The List Issue 764 by List Publishing Ltd

September 2022 THE LIST 3 contents 44 ” FRONT The Insider 6 Phoebe Bridgers and the Megabus My New Hobby 7 Sawing in tune FEATURES Art Special 9 Innovative spectacles from Arbroath to Bute Flux Gourmet 24 Stomach-churning cinema EAT DRINK SHOP Wild Food 30 Park to plate dining Hatch 36 Carefully curated crafts GOING OUT Kevin Bridges 40 Where will he go next? Tilda Swinton 46 Stepping into a fantasy Doug Stanhope 53 How to split a room STAYING IN Katy Hessel 69 Rewriting art her-story Blancmange 70 The synth-popper returns Beth Orton 74 Where music and nature meet BACK Iona Fyfe 80 Taylor Swift’s biggest fan Hot Shots 82 Screen peaks at Banff Mountain Film Festival RABINDUSTINPICTURE: BRIAN COX ON THE POSTPANDEMIC WORLD This is a really strange period of our existence STUDENT GUIDE Glasgow 86 Edinburgh 93 COVER IMAGE: PHOTO BY LAURENCE WINRAM & MAKEUP AND SFX BY MV BROWN

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The notion that an art gallery is the only place to consume work by artists has long gone out of vogue. But this month, things are really stirring in a field that no one is calling Alternative Art. Our covers stars Hanna Tuulikki and Tommy Perman are having quite the time putting together a work which draws connections between bat echolocation and rave music. And what better way to demonstrate that than with a silent disco. Sounds batty, right? When we went to press, their Arbroath dates are the only ones confirmed for Scotland so expect a convergence of sorts when this one kicks off.

Brian EDITORDonaldson

4 THE LIST September 2022 CONTRIBUTORSPUBLISHING CEO Sheri Friers Editor Brian Donaldson Student Guide Editors Megan Merino Rachel Cronin Art Director Seonaid Rafferty Designer Carys Tennant Sub Editors Paul MeganMcLeanMerino Writers: Ailsa Sheldon, Bella Taliesen, Brian Donaldson, Celia Joicey, Chris Opoku, Claire Sawers, David Kirkwood, Emma Simmonds, Fiona Shepherd, Gareth K Vile, James Mottram, Jay Richardson, Jo Laidlaw, Kelly Apter, Kevin Fullerton, Leah Bauer, Lucy Ribchester, Lynsey May, Malcolm Jack, Megan Merino, Rachel Ashenden, Rachel Cronin, Rosanna Miller, Sean Greenhorn, Suzy Pope Social Media and Content Editor Megan Merino Business Development Manager Jayne Atkinson Affiliates Manager Kevin Fullerton Media Sales Executive Ewan Wood Digital Operations Executive Leah Bauer Published by List Publishing Ltd 2 Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh EH8 9SU Tel: 0131 623 3040 ISSN:editor@list.co.uklist.co.uk0959-1915 © 2022 List Publishing Ltd. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden without the written permission of the publishers. The List does not accept responsibility for unsolicited material. The List provides this content in good faith but no guarantee or representation is given that the content is accurate, complete or up-to-date. Use of magazine content is at your own risk. Printed by Acorn Web Offset Ltd, W.Yorkshire.

Our art special is augmented by OMOS, a moving image project which pays homage to Scotland’s untold Black history, while an art-dance-poetry work takes place in the lavish and atmospheric Mount Stuart on the Isle Of Bute featuring Eve Mutso, the former principal dancer at Scottish Ballet. Keeping the art flame alive across the mag, Dovecot Studios’ director Celia Joicey writes about the current wave of digital exhibitions, and we speak to historian, curator and podcaster Katy Hessel about the need to promote women artists and keep men out of the picture for a bit. If you think a bat rave is a curious affair, have a nibble on Flux Gourmet, the latest film from Peter Strickland in which things go horribly wrong at an artists’ retreat. We’re also rolling out some big names this issue, featuring interviews with Tilda Swinton, Doug Stanhope and Brian Cox (not the Dundee Succession one, the other one: the D:Ream particle physicist one) and having our say on the latest works by Scottish Ballet, Alan Cumming, Beth Orton and Ian McEwan. Plus we gird our loins, grit our teeth and try not to get overly queasy at David Cronenberg’s latest slab of icky body-horror. September really is turning out to be the strangest month.

