The List Issue 760

GLASGOW & EDINBURGH EVENTS GUIDE APRIL 2022 | ISSUE 760 LIST.CO.UK

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ALAN PARTRIDGE SCOTTISH BALLET KATHRYN JOSEPH UNALOME DOUGLAS STUART MARIA BAMFORD CURIOUS LIQUIDS KAE TEMPEST VAN GOGH ALIVE

CORA BISSETT + TURNING CULT FILM ORPHANS INTO A HIT STAGE MUSICAL

SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVALS: THE BANDS, THE FASHION, THE FUTURE

PICTURE: ROBYN VON SWANK

CONTENTS

FRONT Mouthpiece

6

Tamara Schlesinger hails her Hen Hoose

My New Hobby

8

Owen O’Leary gets a pizza the action

FEATURES Orphans

9

Behind the scenes of a hit musical

Summer Music Festivals

22

Back with a bang

EAT DRINK SHOP Shucks

30

Continuing Glasgow’s fine dining streak

Rosé

34

Sampling the taste of spring

Curious Liquids

36

The bottle shop with a conscience

GOING OUT Scottish Ballet

39

Dancing around a royal scandal

Twins

46

When double trouble is twice as fun

Van Gogh Alive

59

A Dutch master gets immersive

Benedetta

62

Paul Verhoeven has nuns on the run

STAYING IN Spiritualized

68

J Spaceman capitalises on lockdown

Douglas Stuart

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They get a cup of coffee, so it’s not slave labour MARIA BAMFORD ON TRYING MATERIAL OUT ON FANS

71

How to follow up a Booker winner

Run, Rose, Run

73

Is there anything Dolly Parton can’t do?

55

BACK Reginald D Hunter

77

Orson Welles and me

Hot Shots

78

The Northman cometh

COVER PICTURE: MIHAELA BODLOVIC

April 2022 THE LIST 3

CONTRIBUTORS

WELCOME

Brexit. Covid. War in Europe. Just when you thought you were out, something else deeply troubling pulls you back in. In moments of national or international strife, culture is not only a timely distraction from the world’s woes, but a necessary fuel to stay positive, let the light back into our lives and remind us how lucky we actually are.

Laughter might not in fact be the best medicine (actual medicine is pretty good at that job) but spreading and feeling joy reminds us about our own humanity. And who is more human (flawed, fearless, fickle, funny) than Alan Partridge? He’s done radio, TV, books, a podcast and film, but now back on tour for the first time in over a decade, is he the man to save our souls? More laughter is afoot from our encounter with Maria Bamford, throughout Reginald D Hunter’s 20 Questions, and in a mischievous interview with Joe Lycett.

This might well be the ‘renaissance person’ issue given that our cover star, Cora Bissett, has also worked in various realms of the arts: singer with 90s indie Fifers Darlingheart, award-winning stage actress, TV star and theatre director. Now she’s putting her directorial talents into the National Theatre Of Scotland’s stage musical Orphans which tours the land across April and is a fitting adaptation of Peter Mullan’s cult movie from 1998.

It’s also, rather inadvertently, the ‘twins’ issue given that Rob and Neil Gibbons are the writing brains (alongside Steve Coogan himself) behind Alan Partridge while Lucy Ribchester discovers twins-friendly venues in Glasgow and Edinburgh with her fouryear-old boys.

Maybe, though, this is ultimately the ‘success’ issue, particularly in Scotland. On the following pages are reports of Glasgow’s Michelin stars glory, Scottish Ballet’s scandal-heavy new production, Beltane’s dramatic return to Calton Hill and Douglas Stuart’s immense follow-up to his Booker-winning debut. And is there a more life-enhancing experience than sitting in a green space or inside a beautiful old venue to immerse yourself in a summer music festival? After a fallow 24 months, Scotland is gloriously awash with them this year.

PUBLISHING CEO Sheri Friers Editor Brian Donaldson Art Director Seonaid Rafferty Designer Carys Tennant Sub Editor Megan Merino Writers: Becca Inglis, Brian Donaldson, Carol Main, Claire Sawers, David Kirkwood, Deborah Chu, Emma Simmonds, Fiona Shepherd, Gareth K Vile, Gemma Murphy, James Mottram, Jay Richardson, Jay Thundercliffe, Jo Laidlaw, Kelly Apter, Kevin Fullerton, Lucy Ribchester, Lynsey May, Mark Fisher, Megan Merino, Murray Robertson, Owen O’Leary, Rachel Cronin, Reshma Madhi, Sean Greenhorn, Stewart Smith, Suzy Pope, Tamara Schlesinger Social Media and Content Editor Megan Merino Business Development Manager Jayne Atkinson Affiliates Manager Kevin Fullerton Media Sales Executive

Brian Donaldson EDITOR

Ewan Wood Digital Operations Executive Marianna Van Orden Loyal Reader Bernie Critchley

KAE TEMPEST

4 THE LIST April 2022

PICTURE: KASH YUSAF

PICTURE: WOLFGANG TILLMANS

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Published by List Publishing Ltd 2 Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh EH8 9SU Tel: 0131 623 3040 list.co.uk editor@list.co.uk ISSN: 0959 - 1915

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REGINALD D HUNTER

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April 2022 THE LIST 5

FRONT

MOU THPIE CE Tamara Schlesinger was fed up with the music industry continually excluding female artists. This is what she’s doing about it H ow often have you been angry about inj ustice and thought ‘how can I make a difference? ’ The temptation is to turn to social media and vent that anger, knowing that it won’t really change anything. F or years now we have seen a lack of female artists on festival line-ups. W hen you remove the male artists from the promo posters, the number of acts that remain is j ust embarrassing. And while many of us shout as loud as we can, not much has changed.

In spite of festivals signing up to schemes such as K eychange, an initiative led by PRS ( the royalties collection society) for 5 0/5 0 gender eq uality on festival line-ups, only 1 5 % of 2022 headliners are women.

The problem is not j ust on the live circuit but across the board. O nly 1 7 % of composers signed to PRS are women; only 20% of acts signed to maj or labels are women; and only 5 % of H ollywood film composers are women.

F ed up with shouting on social media, in M arch 2020 I made the decision to launch H en H oose, an all-female and non-binary songwriting collective. During lockdown we brought together some of the finest female songwriters, producers and engineers in Scotland and created an incredible body of work with the aim of highlighting the talent that we have right here on our doorstep. O ur resulting album E q ualiser has gained critical acclaim from national press and radio.

H en H oose has also been looking at alternative revenue streams for artists. W e all know the pittance that Spotify pay their artists, and that many have had to cancel live dates. There are also those artists who are clinically vulnerable and unable to perform while the virus still threatens.

Given these circumstances, it’s important to find other ways to make a living from music. W e have created a niche for ourselves composing for TV , film, adverts and podcasts with great success.

The pandemic has seen options open out for remote working which has also enabled accessibility for the H en H oose writers. M others can work around their childcare needs and those that are shielding can partake in co-writes at a distance. W e’ve found a method that has allowed for artists to be included where they may have previously been overlooked. Across the music industry, companies and organisations need to look at what we are doing. It’s time to actively embrace and support change, and cultivate greater inclusivity. n T am ara Schlesinger is founder of fem ale and non- b inary songw riting collective and p roduction stab le H en H oose; new single ‘ N ot Alone’ b y MALK A from the deb ut H en H oose alb um E q ualiser is out now ; henhoose. com

Carla J Easton is one of the artists given a leg up

by Hen Hoose

Might be a big joke to you lot, but having a birthday on the first day of April is no laughing matter for some. Such as Asa Butterfield, David Oyelowo and Bijou Phillips. Breathing a huge sigh of relief that mum and midwife couldn’t release them into the wild a day earlier are Michael Fassbender, Emmylou Harris and Jesse Plemons.

Still, perhaps April is officially the most hilarious month given these comics are all celebrating: Eddie Murphy (3rd) David Cross (4th), Jerry Seinfeld (29th) and Vincent Gallo (11th). What do you mean Vinnie’s not a comedian? Have you heard an interview with him and his cuddly conservative views over the past 20 years? Two of those famous Hollywood hellraisers you used to get will be keeping the party on the downlow this month in the shape of Robert Downey Jr (4th) and Jack Nicholson (22nd). And April’s selection of Scots marking their entry unto the planet include ex-Time Lords Peter Capaldi (14th) and David Tennant (18th), plus Emma Thompson (15th), James McAvoy (21st) and Sam Heughan (30th). Bon anniversaire to you all.

Sam Heughan adopts an unconventional method for blowing out his candles

HAPPY RETURNERS

l i r p A 0 3 Y A D R U t a S – l i r p A friDAY 29 y e l s i a P , t e e r t S e g d i r B / e s Abbey Clo

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E R O M R O HUNGRY F

PLATFORM / Renfrewshire CAMRA / Over 30 street food traders and licensed bars / Live music / Free foodie-fun for families Paisleyfoodanddrink April 2022 THE LIST 7

FRONT

SWEET TWEET

One of the stars of new Scottish musical Me And My Sister Tell Each Other Everything, Anna Russell-Martin proved that you can always count on the people of Glasgow for a pep talk on opening night

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RE

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my new hobby Deciding to get out of the kitchen, Owen O’Leary took his hot pizza-making to a hungry outside world As a second lockdown loomed and the best chance of seeing people was al fresco, the time felt right to try my hand at making piz z as. A stack of well-used takeaway menus at home would be my motivation. H ow hard could it be? F or both inspiration and distraction, I turned to Y ouTube to find out more. F rom how to build your own piz z a oven to proving the perfect dough, there was no ex cuse not to take the plunge.

W ell 1 00 plus piz z as later, here’s what I’ve learned: piz z a-making is a lot like life. Y ou will get burned. It’s all about getting proportions j ust right. K eeping things simple works. There is always something new to learn and everything tastes better with beer and pals. The takeaway menus haven’t been binned but when it comes to a hobby that feeds the soul as well as the stomach, piz z a-making is all I knead . . . n Ow en O’ Leary runs com m unications consultancy Oh R eally Creative; ohreally . co. uk

O PER

SPE C

TIVE

THE OLD KANYE

NEW STONES LOGO

Netflix documentary Jeen-Yuhs reminded the world of a time when Kanye West was an endearing underdog with more brio than ego. Now he’s forcing listeners to buy a £200 music player for the questionable pleasure of hearing his bloated Donda 2. Ye, mate, why not binge-watch Jeen-Yuhs and take some pointers from yourself?

Geriatric rock codgers The Rolling Stones have unveiled a new logo in celebration of their 60th anniversary and, well, it’s rubbish.

It looks like the creative team behind this have given the iconic lips and tongue a case of severe necrosis. We recommend a trip to your local GP if your mouth looks like this pop-art nightmare.

Bring It Back

Get It Gone

Stuff we’d love to see return and things we wish would quietly exit 8 THE LIST April 2022

THE BATMAN

ORPHANS

From indie singer to theatre director with award-winning acting in between, Cora Bissett is now turning her hand to a stage version of classic Scottish cult movie Orphans. She tells Mark Fisher that updating Shakespeare holds no fascination for her when the modern world is brimming with urgent stories to tell

‘I

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big break at 17 and that ended up pretty messy

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PICTURE: NIALL WALKER

’m a bit dumb sometimes,’ says Cora Bissett.

For such a high achiever, it is an unexpected admission. Bissett is a musician, actor, playwright, songwriter and director all rolled into one. Over her shoulder, when I catch her on Z oom, is a S cotsman Fringe First from 2 0 1 8 , j ust one of many awards that have come her way. But, oddly, being dumb might account for her success.

Bissett is the woman who graced the front cover of T he List magazine in 1 9 9 3 when she was the 1 9 - year- old singer of D arlingheart. ‘ Right time, right place, right voice’, ran the coverline, with misplaced optimism. The K irkcaldy band were tipped for fame but never made it (a story she told in her one- woman show W hat G irls A re Mad e Of ) so she reinvented herself as an actor. In that j ob, she blazed a trail through S cottish theatre, turning heads at the Tron, L yceum, D undee Rep and elsewhere, before picking up awards in D avid Greig’s romcom hit Mid su m m er.

Most recently, she was at the dark heart of series six of S het land , playing E ve Galbraith, the election hopeful and duplicitous wife of a murdered lawyer.

But that rather overlooks her second reinvention as a theatre director. S ince winning the Arches Award for Young D irectors in 206, Bissett has been responsible for a string of headline- grabbing shows.

They include R oadk ill about se trafficking , G lasgow G irls (about asylum seekers) and G rit , which centred on the short but genre- busting life of piper Martyn Bennett. N ow, as an associate director at N ational Theatre Of S cotland, she’s the driving energy behind the stage adaptation of Orphans, Peter Mullan’s j et- black 198 comedy about four grieving siblings ricocheting through the streets of Glasgow after their mother’s death.

“I got the

ORPHANS

Peter Mullan and Cora Bissett chew some fat about Orphans

If this is what being dumb achieves, we surely need more of it. ‘ I’m not very strategic,’ she explains. ‘ I am absolutely ruled by my gut.

S ometimes I can’t work out why I’m making a decision, and maybe five years later I go, ah, I understand why I did that now .’ It’s a characteristic she puts down to her formative years in a small- town indie band. ‘ I’ve always needed to make something happen. Probably being a young teenager in ife and going, I want to make this happen now I just wanted to get stuff off the ground myself. When you’ve been in that band world, the D IY philosophy is so strong.’

Moving to Glasgow and working behind the bar of The 1 3 th N ote, she found herself mixing with kindred spirits. ‘ Bis, Mogwai, Belle And S ebastian, The D elgados . . . they were all starting their own companies and starting their own scene. They became the epicentre of those scenes but all from a grassroots, D IY ethic. It wasn’t about hanging out for the

10 THE LIST April 2022

big break. That fused into my theatre world as well. I got the big break at 1 7 and that ended up pretty messy.

S o that has never been my goal. It’s about, what can I create that people then become e cited about ’ It helps explain why a characteristic Bissett production is conceived by her even though she’s not always its writer (the autobiographical W hat G irls A re Mad e Of being an obvious exception). S he brought in S tef S mith to dramatise the story of trafficked women and girls in R oad k ill, which was made all the more gruesome for being performed in a residential dinburgh at. avid Greig collaborated on G lasgow G irls, a wildly popular piece that was inspired by the true story of seven pupils from D rumchapel High S chool. To help tell the tale of a transsexual E gyptian man in A d am , she worked with playwright Frances Poet.

Bissett teams up with such writers just as she brings in musicians and other artists; it’s how she gives voice to stories she needs to be heard.

Friends often ask her when she is going to direct a S hakespeare, but it’s not what she’s about. ‘ Honestly, I’ve never had the urge. I don’t feel the need to go, I will show my mettle and prove I’m a really serious director by doing this . ther people do it fabulously. I don’t need to ing my hat in that corner. I’m ploughing a little furrow over here, which is finding stories, often real life, that shed a different angle on the society we’re living in. My radar is open and when I see a story, that’s when I get excited.’

Cora Bissett: List cover star and Midsummer award-winner

ORPHANS FEATURES

Hers is a political theatre in that it so frequently alights on stories of public interest. he saw first hand the impact theatre can have in 2 0 1 0 when R oad k ill began its journey towards winning an livier ward. he encouraged her audiences to share their concerns with the efugee ouncil and charities supporting trafficked women. They, in turn, put pressure on the government to redefine the legal status of girls who had been trafficked so they were seen not as illegal immigrants but as victims of se abuse. ‘ ur play was a tiny piece in a very big jigsaw, with many people working together but those girls were redefined as the victim of that crime. That is a massive shift. Theatre can affect change.’

Bissett has a knack of tuning in to matters of social concern. case in point was ’s A d am . This biographical piece about dam ashmiry who also starred was a timely contribution to a wider discussion about identity, gender and transse uality. ‘I had an aunt who was and said, I didn’t know that could e ist, that your sense of yourself could be different from your physical shape ,’ she says. ‘I think that was a click point for a lot of people. It’s a little part of a jigsaw that helps to amplify and ripple.’ one of this is to say her work is dry or polemical. er rock’n’roll roots see to that. ‘ usic comes as an instinct,’ she says. ‘ aybe because my formative e perience was having four people in a room how do you come up with an idea guitarist starts with a riff. usic allows a younger audience, in particular, to rest from the density of te t. I know I sometimes need to breathe away from words for a little while and let music take some space. I find it easier to absorb stories

that way. usic lets me take space to think about what’s been said, but it affects you in a more visceral way and I come back fresher to listening to people speak again.’ ow, with Orphans, these strands come together as she works with playwright ouglas a well, and composers oddy art and Tommy eilly on a darkly comic musical about grief. ‘Orphans has always been one of my favourite films,’ Bissett says. ‘ ou think Peter ullan is taking you down this gritty en oach world but then twists it into more magical realist territory. I love that he can hold those two things at once. nd to me, it’s very theatrical you’ve got a roof blowing off the cathedral as grief becomes so enormous, and a man oating down the lyde as he’s bleeding out. The symbolism is pouring out.’

Orphans is on tour across Scotland, Friday 1–Saturday 30 April.

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April 2022 THE LIST 11

ORPHANS

PICTURES: EOIN CAREY

12 THE LIST April 2022

ORPHANS

family plot Gareth K Vile meets the Orphans cast during rehearsals and finds that seriousness can last only so long when telling a very Glasgow story

A

lthough the film Orphans has a rambunctious humour and an anarchic take on family relationships, sitting in on ational Theatre f cotland’s rehearsal for its stage adaptation reveals the seriousness of this company’s process. ouglas a well’s script does not shy away from the hardships and comple ities that characters face, and director ora Bissett guides actors through an engagement with his te t that has the feel of a group therapy session crossed with an academic, literary analysis seminar. oming at a time when theatre is slowly welcoming audiences back into the auditorium, Orphans has a distinctively cottish feel.

Peter ullan’s film has become a cottish icon, and its distinctive dark humour re ects a very laswegian re ection on mortality and family. ora Bissett’s approach to directing is dynamic and immediate, aiming to capture the film’s wit and emotional honesty her previous direction work is notable for energy and enthusiasm. or Patricia Panther, who plays ara, the adaptation has an obvious purpose. ‘The film is a cult classic that deserves to be revisited, celebrated and brought to new audiences.’ nd thanks to a new score, Orphans has the additional immediacy and power that comes from musical theatre. ‘I was bu ing at the opportunity to see how ora’s vision of the film as a musical would unfold and how she would adapt it for the stage,’ she adds. ‘The songs are heartfelt, powerful, anthemic, ridiculously bonkers and uni uely cottish. oddy art and Tommy eilly did such a stellar job with musicalising the rising and falling emotions of the piece.’ itting in on an early rehearsal mere days after an initial script read through by the full cast , actors concentrate not so much on the e ternals of movement and gesture, but the psychology behind characters’ behaviour. In a scene that features a meeting between a man sporting a knife wound, his enraged brother and a sympathetic se worker, Bissett asks a series of uestions that tease out how the cast feel about their motivations and fictional biographies. It is a gentle process that allows an actor to feel at home with their character and eventually grow into the performance.

‘It’s a story about family and the heart,’ Paul c ole rank e plains. ‘They suffer a trauma and push through one of the hardest nights of their lives, but ultimately end up back where they belong, together.’ The emotional intensity of the plot is emphasised by its new format. ‘The source material transfers beautifully to musical theatre,’ enthuses c ole whose brother tephen appeared in the film . ‘That’s mostly to do with the ama ing team that’s brought it to life again. I can’t wait for fans of the original, as well as folk new to it, to e perience this.’

April 2022 THE LIST 13

ORPHANS

Bissett and her cast are clearly relishing the production’s development: in rehearsal, the seriousness of their approach to the script is frequently interrupted by playful commentary on the drama, and spontaneous laughter. It is as if the process imitates the script’s atmosphere, alternating fun and intensity. Playwright Maxwell, typically for his work, pick out both the poetry and grittiness in Glasgow banter with moments of bitterness between brothers being balanced by sudden compassion.

