Above all, Suzume is a road movie that begins as this spirited young girl seeks her identity after literally being uprooted from her home. ‘Like many people at that time, she moved from the eastern part of Japan to the western part of Japan,’ says Shinkai. ‘So now she lives in Kyushu. And she starts this journey to find her roots, starting in the west and going all the way to the east.’
Given a 5.6-magnitude tremor struck Kyushu last November (not to mention the earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria recently), the film feels uncanny in its timing. In truth, Shinkai
has created a testament to Japanese resilience.
‘The cities that Suzume visits were all struck by some kind of a natural disaster,’ explains Shinkai. Among them was an earthquake that wrecked the city of Kōbe in 1995. ‘It was completely restored afterwards; it has recovered with people back there and able to live a normal life.’
Shinkai, who started his career as a video-game animator, knows that Suzume still needs to entertain. Hence its surreal digressions, including a mischievous talking cat who manages to turn Souta into a threelegged stool. The director makes no apologies for trying to embrace younger audiences.
‘If you’re young, you need your school friends or family but you also need something else that holds you together, that supports you emotionally. That may be animation. It had a great meaning for me when I was young. I gained so much through animation.’
Suzume is in cinemas from Friday 14 April.
Both confrontational and embracing, the folk songs of Rhiannon Giddens are testaments to humanity. As she prepares for a headline spot at Tradfest, Haneen AlEid speaks to this Grammy winner about love, loss and ancestral energy
From lockdown to warm lullabies, Rhiannon Giddens’ art feels like the marriage of a melancholy past and reflective present. This US folk musician’s celebrated career has always tackled the most intricate issues of our time. With her 2022 Grammy-winning album, They’re Calling Me Home, Giddens and Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi explored what the pandemic felt like and the despair which resulted. Their date at Tradfest takes that on further.
‘There are those who lost people before their time,’ says Giddens who first emerged as part of The Carolina Chocolate Drops. ‘Our rituals around death and loss were all interrupted. There’s a lot of trauma that’s been untalked about. As an artist, I think it’s important to face that and to say “you know, it’s OK”. We need to celebrate life and all that, but you have to take a minute and go “that was terrible and we’re gonna be dealing with it for a long time”.’
During the pandemic’s height, Giddens and Turrisi stayed in different parts of Ireland with their kids, finding comfort in old songs about love and loss. ‘People have been dealing with this stuff for millennia,’ adds Giddens. ‘So, it connects us to a larger idea of humanity which I think we really needed.’ The album features timeless songs about death, an Italian lullaby, old-time numbers such as ‘I Shall Not Be Moved’, and a new original
by Giddens. Collectively, the album stands as a confrontation followed by a warm embrace. Influenced by Nina Simone and Stephen Sondheim, Giddens is drawn towards expressing stories that would have otherwise gone untold. However, she recognises the importance of tackling issues with respect and altruism. Last year she composed ‘Omar,’ an opera based on the autobiography of an enslaved Muslim in America.
‘There are aspects of the story where I thought “am I the right one to tell the story?” But then you think “well, if I don’t do it, does it happen?” The work that I do, creating pieces from our history, is channelling ancestral energy. Doing this stuff is why I’m here.’
The banjo, accordion and frame drums are a signature of Giddens and Turrisi’s work. Although the banjo originated from Black culture, she admits that it has not always been easy to connect with the Black community through her music. While certain stereotypes remain surrounding folk music, Giddens jokes that ‘as soon as Beyoncé picks up the banjo, I can retire because Black people will be interested in it! But until then, I just keep doing my thing.’
Character comic and writer Nick Mohammed has lapped up his time working with the cream of Hollywood. Embarking on a debut tour with his excitable creation Mr Swallow, he tells Jay Richardson that hunting for jokes remains the top priority
Nick Mohammed’s dark side, as he gradually warped into the villain of football comedy Ted Lasso, has been something of a revelation, not least to the character comic himself. Twice Emmy-nominated for his turn as the insecure, increasingly malevolent Nate Shelley on Apple TV+’s hit show, Mohammed truly appreciates the most ‘nuanced’ role of his career.
Nate veered from AFC Richmond’s diffident kit man to its backstabbing coach, deserting his clubmates to become a rival manager. ‘It got a bit emotional,’ Mohammed acknowledges of his character’s betrayal as the show returns for its third season. ‘I’ve never, ever, had to do anything like that before, on any show. It was absolutely a challenge and a real eye-opener for me.’
Mohammed is uncertain whether Nate will recover his humanity. ‘That’s up to the audience to decide. All I can say is that it’s been another rollercoaster. Taking this character that people liked and then slowly giving them reasons not to like him has been really fun. Everyone wants to see Nate’s redemption. You’ll just have to wait and see though. I’m not convinced.’
In his own writing, Mohammed has always been thirstier for laughs than the elegantly paced Ted Lasso. ‘I get nervous if there’s not a gag coming up,’ he admits. Despite having performed live for about two decades as his excitable alter-ego Mr Swallow (with increasingly ambitious magic shows and musicals in deliberately bad portrayals of Houdini, Dracula and Santa Claus), he’s only now embarking upon his first UK tour as the camp, prickly prima donna.
‘Even in the Houdini show, where he gets into the water tank and we wanted it to be really, really tense, I was always fighting to undermine it with jokes.’ The title, The Very Best & Worst Of Mr Swallow, is a bit misleading, as he reckons at least half of the show is ‘new stuff or heavily reworked. The character has developed over time and I’ve grown as a performer.’ With some audiences having only seen Mr Swallow on viral clips from 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Mohammed feels like he’s ‘almost starting afresh, which is exciting because Mr Swallow treads a very fine line between charming and irritating.’
Also exciting is Mohammed’s burgeoning screen career. He’s just signed a development deal for future projects with BBC Studios, and plays a smalltown cop in the upcoming movie Maggie Moore(s) alongside Tina Fey and Jon Hamm. His own show, the Sky spy sitcom Intelligence, in which he stars with David Schwimmer, returns in April. The hour-long special features another of his heroes, the mutually appreciative Jennifer Saunders, who cast Mohammed in the Absolutely Fabulous movie as a Mr Swallow-like fashion-shoot assistant. ‘Watching French and Saunders growing up, they were such a key part of my sense of humour,’ he enthuses. ‘I adored them and still adore them. Getting to work with David has also been a dream come true; he’s just so creative.’
He and the Friends star established their screwball chemistry on the dark 2014 Channel 4 pilot Morning Has Broken, a glimpse at bickering egos behind a television breakfast show. Written by and starring Mohammed and Nighty Night creator Julia Davis as the programme’s celebrity doctor and star presenter respectively, Schwimmer appeared as their American producer. Despite being commissioned for a series, personal circumstances meant the show about ‘a prominent woman in the media having a nervous breakdown on daytime television’ never happened.
Nevertheless, Mohammed and Davis are seeking to revive their double act for a different Channel 4 project later this year. ‘God, I love working with Julia,’ he says. ‘We’re still working out what it might be, and I probably shouldn’t say too much. But we’re just taking the relationship between our characters and seeing what we can create with it.’
Nick Mohammed: The Very Best & Worst Of Mr Swallow, Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, Saturday 1 April; Tramway, Glasgow, Sunday 2 April, as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival; Ted Lasso is available now on Apple TV+; Intelligence airs on Sky Comedy/ NOW TV from Saturday 8 April.