September 2022 THE LIST 5 Del Amitri King Creosote songboy blues tAnKAnD the bAngAs the lost WorDs DAllAhAn sonA JobArteh nAti DreDDD DreAmers’ CirCus KefAyA & elAhAsoroor hAnnAh rArity ross Ainslie & Ali hutton trio siobhAn miller sCott mAttheWs hAmish nApier CAlA goitse ACibreirA nAtionAl youth pipe bAnD Commissioned by As part ofFunded by Live Music - Performance - Talks & Workshops - Family Activities northern meeting pArK 2-4 septemberDAinvernessnDelion festivAlfree Totally

P eople are back inside museums and galleries. Successive lockdowns fast-tracked online access to our collections, curators engaged new audiences with social media and there were multiple opportunities to see and hear the history of art on Zoom. Yet, after two years of social distancing, there is pent-up demand for art in-person, especially when served with a slice of gallery café cake.

Made me cry: Phoebe Bridgers’ Manchester gig in July. Seeing my most favourite ‘sad girl’ in the flesh was a life achievement (and worth suffering the overnight Megabus). ‘Scott Street’ is my go-to crying song.

THE INSIDER

Meanwhile, curators worldwide are navigating how best to collect and present artworks with cutting-edge technological requirements, including 360-degree Virtual Reality headsets.

It is early days for combining digital art and exhibitions and we are still learning. Perhaps the most exciting landscape for innovation can be found on a gaming console, with Scottish talent a major contributor. The booming games industry and clever VR environments highlight the opportunity to blend physical in-person museum experiences with augmented and VR environments. In future, it should be possible to personalise the visitor journey with multiple and intuitive access to digital assets on different platforms, including gaming. But, in practice, the technology remains expensive and can be unreliable. It is hard to predict how post-pandemic museum visitors (and museum budgets) might evolve. But the commercial sector has faith. Currently, in Glasgow, you can travel instantaneously into the Sistine Chapel in Rome via the Old Ice Rink at Braehead Shopping Centre, part of a world exhibition tour; and, in recent months, the Van Gogh Alive experience in Edinburgh used film and projection to position visitors inside his paintings. These ventures are popular, profitable and Instragrammable, and their purely digital model means they can be replicated worldwide.

Made me sad: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All At Once. I caught it in the cinema last month and haven’t been the same since. So sad and poignant while also managing to be the most ridiculous film I’ve ever seen. Made me think: Ruth Ewan’s The Beast. After hiking up Calton Hill to Collective, Ewan’s exhibition about the human consequences of capitalism had me feeling deflated.

In this series of articles, we turn the focus back on ourselves by asking folk at The List about cultural artefacts that touch their heart and soul. This time around, Rachel Cronin tells us about cultural things which . . .

Some have seen this shift as a chance to continue innovating. The recently reopened Burrell Collection comes with a Bloomberg Philanthropies digital guide; the V&A Dundee has offered multi-sensory exhibitions including Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer; and, at Dovecot, we scan every exhibition using Matterport to enable remote 3D access, plus our latest Raphael tapestry detail is being shown as part of a film and a digital exhibition (Raphael: Magister Raffaelo) tracing the artist’s life and work.

 dovecotstudios.com

There are also new digital art stars to contend with: this summer, Dovecot hosted an exclusive international party to celebrate artists creating Non-Fungible Tokens. Scotland might be home to more than one NFT artist, and our multivenue party highlighted the medium’s growth, but NFTs are a relatively new development.

The growth of digital and virtual reality experiences in galleries and museums is opening up a world of new opportunities, says Dovecot Studios director Celia Joicey

Made me angry: Happening by Audrey Diwan (last year’s film adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s L’événement). It hit me that this harrowing story of an illegal abortion in 1960s France is becoming more painfully relevant by the day.

Made me think twice: Women In The Picture by Catherine McCormack. Her book uncovers some uncomfortable revelations about depictions of women in art throughout history. She ruthlessly picks apart everything, from representations of Venus to problems behind glorifying the ‘sad girl’ phenomenon (I was devasted, but she’s so right).