Actor Harry Ward (who plays Tanga) says that this is what makes the film’s transition to a musical work so effectively. ‘The big thing for me is how grounded the musical is. A lot of the time when you talk to someone about a musical, they think Les Misérables or Chicago, which are great musicals but also very far removed from home. Orphans is set in Glasgow and has that Glasgow grit.

You can totally relate to all the characters who feel like people you probably know. It’s a musical but it’s in our accent which sounds amazing and not typical for the genre.’

Ward’s enthusiasm for the production is contagious. ‘I know I’m starting to sound like a poster boy for the show but honestly I couldn’t get the tunes out of my head after I heard them. Roddy and Tommy have brought some amazing tunes to the table that are very modern, ranging from pop to rock to beautiful ballads but still manage to make it sound totally original.’

For the cast, the timing of Orphans is appropriate, as the return to theatres begins in earnest after lockdown. ‘There has been so much sadness, so much awareness of death, so much trauma, stress and caution,’ says Panther. ‘But there can be so much joy too.’

‘I feel now we appreciate theatre much more having been stuck in our homes for so long,’ Ward adds. ‘I love sitting in front of the telly but having done that for two years I now realise that being able to go to live theatre events and gigs is a privilege that many of us have taken for granted.’ Or, as McCole concisely concludes, ‘art is life, man.’ n

14 THE LIST April 2022

Saturday 20 August

The Gaslight Anthem Saturday 17 September Tuesday 17 April Monday 18 April

The War On Drugs

Thursday 19 May

The Charlatans Friday 20 May

Wednesday 20 April

Porter Robinson

Bongo’s Bingo Saturday 4 June

Saturday 23 April Sunday 24 April

A Night At The Darts

Big Big Gin Festival

Tuesday 14 June

Monday 2 May

Beck

Bad Boy Chiller Crew

Wednesday 22 June

Saturday 7 May

Jessie Ware

Bongo’s Bingo

Wednesday 3 August

Monday 9 May

Pixies

Gary Numan

Saturday 6 August

Friday 13 May

The Dualers

Jo Whiley’s 90s Anthems Saturday 14 May

Bongo’s Bingo

Giants of Soul Tuesday 27 September

Ian Brown Saturday 22 October Saturday 22 October

The Enemy + Little Man Tate Saturday 5 November Sunday 6 November

Big Big Wedding Fair & Fashion Show Monday 28 November

Fontaines D.C.

Monday 8 August

O2 Academy Edinburgh 11 New Market Road Edinburgh EH14 1RJ

The Libertines

o2academyedinburgh.co.uk

Friday 12 August

The Wombats

Tuesday 17 May

MARINA

April 2022 THE LIST 15

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South St David Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2BD 16 THE LIST April 2022

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ALAN PARTRIDGE

Can this man

HEAL the

NATION? PICTURE: TREVOR LEIGHTON

Neil and Rob Gibbons have been putting jokes into the mouth of Alan Partridge for well over a decade.

As the Norfolk resident heads out on tour with a show to lift all our spirits, these writing twins tell Murray Robertson that they revel being in the belly of the beast

A

lan Partridge is in rude health. Despite being perpetually middle aged, the character (who first appeared on radio more than 30 years ago) has only improved over time, largely thanks to the alchemical combination of performer Steve Coogan and co-writers/directors, Neil and Rob Gibbons. The twin brothers’ relationship with the Norfolk-based broadcasting legend began when they wrote material for Coogan’s 2009 multi-character stage show, Steve Coogan As Alan Partridge And Other Less Successful Characters.

‘We started writing a bit of Paul Calf stuff for the tour and we just thought we might as well chuck a bit of Partridge in there as well,’ remembers Neil. ‘I think Steve realised that we had an ear for the Partridge voice. It was shortly after that he said he was thinking of doing a comeback for Alan which turned out to be [web series] Mid Morning Matters. We just chanced our arms with the Partridge material and it’s given us a sort of life sentence.’

That life sentence has led to an assortment of celebrated Partridge projects across a range of media, including TV, film, books and a podcast.

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>> April 2022 THE LIST 17

Gloriously eclectic & intimate live performances at The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh Next: Wed 27 April

Midlothian: Surprisingly close for adventure, mystery, freedom and fun

www.locateinmidlothian.co.uk/family-days 18 THE LIST April 2022

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30 April & 1 May 2022

City Halls & Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow

Marja Ahti Janet Beat Andie Brown James Clapperton Pascale Criton Tashi Dorji Kaja Draksler Douglas R Ewart Juliet Fraser FUJI||||||||||TA Sharon Gal GIO Russell Haswell Liza Lim Joëlle Léandre Edoardo Marraffa

Cassandra Miller Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh Ailie Ormston Stefano Pilia Amber Priestley Susana Santos Silva Cecilia Stacchiotti Valeria Sturba Silvia Tarozzi Kristine Tjøgersen Joanna Ward James Weeks

bbc.co.uk/tectonics @tectonicsglas

Ilan Volkov BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

A FESTIVAL OF NEW & EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC

April 2022 THE LIST 19

ALAN PARTRIDGE

To the surprise of many, the team decided to return to theatres ( and a host of arenas) for Stratagem . J ust last month, the brothers’ new comedy series, The Witchfinder, began on B B C Two, but despite their hectic schedule, the pair seem unfaz ed. ‘W e’re actually ahead of where we would normally be on a Partridge proj ect,’ ex plains Rob. ‘V ery often, through no fault of anyone’s, we tend to be writing right up until we’re shooting and it’s all kind of frantic. B ut on this one ( famous last words and all that) we actually have most of it written. It’s far more complicated in some wa s than the TV stuff because this is lan’s bid to fi roken ritain, and he’s throwing e er thing at it in a wa that no one else really could or should.’ lthough Stratagem is subtitled ew Wa s f Thinking n Post Co id World’, eil sa s that the pandemic doesn’t form a significant part of the show. t’s not particularl co id hea but it’s lan taking the opportunity to get on his soapbox . It’s him talking about ways to manage your life, and he’s putting his manifesto out there in a bid to become relevant again. H e’s trying to be relevant, but also kind of cool and theatrical and wise. o he puts on lots of different hats.’

Coogan has often spoken about how much he loves to perform live, although his many other commitments have very much limited his time on stage (that show was his first in a decade . The ibbons brothers are similarly ex cited by the prospect. ‘I think we’re really, really having a good time with it,’ says Rob. ‘B ecause it’s that thing of getting immediate feedback from the audience. W hen we do the TV stuff, ou get a sense of how good it is on the da , and then in the edit suite you can get a feel for how it’s working, but you don’t reall know until ou get in front of an audience. nd so to be able to do that and get that sort of instant feedback from the j oke . . . I think that’s wh a lot of people go into comed in the first place. ou’re doing it because you want to make people laugh; there’s nothing more immediate than the theatre.’

ALAN PARTRIDGE

W hile the character continues his remarkable renaissance, the brothers are careful to maintain the Partridgeverse’s integrity. And so Stratagem follows on from where we last saw the presenter, in the second series of T his T im e W ith Alan Partridge. ‘W e always have an eye on trying to make sure that the timeline and the biography works,’ ex plains Rob. ‘W e’ve allowed ourselves the odd cheat over the years but it is kind of consistent with what happened in T his T im e. I don’t want to give anything away but we’re trying to keep truthful to the world.’

Coogan famously once described Partridge as ‘an albatross around my neck’, but he’s long since rekindled his love for the character, mainly thanks to the spark inj ected by his partnership with Neil and Rob. And it’s comforting to know that there’s plenty of life left in the old broadcaster, including a second series of podcast F rom T he Oasthouse. ‘There are rumblings of proj ects beyond that,’ teases Neil. ‘B ut when you’re in the belly of the beast, the last thing you want to do is think about doing another proj ect straight after. Y ou j ust want to lie down in a dark room.’

It’s obvious that the pair are still very much enj oying their fruitful relationship with Coogan ( and Partridge) but they’re also keen to stretch their wings. ‘L uckily, we’ve been really busy for ten years,’ says Rob. ‘So we’ve barely had time to get our heads up and take a breath. I think we’d love to do more Witchfinder. B ut we have a couple of other sitcom ideas that we’re in the process of developing, so watch this space.’

Alan Partridge: Stratagem, Edinburgh Playhouse, Tuesday 26 April, Thursday 26 May; OVO Hydro, Glasgow, Tuesday 24 & Wednesday 25 May. Alan Partridge trying to stay ‘relevant, cool and wise’ in Mid Morning Matters (above) and This Time

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April 2022 THE LIST 21

THE HEAT IS ON

SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVALS PICTURE: ANTOINE J.

22 THE LIST April 2022

As summer music festivals make a glorious return for the first time in two years, Kevin Fullerton speaks to some relieved organisers, explores what’s on and tells us why we should get very excited

I

t’s time to grab your wellies and get lost in a mudd field as we prepare for an ine itabl rain (it is the unpredictable ritish summer, after all celebration of li e acts across cotland’s biggest music festi als. obod could den that the abo e sentence is as worn out as a tle Cr e reunion tour, but two ears of successi e lockdowns ha e almost gi en it a new est. t hearkens back to simpler times when a stonking great field teeming with sunburnt and rain soaked re ellers was taken for granted. With most festi als ha ing been ’ed for aeons, ’s summer line up feels like a helping of ca iar after a lifetime of gruel. oining the decadent musical feast are a panopl of talented acts, from adio friendl pla list goliaths to usic on a unda afternoon’ fare. There’s am ender and ewis Capaldi at T T, assi e ttack and ittle im at Connect, aint tienne and Tinderbo rchestra at idden oor, and a parade of smaller bands ing for our attention. e ond those festi als mentioned abo e, there’s also oune The abbit ole, i erside, ringe The ea, Colourbo , ut ast, therlands, nockengorroch, elting Pot and, es, man , man more.

With no restrictions on capacit , the sense of relief from festi al organisers is palpable. fter such a di cult few ears, people are desperate to come together and share new and uni ue e periences,’ sa s att ingard of Connect. rganisers of festi als luck enough to take place last ear are greeting the coming summer with similar enthusiasm. fter such a long absence of li e e ents, it was a real pri ilege for me to get back to work on T T in ,’ said aren cColl. eeing e er one come together

again in and being able to share the festi al e perience with friends, some of them for the first time e er, reminded all of us how ama ing cottish audiences are.’

While the return of festi als is an e citing prospect, it’s arguabl disappointing to see some of them take a business as usual’ approach to their line ups, o erlooking di ersit to fa our what the percei e as surefire winners. n other words, there’s still a dearth of P C and female acts but plent of decade old indie bands. till, some festi als are definitel doing their bit. nockengorroch, which takes place in allowa in a , will treat audiences to an intercontinental line up including Chilean orchestra ewen frobeat and the igerian cottish outfit oseph alik The aster oad orthern oul and. eanwhile, this ear’s idden oor festi al has placed its focus on platforming a ariet of local and international talent, and celebrating an eclectic range of genres and artists,’ according to its usic Programmer acob railsford. maller festi als are in fine fettle too, with the reat astern and reat Western e ents catering for the fringes of indie’s landscape, the ebridean Celtic esti al fa ouring tentpole acts like unrig and T Tunstall, unction Cit imits welcoming ot Chip and ittle ragon to lasgow, and the rkne olk esti al keeping punters well stocked on men with beards, fiddles and fine knitwear. s that breathless pre ious paragraph shows, festi als are hu ng the post pandemic air and preparing to gi e ou the time of our life. We’ll see ou in a mudd field er soon, so don’t forget our wellies, and sta igilant of the alwa s unpredictable cottish weather.

A B C D E F G H I

LTERED IMAGES Led by Clare Grogan, the iconic 80s band won’t just be rolling out the hits, now that they have a brand spanking new album, Mascara Streakz, to punt. n Summer Nights At The Bandstand/Rewind

ROOKE COMBE Getting a toy drum kit aged five was the trigger for Combe’s rise to stardom, eventually laying her soulful vocals across covers of Marvin Gaye and Arctic Monkeys. n Summer Sessions Edinburgh/TRNSMT HARLOTTE DE WITTE The Belgian record producer formerly known as Raving George has recently topped DJ Mag’s top alternative top 100 disc-spinners and has a new EP out entitled ‘Asura’. n Riverside

JANA GABRIELLE This French-Cameroonian singer-songwriter has upped her game on the Scottish scene for several years now and will also be showcasing her talents at Amplifi in May. n Jupiter Rising

all the singing ladies

The Scottish music festival circuit remains a male-heavy terrain, so we shine a light on the women whose vocal and disc-spinning talent ought to be celebrated come the summer. Here’s a comprehensive A-Z (OK, yes, we had to cheat a little) of acts to look out for

From top, clockwise: Sister Sledge, Sharleen Spiteri, Djana Gabrielle, Pongo

FÉ Dublin’s Efé delivers sunny pop through shimmering synth and funky guitar whose debut EP, ‘What Should We Do This Summer?’, brightened up the autumn of 2020. n Hidden Door

EHDAH This future-afro soul vocalist and producer is also going places on the Irish scene, and has been dubbed the ‘spiritual daughter of Erykah Badu and Oumou Sangaré’. n Knockengorroch RIFF Victor of the Rising Star Award at the 2021 Brits, Sarah Faith Griffiths later released a debut mixtape, ‘One Foot In Front Of The Other’, to much acclaim. n TRNSMT

ONEY DIJON This Chicago-born producer and DJ was mentored by Derrick Carter and in 2017 created the soundtrack for a Louis Vuitton runway show. n Otherlands

ONA ZAJAC Now resident in Dublin, this Edinburgher has her roots in traditional music and recorded her debut EP, ‘Find Her In The Grass’, at home during lockdown n Doune The Rabbit Hole/Hidden Door/Great Eastern

April 2022 THE LIST 23

J K L M N O P Q R

SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVALS

AMZ SUPERNOVA This BBC 6 presenter recently won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Radio Programme Of The Year, successfully spearheading a future generation of radio DJs. n Connect IM CARNIE Crowned Gaelic Singer Of The Year in 2021 at the Hands Up For Trad awards, the Mànran singer began her career in solo form with the release of a 2017 debut EP, ‘In Her Company’. n Keith TMSA

OUISE CHEN This Taiwanese-French DJ founded the Girls Girls Girls night a decade ago, mixing disco, gospel and early house into her eclectic sound. n Fly Open Air AYAH HERLIHY Motherwell, Peterhead and Aberdeen will soon all be claiming this star in the making whose voice was dubbed as being pitched between Dolly Parton and KD Lang. n ButeFest

UHA RUBY RA This avant-punk queen believes in collaboration to her core and will put on an assuredly unique performance based around her debut EP, ‘How To Move’. n Hidden Door K PAL RECORDS An independent artist-led record label based in both Glasgow and Edinburgh, it was founded by Hailey Beavis and Faith Eliott with Lucy Feliz one of the acts on their roster. n Hidden Door

ONGO Angola-born, Portugal-raised Pongo could dance Kizomba and Semba before she could walk, and merges EDM and melodic pop with her African heritage. n Eden UICK A Scottish ‘newgrass’ band fronted by singer Emily Barr came together in 2016 and promptly won the Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections with their sound that merges traditional with progressive. n Eden

IANNE DOWNEY We feature this rising star later on in the issue, but she pops up here as lead female act at the Royal Highland Centre’s big event this summer. n The Big Top, TRNSMT

Griff

S T U V W EX Y Z

ISTER SLEDGE This festival was delayed by a year, but the soul siblings’ message from back then remains the same: ‘have missed our UK FAM and are looking forward to getting LOST in some serious grooves wit’ choo!’ n Out East

EXAS Veterans of many a summer festival, the popular Glasgow band helmed by Sharleen Spiteri celebrate 35 years in the business with this headlining show in North Berwick. n Fringe By The Sea/HebCelt/The Big Top GLY, PRETTY We got to ‘u’ before having to rig the system, but well worth it to get Pretty Ugly in: ‘two gals with good tunes and bad moves’ who have made their club a Glasgow institution. n Colourboxx

IVIENNE The star of her own TV series, The Vivienne Takes On Hollywood, she was appointed as the first UK ambassador for RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2015. n Colourboxx ONKSIE The DJ behind Edinburgh’s Anything Goes night, this genre-hopping act does hardtek while harbouring a passion for ghetto funk. n Knockengorroch .SESS Sorry, yes, we had to bend the alphabetical rules again, this time for the experimental producer and DJ who runs Earwax, a platform for marginalised sound artists. n Hidden Door

OKO PWNO Could be one of our favourite festival acts for this year, based purely on that name alone. Fronted by vocalist Lissa Robertson, they produce trad music with a techno tinge. n Doune The Rabbit Hole/City Limits/Big Burns Supper

OË BESTEL A Nu-Folk artist who has supported the likes of Paul Brady and The Peatbog Faeries, Bestel made her way onto the Scottish Alternative Music Award shortlist. n Doune The Rabbit Hole/Knockengorroch

Check out our Guide To Scotland’s Festivals and list.co.uk for more information on these festivals and their line-ups.

Kim Carnie with Mànran

From top, clockwise: Rebecca Vasmant, Pictish Trail, Nova, James Yorkston, Kathryn Joseph

Kathryn Joseph picks Free Love and The Joy Hotel at Great Eastern Festival I genuinely cannot wait to see everyone who’s playing Great Eastern Festival, but also it feels like a very long time since I’ve got to shout with joy at the sexy beauty that is Free Love, and also my great darlings The Joy Hotel.

James Yorkston picks Brìghde Chaimbeul at Orkney Folk Festival One of the artists I’m looking forward to seeing is Brìghde Chaimbeul. She’s a brilliant piper with a real deftness of touch. She’s also playing on my Tae Sup wi’ a ifer tour, where ’m hoping she’ll collaborate once more with ruff h s.

Nova picks DJ Paulette at Kelburn Garden Party The first time saw her it was a random e ening in Paradise Palms pre pandemic. was surprised to see her there and was interested to find out more. fterwards discovered she was a bit of a legend, so it’ll be nice to move to her grooves again.

April 2022 THE LIST 25

SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVALS

Pictish Trail picks Hot Chip at Junction 1’s City Limits It’s rare I get the opportunity to see live music these days, so festivals are almost the only chance I have to catch other bands. I’m playing a mini-festival at Junction 1 in Glasgow in June and Hot Chip are headlining. I’m really looking forward to seeing them, as the ’ e been a constant in uence to me for almost ears. ’m e cited to experience that joy blaring through a massive festival PA, surrounded by pals.

As a flurry of fantastic festivals return to their full glory this summer, Megan Merino spoke to artists on a range of bills to ask who they are most excited to be sharing a stage with

ACTS UP

Rebecca Vasmant picks Little Simz and Jamz Supernova at Connect One of my friends is the drummer for Little Simz, as I discovered at All Points East Festival in London last summer. It was a really beautiful moment bumping into each other because we hadn’t seen each other in so long. We spent the loveliest morning at the festival, and now whenever I see them on a line-up I’m on, it makes me really happy. And I have been excited to see Jamz Supernova for a long while after listening to her amazing radio shows. It will be a real pleasure to see her play and hang out too.

MUSIC & SONG TRADITIONAL

ASSOCIATION OF SCOTLAND

Upcoming TMSA events in 2022 include:

Northern Streams Festival

TMSA Keith Festival

Oban Shanty Festival

Kirriemuir Festival

TMSA Edinburgh & Lothians Branch 22–24 April 2022 Online & offline www.northernstreams.org

TMSA Glasgow Branch 24-26 June 2022 obanshanty.org.uk

TMSA Keith Branch 10-12 June 2022 In person events; competitions virtually www.keithfestival.com

TMSA Angus Branch 2-4 September 2022 (tbc) kirriefestival.org

Visit website www.tmsa.scot for details of these events and more from other organisations as they get added. While you’re there why not check out our TMSA shop where you can order books, CDs and DVDs direct to your home! You can also visit our social media pages. @TMSAScotland The TMSA is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in Scotland No: SC199976 and a Scottish Charity No: SCO03819.