Poor Things explores the link between art and social status, questioning how an artist’s class impacts on their work. Claire Sawers hails this group show as a bright riot of an exhibition, fizzing with both anger and joy
The title of this group show hints at two things: pity and paucity. London-based artists Emma Hart and Dean Kenning have selected works by 22 UK artists that explore the working class and lowermiddle class experience through sculpture. You can almost feel a condescending head tilt behind the term ‘poor things’, and imagine hearing it being used to patronise someone while overlooking their strengths, abilities, traditions, joys and triumphs. Hart and Kenning were aware that class is often over-simplified as a difference in wealth, when in reality it’s about way more than a lack of money; it might also reflect a lack of time, studio space, health, contacts, know-how, confidence or opportunities.
A lack of overflowing cash shows up frequently here in the use of some ordinary, affordable materials. While the ‘high art’ end of the sculpture spectrum may feature granite, marble, bronze or expensively finished ceramics, here instead we find rope, plywood, scraps of metal found in the street or bits of plastic bought from pound shops.
In ‘Pervading Animal’, Lee Holden has built a sort of sprawling, rainbowcoloured cyber garden out of glass bird ornaments, plastic shoe horns, mops and swirling electric cables. His makeshift zen paradise has been crafted carefully from cheap plumbing supplies and someone else’s discarded junk. As she considered issues around colonialism, toppling statues and the Black Lives Matter movement, British-Nigerian artist Josie KO
wanted to monumentalise herself in a statue on a plinth. The Glasgowbased artist opted for low-budget papier-mâché when she made ‘Let’s Get Lost Tonight, You Can Be My Black Kate Moss Tonight’, a glorious, maximalist vision in hot pink and shimmering gold. Named after a Kanye West lyric, it towers proudly (or from another angle, submissively) like a bubblegum-coloured tiered wedding cake, topped with a life-size kneeling woman and her foot-high Motown-style curly beehive.
There’s more hot pink upstairs in ‘Eat Me Now’ by Liverpool-born Chila Kumari Singh Burman, her sculpture of a giant 99 Flake ice-cream decorated with purple glitter and a garland of glowing lollipops. Dripping in everyday pleasure, it nods to her father who sold ice-creams when he arrived from Punjab in the 1960s. The thrills are practically palpable in Rosie McGinn’s ‘Oblivion’, where a row of tiny handmade figurines based on her friends and family sit on a fairground ride, eyes wide in a mix of ecstasy and fear as they hurtle through the air, with limbs and hair flying.
There’s a brilliant absurdity to Rebecca Moss’ ‘Thick-Skinned’, a video of herself wearing a costume of multi-coloured balloons like a maniacally cheerful Burryman as she plods through a field in the Essex countryside towards a barbed-wire fence. That piece is shown side by side with the video ‘Home Improvement’, where she wears a DIY invention, pulling her face into an awkward smile through a system of pulleys, coat hangers
and watering cans. It’s hard not to draw an invisible timeline between the two pieces, a sense of impending danger in the first from 2019 and a forced cheerfulness in her pandemic work of 2021.
‘Crystal Landlord’ by Joseph Buckley is a sinister, mixed-media scifi and much-needed look at power imbalance and the profiteering practices of unscrupulous property owners through a fantasy character with snakes for feet. Housing also gets a look in through Laura Yuile, a multidisciplinary artist whose past work has examined themes of home, community and urban living. ‘Heavy View’ is a cluster of broken TVs, covered in beige and white pebbledash, that ubiquitous suburban wall covering. Shelter seems to have been on Jonathan Baldock’s mind as he created ‘Warm Inside’, a beautifully woven flesh-coloured basket in the shape of a massive monkey nut, dangling from the ceiling and wafting the calming scent of dried lavender at passersby.
Healing and harm, hedonism and hardship all find a place in this bright riot of a collection. Cheap thrills and fun sit alongside adversity and inequality, while a sense of agitation and injustice seems inextricably tangled up with the pursuit of happiness and respite. Not downtrodden or lacking but fizzing with anger and joy, Poor Things possesses the collective power of a handful of Mentos mints dropped into a Coke.
Poor Things, Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, until Sunday 21 May.
(Directed by Ian Talbot & Denise Silvey)
The key to a long life is often said to involve plenty of exercise, regular nourishment and meaningful connections. In which case, it’s not hard to see why The Mousetrap is, by some distance, the longest-running theatre show in the world. Set in a remote countryside guest house, Agatha Christie’s most famous whodunnit has enjoyed a continuous run in London’s West End since 1952 (save for the covid years, but we don’t count them). So what’s the secret to its success?
Well, for ‘exercise’ this show’s cleverly directed physical comedy keeps the cast on its toes with the audience regularly laughing out loud. ‘Nourishment’ comes in the form of a well-fed box office due to its worldwide fame, affording the show a beautifully constructed set and eight talented actors. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the show really knows how to connect.
Anyone with the barest knowledge of The Mousetrap is aware that once you’ve seen it, you do not reveal the killer’s identity. Indeed, one of the cast steps forward at the end, imploring you to join this special gang and stay tight-lipped so others can fully enjoy it. And enjoy it you will, as this funny, charming, engaging and wholly unexpected murder mystery is an absolute treat from start to finish. (Kelly Apter)
Edinburgh Playhouse, Tuesday 25–Saturday 29 April; reviewed at St Martin’s Theatre, London.
Alex Giannascoli could likely make his fortune writing nothing but indie-rock anthems were it not for some bone-deep weirdness that won’t allow it. The Philadelphia musician expressed both sides of his songwriting (a gift for melody and a drift into leftfield) at this Glasgow show.
The first anthem arrived early, ‘Runner’ prompting a singalong so faithful that it included the screams with which Giannascoli follows the refrain ‘I have done a couple bad things’. He, in turn, riffed on the Glaswegian crowd chant of ‘here we, here we, here we fuckin’ go’ during ‘Brick’ and ‘Horse’, a brace of heavy prog that demonstrated his unwillingness to stay in a genre lane.
Alex G is often described as ‘lo-fi’, implying a vague and insular slackerdom, but that is not the experience of seeing him live. His band (Sam Acchione on guitar, John Heywood on bass, Tom Kelly on drums) are tight and drilled. Often, Giannascoli turned his back to the audience, locked-in with the others, working through long expressive instrumental passages that suggested classic rather than alt rock. ‘Forgive’, closing the main set, could have been Neil Young & Crazy Horse.
The encore? Unusual. Thirty minutes long, the first half saw Giannascoli seated at the keyboard, performing jazzy earlier work, and the whole thing felt loose and jammed. You could sense the energy in the room draining away. It wasn’t really a mis-step, though, being all of a piece with this singular artist’s need to follow his muse wherever it leads him. (Peter Ross) n Reviewed at SWG3, Glasgow.
After the glorious small-screen success of We Are Lady Parts, writer-director Nida Manzoor has made a buoyant film debut. Emma Simmonds checks in on Polite Society and finds a movie with kung-fu flourishes and myth-busting delights
fil m lif• m • f ilm• 4 STARS
With a tongue-in-cheek title mischievously concealing the riotous shenanigans stuffed up its sleeve, Polite Society goes out to smash British-Pakistani stereotypes to smithereens. This gloriously sweary, gleefully badass firebrand of a film has all the makings of the next British comedy hit.
Creator of the Rose d’Or winning Channel 4 sitcom We Are Lady Parts, Nida Manzoor makes her feature debut in barnstorming fashion, with a film that she first conceived a decade ago and which premiered at this year’s Sundance. In some ways it feels like the spiritual successor to 2019’s Blinded By The Light, taking Manzoor’s Pakistani-Muslim heritage as its starting point and zeroing in on an alienated protagonist. However, it shakes things up with a broader, more buoyantly comedic tone, showing love for Edgar Wright’s films, as well as martial arts and Bollywood cinema.