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As yet, the world awaits a truly hybrid in-person and virtual exhibition experience that captures the full gamut of the human senses. At Dovecot, inspiration might just lie in tapestry. The 14th-century ‘The Lady And The Unicorn’ tapestries in Musee de Cluny, Paris, are a masterpiece in the history of art. Together, they immerse the viewer in a forest with a narrative that explores touch, taste, sight, sound, smell and a mysterious ‘sixth sense’ described as ‘à mon seul désir’ (to my only desire). Post-covid, the future for museum and gallery exhibitions lies not only in the art and exhibitions we curate, but in capturing imagination and desire.

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With Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ continuing to dominate the charts, another long-neglected musical artefact is begging for a revival: the keytar. This embittered bastard son of the instrument world is surely plotting to murder its nemesis, the drum machine, in the near future, and it has the sex appeal of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic in a paper thong. But put one in an episode of Stranger Things and it’ll be a TikTok sensation in milliseconds.

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THE KEYTAR

CELEBRITY SAS: WHO DARES WINS

‘Who dares wins’ is a rubbish motto. Those who dare are also statistically more likely to suffer and die. Either way, it’s the lynchpin of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, in which a parade of recognisable-if-you-squint slebs take on sanitised SAS-inspired challenges while inadvertently acting as a PR arm for government-sanctioned death merchants. Those hoping for a season finale in which Marlon Brando slaughters a cow and decries the horror of war will (probably) be disappointed.

‘Kids, if you’re jumping on the bed, don’t touch mummy’s saw,’ is a phrase I never imagined I’d have to use. I’ve always been fascinated by musical saw since watching Delicatessen back in the 90s (there is a beautiful scene where Marie-Laure Dougnac and Dominique Pinon duet on a roof, playing cello and saw). It’s been described as sounding like ‘a soprano without words’, ‘a ghost’ or ‘a theremin’, though I think it has a sweeter, more melancholy whisper than theremin. When I play, however, it still sounds like a cat in pain. Miraculously (or not?), my greyhound used to love the sound. He would lie closing his eyes gently (unlike when I read aloud my stories to him and he would get up and leave the room). Singing saw teachers are thin on the ground in Scotland, so I’ve been using YouTube to learn. One day I’ll remember not to leave it lying around when I’m finished.

 Lucy Ribchester writes psychological thrillers as Elle Connel. Her latest, You Can Stay, launches at Waterstones Princes Street, Edinburgh, Thursday 22 September. new hobby It Back Get It Gone

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Stuff we’d love to see return and things we wish would quietly exit Ignoring its more common DIY application, author Lucy Ribchester has taken up the saw as a musical instrument genre-spanning soundtrack to as curated by The List team. music by artists including Bob Dylan, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blancmange, LISALÖÖF, Rudi Zygadlo, PJ Moore & Co, Beth Orton, Junk Pups and many more. and listen as you read:

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THE CHAMBERECHO They may have had a pretty bad press over the last few years but sound artist Hanna Tuulikki is making us think afresh about our bat neighbours. To kick off our art special, Rachel Ashenden ﬁnds out about echolocation, heterodyning, mimesis and, most importantly, how to put on a bat rave TUULIKKIHANNA >> WINRAMLAURENCEPICTURES:BROWNMVBYSFXANDMAKEUP specialart September 2022 THE LIST 9

Echo In The Dark has emerged from a series of fruitful encounters and strange synchronicities. In 2020, Hospitalfield teamed up with Tayside Bat Group to hold bat walks at dusk, and also piloted a bat-detector lending library; members of the public could borrow equipment which analysed the sound waves of ultrasonic bat calls as well as revealed which species they had encountered. Recognising the resonances with Tuulikki’s practice, Hospitalfield approached the artist to develop a project on bats and, coincidentally, the idea of focusing on an echolocation dance space was already brewing in her mind. Deeply invested in the bat-rave world they have created, the pair generously take the time to explain the fundamentals of echolocation to me. Bats emit ultrasonic pulses to build up a picture of their environment when hunting for food, with their sounds too highpitched for most humans to hear. Echo In The Dark uses specialist equipment and a technique called heterodyning which essentially converts bat sounds by pitching them down a few octaves, thereby making them audible to human ears. The process is ‘a hybrid of bat and human ingenuity’, says Perman, who describes the recordings as a kind of ‘portrait of places’, adding, ‘people also do echolocation all the time, but we’re not really aware of it. It’s so instinctive for any >>