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SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVALS

Since the official coining of the word ‘t-shirt’ in the 1920s, it has become the perfect cotton canvas to express, protest or advertise anything from a drink, artist or idea. The band tee as we know it today came about in the 60s, when major music promoters began creating printed shirts to build their acts’ profiles. Fast forward a few more decades and music memorabilia has successfully crossed over into mainstream fashion, with iconic prints from the 60s onwards still being replicated today. But let’s focus on the potential iconic band tees of tomorrow. Megan Merino rounded up a selection of merch created by exciting artists on festival duty this summer

Tee s i n t he p a r k BONOBO This striking print, designed by Nicola Van Acker of Studio Koevoet, was created for British DJ and producer Bonobo’s latest album Fragments. n Connect

JOESEF ‘The Sun Is Up Forever’ t-shirt takes its name from a track on the Glasgow DJ Joesef’s SAY Award shortlisted album Does It Make You Feel Good? n Colourboxx

KATY J PEARSON Bristol-based singer songwriter Pearson brings her country-infused sound and cottagecore aesthetic to her merch designs. n Stag & Dagger

NUBIYAN TWIST The striking leopard is part of the band’s Freedom Fables album artwork released in 2021. n Doune The Rabbit Hole

FONTAINES D.C. Created by the band’s own Carlos O’Connell, this design is hot off the press ahead of their new album release this month. n TRNSMT

BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD After the departure of frontman Isaac Wood, the band’s latest album Ants From Up Here and its merch will no doubt carry additional meaning to fans. n Connect

WALT DISCO The goth glam group’s latest t-shirt combines fun lettering with a hint of psychedelia, in celebration of new album Unlearning.

Colourboxx

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Unalome By Graeme Cheevers has brought a second Michelin star to Glasgow, after Cail Bruich retained their award in this year’s guide. For a city once noticeably lacking in the Michelin department (and sometimes proud of it), to bag a brace in the space of two years is remarkable. Unalome (a Buddhist symbol representing the path to enlightenment) was awarded its prize just eight months after opening in the old Sisters spot, a traditional tenement setting in Finnieston.

Glasgow-born Chef Patron Cheevers brought much Michelin experience to his own venture, having worked in star-studded kitchens abroad, been head chef at Martin Wishart At Loch Lomond while it held a star for five years, and also at the Isle Of Eriska hotel which lost its award this year in his absence. Also dropping its award this year was Number One in Edinburgh, while a new star was born at distillery restaurant The Glenturret Lalique near Crieff. (Jay Thundercliffe) n 36 Kelvingrove St, Glasgow, unalomebygc.com

EAT DRINK SHOP

UNALOME

Hyndland is getting its own seafood and champagne bar thanks to Shucks. David Kirkwood finds out more about Glasgow’s continued rise in the fine-dining stakes

EAT

SEA CHANGE

Brothers and co-owners of Shucks: Paul (right) and Chris Charalambous

S

hucks is the fourth Glasgow venture from the Cail Bruich team after Epicures, Bar Brett, and their eponymous, Michelin-starred restaurant. The latest addition has been a while in the making. ‘The idea to open something on that spot goes back a few years,’ explains co-owner Paul Charalambous, ‘but the initial concept wasn’t wholly seafood.’

However, with fish and shellfish dishes on Cail Bruich’s tasting menus consistently piquing interest and winning fans, it became clearer what direction the new spot would be going in. ‘They’re often the most interesting choices on a menu,’ Charalambous adds. ‘They might be raw, cured or smoked, and the sauces can be so varied.’

Apart from molluscs, visitors to Shucks can look forward to fish cooked on a wood-fired grill, with fun additions like tater tots and smoked salmon crumpets. Cail Bruich have always been good at the details. It served them well these last two years when ‘pivot . . . then pivot some more’ was the industry-wide mantra. They were one of the first restaurants to see the potential in offering a ‘dining at home’ experience. ‘Me, my brother Chris, and a couple of chefs just pulled it together, because chefs don’t like not being busy!’

When short-term survival was such a genuine concern for many, it’s perhaps understandable that not all such ventures were as keen to actively seek feedback and act upon it. Nonetheless, it set Cail Bruich apart. CB At Home, as it became known, evolved quickly into a simplified but classy menu that was easy to execute in the house, changing up each week, with a strong visual presence on social media.

30 THE LIST April 2022

And yet the best was still to come. In August of 2020, Lorna McNee (previously of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie) was announced as the new head chef. Fortuitously, the small window before hospitality closed up again was enough time for the Michelin inspectors to make their visits and award Cail Bruich a star, Glasgow’s first in 18 years. It was a good news story in a tough time, made all the sweeter because the nod was given to an established restaurant with a loyal following. And it killed the perennial chat about Glaswegians caring more about bang for their buck than genuine fine dining.

‘Undoubtedly the landscape has changed,’ Charalambous points out. ‘But Glasgow’s problem has actually been holding onto its most talented staff and not losing them to Edinburgh or London.’ More’s the coup, then, that they were able to attract a chef of McNee’s stature. In another pleasing detail, previous head chef Shaun Haggarty takes the helm at Shucks, where his years working at top-end Melbourne restaurants (a city with a famously seafood-focused dining scene) makes for an exciting prospect.

Has the Michelin nod changed the Cail Bruich customer base?

‘Yes and no,’ is Charalambous’ reply. ‘We obviously have bookings now which are purely because of that star, but our regulars have stuck with us, too. It’s just harder to get a reservation, and we hope Shucks will alleviate that slightly.’

Shucks, 168 Hyndland Road, Glasgow, shucksglasgow.com

street food

E

dinburgh’s St James Quarter continues to fill out with Ka Pao having officially opened in March, serving up Southeast Asian-inspired small plates like its original, Bib Gourmandwinning Glasgow venue. Gordon Ramsay Street Burger and The Botanist have both got a space at SJQ carved out too, while down in Stockbridge, the old Pizza Express building is staying on-message with a branch of sourdough pizza hawkers Franco Manca billed to take over that spot overlooking the Water Of Leith. Further out, in Ratho, The Bridge Inn has added elevated dining option Bridge 15 to its canal-side location, where Michelin-trained Tyler King has created a menu of contemporary Scottish cuisine.

In Glasgow, Banco di Roma will be serving up Italian fare in gorgeous surrounds on Exchange Square, from the folks that brought you Mozza. Meanwhile the hotly anticipated Mowgli is also set to open in April with St Vincent Street housing the first Scottish branch of chef Nisha Katona’s popular street-food chain. And finally, bringing a bit of colour to Byres Road, modern Greek street-food outlet Gyros is set to serve souvlaki and, you guessed it, gyros wraps.

On the banks of the Clyde, a flagship branch of Scotts restaurants is set to open at the Cruise Ship Visitor Centre. Expect locally landed seafood and a focus on Scottish produce, just like the Troon and Queensferry branches. Meanwhile, in Aberdeen there are plans in place for a London-esque Box Park street-food market. STAXX is slated to open this summer, providing a home for street-food hawkers, artists and vendors.

side dishes

We choose a street and tell you where to eat. Jo Laidlaw picks out some pizza and ham action on Edinburgh’s Dalry Road

PIZZA GEEKS While this pocket-size pizzeria at the Haymarket end is perfectly placed for an evening commuter’s pick-up, it’s also fully licensed with a handful of tables for sittingin. The pop culture-inspired menu features around a dozen options for pillowy pizzas at decent prices, and there’s a chance to pay a pizza forward too.

THROAT PUNCH COFFEE CO Streets near train stations deserve decent coffee joints, and Throat Punch’s assertive brews (in flavour as well as in name) certainly fit the bill. If you’ve time to spare, their window seats offer a great spot to watch the world go by, accompanied by a gorgeous resident dog who’s worth missing the train for.

TWELVE TRIANGLES After quietly enduring through lockdown, Twelve Triangles now have seven branches of their slow bakery dotted across the city.

Good coffee, excellent bread and some of the best croissants in town are available for eat-in or takeaway.

PIZZERIA 1926 No apologies for another pizza joint. Some of the best pies in town fly out of this supercasual spot which is always buzzing with happy locals and delivery drivers. Toppings are simple, authentic and everything you want on a bad day (or a good one). That said, skipping the excellent fritto misto would be an error.

THE BLACK HOOF This tiny deli/restaurant/takeaway is a treasure trove of Spanish treats; and what they don’t know about Iberian ham isn’t worth knowing. The classes, excellent tapas, great value fixed menu and BYOB take the whole thing to genius level. Every street should have a place like this.

Greek outlet Gyros doing what they do best

April 2022 THE LIST 31

EAT DRINK SHOP

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Suzy Pope reports on the latest news and openings as a street-food market hits the north

GLENFIDDICH

AMBASSADOR TO SCOTLAND MARK THOMSON FROM: DUNDEE BASED: EDINBURGH I get asked a lot to describe my role – and it normally surprises people to hear what’s involved. I think with the rise of social media ‘ambassadors’, people often have a skewed view of the job.

First and foremost, I’m an educator who has studied the brand history, the world of whisky and have an insight into the marketing of brands. This helps me deliver the story of Glenfiddich to audiences in an authentic and rich way. I can be training bar teams around various venues in Scotland, hosting dinners at hotels, whisky shows and masterclasses for the public or taking part in interviews. No two days are the same schedule and now that we are back travelling, no two days have the same bed! Oh, and then there is of course social media – you’ll find me often updating my Instagram (@singlemaltmark) with my travels and lastly, quality control of the whiskies in the bar I’m visiting that evening is vital.

I’ve been the Ambassador to Scotland for Glenfiddich for 8 years now and prior to that had held a few roles in the whisky industry. The amber nectar has long been a passion of mine, and Glenfiddich was actually the very first dram I pinched from my grandfather – little did I know all these years later I’d be working for the brand. Glenfiddich is still owned by the Grant family

– the very family who built the distillery back in 1887 – and they continue to steer the distillery to success with that legacy at the forefront.

With such an iconic brand, it’s easy to forget that we were the catalyst for many firsts in whisky, such as releasing the first single malt outside of Scotland, the first distillery to release a double maturation whisky (*Balvenie) and many other pioneering projects.

This maverick attitude continues today with our experimental releases and Grand series – something a little different for the whisky drinker to explore.

VENUE SPOTLIGHT THE ATHLETIC ARMS Now, Edinburgh has its fair share of whisky bars – and it’s difficult to pick a favourite – but the Athletic Arms (AKA The Diggers) is certainly up there. A short taxi ride out of the city centre and you’ll find one of the best whisky selections going – along with fine pies and a very warm welcome from the landlord Kevin. Its traditional interior and open feel make it a perfect spot to wind down and perhaps chat with one of the regulars or the variety of tourists who make a special point of stopping by.

drinkaware.co.uk for the facts 32 THE LIST April 2022

THE POT STILL It is a rare occurrence for me not to pop my head into The Pot Still on Hope Street in Glasgow if I’m through in the city. Another traditional pub, with an incredible selection, pies (again) and always a bustling atmosphere. I’ve even been known to help clear tables on particularly busy nights before ordering a dram for myself. The owners, Frank and Geraldine, are good friends and its fair to say we’ve shared a few drams or two in the past – but no matter if it’s your first time in or you’re as well known as the furniture – the welcome is always the same.

Top class.

THE WHISKY BAR TORRIDON HOUSE HOTEL It may be quite a journey to get there, but it’s well worth it. A luxury five star hotel on Loch Torridon, surrounded by the most spectacular mountains and a bar filled with whisky – you may never want to leave. I recently travelled there to take the team through our Glenfiddich range and sample some new drams, all the while I couldn’t help but be distracted by the scenery outside and the selection of whiskies inside. From the moment you walk through the doors, the grandeur of the building (built in 1887 – the same year as Glenfiddich) and the impeccable service from the staff indicate you’re in for a treat.

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CAFE BAR

ACID BAR BY ZIQUE’S It’s obvious that you’re nearing SWG3 because the graffiti takes a massive leap in quality. That’s thanks to the Yardworks street-art festival organised by this multi-arts complex, housed in former industrial sites at the foot of Yorkhill. It’s also played an important part in Glasgow’s food scene, being an early uptaker of street-food events and fuelling many spirit festivals. Meanwhile, its Acid Bar hosts residencies from Glasgow’s budding kitchen crews, such as Ka Pao before they had their own home.

Contemporary, uncluttered and appealing, the café bar has a few large and long pale wooden tables, plus several stools at the chunky bar. Large windows look out into a covered dining area, whose orange translucent roof manages to imbue a warm glow no matter the weather. Currently in residence is Mhairi Taylor’s well-kent Zique operation, which may have had a brand tweak (Cafezique is now Zique’s) but follows much the same blueprint as when it all began in 2008, showing how ahead of the game it was.

Breakfast items and rolls do the early work while an enticing, changing offering is up for the afternoon. Much is made of their excellent bread: the ‘big piece’ (ie large sandwich) is a signature favourite, although here various fillings are between sourdough rather than the old Cafezique way of slicing your piece off an even bigger piece (perhaps it’s a pandemic casualty).

Also on sourdough is slow-braised shin of beef, getting a bit lost among haricot beans and parmesan for a lavish cheesy beans on toast, while sobrasada sausage rolls are a delicious highlight. Pretty presentation, interesting side salads and solid execution lift it all to levels justifying the name, while cakes and pastries from their renowned Bakery By Zique will have you floating out of the place. (Jay Thundercliffe) n 100 Eastvale Place, Glasgow, swg3.tv

BOOK

GARY MACLEAN’S SCOTTISH KITCHEN When Gary Maclean won MasterChef: The Professionals in 2016, his hometown of Glasgow cheered on a new hero. That he was humble, a chef-teacher at the City Of Glasgow College, and had a minibus-load of kids, helped to cement his appeal. Since then, he’s been the first National Chef, food ambassador, television presenter and author, all highlighting his passion for our larder and for teaching us what to do with it.

His latest book, Scottish Kitchen, takes a serious delve into the nation’s culinary heritage and traditions while being pitched at today’s kitchen (note the Veggie And Vegan chapter). Maclean is a companionable food writer, helped by an informal style and interesting recipe notes throughout, be they on personal, historical or technical matters. Plenty of classics, from Cullen skink and stovies to mac ’n’ cheese and beef olives join more recent dishes such as scallops with black pudding and haggis pakora (a Glasgow favourite).

The focus never strays far from Scotland’s headliners such as lobster, salmon, venison and beef. There’s a practical hands-on approach with homemade versions of haggis, black pudding and Lorne sausage. And, of course, chapters on puds and treats, including clootie dumpling, cranachan and tablet, will satiate the Scots’ sweet-tooth. (Jay Thundercliffe) n Published by Black & White, Thursday 28 April.

April 2022 THE LIST 33

DRINK UP 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 . . . rosé wine

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DRINK

s we emerge from the seasonal affective nights of winter into the crisp sunshine of spring, now’s the time to lounge outside enjoying a large glass of rosé wine. To me, most rosé tends to be the stuffy fence-sitter of the wine world, never packing the heavy punch of a red while eschewing the sharpness of a quality white. We’re on a quest, then, for the rosé Holy Grail: a bottle with complexity that retains this tipple’s easygoing charms.

But every quest has its setbacks, and the Italian Blush (Tesco, £4.29), our supermarket pick of the month, is exactly that. This is a wine of the ‘hold your nose before you drink’ variety, simultaneously tasting of nothing and something rather unappetising. This is the rosé equivalent of diluting juice, possessing an unpleasant smell and an aftertaste like something died at the back of your throat. Expect to see a teenager swigging this on a park bench near you.

Onto a classier bottle, the Pure Vallée Le Rosé 2020 (Oddbins, £9.50), produced in the Loire Valley, hits the sweet spot that rosé is known for. You’ll happily sup this without much thought, making it ideal for wiling away a long afternoon without drawing attention to itself. Its taste is indistinct but inoffensive, and really that’s the point.

This is a wine that uses the adjective ‘nice’ on the bottle’s blurb. If that’s its meagre aim, then it more than achieves it.

Despite killing a few brain cells, nothing has blown my mind in this month’s selection. But the Roséfine Méditerranée 2019 (Oddbins, £11), produced by the Marrenon co-operative with grapes selected from Luberon and Ventoux, at least caused a minor pleasure haemorrhage. It’s sweet, perhaps to a fault, and has a floral smell that draws you into its refreshing taste like a summertime hug. While verging on soft drink-like in its simplicity, there’s enough subtlety embedded in every sip to make this a cuvée worth tracking down.

We’ll be buying it again when the weather gets warmer.

BAR FILES We ask creative folks to reveal their favourite watering hole

COMEDIAN JAY LAFFERTY

Wandering along Lothian Road late one night during 2021’s decidedly muted Edinburgh Fringe, I stumbled upon the bar of my dreams. NQ64 is a neon-drenched wonderland, containing the arcade games of my misspent youth. The experience of returning to those pixelated classics is further enhanced by a gamer-themed cocktail list. My go-to is the Kirby, a pink gin-based sherbet complete with flashing plastic ice cube, perfect for sipping while defeating Pac-Man ghosties. It might be rage against my age but the joy of bouncing between Mortal Kombat and Mario Kart can only be beaten by getting my name on the leader board. n Jay Lafferty hosts Bona Fide, The Stand, Edinburgh, Sunday 3 April; The Stand, Glasgow, Thursday 21 April.

34 THE LIST April 2022

Our Perfect 10 Have you heard the news?

Our menu just got an upgrade.

We’ve always focussed on creating 9 classic pizza flavour combinations, nothing could touch them… until now!

Meet our Number 10 Spicy Ventricina and Nduja Sausage with tomato sugo and Mozzarella.

See the menu

PAESANO paesanopizza.co.uk

94 Miller Street, Glasgow G1 1DT 471 Great Western Road, Glasgow G12 8HL

Online Postgraduate Open Day, 5 May 2022 Join us online to find out how postgraduate study at QMU can help you achieve your career goals.

You will be able to speak to staff from the majority* of our postgraduate courses and learn more about our career-focused courses in the areas of: · Management (inc. Gastronomy) · Culture and Creativity · Education · Health · Media, communication and PR · Occupational and Arts Therapies

Flexible study options that fit around your existing commitments: full-time, part-time, online, single module study. *Check our website for the courses taking part and to view the event timetable.

Take the first step towards a more fulfilling career and register now at:

www.qmu.ac.uk/the-list or just search: “QMU PG Events”

April 2022 THE LIST 35

EAT DRINK SHOP

Curious Liquids owner Dayton Joline spoke to Megan Merino about his shop’s strong ties to Ukraine and how he’s making wine-tasting more accessible

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ince 2018, Dayton Joline, the owner of Curious Liquids bottle shop and bar, has been on a mission to demystify the often elitist world of wine-tasting, one customer at a time. ‘I want it to be a place where we show wine is a reflection of people and places all over the world; it’s an agricultural product made by farmers, essentially.

It’s something that can only be created in that specific environment.’

The shop, connected to Phillies on Pollokshaws Road in Glasgow’s Southside, houses 200 bottles of carefully curated wine, over 40 of which are available to drink by the glass due to special preservation systems sourced from America. ‘We’ve got Japanese wine, we’ve got Georgian wine (where winemaking first began in civilization), some really unique varieties and places, says Joline. ‘I mean, Italy alone has over 1000 registered grape varieties. And every one is different. It’s just this marvellous world to explore.’

A selection of craft beers is also on offer (‘I want the beer drinkers to be sitting side by side with the wine drinkers’) as well as wine-tasting workshops where a team of experts explain various flavour and weight profiles, which then helps customers shop for their desired bottles. ‘The way that we organise things here is not by country or by grape variety, it’s by flavour and weight profile.

If it’s next to it on the shelf, it’s a similar profile. So if somebody comes in and says, “I like this particular style of wine”, we can then say, “OK, there’s that one, but there are also the ones all around it you may never have heard of”. It’s demystifying the whole wine thing and it’s about letting people realise their palate is valid.’

Creating Curious Liquids was a ‘labour of love from the start,’ Joline says. ‘I owe so much to my staff. They are absolutely amazing.’ Everything from shelving to coasters has been created by friends and family, including a striking mural telling a

whimsical story of wine-flavour profiles and regions, which was hand-painted by Joline’s wife Lena. ‘My amazingly talented beautiful wife is Ukrainian so she’s going through a lot right now. She designed the logo too.’