Superb newcomer Priya Kansara (who you may recognise from her two-episode role in Bridgerton) plays Ria Khan, a disaffected, kung-fu kicking British-Pakistani teen whose desire to become a stuntwoman is pooh-poohed by her bemused parents (endearing work from stand-up Jeff Mirza and EastEnders’ legend Shobu Kapoor). At school, Ria is flanked by two supportive pals, Clara and Alba (Seraphina Beh and Ella Bruccoleri), as she tangles with a bully (Shona Babayemi’s Kovacs). And at home she has a strong bond with her morose artist sister Lena (Ritu Arya), who is deep in personal crisis having recently dropped out of art school. When Lena is unexpectedly courted by Salim (Akshay Khanna), the much-lusted-after geneticist son of society queen-bee Raheela (Nimra Bucha), Ria smells a rat and things get pretty damn crazy from there.
Amalgamating cultures in winning style, Polite Society’s South and East Asian infusions blend beautifully with its London sass. The film doesn’t forget about certain expectations that can go hand in hand with being part of the British-Pakistani community, but strives to move things forward. Ria’s amiable parents only gently disapprove of their daughter’s choices, with the film refusing to get bogged down in that particular battleground.
Polite Society’s action influences (including Bond, The Matrix and Bruce Lee films) and outlandish plot twists are emphasised enjoyably by a bombastic score and swaggering songs which flank the various duels. Manzoor’s excellent gags are done full justice by a universally on-point set of comic performers, who add value with their facial inflections and attitude; Beh and Bruccoleri as Ria’s besties deserve a particular shout-out, while Bucha is an amusingly OTT villain. While most British comedy stays at least semigrounded, this tale of sibling loyalty and love proudly takes both feet off the floor as it aims a flying kick at convention.
Polite Society is in cinemas from Friday 28 April.
A welcome antidote to the shark-jumping excess of the Fast & Furious franchise, this French spin on adrenaline junkies is authentic, gritty and properly perilous. Real-life biker and first-time performer Julie Ledru is a screen natural in the role of misfit motocross enthusiast Julia (aka ‘Stranger’), with the whole film revolving around her stunning central turn. Twentysomething Julia is a surly, freewheeling character who wears her attitude like armour and is described as a ‘scavenger’ by one observer. After a run-in with her mum, she’s looking for a place to crash and a sense of belonging; she finds potential for both at an urban ‘rodeo’, falling in with a crew who fix up and steal bikes as her gift for the latter wins some hard-earned respect.
Rodeo is a deeply impressive debut from writer-director Lola Quivoron who has been fascinated with motocross since childhood and picked up a prize at Cannes for her efforts. She captures the macho nature of this scene and the way it tips into misogyny, epitomised by an aggressive rejection of Julia by fellow biker Manel (Junior Correia); but thanks to fluid cinematography, we also sense the exhilaration and freedom Julia feels. Quivoron rewrote the script for her lead and, as a result, the film fits her like a glove, with Ledru showing equivalent amounts of strength and vulnerability under the camera’s penetrating gaze.
There’s a spiritual, almost supernatural dimension which doesn’t quite come off, but through her boundary-breaking protagonist, Quivoron redefines what a woman can be in the motocross world, portraying Julia in stark contrast to the adoring observers. And we see how Julia tries to take other women with her when attempting to liberate Ophélie (Antonia Buresi), the wife of her incarcerated boss, from her own (domestic) prison. This is a heroine for our times. (Emma Simmonds)
In cinemas from Friday 28 April.
In the grand tradition of a spaghetti western, Adrenalism’s latest piece describes itself as a ‘chicken western’. Yes, this is the feathered friend/Sergio Leone mash-up that you didn’t know you needed until now. Complete with a live soundtrack by ‘Hennio Morricone’, this wordless touring production deliberately skews towards gaining the participation of little ones.
From the opening, in which a chicken house sprouts legs and walks towards its audience, this is all calculated to engage as an upbeat taste of theatre for under tens. As in the classic Clint Eastwood film, the high stakes involve gold. In this case, it’s a giant golden egg sought after by two rival chickens (one in a white hat, the other black) and a cheeky turkey, who all participate in a classic three-way standoff with hand-bells replacing guns to ensure a wholesome affair.
Who will triumph in this battle of the farmyard birds? The real winners are this young audience, who get involved in an egg hunt once the finale is over. It’s always hard to capture the attention of small children, but this simple, accessible bit of theatre proves quite a coup for all ages. (Eddie Harrison)
WHALE Arts, Edinburgh, Tuesday 11 April; Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, Saturday 29 April; reviewed at Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock.
Using key plants to tell stories about the impacts of European colonialism, Australian artist Keg de Souza’s new show explores the inextricable ties between place, nature and its occupants. Set in six rooms, eucalyptus, prickly pear and sheep fleeces act as vehicles for fascinating stories about the transportation of plants and their impact on local ecosystems and communities, as well as on the artist’s own cultural identity.
In room one, eucalyptus leaves and branches are arranged from floor to ceiling, alongside dyed silks, their fresh scent wafting through the space to give the illusion of walking through a forest. Originating on Aboriginal land, eucalyptus is a widespread hardwood tree that currently covers over 22 million hectares worldwide. This tree was first extracted by the British and transported around the colonies from as early as 1840 due to its fast-growing and durable properties.
In a later room we learn that prickly pear (a species of cacti originating in Oaxaca, Mexico) was taken to Australia only to become so invasive that multiple techniques had to be employed to kill, burn, poison and cut it down. Bright pink silks (dyed with cochineal beetles who lived on the plant) featuring illustrations which depict each of these techniques hang around the room. The final space brings us back to Scotland, where de Souza explores the phenomenon of seeds native to Australia and New Zealand being inadvertently carried in the fleeces of sheep when transported here to make tartan.
Bearing in mind the exhibition’s location and botany-centred audience, the themes and materials used throughout couldn’t be more relevant. Yet this underlying narrative, despite remaining uniquely personal to de Souza herself, transcends the world of plants. Instead it interrogates systems founded on capitalism and exploitation of land that continue to have generational implications and resonance to this day. (Megan Merino)
Inverleith House Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sunday 27 August.
(Directed by Andrew Legge)
Two meddling sisters change the course of World War II in this eye-catching curio that marks the feature debut of Irish writer-director Andrew Legge. The found-footage format is ingeniously applied to a wartime-set sci-fi, built around a fascinating moral conundrum. Lola positions a female genius at its core, in the shape of Emma Appleton’s Thomasina, inventor of a machine that can intercept radio and TV broadcasts from the future. Together with her sibling Martha (Stefanie Martini), she uses it to thwart Nazi plots, but her actions have nightmarish consequences.
In keeping with its quirky concept and execution, Lola might have benefitted from a little more leftfield humour, while Legge and co-writer Angeli Macfarlane struggle to flesh out their characters and relationships within the format’s constraints. But, if this particular time period has been no less than an obsession for British cinema, Lola at least offers something genuinely different.
Strange and striking images arise from Oona Menges’ hazy, monochromatic cinematography, as the story is offered up in pieces, with The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon behind the memorable songs and score. In contrast to the chaos that these sisters set in motion, what Legge has produced here bodes incredibly well for his own filmmaking future. (Emma Simmonds)
In cinemas from Friday 7 April.
If you fancy getting out and about during this lovely spring month, there’s plenty culture to sample such as fastidious comedy, stellar dance, sharp disdain and clubbing collaborations
ART KIRA FREIJE
This London artist takes her first solo exhibition to Scotland, employing metal, fabric and found materials to produce surreal and elongated narratives through sculpture.
n CAMPLE LINE, Thornhill, until Saturday 10 June.