aving and dance music can offer a space to harness radical hope for the future.’ Glasgow-based artist, musician and vocalist Hanna Tuulikki is talking about Echo In The Dark, a sonic and performance project which culminates in a series of silent raves. Kicking off at Arbroath’s Hospitalfield before touring further afield, participants will dance to the rhythms and frequencies of bat calls. Sadly, Tuulikki hasn’t joined our interview in her bat-rave costume, which consists of brilliant bat-like prosthetics, neon make-up and a tie-dyed tracksuit. She elaborates, exuberantly communicating her belief that humans must find a way to co-exist ecologically with their mammal kin. Tommy Perman, her musical collaborator for Echo In The Dark, offers his agreement. ‘Me and Hanna have a shared belief that we are not separate from nature.’ This notion of human-animal hybridity permeates Tuulikki’s beautiful and exploratory work; for instance, in Seals’kin, her film from earlier this year, she uses her body to ruminate on what it might mean to ‘become-with-seal’ by delving into the myths of selkies.

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Audience participation will open up a new dimension to Echo In The Dark, where human sounds and movements are not hindered by social constrictions. Through music and technology, Tuulikki seeks to remove the bodily boundaries between human ravers sweating on the ground and winged bats soaring through the sky.

‘Our hybrid bat world is going to meet a new audience and we don’t know how that interaction will pan out,’ notes Tuulikki.

Echo In The Dark, Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Thursday 8–Saturday 10 September.

September 2022 THE LIST 11 human in a tunnel or a church to make a large sound to hear what kind of echo it Mimesis,makes.’theimitation of sounds and movements, is a prominent theme within Tuulikki’s research-led, multi-disciplinary practice. During the process of developing Echo In The Dark, Tuulikki was moved to create a rave experience based on how bat echolocation calls sound. ‘Their clicks, their buzzes and rhythms could be mistaken for electronic dance music,’ insists Tuulikki before she takes a moment to credit a vital source of inspiration (the philosopher Timothy Morton) who has written extensively about ecological awareness. Tuulikki reads out a statement from Morton’s work in which they describe how ‘dance music reveals a process of becoming aware . . . of what is called “present” is in fact this pulsating, vibrating, moving without travelling thing, or group of things flowing to their own rhythm.’ The silent bat raves are accompanied by the release of a 7” lathe-cut EP, featuring a new set of dance tracks derived from the echolocation calls and infused with Tuulikki’s mesmerising voice. The EP, which Tuulikki describes as both a ‘visceral’ and an ‘intimate’ way to tune bat sounds, was driven by a community-focused exercise.

In collaboration with Hospitalfield, Tuulikki gathered public submissions of echolocation recordings; these contributions include 14 of the 18 bat species in the UK. Morton also appears on the tracks as a special guest. By the way Tuulikki and Perman feed off each other, it is clear that the silent bat raves are going to be memorable. To create Echo In The Dark, they have wholeheartedly dived into a hybrid bat world, but also left plenty of room for laughter and joy as they joke about What We Do In The Shadows and how they’re unable to say the word ‘bat’ normally anymore.

AN EXPERIENCE LIKE NO OTHER BOOK NOw IN A CITY LIKE NO OTHER

It took eight years for her plan to reach fruition, but dancer and choreographer Eve Mutso would not be denied. As she co-creates an art-dance-poetry work at Mount Stuart, she tells Kelly Apter that wrapped into this piece are a Greek myth, The Great Bear and some mirrored ﬂoors for good measure

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E ve Mutso was enjoying a cup of tea and a scone when it came to her. The former Scottish Ballet principal spied a feedback form in the café at Mount Stuart, a 19th-century mansion on the Isle Of Bute, and had an idea. ‘I wrote down, “would like to see more dance here”,’ she recalls. ‘I knew full well that they never programme dance; they have a visual-arts programme that has been running for over 20 years, but they never have any dance.’ But choreographer and dancer Mutso ﬁnally has her wish. And even better, she is the one who’s delivering it. Created in close collaboration with poet Rhona Warwick Paterson, Pacing The Void will be performed in the stars