Joline’s strong ties to Ukraine are evident from the flag displayed proudly over one of the shop windows (mirroring a Scottish flag on the other side). ‘Ukraine is entwined in my family. It is my wife’s life and it’s where my daughter was born. I think it’s unspeakable what the Russians are doing. My dream is it stops today but we will continue to do whatever we can to help.’

Curious Liquids hosted a fundraising day, alongside Ukrainian-owned neighbours Deanston Bakery (who attracted hundreds to their fundraiser in March), and continues to take donations towards food, medicine and protective gear. But there is more he urges us all to do.

‘Contact government representatives and push the UK to do more to protect Ukrainians, especially when it comes to resettling refugees. I think that’s something Scotland would do without any hesitation.’

Curious Liquids, 28–30 Kilmarnock Road, Glasgow, philliesbar.co.uk

shopping around Deborah Chu browses through retail-centric TV programmes and podcasts airing this month

Millennials of a certain age and ilk will remember venturing into the dark, sweet-smelling caves of Abercrombie & Fitch for yet another branded crew-neck jumper. But a new documentary, White Hot: The Rise And Fall Of Abercrombie & Fitch (Netflix, Tuesday 19 April), suggests how, beneath its good-times, all-American vibes, lie some shifty dealings, racist hiring practices and an increasingly outmoded attitude towards body image. Meanwhile, Alexis Conran digs into the nuts and bolts around electric vehicle ownership in Should I Buy An Electric Car? (Five, Wednesday 13 April) ahead of the United Kingdom’s planned phase-out of combustion engines by 2030.

For a more aural retail experience, weekly podcast Gee Thanks, Just Bought It! (Fridays) features host Caroline Moss and a guest evangelising over a product they love, from foam mattresses to dough scrapers. Elsewhere, US comics Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak take on the wellness industry’s pleasures and absurdities in Poog (Tuesdays), as they earnestly discuss skincare, crystals and face yoga with a delightful rat-a-tat.

SHOP

Screens have replaced the window shopping of yore, as the likes of Instagram and TikTok increasingly dominate as today’s tastemakers.

No one understands this better than the gang of creatives battling it out for streetwear supremacy in new reality competition The Drop (BBC Three, Monday 4 April). Nine up-and-coming brand owners vie for the coveted contract with a fashion supergiant as a rotating cast of big industry names joins lead judge R&B artist Miguel and host Clara Amfo.

For a more soothing watch, here’s one for Marie Kondo enthusiasts as Get Organised With The Home Edit (Netflix, Friday 1 April) returns with professional organisers Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin artfully arranging life’s flotsam and jetsam into lifechanging storage containers. This time around, they’re taking a crack at the closets of Drew Barrymore and Chris Pratt, alongside a few normies like us. Meanwhile, Helen Skelton takes a peek into the boardrooms and factory floors of iconic British companies for Inside The Superbrands (Channel 4, Sunday 3 April) to find out how they’ve embedded themselves into our consumer subconscious.

Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin will organise your life

shop talk Megan Merino picks some enticing establishments to explore both on and off the high street DELICATE RÉBELLION Delicate Rébellion started as an independent magazine before founder Hannah Taylor gave the brand a permanent home inside one of the archways on East Market Street in December 2021. The space now displays many other printed goods (from a huge range of collectable magazines to independent artwork) and lifestyle products that are perfect for gift-giving or sprucing up your own coffee table. n Arch 11, 21 East Market St, Edinburgh, thedelicaterebellion.com

VINTAGE SCENE Already situated south of the border in Newcastle and Leicester, Vintage Scene has expanded their collection of vintage goodies to Glasgow.

Situated opposite St Enoch centre, the shop contains a range of expertly curated pre-loved clothing as well as upcycled items sourced from across Europe and the US. n 38 St Enoch Square, Glasgow, thevintagescene.com

Delicate Rébellion

THE ALCHEMY EXPERIMENT This space in Glasgow’s West End houses a cafe, shop and events space.

On sale are prints by Dundee artist Cara Rooney, sustainably sourced clothing designed by resident artists, and a selection of zines, including photography magazine Climax made by Glasgow-based artists in support of charity Refuweegee. The downstairs area hosts regular artist and makersmarkets, workshops and residency exhibitions (for which they currently have an open call) supported by the Alchemy Creative Fund. n 157 Byres Rd, Glasgow, alchemyexperiment.com

YELLOW SOULS

EDINBURGH HONEY CO

Speaking of vintage spots, tucked away just off Leith Walk is Yellow Souls, Elena Citarella’s labour of love. The Italian fashion designer and vintage enthusiast started curating her own items on the fashion app Depop and at local markets before opening up her own shop with partner Lorenzo.

Specialising in high-end items from the 1930s to 60s downstairs, the upper level is a showcase of local designers and artists, including jewellery and prints by Anaïs Moisy Design and paintings by Livvie Nash (both Edinburgh-based). n 10 Croall Pl, Edinburgh, yellowsouls.co.uk

The story of this family-run business started 60 years ago with the owners’ grandfather Stan who mastered the art of beekeeping in Poland. Now his grandchildren have two Scottish apiaries that produce unique, raw and organic honey, alongside a range of associated plastic-free products. You can find all kinds of honey blends and flavours in their Easter Road shop, including gin-infused lime and hot chocolate honey (to name a few). And the beeswax candles, acclaimed for their smooth burn, good environmental impact and air-purifying qualities come in all shapes and sizes. n 178 Easter Rd, Edinburgh, edinburghhoney.co.uk

April 2022 THE LIST 37

GOING OUT

BELTANE FIRE FESTIVAL If there's one event that was never made to be experienced on Zoom or at any kind of a distance, it’s the Beltane Fire Festival. The sights, the sounds, the smells: in person is the only way to fully immerse yourself in this annual celebration marking the coming of summer and the delight of longer nights.

The May Queen and Green Man join forces amid a dazzling display of fire, theatrics and costumes as an ancient Celtic ritual is played out against the dramatic Edinburgh backdrop. n Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Saturday 30 April.

PICTURE: GORDON VEITCH

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PREVIEWS GOING OUT

Close encounters Intimacy coaches are a rare sight at a dance rehearsal. But as Kelly Apter learns, Scottish Ballet called in the experts to ease preparations for a new production about the notorious Austrian royal court

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fter two years of social distancing, dancing in ‘bubbles’ and wearing masks in the studio, Scottish B allet’s dancers are enj oying getting reacqua inted.

The company’s Christmas production of The Nutcracker was a step in the right direction ( at least the audience was in the same room, not watching on a screen) but The Scandal At Mayerling goes further still.

‘It’s very sensual and luscious, there’s a lot of skin-to-skin touching and kissing involved, which is great,’ says dancer Sophie M artin ex citedly. ‘I think after Nutcracker we all want to take our masks off and get a bit closer.’ n show with the word scandal’ in the title is bound to keep things interesting, and this reimagining of Sir K enneth M acM illan’s 1 97 8 ballet is no ex ception. Depicting the life and tragic suicide of ustria’s Crown Prince udolf, the show is packed with love, lust, drug use and death. ut while udolf himself is at the heart of this historical tale, the women who surrounded him in the V iennese royal court played a pi otal role in his life and in this ballet. mother who didn’t know how to love him, a wife who did, and several mistresses who came in and out of his bed all found their way into M acM illan’s ballet. W ith no less than nine pas de deux to deliver, the dancers April 2022 THE LIST 39

SCOTTISH BALLET

PREVIEWS

have to ensure that each duet in The Scandal At Mayerling has a different feel and each connection with udolf has a different a our. artin, who pla s his teenage mistress ar Vetsera, sa s there are no boundaries it’s just lust ’ While for Constance e erna , who is taking on the role of his beleaguered wife, Princess tephanie, things are a little more understated. he’s er different to ar , er rigid and a bit more innocent. ’ e been doing some research, and originall their union was seen b both of them as good it’s onl towards the end that the had issues. o ’m tr ing to make the first few minutes of the duet lighter before it goes into the scar bits.’ e erna herself is getting married this summer and is channelling what she calls bride e citement’ for her initial e change with udolf. hope nothing like this happens to me ’ she adds with a laugh. esearch has helped man of the dancers find their feet in this th centur drama, including ishan enjamin who pla s another of udolf’s mistresses, it i. istor books claiming that it i was his true lo e’ ha e helped inform enjamin’s portra al and allowed her to slightl spice it up and incorporate that e tra bit of jo ’. enjamin, like the rest of the compan , took part in special workshops run b fight and intimac compan c nnie, teaching the dancers safe use of replica firearms and appropriate boundaries when getting up close and personal. lthough, ironicall , sometimes these things are easier to do in front of a large crowd. This is the first time ’ll e er ha e to be e tremel intimate with an one on stage, so it’s not something ’m used to,’ sa s enjamin. ut actuall , feel more comfortable doing this kind of thing during a performance, because in rehearsals we all know each other and e er one else is just standing there watching. Whereas on stage, ou’re wearing a costume, ou’re in character, e er one is re ed up and read to perform, so it’s easier.’ ne dancer who won’t be looking for a sensual e change with udolf is arge endrick, who pla s his mpress mother. nd if ou’re wondering wh this man ne er found true contentment with an of his lo ers, the clues are out there. ll of the mpress’ children were taken awa b her mother in law,’ notes endrick. o she wasn’t present during their childhood and udolf didn’t ha e a relationship with his mother when he was oung. uring our pas de deu , he asks for lo e and she’s unable to gi e it. eep down she would like to, but she’s incapable of tenderness. Perhaps that e plains some of his beha iour during the ballet and throughout his life.’

Scottish Ballet: The Scandal At Mayerling, Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Wednesday 13– Saturday 16 April; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Wednesday 25–Saturday 28 May.

PICTURES: MIHAELA BODLOVIC

40 THE LIST April 2022

“There were 40 herons nesting in the trees

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Your new album is called for you who are the wronged: is it a product of the pandemic? Yes, lockdown happened and it’s the

fastest I’ve ever written. My main thought was of people in abusive situations: what do they do now? That consumed me a bit, just how difficult it is to get out of and not damage anyone else in the process.

Although the songs are inspired by people you know, abuse of power runs deep and wide That’s what is so upsetting,

that feeling of being lied to by people in power. But those same personalities are in your day-to-day life and getting away with it. The people in power are all of us at different times.

FIND OUT ABOUT

SCOTTISH FESTIVALS TAKING PLACE THROUGHOUT 2022

What was it like recording with Lomond Campbell at his studio near Fort William?

I knew that I wanted to do it differently, to go away somewhere and enjoy the process more. Lomond Campbell did sound at one of my earliest gigs in Aberdeen. His singer/songwriter stuff is great but also he’s brilliant at inventing machines that make clever electronic noise so I felt like it was going to be really easy to be able to do something else.

And was it? Really easy, and really lovely: there were 40 herons

MUSIC BOOKS ART

nesting in the trees, Ben Nevis in the background. It was one of those ridiculous perfect weeks where I cried with laughter; his dog put her head on my knee while we were recording and you can hear me snuffling with joy on the track.

THEATRE

How has your singing developed? Oddly, I felt like I didn’t

COMEDY

really know how to sing anymore. This record is much quieter; I’m not pushing my voice that much but I also wasn’t sure if I was in tune for some of it. I’m still not very sure . . . performing the songs for the first time at the Edinburgh International Festival [in 2021], I honestly felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. Can I even sing? But someone is letting me get away with it . . . again.

You are notoriously hard on yourself: how do you feel about this album? This one is my favourite third child. It’s the closest

I’ve made to something I would want to listen to. It’s not just about raging, I want something that makes sense the whole way through but is hopefully going to make you feel better. I want it to be a record of how amazing people are for surviving.

Kathryn Joseph supports The Twilight Sad at Barrowlands, Glasgow, Saturday 2 April; for you who are the wronged is released by Rock Action Records on Friday 22 April.

OUT NOW

FILM

FAMILY FOOD DRINK OUTDOOR & MORE

FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT LIST.CO.UK April 2022 THE LIST 41

PREVIEWS GOING OUT

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Winner of 2015’s Scottish Album Of The Year Award, Kathryn Joseph writes frank lyrics and creates tender sounds. With a big Glasgow gig looming and a new album in the offing, she tells Fiona Shepherd about an out-of-body experience on stage from last year and why her new record is like a favourite child

PICTURE: GERHARD KUEHNE

MUSIC

THE BRIDGE FESTIVAL

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Bringing together 50 string players from Norway, Germany, Estonia and Scotland, The Bridge Festival is a new gathering of Europe’s finest classical ensembles who all have innovation, collaboration and celebration built into their DNA. With this first festival hosted by the Scottish Ensemble in Glasgow, concerts will not only showcase all four groups jointly but will give each an opportunity to share their distinctive voice.

‘We had realised that there wasn’t really a network for smaller freelance ensembles across Europe,’ says Jenny Jamison, Scottish Ensemble CEO. ‘But we were all doing classical music in different ways and could learn from each other through being better connected.’ In addition to the main concerts, pop-up chamber groups are spread around the city, bringing classical music to people in non-traditional ways. Musicians combine to perform two world premieres by composers who draw influence from the arenas of rock, pop and classical, namely Mica Levi, pop artist and film composer from the UK, and Estonian rock musician turned composer Erkki-Sven Tüür. There’s also Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and his retort to Penderecki with ‘48 Responses To Polymorphia’ for 48 string players.

‘It’s powerful and iconic,’ says Jamison. ‘We’re touching classical music up against other genres and opening up an experimental, wider sound world.’ Each group’s repertoire brings something unique. ‘Trondheim Soloists have really interesting folk tunes, while Resonanz from Germany cross cultures with music from Turkey and Azerbaijan,’ adds Jamison, whose own Scottish Ensemble presents Anna Meredith’s Anno, one of their all-time great successes, for strings and electronics. Venues aren’t same-old either. ‘We’re using spaces like Barrowlands, Mackintosh Church and Glad Café. In all of the concerts we’re letting the music speak for itself, but in non-traditional classical music spaces, and always with a new-found energy of sharing.’ (Carol Main) n Various venues, Glasgow, Thursday 21–Sunday 24 April.

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CLASSIC CUT: NOSFERATU Now celebrating a full century of sending icy shivers up and down people’s spinal cords, FW Murnau’s silent masterpiece has achieved the near-impossible for a film so decrepit in years. Modern audiences might demand more thrills and spills than a classic slice of German expressionism could normally provide them with, but the sight of a shaven-headed man with wild ears and e en wilder fingernails, ha ing his ghoulish shadow cast on the side of a wall retains the power to repulse and unsettle. till hugel influential, this grandiose 1922 gothic horror starring the redoubtable Max Schreck will have you wondering why sleep has suddenly become so difficult to attain.

(Brian Donaldson) n C am eo P icturehous e, E dinbur gh, Sunday 3 Apr il.

GOING OUT PICTURE: GEORGE PIPER

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BALLETBOYZ

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They may be classically trained, but there is always an edge to a BalletBoyz performance that gives the company their trademark style, mixing graceful, playful, macho and intelligent dance. The troupe started out in 2000, founded by two former Royal Ballet dancers, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt. Their aim was to create risk-taking and distinctive dance, and they set about achieving this by reaching out to collaborate with creatives from various disciplines at the top of their game.

The Boyz’ latest show, Deluxe, heads our way after its 2020 tour was curtailed by the pandemic, and true to form (and the piece’s name) there are some top-class working partnerships to look forward to. The double bill features original scores composed by Mercurynominated jazz musician and composer Cassie Kinoshi, choreography from Maxine Doyle (Associate Director for theatre innovators Punchdrunk) and a new piece by Xie Xin, the acclaimed Chinese choreographer.

Xin met the company on one of their previous tours to China, and came over to their UK studios along with composer Jiang Shaofeng to create Ripple, which is based around ebb and flow. As an extra touch, the pieces are preluded with documentary films which lift a veil for audiences on the choreographic process. (Lucy Ribchester) n Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Sunday 3 April.

Rianne Downey is ready to step up

PICTURE: JACK FINNIGAN

FUTURE SOUND Our new column celebrating music to watch continues with Bellshill-bred ex-busker Rianne Downey. She tells Fiona Shepherd about building a thick skin and finding a safe haven in songwriting

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usking gets a bad rap, or is at least somewhat disparaged as no route for a ‘serious’ artiste. Yet increasingly, at least in towns which welcome street musicians, it has become an alternative way for young players to pay their dues; indeed, during lockdown it became the only way to perform or hear live music in person.

For Bellshill-bred 22-year-old Rianne Downey, ‘busking was my apprenticeship. If you want to be a musician, you’re going to be playing in front of people and that’s a scary thing, so busking is like ripping the Band-Aid off. Nobody is there to see you and you have to try to win people over, so it helps you build a thick skin and shake the nerves that would hold you back.’

Downey’s preferred pitch was outside TGI Fridays on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street, prime busking real estate, where she would perform a carefully curated set of retro classics and round off her set with an acoustic ‘I Dreamed A Dream’. Not for her the pop songs of her peers. Downey’s tastes were formed by her parents’ love of indie and ska, and her grandparents’ Buddy Holly records. Little wonder that hearing Jake Bugg for the first time was a revelation to a young girl who had previously majored in ‘all the Disney-princess songs’.

‘Growing up I loved Johnny Cash,’ she says, ‘but when you’re younger, country music isn’t cool. Then Jake Bugg came along with his album, and it spurred me on to write songs on acoustic guitar.’ Despite her al-fresco gigging experience, Downey was a late bloomer as a songwriter, only really dedicating herself to

44 THE LIST April 2022

the craft during the pandemic. ‘I didn’t think I was smart enough or talented enough, but in lockdown I felt I had nothing to lose.’

Her lockdown songs and online performances reached the ears of The Coral’s label Run On Records. In a whirl of activity fit for a biopic montage, Downey was signed and in the studio with Coral frontman James Skelly producing her four-song EP before she had time to draw breath. As a testament to her fully-formed skills, debut single ‘Fuel To The Flame’ was the ‘first solid song’ she ever wrote. ‘I’d say my songs are very universal. I’m not just writing love songs; I’m very reflective on the hardships of life and getting out of a dark place. I find my safe haven in writing. It’s allowed me to understand the things in my head that I can’t put into words.’

Now Liverpool-based, Downey has put that busking persuasion to good use in front of thousands of Snuts and Lathums fans, went from TRNSMT attendee to performer in less than 48 hours last year and sold out her own King Tut’s headline show in two days. Meanwhile, being part of the Scottish contingent at last month's South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, made her a bona fide international touring artist. She returns to her roots for a debut Scottish tour this month, with a new single in the offing which Downey describes as ‘a step up. It’s more me, it’s more attitude, and it’s dead cool.’

Rianne Downey plays Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Tuesday 5 April; St Luke’s, Glasgow, Wednesday 13 April.

PICTURE: JEN ABELL

MUSIC

STAG & DAGGER The multi-venue festival returns to Glasgow and Edinburgh bringing a packed line-up of artists from UK and overseas. One wristband grants entry to multiple shows, which populate venues such as Sneaky Pete’s, Broadcast, Mash House and Nice N Sleazy.

Heading up the bill in both cities are Protomartyr and Let’s Eat Grandma.

Haling from Detroit, scorched earth post-punks Protomartyr released their fifth album Ultimate Success Today right at the cusp of lockdown. An uneasy and apocalyptic collection of songs, the record has gained extra relevance in the intervening period. Let’s Eat Grandma have just released their third album Two Ribbons, which follows 2018’s much celebrated I’m All Ears. Trading mainly in adventurous synth-pop, the Norwich-based duo almost went their separate ways before coming back together for an album about learning to accept change.

Dream Wife will be joining the party in Edinburgh, bringing their brash 90s-indebted brand of punk and pop in support of second album So When You Gonna… Other acts across the bill include experimental electronica from Gwenno, Norwegian garage rock band Death By Unga Bunga and singersongwriter Liz Lawrence. (Sean Greenhorn) n Various venues, Edinburgh, Saturday 30 April; various venues, Glasgow, Sunday 1 May.