This fine comic always appeared to act and sound far older than he ever was, and he’s built quite the career out of such antics. The 8 Out Of 10 Cats captain is the ultimate Knitwit with material (as in jokes and stories not his cardy) that veers from fastidious to eccentric and all the way along to the obsessively petty.
n King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Wednesday 19 April; Edinburgh Playhouse, Thursday 20 April.
The Tennessee Williams’ play is given a twist by Scottish Ballet in this stellar production which the company last performed in their homeland back in 2015.
n Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Thursday 13–Saturday 15 April.
FILM AIR
Old pals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunite alongside Viola Davis, Chris Tucker and Jason Bateman for the story of Air Jordan.
n In cinemas from Friday 7 April.
MISSING
Starring Storm Reid (recently seen playing Bella Ramsey's short-lived best friend in The Last Of Us), this film follows a daughter trying to track down her missing, widowed mother played by Nia Long.
n In cinemas from Friday 21 April.
Adrianne Lenker takes her felonious crew on tour with a stop-off in the capital to perform tracks from their latest collection, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
n Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Thursday 6 April.
Acts come in from the fringes for performances, clubs and collaborations, including Mariam Rezaei, Proc Fiskal and Fred Moten.
n Various venues, Glasgow, Thursday 6–Sunday 9 April.
A brand new festival focused on the joys of piano playing, it features the wonderfully skilled likes of Angela Hewitt, Nikita Lukinov and Brian Kellock.
n Loaningdale House, Biggar, Wednesday 26–Sunday 30 April.
Dubbed the natural heir to Dorothy Parker and a suave dresser decorated by Vanity Fair, Lebowitz has pet hates simply falling out of her which form into words of high disdain and sharp wit.
n Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Sunday 16 April.
Motion Theatre presents a new play based on the Ferguslie Park community, featuring theatre, food, karaoke and bingo, as it traces the story of a young girl determined to have a career in journalism but also aware that her father is nearing the end.
n Tannahill Centre, Paisley, Friday 14 & Saturday 15 April; Henderson Theatre, Shotts, Friday 21 April; Pivot Centre, Glasgow, Saturday 22 April.
And have you missed them? Course you have. Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn certainly came a long way from being at the forefront of Britain’s jazz-pop scene in the early 80s to become giants of chart-friendly electronica. But their massive mid-90s success and sad personal circumstances resulted in a musical split, with nowt, nada, zilch occurring on the album front since 1999. Now they’re back in ne fettle with Fuse, led by infectious and poignant singles such as ‘Caution To The Wind and ‘Run A Red Light’.
(Brian Donaldson)
If the best things come in threes, the third and final series of Guilt completes an unholy trinity to savour. Since it first aired in 2019, Neil Forsyth’s dryly dark drama has charted the fall-out from what happened when Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives’ Leith-based brothers, Max and Jake, accidentally ran someone over. With lawyer Max doing a spell in chokey while record-shop anorak Jake decamped to Chicago, series two saw Max embark on further murky adventures, with Emun Elliott’s hapless Kenny in tow. With the siblings reunited, they’ve now ditched the job-lot of fezzes purloined for Moroccan Monday at their Chicago bar to make a prodigal return to Leith. Beyond Kenny’s stress-related sperm count and talk of vegan raves, Edinburgh’s banking fraternity are brought to the fore. ‘It’s very much driven by the brothers again,’ says Forsyth over Zoom about these final episodes. ‘I think it was good for them to have that time apart in series two, because having them back together feels like they’ve got fresh conflict, as well as historical baggage. Seeing them back bickering away and trying to battle both the situation and each other is really nice.’
With this final series arriving hot on the heels of The Gold, Forsyth’s six-part drama based around the real-life 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, finishing Guilt has been a bittersweet experience. ‘There’s a certain sadness to it,’ Forsyth admits. ‘I first had the idea of Guilt in 2015, and it’s been eight years of my life, so it’s quite sad to think that’s kind of it. Creatively, I feel very good about it, both in terms of the series itself and the decision to stick to my plan for a trilogy. It feels like it’s got a nice shape to it. Each series has had its theme: guilt in series one, then revenge in two, and I think this series is about redemption.’
Beyond Guilt, this year will see the cinema release of Dance First, Forsyth’s biopic of Samuel Beckett, starring Gabriel Byrne as the Dublin-born novelist and playwright. This follows Waiting For Andre, a 2018 short about the unlikely friendship between Beckett and seven-foot-four wrestler, Andre The Giant. With Max and Jake a quasi-Beckettian double-act of sorts, existential knockabout is never far away in Forsyth’s work. ‘You don’t need to look hard for the pattern,’ he says. ‘It’s probably something to do with being a Dundee United fan.’
Guilt starts on BBC Scotland, Tuesday 25 April and BBC Two, Thursday 27 April; all episodes on BBC iPlayer from Tuesday 25 April.
Our alphabetical column on viewing marathons reaches O
Yes, there was that dance, that motivational seminar, and a genuinely emotional finale, but The Office (Apple TV+/BBC iPlayer/BritBox) ultimately had everything going for it. For one thing, a cast and writing team of relative unknowns who have gone on to even greater things (Gervais, Merchant, Freeman, Crook) and who took mockumentary into uncharted areas of cringe. If you really want, you could watch the US version instead, which is on every streaming service available to humanity.
If The Office launched a generation of top British acting talent, what can we say about Our Friends In The North (BBC iPlayer/BritBox)? Featuring a future Bond (Daniel Craig) and a Time Lord (Christopher Eccleston), it also produced the multi-talented Gina McKee and Mark Strong. Peter Flannery’s sprawling drama about (you guessed it) a bunch of mates across four decades still holds up today with its anger towards stagnant politics, corrupt institutions and terrible weather. (Brian Donaldson)
Other O binges: Once Upon A Time In Iraq (BBC iPlayer), Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Orphan Black (All 4).
As we bid farewell to BBC Scotland’s hit Edinburgh-based drama Guilt, Neil Cooper caught up with the show’s creator to find out what might become of squabbling siblings Max and Jake
Catherine Lacey weaves a tapestry of truth and fiction in her latest novel. She tells Lucy Ribchester that rewriting American history was essential in order to create the fictional biography of an artist known only as X
How well do you really know your other half? It may seem like a simple question, but in Catherine Lacey’s intricate, masterfully crafted and sprawling new novel, the answer is far from straightforward. Journalist CM Lucca has been married to an enfant terrible of art, known only as X, for many years. When X dies suddenly, CM’s grief (as well as her rage at the publication of an unauthorised biography of X) propels her on an odyssey to excavate her wife’s past.
Not only does CM have X’s public and private personas to grapple with (of which there are many, featuring pseudonyms and meta-performances) but there’s also the murky circumstances of her childhood in a walled-off territory of America that comprises part of Lacey’s fictional alternative world. The two forms (fictional biography and fictional history) she has chosen to use work successfully in tandem as the novel unfolds in lucid prose, creating a hall-of-mirrors effect. Alongside CM, we voyage into a 20th-century parallel past, glimpsing things we recognise as well as discovering some startling truths.
For Lacey, it was biography that attracted her first; she had always wanted to write one but felt it wasn’t the right time. However, once she had embarked down that route, the challenges this form brought with it necessitated branching into a completely alternative history. ‘I really like biographies that are written by the wrong person, or that are compromised in some way,’ says Lacey. ‘And so I was thinking about my interest in badly behaved biography, and then realised it would be a good form for a novel. So who’s the worst person to write a biography about somebody? A scorned spouse definitely seems like they’d have a lot of information.’