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14 THE LIST September 2022 MUTSOEVE in Mount Stuart’s impressive Marble Hall. Comprising choreography, verse, soundscape and a ceramic art installation, this multi-faceted work was eight years in the planning and several months in the making. Although now back in her native Estonia, Mutso spent many years living in Glasgow while at Scottish Ballet, with trips to the Isle Of Bute a regular respite from the city. So taken was she with Mount Stuart that Mutso became a member, leading to multiple visits and (it turns out) opportunities to get ‘Youinspired.gotothat island, leave the mainland behind and suddenly your lungs expand, you look up more and your senses open,’ says Mutso, her eyes brightening just at the thought of it. ‘I know the house really well and Rhona began to visit it, so it became like a pilgrimage for art. We started to dig into the archives and had quite a few trips in different seasons, together and alone. I had all this knowledge I’d gathered from the Mount Stuart guides over the years and I told Rhona all the stories I’d heard.’ In a house filled with splendour, there was no shortage of locations for a site-specific work, but the women were particularly drawn to the Marble Hall. Over 80ft tall and decorated with 20 types of marble, the room is the jewel in Mount Stuart’s crown. Look up past the high arches and balconies and you’ll find an incredible ceiling decorated with constellations studded with glass crystals. Mutso and Warwick Paterson had found their spot. ‘I just kept looking up and thinking there’s something there; it was really drawing my attention,’ recalls Mutso. ‘And then a guide told me that the 3rd Marquess Of Bute, who built the house, had planned to have a circular dining table covered in mirrors so his guests didn’t have to look up to see the constellations while they were eating. I just loved that story.’ As a result, Pacing The Void will be performed on a mirrored floor with the audience looking down from the balconies above. We can choose to look up at the constellations, or down at Mutso, and see the stars reflected back at us. As for the work itself, Mutso was inspired by the Greek myth of Callisto, who is raped by Zeus, transformed into a bear, gives birth, then roams the wilderness for 16 years until her own son tries to hunt her. Eventually, Zeus turns her into the constellation Ursa Major, or ‘The Great Bear’ as it’s commonly known. It’s a lot to fit into a 30-minute work, but Mutso will focus mainly on Callisto’s wilderness years.

‘We wanted to tell a very human story that really touches an audience,’ explains Mutso. ‘So you’ll see a woman who is very grounded but then goes through emotional turmoil: she’s lost her voice, her body, her place in society and her son, so there’s a deep sorrow. And then the dance finishes with the installation; Rhona and I created ceramics from the space between both our palms, had them fired and turned into meteoric black sculptures. To have sound, poetry, the hands and dance all merge together will hopefully enrich Mount Stuart’s visual arts programme. I think the stars have aligned.’

Pacing The Void, Mount Stuart, Isle Of Bute, Friday 9–Sunday 11 September.

16 THE LIST September 2022 GWANDEWASHINGTONPICTURES: OMOS QUEEN OF

Lucy Ribchester speaks to pole-dance artist Kheanna Walker about her role in paying homage to a slice of forgotten history

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‘I was only told about this by Adam [Castle, producer] and Rhys [Hollis, performer] when they sent through the brief of the film,’ says Kheanna Walker, a pole-dance artist and one quarter of the cast of beguiling art film

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OMOS

OMOS takes the story of a disturbing 16th-century performance at Stirling Castle and responds with a luminous celebration of Black and queer excellence.

I t’s a shocking tale, and doubtless one that’s seldom (if ever) recounted when A Midsummer Night’s Dream crops up on the school curriculum. In 1594, a royal entertainment for James VI was set to take place at Stirling Castle, featuring a lion pulling a chariot. But at the last minute, out of fear for guests’ safety, the lion was removed. It’s thought the incident may have gone on to inspire a joke in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was first performed a year later. What the joke fails to mention however, is that replacing the lion pulling the chariot was an unnamed Black man.