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JOE LYCETT

PICTURE: MATT CROCKETT

Touring for the first time since 2018, Joe Lycett promises something rather special with his More, More, More! How Do You Lycett? How Do You Lycett? show. The puckishly mischievous comic and consumer champion of Channel 4’s Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back has devised his ‘longest and most complicated’ stunt yet, three years in the scheming. Set to share all with showgoers, he enigmatically declares that it involves ‘aliases, opening fake companies, drag queens, scary phone calls from the police, Strictly Come Dancing, angry MPs, news headlines and a giant unicorn.’

When probed for further details, Birmingham’s proudest son will only disclose that it’s ‘full of really gay stuff. It’s very gay. It’s about gays. It’s gay.’ OK, but surely . . .? ‘No. You’ll have to come to the show. What I can say is that it’s to do with gays.’ While he’s hoping to do more Got Your Back after high-profile burns of multinational companies, the recalcitrant piss-artist formerly known as Hugo Boss is also reasonably optimistic that his queer festive extravaganza for Channel 4, Mummy’s Big Christmas Do, cancelled last minute because of rising covid rates, might yet happen in some postponed form.

In the meantime, he nurtures ambitions to shoot his first film. Having recently directed some shorts as well as music videos for Litany and Katy J Pearson, Lycett hopes to make a feature some day. ‘But I’m so inexperienced I need to cut my teeth on shorter stuff for now,’ he suggests.

‘I’ve been working with young Birmingham filmmakers and they are so inspiring and helpful.’ Currently, he’s ‘absolutely loving’ being back in front of live audiences. ‘I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it. Doing stand-up is a thrill and a privilege and my favourite thing to do. But only if the audiences are gay.’ And after his tour finishes? ‘More gay stuff.’ (Jay Richardson) n SEC, Glasgow, Thursday 21 & Friday 22 April.

April 2022 THE LIST 45

PREVIEWS

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TWINS PEAK

PREVIEWS

PICTURE: ERIN ALLAN

Taking pre-school twins on days out can be a doubletroublesome experience. Lucy Ribchester road tests some of Edinburgh and Glasgow’s most twin-friendly places with her own fouryear-old boys

GOING OUT

GOING OUT PREVIEWS

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ll parents of twins know that from the moment you give birth ( sometimes even before) you get used to hearing the same things from well-meaning strangers: ‘double the love! Double the cuddles! ’ or my personal favourite ( from a friend), ‘double the ridiculous banter! ’ B ut there are also other doubles to consider with young twins, especially when taking them out and about: double the buggy width, double the need for a spacious toilet, double the hands that need holding when encouraging toddling, double the capacity for running out of sight.

This can, of course, make outings with twins double the stress. H appily, there are some places in both E dinburgh and Glasgow that come up trumps for providing accessible, fun spaces to take your double-troubles.

F irst up for us is E dinburgh’s L ove Gorgie F arm, which we arrive at easily via the number 3 bus. The paths are wide, and from the central courtyard you can j ust about see in all directions ( handy, because the bo s instantl want to do different things, one skipping off to the playground, and one to the tractor parked above it). There are cobbles, but any buggy with pneumatic tyres should make light work of them.

There’s also a buggy park, essential if your twins are practising toddling, as, sadl , twin parents are not fitted with an e tra hand to manoeu re a bugg as well as two humans ( something certain venues seem bewildered by). After prising one twin away from the tortoise ( ‘but mummy, I L O V E the tortoise’), we head off to feed the goats and alpacas. There’s so much to do here it’s hard to belie e it’s free, run on donations. The coffee and snacks are budget friendl , but although there is an accessible toilet b the main o ce, the caf ones are only big enough for one adult and twin at a time ( I make the other one keep talking outside the door, but this wouldn’t work with younger babies).

The ne t da we tr out aughton Park. This was one of our go tos during the pandemic, but m partner was furloughed then, so it’s the first time taking them by myself. As soon as we arrive ( with balance bikes in tow) they are off, wea ing through the bo hedge ma e in the rose garden, demanding

chase them ‘like a dragon’. There are great sightlines here: even if they bomb around in opposite directions they’re easy to spot. B efore long I’m in sore need of a coffee, and while ueue for the takeawa window there’s loads of space for them to pla in the court ard ( e en manage to palm them off brie onto a hapless dad with a single child, for ‘bike races’). The paths are wide and the glasshouses make a great place for a sit-down snack. It’s a Tuesday morning, so the enormous skate park is empty too, meaning they can peg about like a pair of pint si ed ann ac skills, until finall the re read to drop.

F or places to knacker your twins out, they don’t come much better than this. n lasgow, we start at el ingro e rt aller nd useum.

K elvingrove’s website has some child-focussed tasks to download, plus there’s a packed-lunch area there, so we arrive pre-stocked. The boys are awed b the building ( this oor is T ’ but ine itabl want to spend most of their time among the ta iderm , including el ingro e’s infamous wild haggis ( which, to my dismay, doesn’t fool them). The tasks are great for keeping their attention focussed ( find something red, find something tall, pick your favourite thing and say why’), stopping them wandering off. n fact, the onl real fights break out o er who gets to press the buttons on the lift. The loos here have bags of space and accessible height sinks, which makes caj oling them to wash their hands a little easier.

B y the time we reach the B otanics the weather has turned, sending us scurr ing for the glasshouses. nside ibble Palace it’s air and light, but di cult to keep tabs on two children it is a replica jungle, after all. The spend a while admiring the K oi carp in the pond, but later, in the main hothouse, a combination of the one wa s stem and the ma e like rooms means lose them at least once. The paths are probably j ust wide enough for a double buggy, though the toilets are too far away to catch an accident. In the K ibble Palace, howe er, there is a sign prioritising a bench for breastfeeding a welcome gesture. This would definitel be the place for a tired parent of bab twins to catch a breather. And we all know we’ve needed that once in a while.

April 2022 THE LIST 47

XXX

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Preheat your oven to 200°C. Halve the pepper and discard the core and seeds. Slice into thin strips. Zest and halve the lime. Halve, peel and thinly slice the onion. Peel and grate garlic (or use a garlic press). Keep a few sprigs of coriander aside for garnish, roughly chop the rest (stalks and all).

Drain the mozzarella and thinly slice.

Pop the red onion into a small bowl.

Add the red wine vinegar, sugar (see ingredients for amount) and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine and leave to one side.

CHICKEN TIKKA NAAN PIZZA

WITH SWEET POTATO FRIES AND MANGO CHUTNEY We’ve combined two of our customers’ favourite cuisines, Italian and Indian, to create a winning recipe for your next pizza night. The perfect ‘tear and share’ for a night in with friends!

30 minutes, Serves 2 1 Bell Pepper ½ Lime ½ Red Onion 1 Garlic Clove 1 bunch Coriander 1 ball Mozzarella 1 unit Red Wine Vinegar 1 pack Sweet Potato Fries 1 pot Ground Coriander

1 sachet Tomato Puree 1 pot North Indian Style Spice Mix 1 pack Tomato Passata 2 units Plain Naan 1 pot Mango Chutney 1 pot Nigella Seeds 1 bag Baby Leaves 280g Diced Chicken Breast 1 tsp Sugar 1 tbsp Olive Oil

Pop the sweet potato fries on a baking tray (with a drizzle of oil, salt and pepper) and roast on the middle shelf until golden, 20-25 mins. Turn halfway.

Place sliced pepper and diced chicken onto another baking tray. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle over the ground coriander, lime zest and a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to combine and spread out in a single layer. Roast for 10-12 mins until the pepper begins to soften and the chicken is cooked through.

Meanwhile, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the tomato puree, garlic

and curry powder to the pan. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring continuously then add the passata. Increase the heat slightly and reduce the sauce until thick and tomatoey, 3-4 mins.

Stir regularly. Once reduced, mix the chopped coriander into the sauce and remove from the heat. Season to taste.

When the chicken and peppers are ready, transfer to a plate and wipe the tray clean with kitchen paper. Pop the naans onto the tray. Spoon the tomato sauce on top and spread with the back of a spoon (leave space for a crust)! Divide the chicken and pepper between the naans. Lay the mozzarella slices evenly on top. Cook the pizzas on the top shelf until the cheese has melted and the edges are starting to colour, 6-8 mins.

In a large bowl, mix together half the mango chutney, the olive oil for the dressing (see ingredients for amount) and the lime juice. Once the pizzas are out, sprinkle over the nigella seeds, pickled red onion and remaining coriander sprigs. Dollop the remaining mango chutney over the top. Pop the salad leaves into the bowl with the dressing and toss to coat. Serve the salad and the fries on the side.

TERIYAKI GLAZED TOFU

WITH GINGER FRIED RICE

We love good Teriyaki Tofu with Ginger Fried Rice and this deliciously simple, chef-curated recipe doesn’t disappoint.

Time to bust out the pots and pans!

35 minutes, Serves 2 300ml Water for Rice 1 pot Star Anise 150g Basmati Rice 1 block Tofu 8g Plain Flour ½ pot Thai Spice Blend 1 Pak Choi 1 pack Tenderstem Broccoli 1 Garlic Clove ½ Lime 1 Spring Onion 1 pot Sesame Seeds 1 sachet Teriyaki Sauce 1 sachet Ginger Purée 50ml Water for the Sauce Pour 300ml of water into a saucepan and bring to the boil. When boiling, add ¼ tsp of salt and the star anise.

Stir in the rice, lower the heat to medium and cover with a lid. Leave to cook for 10 mins before removing from the heat (still covered) and

leaving to rest for 10 mins (or until ready to serve).

Meanwhile, drain and pat dry the tofu using a paper towel. Cut in half lengthways and then cut each half into 6-8 cubes. In a small bowl combine the flour and Thai spice and season generously with salt and pepper. Toss the tofu cubes through the flour until evenly coated.

Trim the pak choi then thinly slice widthways. Cut the tenderstem in half widthways. Peel and grate (or crush) the garlic. Zest the lime and cut into wedges. Trim the spring onion then slice thinly. Heat a large frying pan or wok on a medium-high heat. When hot add the sesame seeds, stirring regularly until lightly toasted, 2-3 mins.

Watch them closely to avoid burning.

Transfer the sesame seeds to a small bowl.

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48 THE LIST April 2022

Pop your pan back onto a medium high heat and add a glug of oil.

When hot, add the tofu and stir fry until crispy all over, 8-10 mins. Next, reduce the heat and carefully add the teriyaki sauce and 50 ml water, it’ll bubble vigorously so stand back!

Stirring constantly, cook until the sauce has reduced and the tofu is glazed, 2-3 mins. Once cooked, transfer the tofu and all the sauce to a bowl, cover with foil and set aside.

Wipe the pan clean.

Put the frying pan back on a medium high heat, drizzle with oil. When hot add the tenderstem broccoli and stir fry until starting to brown, 2-3 mins.

Add a splash of water, cover with a lid or foil and steam fry until the broccoli is tender, 2-3 more mins. Remove the lid and add the ginger puree, lime zest, garlic and pak choi. Stir fry until the pak choi has wilted, 1-2 mins.

Remove the star anise from the rice and add the rice to the pan with the veg. Stir to combine. Season with a pinch of salt and squeeze of lime juice.

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March 2022 THE LIST 1

PICTURE: TALL GUY PICTURES

COMEDY

MY COMEDY HERO

Rachel Fairburn on her own family There are many comedians I admire: Steve Coogan, Caroline Aherne and Victoria Wood to name a few, but my actual comedy heroes have to be my family. Being from a working-class Mancunian family, I’ve always been surrounded by hilarious people. Everyone from my late grandad to my young nieces have unique senses of humour. Joking about life, death, current affairs and everything else has always been present in my life.

My earliest memories are watching Buster Keaton videos with my grandad, enjoying The Young Ones with my mum or simply listening to my grandma retell a story of when she saw a woman fall over on Harpurhey precinct in 1982, laughing as if it had only just happened.

She had a wicked sense of humour for a Catholic. The women of my clan in particular are a constant source of inspiration to my comedy; they’re direct, honest and can cut you down with a look or a simple word. Some people would see this as rude but the bluntness and nononsense outlook is one I admire and am proud to have inherited. It doesn’t matter what life throws at you (maybe you’ve been dumped, sacked or found out that you have a week to live), an hour spent with my mum, sister or aunty will have you laughing at the situation and maybe even hoping for the best.

I wouldn’t be doing stand-up comedy if it wasn’t for the encouragement of my family, in particular my mum. I feel immensely lucky to be one of a funny lot who love stand-up and can take a joke at their own expense. I’m able to handle all kinds of situations with humour and don’t take life too seriously which is exactly what comedy heroes should inspire you to do. (As told to Brian Donaldson) n Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, Saturday 9 April.

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MITSKI

PICTURE: EBRU YILDIZ

Japanese-American singer-songwriter Mitski released her second album Laurel Hell in February of this year, a record that appears to be the perfect combination of her previous work’s strengths. Still as haunting and poetic as ever but with hints of playfulness and fun in songs such as ‘The Only Heartbreaker’ and ‘Love Me More’, both of which ooze 80s beats.

2014 album Bury Me At Makeout Creek seemed to create an intentional discomfort, resonating on a deeply emotional and visceral level but Laurel Hell is utterly transcendent. Enchanting synths take the place of heavy guitar, but still evoke the same level of emotion from the listener. Her new output features music to both dance and cry to.

As she heads to Glasgow this month (returning in June to support Harry Styles), audiences can prepare for a performance with unconventional dance moves as she floats across the stage. Her persona is seemingly as charming as her music, as she regularly engages with the crowd for gentle chats before beginning her intoxicating melodies. Mitski’s study of music composition shines through, her attention to detail and ability to make unusual things happen in her work combine to make her such a unique talent.

(Gemma Murphy) n Barrowland, Glasgow, Saturday 23 April.

April 2022 THE LIST 49

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Acclaimed actor, musician and filmmaker Giles Terera follows up his Olivier Award-winning performance in Hamilton with his own play, The Meaning Of Zong. The piece takes us back to the 1780s and recounts a true story of freed African Olaudah Equiano, now living in London, who joins forces with anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp (played by The Thick Of It's Paul Higgins). The pair publicly condemn a massacre on slave ship Zong and help spur on Great Britain’s abolition movement.

‘The legacy of that period is what we’re living in now,’ states Terera whose other stage acting credits include The Book Of Mormon and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. ‘In big picture terms, it’s important to know where our society comes from.’ Retelling this story has both personal and collective significance, given how many abolition stories have been told by and from white perspectives and, more often, for Britain’s role in the global slave trade to not be told at all. ‘The more we can tell our own stories the better,’ Terera adds. ‘I’m interested in hearing a story from any culture if it’s told by that culture.’

After being delayed by the pandemic, it now finally arrives in venues, with multiinstrumentalist Sidiki Dembele providing onstage music for a story that travels across continents. ‘Now more than ever, as our freedom of speech and right to protest is under threat, if we care enough about something we have to step up and do something about it,’ insists Terera. ‘That’s what the story of Zong is about.’ (Reshma Madhi) n Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Wednesday 13–Saturday 23 April.

ART

KATIE PATERSON

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50 THE LIST April 2022

Katie Paterson’s Requiem is set to be an interactive and emotional exploration of time, combining science and spirituality. This powerful and political exhibition will pose questions concerning the future of our planet and humanity: a display that will unnerve some and enlighten others.

Edinburgh’s Ingleby Gallery hosts this heartfelt display about the deep history of our planet. At the centre of a well-lit room will sit an empty glass urn, into which some 370 vials of dust are waiting to be poured by invited guests and visitors. Each hand-blown glass container houses a tablespoon of dust weighing 21 grams, the supposed weight of a human soul. Every sprinkling of matter (some hand-crushed by Paterson herself) is a relic, excavated from the earth underneath us. The artefacts range from a time before the sun existed to the here and now.

The oldest of these specimens is a sample from the carbonaceous chondrite meteorite, and will be poured first. The history of Earth in its entirety follows, from the first creatures that crawled out of our oceans to the less wondrous and more worrying elements of our world today.

Rubble from conflict-torn Iraq and plastic from the body of a baby albatross showcase the peril that our planet is currently facing, destroyed by climate crisis and conflict.

Requiem has been years in the making, and includes donations from the European Space Agency, the Danish Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey. ‘It’s quite astonishing to be able to hold these things in your hand and it’s been a very difficult artwork to make,’ states the Glasgow-born artist. ‘It’ll definitely touch a nerve for people in different ways, so it feels important that it’s happening now. I’ve been working on this for a long time, so having it out in the world and seeing people respond to it is going to be kind of epic.’ Requiem will mourn a world longsince-passed and express the looming threat of a planet where every speck of dust is under threat. (Rachel Cronin) n Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, Saturday 9 April– Saturday 11 June.

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storm K warning

PREVIEWS

Kae Tempest has undergone some major changes in their life over the past few years.

Becca Inglis speak to a musician and spokenword artist who is finally letting the world in

ae Tempest is learning to let go. F ree from the constraints of character and plot, their fifth album T he Line I s A Curve takes a more personal turn than pre ious releases, with topics like shame, authenticit and healing usurping their t picall ickensian st le. Tempest’s bare shouldered portrait sits on the co er, while guest oices like rian Chatten, Confucius C and ianne a a as get unprecedented airtime. Put together, this project feels like an e ercise in release and opening up. suffer from an iet , and rigidit brings it on,’ sa s Tempest. t’s something that need to remember in m own life so can function.’ Tempest has long grappled with an iet , but it was during lockdown, suddenl freed from hectic work commitments, that the were able to pause and reassess. t ga e me time to actuall face some stuff.

That’s what mean b letting go as well facing rather than holding at ba .’ ne crucial thing that Tempest faced up to was their gender d sphoria. t’s so weird ha ing m life as a person as ae, and then m life as Tempest,’ the sa . thought that could just carr on li ing for Tempest, but e entuall the real me was in such a bad state that it wasn’t tenable an more. was in a crisis point.’ n ugust , Tempest announced that the would now go b ae’ rather than ate’, to signif their non binar identit it was a marked departure from their hesitanc to publicl discuss a personal life in the past. felt it was important to make a declaration to others in m communit , because otherwise it would ha e been untrue.’

That preoccupation with authenticit in uenced the recording techni ues on the album, which Tempest decided to perform not onl li e in one take but o er three separate performances for three different generations. What would happen to the te t What would happen to me, to the performance t’s about e perimenting to tr and find the realest truth.’ t has also altered Tempest’s iew of how an artist relates to their work. Putting their portrait on a pla ’s front co er would be crass, the e plain, and the used to feel the same wa about music and spoken word, preferring to let the work speak for itself. ow, though, Tempest is read to let the world in. suddenl understood that in some wa s, compared to a pla wright, a poet or a no elist, a musician is a different thing. What ou’re asking people to listen to is ou, our soul.’

Kae Tempest, Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, Saturday 23 April; SWG3, Glasgow, Sunday 24 April; The Line Is A Curve is released by Republic Records on Friday 8 April.

PITCH IN

SUKI WEBSTER

We ask a performer to sell us their show in exactly 50 words

n Paul Merton’s Impro Chums, Albert Halls, Stirling, Saturday 9 April; Tramway, Glasgow, Tuesday 12 April.

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Being part of Paul Merton’s Impro Chums is terrific fun. Every night is totally different because we’re making up comedy on the spot based on suggestions provided by our always imaginative, intelligent audiences.

Walking a comedic tightrope is exhilarating and we are yet to fall off. And I love it!

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Inspired by SR Bindler’s 19 9 7 documentary H ands O n A H ardb o dy, which captured a real such contest in Longview, Texas, this film has the ear old Cole tr ing to go full ustin offman (the merican star famousl went M ethod on Maratho n Man to affect exhaustion) . or the first da of filming, sta ed up all night,’ recalls Cole. ‘ But I got to set and I just was like, “ I can’t even do this. I can’t even remember freakin’ lines! ” But it gave me an understanding of how tired they were. And that’s just after one day.’

Cole compares this ‘ Hard Body’ contest to the darker side of reality television, arguing that the physical and mental damage in icted isn’t worth the glittering prize. ‘ R eality TV says, “ look at this Instagram world that you can live in” , and the reality is that’s not the case. As human beings we’re fragile, and we need to be loved and we need support. And I think this thing of being famous, or in our case winning this big, shiny vehicle, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.’