Trouble came when creating a fictional couple to tread this path, as gender politics kept hijacking the narrative. ‘If it was a heterosexual couple, should the man be writing about the woman or the woman about the man? I didn’t like the way that heterosexuality became the book’s focus in either case.’ Instead, Lacey wanted to create an equal playing field for her two characters, a society where X’s gender could pass unnoticed as a female artist, and where CM and X’s same-sex marriage would exist without comment. ‘But in order to create a world where in the mid-20th century a lesbian couple could just be, I had to basically rewrite all of American history.’
This was no easy task, and Lacey’s world-building in Biography Of X is extensive. The book is scattered throughout with artefacts: ‘found documents’ from toppled totalitarian regimes, photographs (which Lacey amassed from thrift shops and commissioned privately), as well as bibliographical notes and references, some from books that don’t exist, some adapted from books that do. What emerges is an almighty tree of fragments and jigsaw-puzzle pieces, contradictory accounts and enigmatic records. It gives rise to the fallacy of pursuing a definitive single narrative, whether that has to do with a person or even a country’s idea of itself.
If this is true, however, why then does Lacey (herself a fan of biography) think we, as a society, are so fixated on biography and memoir, and on the art of affixing a single story to a person’s life? ‘Because it can’t be done,’ she replies. ‘I also think there’s a kind of wanting to stop time; the desire in art to stop time and the inherent impossibility of that. It’s something we keep being drawn to, like moths into a light, even though it’s not possible and it’s going to fall apart. That compulsion is really elemental.’
Biography Of X is published by Granta on Thursday 6 April.
In this Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut authors. For April we feature Alice Slater, author of Death Of A Bookseller, in which two colleagues are caught up in a darkly thrilling tale of obsession
What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? The Minpins by Roald Dahl left its mark; I loved those tiny little freaks living in their tiny little treehouses. As an aside, I feel like a minpin would drop down dead at the sight of a Blue Razz Lemonade Vape. They are not of the modern world.
What was the book you read that first made you decide to be a writer? I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember, and there wasn’t a particular book that kicked off that ambition. I just liked telling horrible little stories. I do recall seeing a huge box of second-hand Agatha Christies for sale as a kid and thinking ‘I want to write that many books’.
What’s your favourite first line in a book? The opening line of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History slaps pretty hard: ‘The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.’
Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you?
Emma Jane Unsworth’s Animals. I was bookselling in Waterstones Romford when it caught my eye. It’s a rowdy book about an aspiring writer and the ol’ cigarettes and alcohol. It was the first time I’d read something that reflected all the mess and Withnail And I squalor of being a directionless woman in her 20s. It made me realise I could write whatever the hell I liked. Magic.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day? I like to kick things off with one or two hours of silent death on my phone, bearing witness to the worst online takes forged by the hands of man. Then I reply to all my gossipy WhatsApps while my husband makes me a coffee that I do not drink.
What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day? If things are going well, I make myself a fancy cocktail and have a little giggle time. If things are going poorly, I crack a can and have a little scream. I think it’s important to have a routine.
In a parallel universe where you’re the tyrannical leader of a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn? I’m not really a book-burning-tyrannical-leader kinda gal, but I do like starting fires so I’d torch White Oleander for a laugh. I was loaned a copy about four years ago by my best mate and I still haven’t read it. Your move, Emily.
What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist? My sweet babe, I know it’s hard, but you must finish the things you start.
Death Of A Bookseller is published by Hodder & Stoughton on Thursday 27 April.
When Electronic Arts nabbed the lucrative Star Wars video-game licence in 2013, big things were expected. But by the end of their seven-year tenure they’d released just one feature-length narrative game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Developed by Respawn Entertainment (Apex Legends, Titanfall and its sequel), there was a fun third-person action adventure with a hint of Metroid Prime and Dark Souls within its complex exploration and playful lightsaber combat.
It followed the escapades of former Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis coming to grips with his powers after an industrial incident puts unwanted focus on his unnatural abilities. Set five years later, Jedi: Survivor centres on Kestis’ continuing efforts to evade the Galactic Empire. The biggest change is an evolution of its winning combat: multiple stances will combine with new lightsaber configurations, and Kylo Ren’s infamous Force stasis is set to join the roster of powers.
Ironically, now that EA’s exclusivity deal with Disney/Lucasfilm is over, there might be more pressure than ever on this sequel. With multiple publishers snapping at their heels, and perhaps wary of another backlash against a slow release schedule, EA have already hinted at another two Star Wars games from Respawn due in the coming years. (Murray Robertson)
Released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on Friday 28 April.
Our column celebrating music acts to watch continues with Glasgow/Edinburgh electronic outfit Post Coal Prom Queen. They talk to Fiona Shepherd about gluing shoes back together, writing songs about nonsense, and revelling in their off-kilter musical direction
Post Coal Prom Queen describe themselves as ‘just a couple of science geeks who also make big dramatic music’. The duo may have bonded over their shared love of science fiction but they both have proper STEM skills. By day, Edinburgh-based Gordon Johnstone organises international science conferences, while Lily Higham, the Glasgow contingent, builds websites for the BBC World Service ‘in 41 languages’.
However, their first meeting, when they both worked for the Young Scot charity, was decidedly lo-fi. ‘One day I was trying to find a quiet spot to glue my shoes back together because I had no money,’ says Johnstone, ‘and I found Lily doing exactly the same thing in this little nook of the office.’ From such modest yet weirdly coincidental seeds, their first band L-Space was born.
‘Between us, we have no musical theory and we didn’t know what end of a guitar to plug in,’ says Higham. And yet in 2020 they were still able to produce Music For Megastructures, an instrumental concept album about a cyberpunk city. ‘We’re both passionate about technology, science, the future,’ says Johnstone. ‘It’s always been a fascination and it just naturally led to the music we make. We were never gonna write introspective songs about love and relationships when we could be writing songs about giant isopods or any of the other myriad nonsense things we’ve written about over the years.’
Entertaining conceptualisation has followed them into their latest post-lockdown incarnation as Post Coal Prom Queen, the evocative name taken from a photo essay on (of course) post-industrial Transylvania. In 2021, they released Music For Hypercapitalists, collaborating with local hip-hop artists such as Empress and Conscious Route.
With hip-hop licked in imaginative style, it was time to move on to another musical genre they had no obvious connection to. Music For First Contact is a space opera inspired by the writings of Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin which they first performed as an interactive referendum on alien contact at last year’s Hidden Door in Edinburgh’s Old Royal High School. ‘We were already thinking about first contact when we saw the Central Chamber where we would be performing,’ says Higham. ‘It’s a debating chamber that looks like the control room of a spaceship. Music For First Contact is set on a space station 1000 years in the future, with Scottish pioneers going off into space, and the vote was based on Scottish referendum references.’
Their resulting album may not have the playful theatre of that Hidden Door show but it does have the soaring vocals of soprano Stephanie Lamprea among other musical collaborators: May The 4th be with them at next month’s album-launch show at Glasgow’s Old Hairdresser’s. Meanwhile, Higham and Johnstone are already planning their next Music For odyssey. ‘It’s going to be a hymnal exploration of nuclear semiotics with a Lovecraftian feel,’ says Johnstone. ‘Until somebody stops us, we’re going to keep doing these slightly ridiculous, off-kilter things.’
Post Coal Prom Queen: Music For First Contact is released through bandcamp.com on Friday 28 April; the album is launched at The Old Hairdresser’s, Glasgow, Thursday 4 May.
Lewis Capaldi is undoubtedly Scotland’s biggest contemporary pop export. The Glasgow-born, Whitburn-raised boy has climbed global charts with ballads such as ‘Bruises’ and ‘Someone You Loved’, racking up millions of social-media followers and selling out arenas in every major city. After the release of his best-selling debut album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent in 2019, a race against the clock began to create another equally successful record. This feature-length documentary, directed by Joe Pearlman (Bros: After The Screaming Stops), sought to follow that journey. Instead, it inadvertently captured much more.