OMOS, which takes this degrading story and stares it down with a powerful 20-minute display of Black artistry. Walker had answered an ad looking for artists to audition for the project, coming at a time when she was on ‘a mission to do more for Black culture, the Black community, Black artistry, Black excellence’.Shockedby the story, she quickly saw how her training as a pole dancer (which Walker says is about ‘beauty, grace, strength and flexibility’) could create a dance that fitted with the essence of this piece. ‘The attitude of my character is very confident, very in control. I was like a mystical fairy, confident in my movement, confident in my charm, like a queen; I was trying to exude a neon queen vibe.’ In the film, Walker wears acid pastel colours and enormous spike-heeled boots as she entwines herself around a huge metal CASTLE

OMOS was filmed mainly in Puck’s Glen in Dunoon, a fertile, misty woodland that teems with elfish atmosphere. It starts out with a percussive, electro-rhythmic soundtrack, to which Divine Tasinda performs a sharp, sensual solo of fierce street dance. Tasinda then strides through the forest to come upon Rhys Hollis, who recites a blistering poem about racism and identity (‘you’ve slaughtered my past and I don’t know how to breathe’). Together they journey deeper, both watching Walker as she commands her pole. The drama is amped up as the trio processes calmly towards the Great Hall of Stirling Castle, the scene of the racist act, to behold . . . well, you’ll have to watch it to find out. But just to say that it’s a glorious, joyous, life-affirming, surreal treat from opera singer Andrea Baker. The theme of watching and being watched is strong throughout, and was intended, Walker says, to be a show of solidarity. ‘We’re able to not only share our art, but to experience watching our brothers and sisters.’ It seizes back the gaze from the Great Hall guests of 1594 and uses it to support, to care and above all to show appreciation for the beauty of each other. ‘We’re all from different disciplines, but we’re all able to not only share, but also witness and give support. And also to appreciate the diversity and huge abundance of talent that all of us have, especially as a Black community.’

OMOS, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Saturday 3 September–Sunday 2 October.

18 THE LIST September 2022 OMOS pole. She’s not trying to blend in with the forest around her but to stand out. ‘It’s like, I am here. I’m taking up space and I’m showing that I’m proud to take up space. I’m not going to just blend in with the foliage. I’m going to actually stick out.’

 Collective, Edinburgh, Wednesday 19 October–early 2023.

Like A Huge Scotland

The 20th-century Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham is the focus of Mark Cousins’ ambitious new artwork. Like A Huge Scotland is an intense visual and surround-sound experience which serves as an elegy for a glacier which is disappearing due to global warming. Coinciding with the release of Cousins’ feature film on Barns-Graham, this unique four-screen display will enlarge details of her glacier paintings to 10,000 times their original size.

Rachel Ashenden picks ﬁve more seasonal highlights that you should fall for

Katie Schwab Collective’s City Dome will be transformed into a playground of sorts, taken over by a large-scale installation made by artist Katie Schwab. The Seeing Hands will be interactive, encouraging tactile engagement through layers of textures and touchable surfaces. Influenced by early-mid 20th-century design, Schwab’s vibrant, family-friendly exhibition fosters learning through play.

art autumnfor

From cocktail sweaters to woollen swimwear, this major exhibition of 20thcentury fashion knitwear is the first of its kind to be presented in Scotland. Featuring over 150 iconic knitwear pieces by the likes of fashion innovators Vivienne Westwood and Julien Macdonald, the influence of art movements such as punk, pop and modernism will be unravelled across the display.

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 Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, Saturday 15 October–Saturday 11 March.

 Tramway, Glasgow, Saturday 3 September–Sunday 5 February.

 Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, Saturday 5–Sunday 27 November. Matthew Arthur Williams This exhibition debuts a new body of work by Glasgow-based artist Matthew Arthur Williams, marking their first major solo exhibition in a UK institution. Williams’ practice spans visual art and sound, photography and DJing. For many years, Williams’ work has developed through close collaboration with others (including friends, family and peers) to create projects which explore themes of care, love, family, memory, representation and resistance. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Saturday 10 December–Sunday 26 March.

KNITWEAR: Chanel To Westwood

Norman Gilbert Norman Gilbert’s tender body of work will be celebrated in the heart of Glasgow’s Southside, where the artist lived, loved and painted for 50 years. A prominent figure in the local community, Gilbert (1926–2019) captured the essence of his neighbours, who regularly frequented his home on Shields Road. Alongside beautifully intimate paintings depicting everyday family life, textiles and ephemera from Gilbert’s studio will also be presented at Tramway to represent the artist’s long and dedicated career.