Joe Cole is not someone who takes his work lightly. Ahead of starring in a film about endurance contests he speaks with James Mottram about being compelled to take chances

Born in K ingston upon Thames, Cole started his career in the N ational Y outh Theatre before gaining TV exposure on Skins and P eaky B linders ( co-starring with younger brother Finn Cole who still appears in that drama) . He spent those early years chasing acting ‘ with a real passion, feeling like I had something to tell, something to give. I was watching performances that my contemporaries on TV were doing, and going, “ I’m not buying this. I feel like I can do something more interesting. I’ll take risks” .’

This risk-taking includes appearances in U S indies like G reen R om and Thank Y ou F or Y our Serv ice, films that ha e seen him slip into the American movie industry almost by stealth. So what’s next?

Blockbusters, maybe? ‘ M y taste is to try not to tread the same steps but to work with uni ue filmmakers on projects that are not perhaps the most obvious.’.

One Of These Days is in cinemas from Friday 1 April.

April 2022 THE LIST 53

PREVIEWS

J

oe Cole is an actor that loves extremes.

The British star that you’ll most likely know from P eaky B linders , G angs O f L o ndo n and ITV ’s recent remake of The I p cres s F ile, has put himself through the ringer on more than one occasion. In A P rayer B ef o re D aw n, which won him the British Independent Film Award for Best Actor, he learnt kickboxing and hung out in a real Thai jail, while on recent et i e plorer drama Agains t The I ce, he drove husky-pulled sleds in Iceland amid sub-zero temperatures. ‘ One of the great joys of this job is to explore new worlds and places that you wouldn' t otherwise be familiar with and test yourself,’ Cole says. In the case of his new movie, the moody drama O ne O f Thes e D ays , he plays K yle, a down-on-his-luck Texan who enters an endurance contest.

Those taking part must keep their hands ( or at least one of them) on the prize, a shiny new truck, at all times. Sounds easy? N ot when you’ve stood there for 2 4 -hours plus and sleep deprivation starts to kick in.

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‘Comedians were like strip clubs, karaoke or a pot farm’ The singular stand-up Maria Bamford is set to tour some atypical comedy. She tells Jay Richardson about her Edinburgh origin story and recruiting audiences of one via Twitter

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ailed as one of her nation’s greatest living stand-ups by everyone from Stewart Lee to Judd Apatow, M aria Bamford’s unique ly inventive, surreal style feels qui ntessentially American in its clamorous voicing of multiple characters and candid expression of her precarious mental health. She was so good in Arres ted D ev elopm ent, that hilariously twisted saga of a dysfunctional Californian dynasty, that the sitcom’s showrunner, M itch Hurwitz, co-created L ady D ynam ite for her. Wonderfull odd, the et i show is an absurdl heightened recreation of Bamford struggling to sustain her Hollywood career and relationship, despite having an atypically wired brain.

And yet the LA comic actually cemented her comedy aspirations in Scotland. Studying for a year at dinburgh ni ersit , she became one of The mpro erts’ first female members. t was competitive and there were only two women on the team,’ she recalls of the impro troupe in . ’d done a little bit of stand up before in college but was too nervous to do it in Edinburgh. However, that experience gave me confidence and when got back home, reall started doing stand up . ne er got to go to the ringe until was back performing there in .

But the experience of doing the festival was just a whole other thing: wild and ridiculous. ou ha e to go out e er da and sell our stuff and the reviews can be so well-written and devastating; I’d never been re iewed before. Comedians were like strip clubs, karaoke or a pot farm, so I’ve always thought of Edinburgh as wonderful.’ espite some dark episodes in her life, a cameo in patow’s starr et i pandemic meta comed The B ubbl e is just the latest of the 51- year-old’s many screen credits and plaudits. She’s currentl writing a memoir and this, her first mini tour, finds her re ecting on marriage, famil and the destruction of democrac ’. There’s also, in ariabl , her mental health shtick’, an impulse to sa sure, ’ll join our cult’. ’ e alwa s thought of m self as a solitar person,’ she re ects. ut ’ e just realised how many times over the years I’ve tried my hardest to be part of things. Comedy, even when you’ve been rejected by the majority, is still reaching out to say “ does anybody else see what I see? ” ’ Having previously recorded a special for a crowd doubling in size at various settings, and another at home performed only to her parents, Bamford is contemplating shooting her latest for audiences of one, as she does when she road tests material.

R ecruited over Twitter, these dedicated fans get a cup of coffee, so it’s not sla e labour’, as she delivers her routines directl to them across cafe tables. ’m not a particularly gregarious person and feel less an ious talking to people one-to-one. It’s also a way to get out during the day and not be lonely. I used to be ambitious and rehearse all my bits by myself, all the time. N ow, I need witnesses.’

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Maria Bamford, The Glee Club, Glasgow, Monday 25 April.

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MUSIC

JANET BEAT

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Since its inception in 2013, Tectonics has transformed the classical music scene, breaking down barriers between New Music and the experimental underground. Cocurated by BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Principle Guest Conductor Ilan Volkov and Counterflows’ Alasdair Campbell, the festival (which runs on Saturday 30 April and Sunday 1 May) has long celebrated homegrown talent alongside international artists.

This year’s featured artist is Janet Beat, a groundbreaking and overlooked figure in electronic and experimental music. Born in 1937, Beat studied at Birmingham University before taking up a teaching post in Glasgow at the Royal Scottish Academy Of Music And Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland), where she helped establish an electronic recording studio in the 1960s. An early adopter of technology, Beat bought her first tape machine in the 50s, using it to create musique concrète. She later owned the first commercially available synthesiser in the UK. Although Beat’s compositions have been performed internationally, it’s only with a 2021 release of the Trunk Records collection Pioneering Knob Twiddler that recordings of her music have been made available. The album gathers seven electro-acoustic pieces recorded between 1978 and 1987, from the glimmer and bloop of ‘Dancing On Moonbeams’ to the synthesised gamelan fantasia of ‘Echoes From Bali’. ‘A Willow Swept By A Train’ combines acoustic guitar and electronics to uncanny effect, while ‘Shirabe’ finds Beat steering a celestial harpsichord around the rings of Saturn.

Several of Beat’s compositions will be performed at Tectonics, alongside responses from Andie Brown, Sharon Gal, Juliet Fraser and Ailie Ormston, creating a dialogue between experimental composers past and present. Other festival highlights include a performance of Douglas R Ewart’s ‘Red Hills’ featuring the great Chicago composer and multiinstrumentalist performing with the SSO and Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra; the free improvising duo of pianist Kaja Draksler and trumpeter Susana Santos Silva; and Italian composer Silvia Tarozzi performing her song cycle Mi Specchio E Rifletto. (Stewart Smith) n The Beat Goes On: A Tribute To Janet Beat, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Saturday 30 April; Janet Beat: A Portrait, City Halls, Glasgow, Sunday 1 May.

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A Bristol Old Vic production in association with The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

THEY DEFINED THE PAST. WE CHOOSE OUR FUTURE. Written by Giles Terera Olivier Award winner (Hamilton)

TICKETS 0131 248 4848 | lyceum.org.uk

13 - 23 April 2022 Pay-What-You-Can Preview 13 April 2022

Royal Lyceum Theatre Company Ltd is a Registered Company No. SC062065 Scottish Charity Registered No. SC010509

56 THE LIST April 2022

Photography Photography Josiah Hyacinth Josiah Hyacinth

MUSIC

JAMES HEATHER

Get a taste of the British ‘post-classical’ musical movement with Southampton pianist and composer James Heather. As the creator of deeply emotive piano pieces, Heather’s work has attracted the attention of James Lavelle (UNKLE) and Cillian Murphy, and has been remixed by a plethora of electronic musicians such as DJ Seinfeld and Aparde. Though classical giants Beethoven and Debussy may have been his early inspirations, modern improvised jazz and electronica seep into his work; he calls the latter a ‘reaction to music that is more machine than human, but not in opposition to it’.

His output has accrued a large listenership on Spotify thanks to it being featured in piano-themed playlists, but we recommend checking out his second album Invisible Forces, which speaks to gaining a deeper awareness of elements surrounding us in daily life that shape our sense of self and relationship with the world. In what will no doubt be a captivating performance, expect Heather to play his pieces freely (without using a metronome or notation) in an approach he calls ‘Pulse Music’, as he allows himself to improvise an experiment with material in front of a new audience.

(Megan Merino) n The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, Wednesday 27 April.

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SCOTTISH NATIONAL JAZZ ORCHESTRA PRESENTS

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S O N G S F O R S CO T L A N D’ S M YT H I CA L C R E ATU R E S FEATURING

PHIL

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MEG BATEMAN CHRISTINE DE LUCA PETER MACKAY TOM POW MUSIC BY

TOMMY SMITH

GLASGOW

Royal Concert Hall (New Auditorium)

12 May 2022

glasgowconcerthalls.com 0141 353 8000

ABERDEEN Music Hall

13 May 2022

aberdeenperformingarts.com 01224 641122

EDINBURGH

The Queen’s Hall

14 May 2022 thequeenshall.net 0131 668 2019

find out more at snjo.co.uk

April 2022 THE LIST 57

GOING OUT Evie Ladin & Keith Terry as part of Edinburgh Tradfest (and bottom from left), Northern Ballet's The Great Gatsby, Kristin Hersh

HIGHLIGHTS

OTHER THINGS WORTH GOING OUT FOR We’ve covered a whole heap of events happening in Edinburgh and Glasgow this month, but there’s plenty more going on as those winter chills turn to springtime delights ART

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AFROSCOTS

ANDY AND THE ODD SOCKS

The wide contribution made by Black artists to Scottish culture is celebrated here with work exhibited from 1963 onwards, bringing together art and dialogue around empire, independence, race and legacy. n GOMA, Glasgow, until Sunday 3 July.

CBeebies presenter Andy Day brings audiences the story of how he got a band together including Moxy on drums and the bandana-wearing Rio on guitar. n Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh, Sunday 3 April; City Halls, Glasgow, Monday 4 April.

COMEDY

Aye Write’s programme for schools and young children features events such as One Button Benny, Molly’s Circus, How Billy Hippo Learned His Colours and Scaredy Bat! n Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Monday 25–Friday 29 April.

GARRETT MILLERICK A comedian who was getting better every year with each passing live show, we will assume that the pandemic has merely increased his hunger for comedic excellence. Just Trying To Help is his workin-progress ahead of August. n Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, Saturday 23 April.

TIM DILLON With A Real Hero, this US podcaster and stand-up floats across the pond and stings audiences with material about cops, nurses, vaccines, fast food, Disney films and cruising. The boat kind. n O2 Academy Glasgow, Saturday 30 April.

DANCE

NORTHERN BALLET’S THE GREAT GATSBY Bringing us a fistful of glamour, Northern Ballet turn to one of their recent classics to take back on tour, as the glitzy façade of a mysterious millionaire’s world starts to crumble. n Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Thursday 21–Saturday 23 April.

FILM

MORBIUS The two Jareds (Leto and Harris) populate a topdrawer cast (also featuring Michael Keaton, Adria Arjona and Matt Smith) in this superhero flick about a doctor whose attempts to cure himself of a rare blood disease go horribly awry. n In cinemas from Friday 1 April.

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WEE WRITE

MUSIC

KRISTIN HERSH Having launched a solo career just as influential as her work with iconic US indie band Throwing Muses, the Atlanta-born singer-songwriter brings us her intricate guitar-playing and emotive lyrics. n Mono, Glasgow, Tuesday 26 April; Summerhall, Edinburgh, Wednesday 27 April.

THEATRE

THE METAMORPHOSIS One of the last theatrical productions to be performed before covid hit, Matthew Lenton adapts Kafka’s masterpiece about a man who wakes one morning to find he’s turned into a huge bug. n Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wednesday 13– Saturday 16 April.

EDINBURGH TRADFEST

THE HOPE RIVER GIRLS

‘The past, present and future’ of traditional music is hailed in this 11-day fiesta of roots music featuring the likes of Evie Ladin & Keith Terry, The Shee, Hardeep Deerhe, Shooglenifty and Madderam. n Various venues, Edinburgh, Friday 29 April– Monday 9 May.

This multimedia work is based on the true story of 24 schoolgirls in upstate New York who all start behaving in a curious manner. Their town wonders whether dark forces are at play. n Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Tuesday 15– Saturday 26 March.

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aintings have a life of their own,’ V an Gogh once wrote, in an attempt to capture and ex plain his creative process. If only the great artist could have known j ust how true that sentence would prove to be, it might have brought some peace to his troubled soul. O ver 1 30 years after his death, the man who bemoaned the fact his paintings were almost impossible to

PICTURE: RICHARD BLAKE PICTURE: GEMMA PARKER PHOTOGRAPHY

ART OF THE MONTH

Van Gogh Alive is an immersive and vibrant appreciation of the Dutch icon’s short life and prolific output. Kelly Apter finds herself lost in a dramatic loop of colour, music and poignant letters

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sell, is responsible for arguably the world’s most sought after artworks ( in 1 990, one sold for $ 8 2.5 m). So yes, V incent, your paintings have indeed taken on a life of their own, moving across the globe from private collection to public gallery. And at Van Gogh Alive they q uite literally come to life.

V an Gogh himself was often inspired by shifting skies and landscapes, so presumably he’d approve of the way some of his most famous paintings have essentially been turned into giant animated gifs. mo ing train puffs smoke into the air as it travels across The Yellow House; a shooting star ies through the sk in The Starry Night, and birds burst ominously from the crops in Whe tfie d With Crows, to name but some. V an Gogh created 2000 works of art in j ust ten years, and while not all of them are shown here, a large amount are, each presented in its own individual way depending on when it was made.

Comprising a series of ‘movements’ or ‘chapters’ delivered on a continuous loop, Van Gogh Alive weaves a path through periods of his brief but prolific life. Capturing both the artist and the man, it takes us from his Netherlands homeland to the vibrancy of Paris, on to the South of rance, his time in a mental hospital, and finall the last tumultuous days before his suicide. The ‘expe rience’ ( for want of a better word) combines paintings, letters and uotes displa ed on giant screens on walls and oors, immersing you in a world of colour and sound.

A word here about managing expe ctations: if you’re hoping for a labyrinthine layout comprising room after room, then disappointment might await. Van Gogh Alive mostly takes place in one large space with a few tagons ( a cluster of information boards, a small room of mirrors gi ing the illusion of thousands of sun owers, the opportunity to draw along with an instructional video, and a shop). So spend as much time as you possibly can in the main space because it really is a continual pleasure, in a myriad of beautiful and magical ways.

If you were unfamiliar with V an Gogh’s work before your arrival, you’d be forgiven for thinking the work displayed here came from se eral different hands, so aried are the in colour, text ure, style and intention. W hile for those in the know, watching his paintings appear one by one on the screens, including close-ups and cutaways, gives you a whole new appreciation of his genius. And because the visuals in each ‘chapter’ are accompanied by segments taken from correspondence ( V an Gogh was an equa lly prolific letter writer , his famous self portraits take on an even greater poignancy. M any of the quot es are uplifting ( ‘how I love yellow! It stands for the sun’) but some give insight to the black hole he often descended into which eventually claimed his life at j ust 37. O ne quot e in particular illustrates the way art in all its forms can lift the spirits, and is especially pertinent here, where each image is further brought to life by a shifting soundtrack of gentle and dramatic music by the likes of V ivaldi, B ach, Schubert and Satie: ‘though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me.’

If you’re left feeling suitably inspired, the area devoted to participation is both fun and challenging. W ith pencils and easels provided, it’s your turn to create a masterpiece as you follow the steps necessary to draw The Starry Night or Vincent’s edr In Arles ( the bedroom itself has also been recreated in the exhi bition space, providing the perfect selfie set up . ltimatel , Van Gogh Alive echoes the artist’s life and career, filled with unforgettable brilliance and beauty. B ut, oh how we would have loved it to be longer.

Van Gogh Alive, Festival Square, Edinburgh, until Sunday 17 July.

PICTURE: RICHARD BLAKE

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Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac grapples with many themes, both specific to 17th-century French culture and more universal: the nature of beauty, the power of language, masculine identity and questions of authority. Martin Crimp updates the language to a theatrical imitation of contemporary British hip hop, the rhymes of grime substituted for the couplets and a beatboxer providing a drive to the battles both poetic and physical. Meanwhile, Jamie Lloyd’s direction places the action within an abstract time, simultaneously 1640 and now.

Yet the romantic triangle that provides the dramatic tension (Cyrano loves Roxanne loves Christian), and the flamboyant panache of the protagonist remains intact, allowing James McAvoy to provide a raging, passionate and overwhelming Cyrano that propels this production into an exciting demonstration of theatre’s emotional power to astound. If the language balances poetic fancy and terse modernity, the design by Soutra Gilmour eschews familiar scenography for an abstraction, which frames the script efficiently and draws attention to the wordplay and performances. Roxanne is given a feminist verve (although her initial choice of the handsome yet dumb Christian speaks of a naivety she does not display elsewhere) and Cyrano’s rants against state sponsorship and artistic compromise are a rare intrusion of contemporary anxiety.

Yet the nods to today and references of the past are subtle enough, without ever convincing that Cyrano is anything more than a bravura production, with an outstanding performance from McAvoy and a strong ensemble lending colour to the restless, seductive, violent and sympathetic tragic hero. Ultimately, Rostand’s themes, through Crimp’s adaptation, appear to be more concerned with theatre itself than with anything beyond the stage. War is presented as horrible but inevitable, and Cyrano himself, despite McAvoy’s superb ability to sell his virtues, is a horrible thug who could only ever be sympathetic in fiction.

(Gareth K Vile) n Run ended; reviewed at Theatre Royal, Glasgow.

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A Slice of Life

The debut Scottish solo exhibition from internationally recognised street-artist PREFAB77 (Peter Manning) combines themes of antiestablishment and anarchy. An ex-printer and designer for the British Army, Manning’s punk and punchy pieces are a mix of acrylic, spray paint and wheat paste, exploring intrigue in politics and pop culture.

Layers of print overlap to create designs that seem to shift and move, journeying us into an urban landscape of rebellion. Two anarchists in balaclavas are recurring characters in the works, crowbars at the ready for revolution. Their slogan t-shirts read ‘PEACE’ and ‘POWER TO THE PEOPLE'. A rumble of passing trains overhead at Yard Life Gallery adds to the urbanity of this street-art experience, complimenting his graffiti-style works both inside and outside the building.

The political prints line either side of the narrow room, creating a corridor that leads up to the phenomenal feature ‘Killer Queen’. A woman lights a cigarette from her Molotov cocktail. Blue and yellow flowers in her hair, she serves as a response to the current conflict in Ukraine. Manning created her just a week before the exhibition, from a plank of discarded wood he found in a skip. PREFAB77’s immense ability to continue creating art that keeps up with current events makes A Slice Of Life that much fresher. (Rachel Cronin) n Yard Life Gallery, Glasgow, until Friday 22 April.

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A nun experiencing an erotic rite of passage feels peak Paul Verhoeven. But Emma Simmonds finds there’s much more to Benedetta than a glossy dirty-habit flick

his is not just a nun movie,’ the posters for Benedetta should read. ‘This is a Paul Verhoeven nun movie.’

To be fair, with its lesbian sex and mounting scandal, the story of Benedetta Carlini is a historical tale tailor-made for the controversy-courting Dutch director of B as ic I ns tinct and Sho w girls . Verhoeven brings an e pected gusto and gloss finish to proceedings, with human desire and religious fervour making for an intoxicating brew.

Loosely based on Judith C Brown’s 1986 Carlini biography, I m m o des t Acts : The L if e O f A L es b ian Nun I n R enais s ance I taly, the film reunites Verhoe en with the radiant elgian actress Virginie fira, one of the stars of his much admired pre ious film, the sub ersi e, sabelle Huppert-fronted rape-revenge drama E lle. Promised to god as an infant after a brush with death, Benedetta is delivered to Pescia’s Convent Of The Theatines as a child (played

by Elena Plonka). There, she’s taken under the wing of the formidable abbess, Felicita (Charlotte Rampling: who else , a shrewd operator who is mafioso like in her financial negotiations with Benedetta’s father Giuliano (David Cla el . fira picks things up when we meet enedetta as a young woman besieged by intense religious visions.