Stylistically akin to other Netflix-hosted music documentaries such as Miss Americana which tracked Taylor Swift’s life, How I’m Feeling Now combines performances, social-media clips, home videos and talk-show interviews with purpose-shot footage taken over four years to paint a well-rounded portrait of the pop star. Where tension is built through Swift’s battles with internet trolls, this film’s momentum comes from Capaldi’s increasing state of anxiety.
We watch as he barely makes it through a string of arena shows, struggles in various songwriting sessions and endures awkward calls from his management pestering him for new hits. Supporting narrators come in the form of Capaldi’s equally charismatic parents, who share valuable insight and help push the film to its eventual resolution. As a celebrity known for baring all, the film is given poignancy by Capaldi and his family’s candid nature. But when catching sight of fame’s dark underbelly and the immense pressures of commercial music, you can’t help but wonder: with a Netflix deal and highly anticipated album still looming, is the nightmare really over? (Megan Merino)
Available from Wednesday 5 April.
In this column we ask a pod person about the ’casts that mean a lot to them. This month, it’s Seann Walsh whose collaboration with Jack Dee, entitled Oh My Dog!, finds the pair talking about all things canine
Which podcast educates you? Real Dictators. Paul McGann really seems to know his stuff when it comes to very bad men.
Which podcast makes you laugh? TVI hosted by my friends Julian Deane and Carl Donnelly. It stands for Two Vegan Idiots but has absolutely nothing to do with vegans!
Which podcast makes you sad or angry? Desert Island Discs makes me cry. The ones with Kathy Burke, Ray Winstone and Micky Flanagan really got me. Desert Island Discs is the original podcast and it’s perfect. I don’t think you can top it unless you made one where you got to know people via their relationships with their dogs co-hosted by Jack Dee . . . oh wait.
Is there a podcast you’d describe as a guilty pleasure? Wrestling podcasts. I shouldn’t be going public with this but I have an encyclopaedic knowledge of wrestling between 1994 and 2001 and there are several podcasts lasting up to three hours an episode where people in wrestling reflect on the business at that time. I put these on at night to help me get to sleep because it’s like going back to a moment I loved when I was younger. I have shared too much. This is turning into therapy. Do I need to pay you at the end of this session?
Who doesn’t have a podcast but should? Hugh Grant, who would say everything he thinks about every person in the public eye. Excluding myself because I’m too sensitive.
Can you pitch us a new podcast in exactly 43 words [it’s usually 20, but Seann bent the rules here somewhat]? WOTOYF, a podcast hosted by someone from BBC Three (young and pointlessly smiley, beaming with questionable glee and innocence, unburnt by the flaming hardships of life) asking men that have just lost everything in a big divorce: what’s on top of your fridge?
Oh My Dog! episodes can be heard at ohmydogpodcast.com; Seann Walsh performs at The Stand New Town Theatre in August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
The meanest drama on our screens returns for one more slice of backstabbing, betrayal and barbed wit. Brian Donaldson predicts a bloody end to Succession and chaos for the dysfunctional Roy clan
In this golden era of prestige TV, the finest dramas have dual qualities. They can be viewed purely on a surface level and appreciated as diverting slices of entertainment. But they also leave trails both behind and in front of them, so everything from a post-finale over-analysis to a pre-season publicity picture are embossed with more significance than a decade of reality TV.
Is there something to be made of this last-season Succession image of the Roys out on the balcony of a skyscraper? Can it be deliberately doubling as a ship, with captain Logan (a peerless Brian Cox) steering them all towards a disaster of titanic proportions? This sadistic patriarch is also showing us an ostentatious watch, acknowledging that time is running out as the everconvoluted plot to determine who should succeed him both thickens and threatens to spill over.
Other than live sporting occasions or Eurovision, event TV may have died when Derren Brown failed to blow his brains out playing Russian roulette in a European shed, but Succession’s weekly drip of poison feels like the closest we have come to old-school water-cooler fare since. This final batch of episodes will have traversed three whole calendar months before everyone’s fates are sealed. We all know that people whose souls are as empty as their offshore accounts are bulging can never truly be content, so the very notion of a happy ending is null and void. Even the most vaguely sympathetic characters (Kendall, Greg and Gerri) have proven themselves at various moments to be, in no particular order, weak, villainous and vain.
The smart(ish) money seems to be on Logan having another health emergency, potentially fatal this time, and someone unlikely emerging from the swamp to unleash an almighty power grab. Worth bearing in mind at this point that not a single soul on the planet accurately predicted how The Sopranos or Mad Men would wrap up despite months of speculation as their climaxes loomed closer.
Are there any clues regarding an ultimate conclusion emerging from this last season’s first episode? Difficult to say, but everyone is largely acting to type: Logan channels a bit of Goodfellas’ Joe Pesci in ‘asking’ a room of lickspittle acolytes to tell him a joke. As a mere aside, he refers to his estranged offspring of Shiv, Kendall and Roman as ‘rats’ and ‘morons’ (no surprise that he continues failing to make the shortlists for Employer Of The Month and Father Of The Year). Meanwhile, those ‘kids’ are hatching a new venture that’s bound to flop while shifty ghosts from seasons past float by for a spot of subtle manipulation. No worm can turn in Succession and expect not to have a knife stuck in their back. Wherever this is all headed, a bloodless conclusion seems fanciful.
Succession airs every Monday on Sky Atlantic/NOW TV.
In Chris Carse Wilson’s powerful debut, we’re plunged into an alternately magnificent and terrifying Highland landscape where a nameless narrator hunts for their lost father. He has gone missing following his wife’s death and a hurtful argument with our protagonist. This search leads to an abandoned cottage, where hundreds of jumbled notes written by their father over a period of months reveal his mental disintegration: does he believe his wife is actually still alive or is he trying to somehow find her spirit out there in nature?
In a hazy confusion of grief and loss, the narrator starts to piece together their father’s movements. But consumed by this mission, they too begin to fight against internal voices, struggling to differentiate what is real and what is imagined. Carse Wilson shows assured mastery in his portrayal of landscape, contrasting the beauty of endless vistas with the clawing claustrophobia of a dark forest and remote cottage, as well as the fear generated by night-time in this wilderness.
But his depictions of grief and mental health are where Fray really resonates, as the narrator struggles to cope with what life has thrown at them, trying to maintain a façade of normality while inside a storm brews. Carse Wilson’s inventive prose starkly mirrors his protagonist’s emotions; the fracturing of their mind as the hunt for answers escalates is exquisitely drawn. In one particularly memorable scene, the author tracks a panic attack’s progression; it’s a manic, heart-pounding and electric piece of writing.
This is a startling debut, with a clever structure which flits between the narrator’s firstperson account, extracts from the father’s disturbing notes, and adds a third more sinister voice. There are also gentle flickers of love among the pain, like shards of sunlight penetrating the dense forest canopy. Fray haunts the mind long after its last page has been turned.
(Paul McLean)
Published on Thursday 27 April.
Making out at the drive-in; creating a song and dance in the domestic science class; mooning at the pep rally. All those are crucial rites of passage if you live in the jazzhands world of retro US teen musicals. Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies ticks those boxes for its glossy origins take on one of the all-time great irreverent adolescent jamborees (not the greatest, though, that’s Rock ’n’ Roll High School, of course).
The handsomely appointed action takes place four years before Sandy and Danny enter the picture. We briefly meet the young Rizzo and Frenchie as tweenagers, channelling the original performances. But this is the story of their older sisters (new-girl nerd Jane from New York, South Asian fashion obsessive Nancy, Latino rebel Olivia, and tomboy Cynthia) taking on the mean girls, stupid studs, and Principal McGee with her xylophone.