ARTAUTUMN

Conor McPherson’s Depression-era musical play has been a huge hit with audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Kelly Apter meets two of its young Scottish actors and chats with the play’s Tony-winning orchestrator about working with Bob Dylan’s timeless hits COUNTRYNORTH

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Played live by a four-piece band, with additional musical backup from quadruple-threat cast members, the music has an authentic period feel, partly achieved by only using instruments that were actually available in 1934.

‘The arrangements and medleys are incredible,’ says Milne. ‘The way Simon shifts from song to song, and the atmosphere he creates is really cool. Conor always says the songs are the milk and honey to the vinegar in the scenes; and they are. They’re really uplifting and cathartic.’

‘It was important that visually and sonically I was representing the period of the piece, the Great Depression in America, so anything glossy felt wrong in terms of drama,’ says Hale. ‘I researched acoustic guitars and found one that had a cone inside it to make it sound louder. The violin, double bass and piano are obviously hundreds of years old, and then we chose a harmonium because I discovered that small portable ones would sometimes be carried around by preachers, which also gave us a sense of community and choir.’

he weather is cold, the house ramshackle, its occupants troubled, money is scarce, and there’s no end in sight. Sound like fun? You’d be surprised. What reads like the recipe for an evening of misery is in fact the setting for one of the most uplifting stage shows in recent years. Written and directed by Irish playwright Conor McPherson, Girl From The North Country has met with unanimous approval from audiences in London, on Broadway, and now on its national tour of the UK; and it’s easy to see why. Set in Duluth, Minnesota, in the winter of 1934 (a particularly biting one at the height of America’s Great Depression), the show’s characters may be steeped in poverty but they’re full of heart. A guesthouse proprietor, his ailing wife, alcoholic son and pregnant teenage daughter form the centrepiece, with guests and itinerant strays passing in and out of their lives. Every one of them has a story to tell, love to share and, best of all, a song to sing. Which is where the show’s not-so-secret weapon comes in, in the form of music and lyrics by Bob Dylan. But unlike most other pieces of musical theatre that’s gone before it, none of the 19 songs we hear were written for the show nor play any part in driving the narrative along. Many of them aren’t even particularly well known. Aside from ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, ‘Make You Feel My Love’, ‘All Along The Watchtower’, ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Forever Young’, the rest are mostly obscure album tracks. Yet despite Dylan’s lyrics not directly affecting the storyline, each song perfectly conveys a feeling at just the right time.

‘That was extraordinary,’ says Hale. ‘I’m very proud to be a part of this show, and the fact that it’s been recognised in this way is a great honour. I think using Dylan’s songs undoubtedly helped our cause, because people will have heard them and thought, “oh, I didn’t expect it to be like that” or “it doesn’t sound like that on his album”. But I was delighted not just for me but for the show and the industry. Because it’s just a small acoustic band, with no headphones, no click tracks, no electronics: what you see is what you get. It’s a very real, visceral piece of theatre and for something as raw and folk-based as this to get a Tony Award is just really exciting.’

Both Carswell and Milne give their characters a real sense of gravitas as well as packing a punch with their vocal delivery, not just with solos and duets, but as members of a glorious, harmonised ensemble. Thanks, in no small part, go to Simon Hale, the man responsible for orchestrating Dylan’s music, who combined some of his songs into gorgeous mash-ups and arranged the vocal harmonies.

Since opening in London in 2017, the show has scooped several awards, including two Oliviers and most recently a Tony Award for Hale’s orchestrations, which he says not only brought a sense of personal pride but is a victory for lo-fi creativity.

Girl From The North Country, Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Tuesday 13–Saturday 17 September; Edinburgh Playhouse, Tuesday 18–Saturday 22 October.