Daphné Patakia stars as the somewhat feral Bartolomea, an impoverished victim of incest who wins the convent’s protection after Giuliano reluctantly pays her fees. This striking woman’s unabashed attitude toward her body intrigues and appals the naïve Benedetta and, following an initial spark, the two fall out. When Benedetta’s visions result in the appearance of stigmata-like wounds on her

hands and feet, while she speaks as if possessed by a higher power, Bartolomea shows her kindness. Eventually, the two become lovers with the help of a specially adapted Virgin Mary statue. Olivier Rabourdin plays an ambitious priest who uses Benedetta’s predicament to further himself and put Pescia on the map, while Lambert Wilson is the papal nuncio conducting a brutal investigation of the ‘miracles’.

B enedetta is reminiscent of the European nunsploitation icks of the s but boasts a classier eneer and some sensational performances. lthough fira’s bron ed skin and blonde highlights don’t e actl scream th century piety, she imbues this contradictory character with abundant credibility, taking Benedetta from bewildered no ice to possessed ealot to wanton seductress. f the actress had any doubts regarding Verhoeven’s occasionally trash treatment of the material (the film’s se scenes do feel oddly erotic thriller-esque), she never lets it show. lthough enedetta is an ambiguous figure in terms of her honesty, there’s palpable outrage at her treatment by a se ist and h pocritical Catholic church. n its most wild e ed, teeth gnashing moments, the film recalls Powell and Pressburger’s masterful B lack Narcis s us , and it’s very strong on the shame the sisters are encouraged to feel, as well as their rebellion against that. ‘Your worst enemy is your body. Best not to feel at home in it,’ Benedetta is told when she innocently complains about an itchy tunic. This context renders her sexual awakening all the more powerful.

Benedetta is in cinemas from Friday 15 April.

MUSIC

CHVRCHES

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PICTURE: STEWART FULLERTON

Finally able to tour their fourth album Screen Violence, Glasgow synthpoppers CHVRCHES show that they have arena-ready anthems in abundance but are a far more interesting offer when taking their sound to heavier and darker places. The trio’s latest album is a product of lockdown and looks at anger and violence (often directed towards women) through the screens that frame our life. Using iconography from slasher movies, they often marry it with an anxious intensity, marking a clear departure from the colourful EDM pop they’ve previously chased.

Swirling synths straight from a John Carpenter film precede the band’s arrival and a huge LED screen crackles to life to give proceedings a strong, often blood-soaked visual aesthetic. The band are given a rousing welcome on first song ‘He Said She Said’, by a crowd who mostly seem to have been with them throughout their ten-year life, gamely reciprocating every clap of the hands, punched fist or shouted chorus.

The setlist leans on Screen Violence, while dipping into greatest hits from the previous three albums. Big hitters like stand-out single ‘The Mother We Share’ or ‘Clearest Blue’ earn their place as crowd-pleasers, but too many songs tonight depend on the band’s tendency for formulaic big-chorus synth-pop. However, a run of songs in the show’s middle pushes their sound to new places, with The Cure-worship of new single ‘How Not To Drown’ culminating in a gothic extended outro to ‘Science/ Visions’, an album track from their debut played so furiously it almost sounds like Trent Reznor could have had a hand in it.

Screen Violence is a welcome turn for the band, and in a live setting the songs offer a tantalising glimpse of what CHVRCHES could achieve if they really jettisoned their safety nets. It is a shame, then, that the group seem so keen to largely stick with the formula. (Sean Greenhorn) n Reviewed at O2 Academy Edinburgh.

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Truthful depictions in cinema of young children are actually tremendously rare: films made for them are sugar-coated; those half-remembered, nostalgic versions of childhood soften the edges in their own ways; while grown-up comedies treat the under-tens as precocious little gag machines. Belgian drama Playground, from debut director Laura Wandel, acts as a stark corrective to all that. Heartrendingly intimate and sometimes shockingly confrontational, it takes us into a primary school through the character of seven-year-old Nora (the remarkable Maya Vanderbeque).

The scales fall from this innocent’s eyes as Nora witnesses her beloved older brother Abel (Günter Duret) being bullied at break. Her attempts to protect him backfire and Abel’s inability to defend himself is something Nora begins to judge him for. At the same time, this timid girl is gradually figuring out how to make, and keep, friends herself. Although a kind teacher (Laura Verlinden) plus Nora and Abel’s concerned single father (Karim Leklou) are fleetingly glimpsed, Wandel and cinematographer Frédéric Noirhomme hold us firmly in the conflict throughout, closely aligning us with Nora as we stay down with the kids.

The winner of 2021’s London Film Festival Sutherland Award for First Feature, Playground benefits from its naturalistic interactions, moving performances and expertly executed handheld camerawork, which is so roving, sensitive and responsive that it feels alive to Nora’s every fluctuating emotion.

While a little on the short side, at a fraction over 70 minutes, it’s a fascinating and highly worthwhile investigation of an environment most of us will barely recall, yet which may have shaped our lives or personalities. It can be read as an allegory for the wider problems of our dog-eat-dog society, or a courageous examination of what kids are capable of. Either way it’s savage, and Laura Wandel is undoubtedly one to watch.

(Emma Simmonds) n In cinemas from Friday 22 April.

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Netflix’s arrival has reinforced the notion of a stand-up hierarchy, while complicating the perennially wretched subjects of taste and offence. The streaming juggernaut’s power and reach means any targets of alleged ‘punching down’ can’t escape the joke. Yet, to hear Stewart Lee tell it, he is one of Netflix’s biggest victims. For two years, its online description for his belatedly acquired BBC Comedy Vehicle series was actually that of shlock horror film Sharknado.

The apoplexy this provokes is the basis for Tornado, followed by a second hour, Snowflake, in which he defends both being ‘woke’ and his reputation against a character assassination from journalist Tony Parsons; it’s the sort of cultural war nonsense Lee delights in turning on itself with pedantry and some superb setpieces, while typically subverting the relationship between comic and audience. Netflix heavyweights Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle are among those drenched in irresistible sardonic bile as Lee extends the notion of (commercially) ‘saying the unsayable’ to ludicrous degrees, making his moral points with caustic venom.

By focusing on the comedian pantheon and his place in it once again, Lee veers close to self-parody. Yet his peerless execution, the multi-faceted richness of his persecution complex and his sheer bloody-minded commitment to a persona and standards ensure that the laughs build an unstoppable momentum. (Jay Richardson) n Snowflake/Tornado returns to Scotland in June; reviewed at King’s Theatre, Glasgow.

PICTURE: ADAM KNIGHT

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An artist pulling out of a gig after testing positive for covid has become the ‘new normal’ as we emerge from lockdown. Such is the case with Paix, a scheduled performer for the first night of Amplifi, a concert series organised

by Arusa Qureshi and Halina Rifai to highlight the diversity of talent in Scotland’s thriving music scene.

But even short of one act, this showcase is crammed with invigorating variety. Award-winning spoken-word artist and rapper Bee Asha opens the show with a set that’s as nakedly confessional as it is warm hearted. Careering through a sonically inventive track list, she reveals an effortless ability to present the most intimate aspects of her personal life with vulnerability and humour, deftly balancing biting social commentary with a grounded relatability.

In more laidback territory is indie outfit Brownbear, whose stripped-back set revealed songwriter and lead singer Matt Hickman’s commitment to old-school songcraft. There’s something irresistible about these finely tuned toe-tappers, which bear the ragged charm of Badly Drawn Boy’s early material while aspiring towards the soulful end of the classic American songbook. Closing the night with a cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘Suspicious Minds’, Hickman seems unafraid to wear influences on his sleeve while striking into territory that’s very much his own. (Kevin Fullerton) n The next Amplifi night is at Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Wednesday 6 April.

ART

EMMALOUISE GRADY/DARYL TERRI COONEY/ NAOMI MCCLURE

Celebrating The Women On Our Walls

PICTURE: ANDREW CRAWLEY

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The ground floor of Edinburgh’s Kimpton Hotel has been transformed from a traditional hotel lobby into an abstract art experience. Created to celebrate International Women’s Day, this anthology aims to explore freedom of bias and discrimination through an otherworldly collection of fluid pattern, vivid colour and assorted texture. Showcasing the vibrant work of three bright and bold young Scottish artists, the exhibition by Upright Gallery is ‘celebrating the women on our walls’ until May. Daryl Terri Cooney’s animated acrylic work lines the grey walls of the Kimpton’s courtyard, adding a kaleidoscopic element to an otherwise conventional space. Cooney’s fresh and quirky paintings work with shape, colour and pattern. Wondrous works such as ‘Are The Glens Of The World Okay?’ and ‘The Hilltown Smells Of Noodles’ are but a small selection of the artist’s wackiest titles.

In contrast, ‘First Blush’ by Naomi McClure displays more muted tones with the pink, mauve and purple shades of oil-paint-on-panel creating a three-dimensional and unconventional piece that exhibits a variety of textures. McClure’s art soothes the eyes after the sensory explosion of Cooney’s work and creates a buoyant balance between the two.

The third artist of the Kimpton trio displays a fitting middle ground between Cooney’s colour-crazed wonderland and McClure’s blend of texture and tone. Emma-Louise Grady’s lacing of dreamy patterns and plant-like shapes are formed by hundreds of intricate dots and lines made with acrylic paint and Posca pens. Similarly to her fellow artists, Grady uses shape, colour and texture to produce an abstract utopia in works such as ‘Dreaming Of Fields And Frogs’.

Although a hotel lobby may not seem habitual for such an energetic display of nonfigurative art, our young female artists have no trouble transporting visitors from the mundane to the imaginary. Their collective work creates a free-flowing commemoration of women in the art industry. (Rachel Cronin) n Kimpton Hotel, Edinburgh, until Monday 2 May.

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COMPARTMENT NO 6

(Directed by Juho Kuosmanen)

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More fool those who make assumptions is the message of this film from Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen (The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki). Compartment No 6 goes from chilly to cockle-warming as it explores the hidden potential of those who are easily dismissed when two strangers on a train forge a connection.

Seidi Haarla plays Laura, a shy Finnish student living in 1990s Moscow. After being persuaded by her unreliable lecturer lover Irina (Dinara Drukarova) to visit Murmansk to see the Kanozero Petroglyphs, she’s annoyingly been left to make this epic, possibly doomed trip alone. To make matters worse, Laura is horrified to find herself sharing a train carriage with miner Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov); on the face of it a chestbeating, hard-drinking Russian patriot, he’s more sensitive than he initially seems.

Based on a 2011 novel by Rosa Liksom, this joint winner of the Grand Prix at last year’s Cannes has a nice line in droll humour and is full of welcome surprises and farcical diversions. The leads to wonderful work and it’s pure pleasure watching wariness turn to amusement and warmth. Plus, it all builds up to a killer punchline. (Emma Simmonds) n In cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema from Friday 8 April.

REVIEWS

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DUNDEE

INVERNESS

No other tribute artist captures George’s musical talent, charisma and passion as closely as Rob Lamberti.

With some of George Michael’s personal musicians proudly joining Rob’s band, his performances are Guaranteed to hypnotise your senses and do justice to one of the greatest singer-songwriters of our time.

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BOOK NOW

roblamberti.com

Paul Weller (and bottom from left), Ray, Henning Wehn

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ART

YINKA ILORI: LISTENING TO JOY A colourful and interactive playscape has been designed by this British Nigerian artist including zippable mesh walls and two circular xylophones. n V&A Dundee, until Sunday 5 June.

COMEDY

HENNING WEHN This German comic may have lived in the UK for many years now, but it doesn’t stop him being utterly baffled by our odd traditions and rituals. And is he going to make fun of them? Yes. Yes, he is. n Webster Memorial Theatre, Arbroath, Thursday 21 April; Whitehall Theatre, Dundee, Friday 22 April; Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, Sunday 24 April.

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The world premiere of Scottish Dance Theatre’s latest production arrives on home territory, created in association with Brussels-based choreographer Meytal Blanaru. A highly collaborative work, it aims to tune in to a deep collective shared experience. n Dundee Rep, Thursday 14–Saturday 16 April.

of top bobble hats and a clutch of great songs. n Beat Generator, Dundee, Friday 8 April; Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, Saturday 9 April; Tolbooth, Stirling, Sunday 10 April.

considering not doing the Time Warp (again) you may as well stay at home. n His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, Monday 25– Saturday 30 April.

PAUL WELLER An icon to music fans of different stripes (literate punk, jazz pop and driving rock), the man some choose to call The Modfather makes an offer to his fans that they were never likely to refuse. n Caird Hall, Dundee, Tuesday 12 April.

THEATRE

AS YOU LIKE IT Celebrating 30 years of theatre-making, Northern Broadsides deliver a bold new telling of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy. n Perth Theatre, Tuesday 19–Saturday 23 April.

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Strictly winner Ore Oduba takes on the role of Brad in the latest version of Richard O’Brien’s seemingly timeless musical. And if you’re even

FESTIVAL

AN TOBAR FESTIVAL A brand-new festival which aims at new possibilities, ancestry and psychic intuition, featuring performances by award-winning choreographer Mele Broomes, composer, musician, and radio presenter Hannah Catherine Jones (aka Foxy Moron), and Glasgow-based Scots traditional singer Quinie amongst others. n An Tobar Gallery and Mull Theatre, Friday 29 April–Sunday 1 May.

MUSIC

PICTISH TRAIL Johnny Lynch, the man behind Lost Map Records and an ex-Fence man, goes on tour with a series April 2022 THE LIST 67

HIGHLIGHTS

Glasgow and Edinburgh aren’t the only places hosting vibrant arts and entertainment across this month. There’s top comedy, dance, music, theatre, art and an exciting new festival occurring far away from the big two

STAYING IN SPIRITUALIZED And so, after two years of what he felt was splendid isolation, Jason Pierce aka J Spaceman unfurls a new Spiritualized album. ‘I felt like I’d been in training for this my whole life,’ he states about a fruitful lockdown which led to the writing and recording of Everything Was Beautiful. This seven-track set distils everything we know the band to be about: gentle lullabies ceding to psyched-out jams and volleys of sound that make the ears bleed while your heart aches. n Everything Was Beautiful is released by Bella Union on Friday 22 April.

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OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH

A classic slice of 90s British TV returns to entertain our ears.

Mark Fisher speaks to writer Adam Usden about his own personal connection to the original drama and how he approached creating a brand new episode

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When the BBC approached Adam Usden about writing a radio sequel to Our Friends In The North, he asked them for a week to rewatch Peter Flannery’s original television series. Two days later, he had binged the lot. ‘It feels like chapters in a book,’ says the Manchester-born writer whose grandparents were from Newcastle where the series was set. ‘You are invested in these characters. That’s what drives any good binge.’

Spanning three decades of British politics from 1965 to just before its broadcast year of 1996, the series was as compulsive as any modern-day boxset. It helped make the names of Daniel Craig, Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee and Mark Strong as it ranged from police corruption to the miners’ strike, from housing scandals to the arrival of New Labour.

It was the favourite piece of television drama of Usden’s late father, and he had no hesitation in accepting the commission. ‘He passed away two months ago, and it’s extra special knowing how much he would love me doing this. What struck me about it is how resonant it is. The week I rewatched it, the Owen Paterson scandal was breaking and political corruption is at the heart of this series. It’s hugely relevant now.’

While Flannery has adapted his scripts for the first nine episodes of the new version, Usden brings us up to a pre-pandemic 2020 with episode ten. ‘One of the core elements of the series was legacy, the way the previous generation informed the next,’ he says. ‘That’s a perfect jumping-off point for telling a story 25 years later. We see how these iconic characters of Mary, Tosker, Geordie and Nicky have shaped, in good ways and not so good ways, the people that came after them.’

When it came to finding a precise date to set the new instalment, Usden was not short of turbulent political events, among them Brexit and Grenfell. ‘It was about finding a sweet spot to have those things inform the story but not to overpower it. Peter dealt with so many big issues, but it never felt like it was about just one thing. What links all those big ideas is ordinary people being buffeted by forces beyond them that they don’t always fully understand. That’s what I’m trying to bring into this new episode.

It’s about focusing on the individual intimate stories.’ n Our Friends In The North, BBC Radio 4, Thursdays, 2.15pm; episodes available on BBC Sounds.

BINGE FEST Our alphabetical column on viewing marathons reaches E

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It was the show that reset the dial on medical dramas and made a star out of Gorgeous George. E R ( All 4 ) is a whopping 331 episodes long and features life’s gamut all the way from birth to death with plenty healthbased unpleasantness in between. Across the 1 5 seasons, there was high drama with helicopters, storm drains and knife-wielding patients, while Q uentin Tarantino even got in on the act by directing an episode. E up ho ria ( NO W TV ) is either a high-octane thrill-ride or an arch long night of the soul, depending on whether you’re into the coloured blare of the full seasons or the visually more restrained actor-based standalone episodes.

This has also helped launch the career of a future household name in the shape of Z endaya. And if you’re feeling especially masochistic, you could see how many minutes of E m ily I n P aris ( et i ou’re able to get through. ( B rian Donaldson) O ther E b inges : E nd O f The F ucking W o rld ( All4 ) , E ndeav o ur ( I TV H ub) , E v e ( B B C iP layer) .

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FIRST WRITES In our Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut authors. This month we feature Moses McKenzie, author of An Olive Grove In Ends, a coming-of-age literary novel set in Bristol What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? M y mum

would always read to my brother and me. M y earliest memories are of C hris tm as I n E x eter Street by D iana Hendry and John Lawrence, and G ues s H o w Much I L o v e Y o u by Sam M cBratney. And our grandma would read us Johanna Spyri’s H eidi.

What was the first book you read that made you decide to be a writer? N o single book. I had a childhood and adolescent love of reading,

especially M aya Angelou and later James Baldwin, but I didn’t decide that I wanted to be a writer until I was 18 or 19 . I began to read European classics and thought I could do better.

What’s your favourite first line in a book? N o idea. I think too much emphasis is given to the first line of a book: the first page makes sense, but definitely not the first line. That said, the opening of M á rq uez’s O ne H undred Y ears O f So litude is my present favourite.

Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you?

An O liv e G ro v e I n E nds .

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day?

Eat.

What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day?

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Be mindful of your legacy. Y our work is the child of a vast history and the forebear of an expansive lineage; it is important to consider your responsibility towards them both.

An Olive Grove In Ends is published by Wildfire on Thursday 28 April.

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Quitting while you’re ahead is a well-worn mantra. In classic sitcom terms this usually means getting the heck out of dodge after two series and remaining iconic years after ending: Fawlty Towers, 15 Storeys High and The Office are still beloved many years later (OK, there were two extra festive episodes to slightly blemish the report of one of those programmes).

The wonderful Derry Girls was always fated to have a restricted shelf-life given that the main performers couldn’t pretend to be high-school pupils for much longer. And so, Lisa McGee’s comedy reaches its conclusion with this third and final set of episodes as Erin, Michelle, Clare, Orla and honorary Derry Girl James reach the end of their road.

As the 1990s stretch out in front of them, hopes are high that The Troubles might be in sight of ending albeit with a fragile peace, but the girls’ woes show no sign of finding a resolution.

Eejits will be eejits after all. As the gang try to put a shape on themselves, impending adulthood is frightening the bejesus out of them all. (Brian Donaldson) n Starts on Tuesday 12 April.

What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist?

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Channel 4

There’s no book I hate enough to burn. I don’t read things that aren’t for me.

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In a parallel universe where you’re a tyrant leader in a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn?

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If it’s the summer I’ll usually play ball; if it’s winter I don’t leave my yard.