The Rydell High of 1954 is more racially diverse, the locker room talk is no joke, and the issue of consent is at least hinted at. But this Grease is slick rather than slippery, a Glee-ful time warp to an era which has been done to death with no new twists in the tale across its first couple of episodes. Don’t tell me more, don’t tell me more . . . (Fiona Shepherd)
Episodes available from Friday 7 April.
Billed as their most optimistic project to date, Daughter have returned from a five-year hiatus with a subtle message of hope, buried beneath a series of raw musings on how it feels to have loved and lost. Stereo Mind Game’s tone is set from the off with ‘Be On Your Way’, a strong opener as lead singer Elena Tonra bids farewell to a soon-to-be ex with the cutting line ‘I will meet you on another planet if the plans change’.
Tonra and her two accomplices, Igor Haefeli and Remi Aguilella, have spent the last half decade focusing on other projects. Though the trio, now into their 30s, may have grown as individuals, their love lives have clearly remained tumultuous. ‘Sweet nothings from a ghost in the room/It gets so heavy when I think of you,’ Tonra sings on ‘Future Lover’, a tune that sees crushing blows delivered in near whisper over a mild backing track. This marks a quintessential example of a Daughter album cut that will endear long-term fans but may fall short of grabbing the attention of new listeners.
While pieces such as ‘Junkmail’ or ‘To Rage’ fail to leave much of a lasting impression, you’d surely be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldn’t have their souls tugged by the likes of ‘Neptune’ or ‘Isolation’. The latter employs a stripped-back elegance to deliver what may well be one of the saddest songs released this year. Though Daughter don’t have an urge to explicitly tell us that everything will be OK, the album still leaves you feeling as though this was their intended message. Stereo Mind Game quietly assures us that it’s fine to not have everything figured out.
(Danny Munro)
Released on Friday 7 April.
‘Aoibhneas’ is the Irish Gaelic word for bliss. In Anne Griffin’s third novel, following her acclaimed debut When All Is Said and its follow-up Listening Still, it’s also the name of the ferry which Rosie, a skipper and mother, is due to inherit from her father. Her teenage daughter Saoirse went missing eight years ago, but Rosie still holds out hope that she’s alive, while her husband and son have accepted she may never return. Saoirse’s disappearance, the mystery at the centre of this novel, is weaved in between each chapter with short yet intriguing clues. It offers the reader information while building suspense and conveying a morsel of hope. The book’s bulk focuses on Rosie’s enduring love, grief and perseverance as she flits between a sorrowful home-life in Dublin and the (fictional) island where she grew up. The frustration of unanswered questions and unimaginable sense of loss that comes with mourning a missing person are brought to life through Rosie’s actions. Griffin makes you feel her pain as she flees relationships and escapes places searching for solace.
Griffin’s writing has a lightness of touch that keeps the story grounded. There’s also plenty of humour and passion in the friendships and rivalries which Rosie develops with the local community as she learns to let go and take comfort from her surroundings. (Katherine McLaughlin)
Published on Thursday 27 April.
Lovers of both vintage clothing and long-form interview podcasts will find themselves cosily nestled alongside Pre-Loved Podcast in the intersection of that Venn diagram. Professional thrifter and content creator Emily Stochl plays host as she converses with a new sustainable-fashion figurehead every week to find out how they are innovating within the slow-fashion space.
Stochl brings an earnest curiosity to Pre-Loved Podcast and asks well-informed questions that allow her guests to shine. Recurring segments where interviewees discuss their most treasured vintage piece or share a favourite second-hand store create familiarity and continuity in each episode. Meanwhile, introductions are tightly written and provide valuable background information on every guest.
Each free-flowing conversation lasts just under an hour and, while all episodes follow the same format, guests provide listeners with very different perspectives on how to be a more conscious consumer. Based in New York, Stochl does feature many American vintage lovers on the pod, but sufficient international boxes are also ticked. Previous segments have featured British influencer and activist Venetia La Manna, cofounder of Fashion Revolution Week Orsola de Castro, and longtime Ralph Lauren knitwear designer Denise Danuloff.
Topics covered have ranged from garment workers’ rights to various circular models of buying and selling used clothing. But a constant throughout the six seasons of this podcast to date is the intentional departure from partaking in fast fashion and its unethical practices. If any of this sounds like it may verge into preachy or judgemental territory, rest assured that’s not the case. The tone struck in Pre-Loved Podcast ensures no shopper is left behind. Except those with less of a passion for fashion. But even they need to get dressed in the morning, right? (Megan Merino) New episodes available weekly at emilymstochl.com/ category/pre-loved-podcast
Natalie Merchant’s ninth solo album, and first new material in almost ten years, is as mindful as you might expect from the former 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman and philanthropist. Keep Your Courage is dedicated to writer Joan Didion (‘and all her sisters’), and takes love and the heart as its holistic theme: the word ‘courage’ derives from the word for ‘heart’ in many languages (cœur, cuore, corazón).
Merchant produces 26 mentions of love across the album, as well as references to the self-love of ‘Narcissus’ and titular namechecks for Saint Valentine, and for the goddess of love on the album’s first single ‘Come On, Aphrodite’. If this mid-paced MOR invocation is any barometer, Merchant is trading in a mellow middle-aged kind of love, one dappled here with a lovely warm trumpet solo and a suggestion of comforting southern soul from her co-vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis.
Merchant has commissioned a variety of composers to produce the string arrangements throughout this album; in the case of ‘Guardian Angel’, the chamber orchestral arrangement outshines her song. But she also welcomes the gentle trill of flute and pipes from members of Lúnasa on ‘Eye Of The Storm’ and changes tone for a stately and strident cover of Lankum’s ‘Hunting The Wren’. (Fiona Shepherd)
Released on Friday 14 April.
A packed month of things to do indoors or consume on your travels includes visceral metal, soothing folk, a fungus-based game, a reflection on terrible errors and yet another fond small-screen farewell
ALBUMS METALLICA
Launched with a global listening party, 72 Seasons is the 12th studio album from the pummelling rockers featuring 77 whole minutes of ‘gut-punching’ (Rolling Stone) and ‘thundering’ (Billboard) sound.
n Blackened Recordings, Friday 14 April.
SCOTT WILLIAM URQUHART & CONSTANT FOLLOWER
Folk guitarist Urquhart joins forces with the SAYnominated band fronted by Stephen McAll for Even Days Dissolve, a sonic venture inspired by the poetry of Norman MacCaig.
n constantfollower.bandcamp.com, Friday 14 April.
BOOKS PHILIP PARIS
A story of love, loyalty and sacrifice, The Last Witch Of Scotland takes place in the Highlands of 1727 with a small community distrustful of two women who have lost their father and husband in a fire.
n Black & White, Thursday 13 April.
LINTON KWESI JOHNSON
Time Come is a collection of non-fiction works from the poet, activist and critic who continues to fight for equality and justice.
n Picador, Thursday 13 April.
GAMES
THE LAST OF US PART 1
Yes, you’ve played the game and seen the TV show. Why not now play the game again but in a different format? Join Joel and Ellie (once more) as they cross a post-apocalyptic America in search of a cure for the zombie-ant fungus.
n Out now on PS5 and PC.
CAUTIONARY TALES
Economist, journo and broadcaster Tim Harford presents this pod about mistakes that have been made through history and what can be learned from them. Episodes include the early 90s company that initiated hot-desking with disastrous consequences, the curse unleashed by opening up King Tut’s tomb, and the ‘hero who rode his Segway off a cliff’.
n Pushkin, Fridays.