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How would Douglas Stuart follow up his barnstorming award-laden debut? By simply bettering it with the tale of a family in peril and a teenager trying to find himself. Lynsey May remains speechless after devouring the brilliance of Young Mungo

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loves her even as she abandons and abuses her children over and over again. F or J odie, M o-M aw is beyond redemption. Redemption, and its feasibility when a deck is stacked against someone, is a key theme of this novel. A glimmer of light comes in the form of J ames, a Catholic boy who tends pigeons on a tenement roof.

Clearly kindred spirits, the boys expl ore their feelings and each other in the brief, halcyon days J ames revels in before his father returns from offshore work. ut e en when suffused with the glow of first lo e, poor ungo suffers under the weight of e er one else’s bad opinion. H e’s barely had the chance to work out who he is or what potential lies at the heart of him, before the noose of his life begins to tighten. This is brilliantly ex amined in the other main plotline: M ungo’s ex ile to the countr side on a fishing trip with two strangers recruited from M o-M aw’s AA meeting.

Y oung M ungo is a boy named after a saint and e pected to suffer like one. name has the power to mould an individual, for better or worse. It’s something to live up to. It’s something that can be used as a weapon in the mouths of people who’re ready to wound. M ungo’s mother may have had the best intentions when naming her youngest son, but it’s j ust another hurdle for him to struggle with. Douglas Stuart’s novel is as tender as it is brutal, as empathetic as it is bitter, and as an ex ploration of how to develop a sense of self when circumstances would prefer that you didn’t, it completely shines.

Young Mungo is published by Picador on Thursday 14 April; Douglas Stuart appears at Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Thursday 14 April; Tom Fleming Centre, Edinburgh, Saturday 16 April; Portobello Bookshop, Edinburgh, Monday 18 April.

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ollowing on from the B ooker Priz e-winning Shuggie B ain, Douglas Stuart’s second novel is an eq ually heart-wrenching tale of a teenager trapped in post-Thatcher poverty. M ungo is a boy on the cusp of manhood, allowing himself to be twisted one way or another as he yearns for unconditional love and a sense of belonging. W ho can blame him? The awful grind of deprivation means there’s little light or nourishment to go around.

Y oung Mungo tackles alcoholism and abuse, all the while glittering like the rat glass strewn oor of a doocot. L ike Shuggie, M ungo is ill at ease in the hypermasculine, north lasgow landscape he’s confined to.

The main difference is ungo’s deference, much of which can be exa mined through the lens of his family life. M ungo is the youngest H amilton, born to a young widow so ravaged by her need for drink that she routinely neglects and abuses her children.

Those siblings are in a bad way. The eldest, H aH a, is already a teenage father and fully committed to the place he’s carved for himself at the forefront of a local gang. M ungo’s sister, J odie, is left to look after her little brother, and the tension caused by attempts to mother him and her own desire to be a child ( and later, a woman in her own right) creates a wedge between them.

J odie can’t stand the way M ungo yearns for his mother, M o-M aw, and

BOOK OF THE MONTH

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STAYING IN

Apple TV+

Based on the first novel in Mick Herron’s Jackson Lamb series, Slow Horses centres on young, eager MI5 agent River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), whose disastrous handling of a training exercise lands him in Slough House, a dumping ground for disgraced agents. Their unhappy exile is overseen by the eponymous Lamb (Gary Oldman), a flatulent drunk whose best days of protecting Queen and country are well behind him. But when a young Asian man is kidnapped by a far-right group, Cartwright takes matters into his own hands, dragging Slough House’s rag-tag gang of sad, tortured losers back into the fray.

If the ridiculous nomenclature hadn’t already given it away, Slow Horses ticks all the boxes of a traditional espionage tale: gritty underbellies, sleight of hand, burner phones in the rubbish bin. Though its central characters perhaps fall a little too nearly into the genre’s archetypes, Oldman’s turn as the irascible Lamb is convincingly revolting, as is Kristin Scott Thomas as imperious MI5 boss Diana Taverner.

By leaning into some well-worn strengths, the plot is fortunately more familiar than predictable, with enough taut, pacy intrigue to keep the formula plodding along. Slow Horses isn’t out to win any races, but this ride is still worth the price of admission. (Deborah Chu) n Available from Friday 1 April.

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ALBUM

WET LEG

Wet Leg (Domino Records) Ever since Wet Leg’s debut single ‘Chaise Longue’ permeated our airwaves in the summer of 2021, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers’ cheeky and absurd songs have been the talk of the town. Bridging the gap between Radio 1 tween and 6 Music dad with catchy drum loops, sexually suggestive lyrics (‘is your muffin buttered? Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?’) and suitably wacky visuals, the Isle Of Wight friends shot to relevancy, selling out an impressive string of tour dates across the UK, Europe and America.

With no intention to let the dust settle, Wet Leg packs in one hit after another, leaving little room for surprises but successfully introducing the pair’s sound as an idiosyncratic blend of indie, rock and punk. As you might expect, the whole record is shrouded in an aura of effortlessness with cool up-tempo toe-tappers that speak to relationships, social media addiction and self-loathing.

Sometimes this is done earnestly, often humorously, but always relatably.

Raw and looped instruments (now key to Wet Leg’s sound) still remain, with some new tones and textures revealing themselves in the non-single tracks. A killer twangy guitar hook in ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Out’ adds layers of Americana, while flashes of fun electronic synths, atonal chords and dissonant sounds contribute to more sonically interesting moments in songs like ‘Being In Love’ and ‘Oh No’.

Despite the integrity of each track, which fulfil their role of showcasing the duo’s wider musical and emotional range, it’s safe to say Wet Leg is unlikely to make as big of a splash as all of its constituent singles. It does, however, confidently solidify the pair’s presence as an exciting UK band and gives their discography (now up to a whopping 12 songs) a chance to catch up with their clout. (Megan Merino) n Released on Friday 8 April.

GAMES

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Long before gaming became the huge industry it is today, games were insular and demanding.

More often than not, you’d be dropped in at the deep end and left on your own, perhaps with a chunky manual for reference. Playing Elden Ring is evocative of those times, back when actually finishing a game was an achievement of note.

It’s a vast action RPG very much focused on the action. You roam an enormous, beautiful yet horrifying fantasy landscape populated by a menagerie of astonishingly obnoxious characters, creatures and monsters. Death hangs over everything as you gingerly progress across the land, and you won’t know just how hard an enemy hits until you tentatively provoke a reaction. You’ll sometimes lose every single point of XP gathered through hours of play, but what you won’t lose is experience: practice doesn’t make perfect but you’ll gradually learn how to master the game over time.

Elden Ring is slightly more forgiving than Hidetaka Miyazaki’s previous games, such as the Dark Souls series and especially Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice; this one has a generous fast-travel system and stealth is a viable tactic.

And if you really can’t master the game’s intricate fighting mechanics then you could always just level up so much that you completely overpower your opponents. Something you couldn’t do back in the day. (Murray Robertson) n Out now.

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PODCASTS

DOLLY PARTON AND JAMES PATTERSON

Run, Rose, Run (Spotify)

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Not content with launching her own NFT platform, Dollyverse, last month, Tennessee’s favourite daughter also published her first novel, Run, Rose, Run. Such is the love for Parton, her debut work of fiction went straight in at number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

Described as the first ‘bookcast’, the mystery novel comes with a matching album of brand new songs, and this audiobook version on Spotify. Co-written with thriller author and fellow Nashvillean James Patterson (he’s done this before having jointly penned crime fiction novels with Bill Clinton), Run, Rose, Run is the story of AnnieLee Keyes, a singersongwriter hellbent on making a name for herself. Parton’s pearls of wisdom are sprinkled liberally, with messages about the importance of slaying demons from the past, staying driven when following a dream and being tenacious when times get tough, as heard on ‘Woman Up (And Take It Like A Man)’.

A kindly mentor to the gung-ho AnnieLee appears in the form of sage matriarch and retired country singer Ruthanna Ryder, voiced by Parton. Ryder’s advice clearly draws heavily from Parton’s own rulebook, with warnings about music-industry snakes or pressures to stress about body image and social media rather than focusing on the music itself. Equally, the compulsive storyteller and non-stop music-maker Keyes has parallels with the young Dolly.

Like Parton, Ryder knows that a good country song depends on real characters going through real emotions, with earworm melodies to hook you in. Parton doesn’t disappoint with her well-spun, sassy, savvy and, at points, soppy yarn. The quest of an aspiring starlet is not a new story, but Parton adds her own showbiz insights, warm asides and Southern sayings to liven things up. Those who enjoyed Parton’s Heartstrings Netflix series will find a similar mix of fun, kitchen-sink soap opera and heartfelt life lessons: a lot like a good Dolly song. (Claire Sawers) n All episodes available now.

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DISCLOSURE

BBC iPlayer

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Three new episodes from Disclosure look at issues affecting the BBC strand’s young presenters. Should I Tell You I’m Trans? is a conversation between Jax Sinclair and trans kids about dating and the best time to tell a new partner that you’re trans. Maya remembers a very unhappy double life before transitioning and Zac tries to laugh while jokingly describing the moment when you out yourself, not knowing whether you’ll be punched or hugged.

We hear from trans women in Bolton and America; one says it’s none of anyone’s business on a night out whether she’s trans while a cis girl called Amy believes it wouldn’t be ‘100% consensual sex’ if a partner didn’t disclose they were trans beforehand. No consensus is reached, but a broad desire for respectful, open communication emerges.

Likewise, Am I Scott(ish)? touches on the reality of intolerance for biracial people in Scotland. ScottishKenyan Donald Matheson from Dumfries talks to a broad selection of talking heads while author Olukemi Ogunyemi believes Scotland is improving from her childhood days when folk in the village thought her family ate people.

Of the three, Should I Delete Instagram? feels the most squarely aimed at young adults, where high-school kids talk about feeling left out if they’ve not seen the latest gossip online but also needing to detox from the fiercely competitive minefield of Instagram. All three episodes are short enough to dip satisfyingly into the waters for a nuanced discussion without reaching any magic solutions. Mercifully avoiding any try-hard tropes, the chats hit a sober, inquisitive tone instead. (Claire Sawers) n All episodes available now.

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CONFIDENCE MAN

Tilt (Heavenly Recordings) There’s nothing less fashionable than Confidence Man’s sexually charged, tongue-incheek take on house music, yet they inexplicably feel like pioneers of cool. Fronted by the flamboyant duo Janet Planet and Sugar Bones, the Australian act have captured the maximalist sheen of 90s dance to posit an alternative universe in which Deee-Lite weren’t one-hit wonders, but the enduring face of modern pop.

Their second album, Tilt, pushes this premise to breaking point, mixing relentless house and Balearic beats with the arch humour of LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip. But where those bands were defined by a music-geek irony, Confidence Man are decadent and proud. Their lyrics are purposefully skin-deep, whether in Bones’ blissed-out jet-setting on ‘Holiday’ or the orgiastic fantasies of ‘Toy Boy’, in which Planet parties hard with her hunky lad all night long.

Every element of Tilt is machine-tooled to emulate the transcendent joy of flashing lights and crowds of people, urging you through a packed dancefloor until you’re loose-limbed and jiving on the spot. Like the peaks and troughs of any night out, the effect vacillates between excitable and wearying. Aimless songs like ‘Push It Up’ and ‘Break It Bought It’ err on the wrong side of shallow, feeling less like drunkenly cavorting under a disco ball and more akin to being trapped in a 90s club from hell.

The highlights have more depth, favouring empowered statements in between the raucous atmosphere. ‘I am not the spark, I am the fire’, claims Planet on album opener ‘Woman’, a stirring call for equality that sprinkles nuance over the album’s superficial surface. Beneath the surface, then, there are hints of a wider remit for Confidence Man. They want an uncomplicated good time, but this is exaltation for everyone. (Kevin Fullerton) n Released on Friday 1 April.

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The Glasgow-based band Fatherson’s third album Normal Fears is a listenable blend of pop and indie rock exploring the process of falling in love against the backdrop of a wider, more complex world. The trio, made up of bassist Marc Strain, singer Ross Leighton and drummer Greg Walkinshaw, haven’t released music since 2018, using the intervening period to re-evaluate their collective musical intentions. Songs like ‘Normal People’ and ‘Do It For Yourself’ contain memorable melodies and sparkly harmonies which mark a clear and intentional departure from their rockier roots in favour of a more alt-pop sound.

The simple, verging-on-cheesy hooks are counteracted with more creative production courtesy of Steph Marziano (Hayley Williams, Mumford & Sons) and engineer Isabel Gracefield (Dua Lipa, Stormzy), although impressive lead vocals are delivered by Leighton in songs like ‘Honest To God’ and ‘All The Time’. Normal Fears will no doubt attract positive attention from fans of Sam Fender, Catfish And The Bottlemen and Twin Atlantic, but may lose the loyalty of Biffy Clyro and Enter Shikari enthusiasts which the band has gained from supporting slots in years gone by. (Megan Merino) n Released on Friday 1 April.

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BOOKS

CATHERINE PRASIFKA

None Of This Is Serious (Canongate)

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REVIEWS

Trying to enter the world as a productive member of society is tough when that world seems to be coming to an end.

None Of This Is Serious is an absorbing tale of what happens when the words and ideals we share (both online and in real life) are completely at odds with the reality we face.

Catherine Prasifka’s novel is the story of Sophie, a young politics graduate stuck at home with her parents; she struggles to find a job, plan a future or get a grip of her friendships and relationships. Her attempts are blighted by a twin sister, who seems to delight in cutting her down, and a series of toxic men, all topped off with an inexplicable natural phenomenon, which is surely a signal that she’s not the only one on the precipice of disaster.

Except hardly anyone else seems to think so.

Sophie exists online as much as she does in the real world. More so, in fact. She often wishes conversations were messages that could be digested at her own pace. Her group-chats with friends make her feel increasingly alienated and her incessant scrolling is a comfort and a curse. Social media churns through disasters, whether on a global or personal scale, at a rate of knots. Emotions are just collateral.

The liminal space Sophie inhabits should be opening her up to endless possibility, but instead her thoughts and feelings become more constrained and distant.

Prasifka’s first novel has already drawn comparisons with other young Irish writers currently investigating modern relationships, like Naoise Dolan, Louise Nealon and Sally Rooney (who happens to be Prasifka’s sister-inlaw). While the similarities in subject matter are clear, None Of This Is Serious has a vision all of its own. And as a deep dive into the way the internet is shaping young lives and expectations, it’s an unqualified success. (Lynsey May) n Published on Thursday 7 April.

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Having moved to the UK in the 1990s, he’s consistently stormed the stand-up game with thoughtful material about sex, race and politics. Reginald D Hunter is back and in mischief-making form with new tour Bombe Shuffleur. In our Q&A he tells us which voice soothes him and who he’d like to haunt, before sharing his controversial theory about the long-lost pilot Amelia Earhart . . .

Who should play you in the movie about your life? Either Edward Norton or André Holland.

Who do you think the casting people would go for? It’s always about the money for them,

so they’d probably go for Norton. The world is getting more non-traditional every day.

If you were to return in a future life as an animal, what would it be? I’m having a hard

time choosing between a bear and a moose. In fact, if it was possible, I’d come back as a bear-moose.

I’m very slow and loping and ranging, friendly but hungry. That’s the bear part. The thing about the moose would be having great headgear.

Name two other people you’d recruit to help you get out of an escape room? Steve

Irwin and Amelia Earhart. I was obsessed with her story when I was nine or ten; I was given a few books about her and I was captivated by that mystery for a while. My over-riding theory is that . . . she dead!

When was the last time you were mistaken for someone else? Two years ago, I had

arrived in Gatwick and this older white guy came up to me and says, ‘I just want to thank you for impacting my life in a positive way’.

And then he said, ‘do you have any new sauces coming up, Mr Roots’? And I said, ‘yes, I have a mayonnaise and cranberry sauce coming out next’. He left there thinking he was the guy in the know. But, you know, it doesn’t cost much to make people happy.

What’s the best cover version ever? The one that sticks in my mind was when I saw an episode of Knight Rider and a cover of ‘Beat It’ was in there.

Whose speaking voice soothes your ears?

Orson Welles. If I had to be an obese white man, I would be Orson Welles.

Tell us something you wish you had discovered sooner in life? Indian food. I

didn’t try it until about ten years of living over here. And lately I just can’t get enough of lamb chops; that wasn’t something I ever had when I was growing up.

If you were a ghost, who would you haunt?

If you were a ghost you’d only want to drive someone crazy who deserved it. Someone like Henry Kissinger. If I was a ghost and haunted him, I wouldn’t drive him crazy, I’d be a vague annoyance to him because he’s already so evil.

WITH REGINALD D HUNTER

Which day in your life would you relive? I met Sidney Poitier once. There was a film that he did that is almost never listed in his credits, a little independent film called Brother John, with music by Quincy Jones. I went over and spoke to him and asked him about the film. It felt like he hadn’t thought about it for a long time but it seemed like it was a very fond memory; he was just about to answer my question on that but something like a gust of wind took him away from me.

Did you have a nickname at school? Some of

the older kids were bullying the smaller ones and I jumped in front and gave them a telling off.

I said, ‘every Sunday you’re in church praising the lord with your parents and you come out here and push these kids around: that’s the way to go to hell!’ And the bullies thought this was hilarious and started calling me Church.

What most recently astonished you? I watched the first two episodes of series two of Star Trek: Picard and it was a vomitus experience. I’m blaming Patrick Stewart to a certain extent because he had to approve all of this. And I started to wonder how much he actually really liked being in Star Trek.

What tune do you find it impossible not to get up and dance to? EMF’s ‘Unbelievable’.

Which famous person would be your ideal holiday companion? Probably Edward

Norton. He has an intensity in his work that De Niro had in the 70s and early 80s. If you see his name in something, you know it has a chance.

He can make bad material average. Maybe Billy Bob Thornton as well. He seems like an interesting cat.

As an adult, what has a child said to you that had a big impact? I was talking to my sister

one day while her granddaughter was there watching TV, and my sister was talking about the difference between shame and embarrassment.

And this 14-year-old said, without looking back, ‘the difference between shame and embarrassment is that with embarrassment you need other people’.

When did you last cry? 2006. My mum had

died and I nearly descended into weeping despair but I stopped myself because my mum always held her death over our heads as kids. I felt my nose had been rubbed in that all my life, so when she died I refused to cry. But I make up with that now with laughing and farting.

What’s the most hi-tech item in your home? I got to say my laptop but it’s on its last legs. Let’s say it has been dropped. A lot.

What’s a skill you’d love to learn but never got round to? Coding.

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? Frankly, I would wonder about the

council’s power to enforce that. I would have to call a lawyer first: ‘hey, the council are getting a little unruly’.

If you were selected as the next 007 where would you pick as your first luxury destination for espionage? I also have

difficulty with this question because I don’t think MI6 works like that. You can quote me on that.

Reginald D Hunter: Bombe Shuffleur, Whitehall Theatre, Dundee, Friday 29 April; Perth Theatre, Saturday 30 April.

NEXT TIME May is the month with a true spring in step and so it made sense for us to get our dancing shoes on for features about the pioneering Nederlands Dans Theater and Strictly star Oti Mabuse.

Star Wars fans can get over-heated too as the TV spin-off Obi-Wan Kenobi takes us back to a galaxy far, far away, starring Ewan McGregor, Indira Varma and Hayden Christensen. You can also read about shock cinema, Aye Write, Black Scot Pod, Michelle Collins, C Duncan, Catherine Bohart and whisky. n Next copy of The List will be out on Friday 29 April.

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HOT SHOTS An in-person Edinburgh Science Festival returns, giving audiences a chance to get properly up close and personal with the various events and activities. Among the delights which await are Nature Explorers, Quantum Spies, Elemental and, for the terribly brave, Dino BITES! Rap powerhouse Stormzy last played Scotland when he wowed audiences at TRNSMT in 2019. During the interim period his stock has simply got bigger and bigger, and in April he plays the Hydro in support of his album, Heavy Is The Head.

Robert Eggers couldn’t make a less than fascinating movie if he tried, and for The Northman he’s gathered up an outrageously good cast (Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Björk, Willem Dafoe, and Nicole Kidman) to help tell the tale of a 10th-century Icelandic prince who is hot on the heels of revenge for his father’s death.

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