An intimate documentary portrait of Lyra McKee, a Belfast journalist not yet in her 30s when she was gunned down and killed in 2019 during a riot in Derry. Through her own words and those of friends and family, this follows the ongoing and painful search for justice.
n Channel 4, Saturday 8 April.
COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS
A big hit in its Australian homeland, this comedy series revolves around a squabbling couple forced to look after a stray dog which they accidentally (albeit via extreme negligence) hit with their car. n BBC Two, Tuesday 11 April.
MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL
In a year of big TV shows coming to an end (Ted Lasso, Succession, Love Island*), the passing of Maisel will be equally mourned. Are Miriam’s dreams of global comedy fame likely to come true? And is she really going to get it on with Lenny Bruce?
n Prime Video, Friday 14 April.
(*OK, spot of wishful thinking there folks, sorry)
Singer, actor, dancer, nightclub boss, author, national treasure: Alan Cumming has added many strings to his fiddle during a long career in entertainment. Having recently hosted The Traitors US, he now returns to our screens in season two of Schmigadoon!
For our probing Q&A he talks dolphin sex, midnight sweat and unsolicited airborne arousal
If you could relive any day of your life, which one would it be? Probably one of the many days I said something in public that I got in trouble for. Not that I regret saying them, I just wish I hadn’t had to talk so much afterwards about why and what I meant. But actually, fuck it, no. I don’t think I would live any day again. I’m on a forward trajectory at all times.
Tell us something you wish you had discovered sooner in life? That life is just the same show with different costumes, and what goes around really does come around. And if people have made up their minds about you there’s no point in trying to change them.
That Shakespeare was right when he said: ‘To thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.’
Describe your perfect Saturday evening? Cooking dinner for friends, drinking and shooting the shit, having a sing-song round the piano, popping over to Club Cumming for a wee dance, home to doggy cuddles and the joy of not having to set an alarm.
If you were a ghost, who would you haunt? Oh you know, the usual suspects: Thatcher, Trump, the guy from my fave 80s band Dollar who became a Tory councillor.
What’s your earliest recollection of winning something? I won a camera in a raffle when I was in primary school, and because of it I realised that I saw things differently.
Did you have a nickname at school that you were ok with? And can you tell us a nickname you hated? No and no, because it will only encourage the propagation of both. Instead, I will tell you that on Instinct, the TV show I did a few years ago, my nickname was Soup because I imbibed so much of it as my go-to snack between takes.
If you were to start a tribute act to a band or singer, who would it be in tribute to and what would it be called? Probably Kate Bush and I think the combination of our surnames would make for a title you probably don’t want to print!
When were you most recently astonished by something? Yesterday I saw a sweet shop in New Jersey that had a model of the Statue Of Liberty holding a lolly instead of her torch, and a packet of Oreos instead of the tablet in the other.
Who would you like to see playing you in the movie about your life? Who do you think the casting people would choose? Tilda Swinton. Su Pollard.
What’s the punchline to your favourite joke? I’m on my moped, I’ll follow you home!
If you were to return in a future life as an animal, what would it be? Dolphins have sex up to 50 times a day, and they don’t seem like addicts. I’d give it a go.
If you were playing in an escape room name two other people you’d recruit to help you get out? I’ve actually only done one escape room but it was with the mentalist Jason Suran and Neil Patrick Harris who is a total magic and escape-room geek. They were all over it and, although we got out with barely seconds to spare, I would do it again with them in a flash.
When was the last time you were mistaken for someone else and what were the circumstances? It’s been a while but people sometimes mistake me for Pee Wee Herman, and Paul Reubens told me he gets mistaken for me.
What tune do you find it impossible not to get up and dance to, whether in public or private? Right now I am obsessed with Pink’s ‘Never Gonna Not Dance Again’. I am not happy with the syntax but I love the song. But I get up and dance anywhere. I’ve always danced like nobody’s watching.
What’s the best cover version ever? I’m kind of obsessed with The Ethel Merman Disco Album. Every one’s a winner.
Whose speaking voice soothes your ears? Tam Cowan and Stuart Cosgrove from Radio Scotland’s Off The Ball. I know they don’t exactly scream soothing, but whenever I hear them I feel so happy and full of laughter, reminded of home.
Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise people? I’m really good at making food for large numbers of people. I have no wisdom teeth. I could go on . . .
What’s a skill you’d love to learn but never got round to? I have a ukulele sitting next to me as I write this and I am determined to learn how to play it soon. Also I constantly say I am going to learn Spanish and haven’t quite yet. But most of all, I would love to be able to do that underwater spinny thing when you swim lengths so that you don’t stop at the end of each length, and you just shoot off up the lane again. I think it’s sexy and also means nobody has a chance to talk to you either.
As an adult, what has a child said to you that made a powerful impact? An expartner’s little brother once asked if we’d had sex the night before. When I asked why, he said we smelled of midnight sweat.
When did you last cry? On a plane watching a film. I always cry on planes. It’s the pressure, apparently. I also get uncalled-for erections because of it too.
What’s the most hi-tech item in your home? The house itself. It’s full of little doors that open up. There’s also a video screen and you can call to different rooms, and answer the door and all sorts. Of course, we’ve never used it.
Which famous person would be your ideal holiday companion? Nigella Lawson. For the chat and the laughs and obviously the snacks. And she would understand my sun phobia.
If you were selected as the next 007, where would you pick as your first luxury destination for espionage? Arran. It’s as likely a candidate as me being selected as the next 007.
By decree of your local council, you’ve been ordered to destroy one room in your house and all of its contents. Which room do you choose? I think it would be the room I’m in right now so that I wouldn’t have to answer stupid questions like this one.
The second season of Schmigadoon! airs on Apple TV+ from Wednesday 5 April; The Traitors US is available on BBC iPlayer.
Scottish festival season gets eclectic in Edinburgh next month with Hidden Doors taking over the former Scottish Widows building for five days of multiarts action featuring the likes of Porridge Radio, Max Cooper and Berta Kennedy. And at various capital venues is the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival which, amid some extreme silliness, tackles big issues such as climate change and protest. Plus, we’ll cover everything from Alberta Whittle to Anna Karenina, John Kearns to Jon Ronson, and Midge Ure to Michael J Fox.
n Next copy of The List will be out on Monday 1 May.
The relatively new phenomenon of adapting cult films into unlikely TV series continues apace with Dead Ringers (hot on its sordid heels next month is Fatal Attraction). David Cronenberg’s 1988 psycho-thriller about twin gynaecologists played by Jeremy Irons is given a twist with this Prime Video drama having Rachel Weisz in the dual lead role(s).
Ten years ago, Neil Gaiman published The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, probably not expecting it to be a stage sensation. Now the National Theatre’s bold interpretation of his tale of fantasy, memory and friendship arrives at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre, plunging audiences into a vibrant, magical and slightly threatening world.
Across the final weekend of April, Stag & Dagger pierces the hearts of alternative music lovers in Edinburgh and Glasgow with all-day multi-venue events featuring the likes of Lady Leshurr (pictured), Black Lips, Venbee, Swim School, Alice Glass, Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage, Becky Sikasa and No Windows.
Primal Scream present Screamadelica
Franz Ferdinand
Future Islands | Confidence Man | Jockstrap
Kruder & Dorfmeister | David Holmes
House Gospel Choir
Fred again..
Young Fathers | Róisín Murphy
MUNA | Friendly Fires
Kelly Lee Owens | Biig Piig | Optimo (Espacio)
Éclair Fifi | Rachel Chinouriri | TAAHLIAH | Leith Ross
|
Raye | Public Service Broadcasting
Arab Strap | Lightning Seeds
Beth Orton | Daniel Avery
Olivia Dean | Wunderhorse
Katie Gregson-MacLeod