Both Carswell and fellow cast member Gregor Milne, who plays the angry, booze-soaked son of the guesthouse owner, trained at the Dance School Of Scotland in Glasgow before heading to drama school in London. Remarkably, but deservedly, Girl From The North Country is their first professional engagement since graduating. How do they feel a show set almost 100 years ago, on the other side of the Atlantic, can connect to modern-day British audiences? ‘It’s the idea that you just have to keep going no matter what,’ says Milne. ‘And especially after the last few years we’ve all had during the pandemic, it would have been so easy to give up. But all the characters in the show still keep pushing on and trying to make sense of it all.’

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‘His lyrics are so universal that they instantly tell you everything about a character,’ says Paisley-born Ross Carswell, who plays guesthouse resident Elias Burke. ‘In a traditional musical, the songs are saying “this is what you should think or feel at this plot point”, but I feel like this music affects the audience in a different way. It doesn’t push it in your face, it leaves you to make your mind up. So much of Dylan’s music is really dark and yet uplifting at the same time; it’s a weird combination which you also find in this show as well.’

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GOURMETFLUX THE CUTTING

CUTTING ROOM >>

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Weird, wild and warped, Flux Gourmet is another bold addition to Peter Strickland’s blossoming CV. James Mottram speaks to the director and his loyal star Fatma Mohamed about shock value, florid dialogue and gastrointestinal disease W hen Peter Strickland began work on his new film Flux Gourmet, he threw it all into the proverbial cooking pot. Food allergies. Experimental music. Performance art. Power games. All seasoned with a dash of 1970s Euro-arthouse. The result is a wild and weird dish served up by its British director who has already cultivated a reputation for edgy fare in films such as the Italian giallo-inspired Berberian Sound Studio (2012) and S&Mtinged The Duke Of Burgundy (2014). FluxGourmet is set around an artistic residency, with a culinary collective coming together to record music from the sounds of

Peter’s friends: (from top) Berberian Sound Studio, Katalin Varga, The Duke Of Burgundy

Still, as the artists come to exploit poor Stones for their work, it gets increasingly scatological. ‘I was shocked a little bit,’ says Fatma Mohamed, holding her head in her hands when I ask how it felt when she first read the script. A star of Flux Gourmet (she plays Elle, one of the extreme artists), the Romanian-born actress has been in every Strickland film since his 2009 debut Katalin Varga. ‘At the same time, I was thinking, “only with Peter can I afford to do this”. I trust him.’ To prepare for the role, Strickland sent her a wealth of material to absorb: still images, album covers, videos and films including 1963’s French crime yarn Judex, one of the movie’s myriad cinematic influences. She also listened to Strickland’s work in The Sonic Catering Band, a 1990s musical outfit who were very much the inspiration for this film’s culinary collective. ‘I think it’s an homage to his friends who were doing this experimental music,’ she says. ‘He showed me some pictures too: Peter with a chef’s hat on!’ Having proved herself highly capable with Strickland’s wonderfully florid dialogue (none more so than when she played the department store clerk in his 2018 horror-drama In Fabric), this time Mohamed took the opportunity to work with a dialogue coach. For two days, they collaborated on Zoom to help the actress get her tongue around his words. ‘It’s not easy,’ she chuckles, softly. ‘Peter is always challenging me so much in all areas of English!’ Every detail is thought out to the nth degree. Take the title. ‘It’s not used in the film, in the same way that Reservoir Dogs is never mentioned,’ notes Strickland. ‘The flux came from reflux, of course, but also flux is the art movement [Fluxus] with Yoko Ono. Titles are really important but I don’t always get them right. Berberian: I hate that title now, but I like Flux Gourmet. It has that feel. You just want it to relate to what you’re seeing. And it’s not really a gourmet film.’

While Flux Gourmet invokes films like Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom (1975) and Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) in its more extreme moments, it hasn’t led to mass walkouts, says Mohamed. At the UK premiere at last month’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. ‘They

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these artists is the shy Stones (Makis Papadimitriou) who suffers from a particularly unpleasant gastrointestinal problem. ‘There’s a frustration I felt with how food allergies are dealt with in film,’ Strickland says. ‘Someone getting anaphylactic shock in a film is played as comedy . . . I guess I wanted to make an alternative and look at it more seriously.’ He pauses. ‘I don’t want to present myself as the Florence Nightingale of film. But at the same time, you want to contribute something to that conversation.’

food. As the group falls out, the performances get increasingly risqué. ‘I’m interested in shock value, and I’m interested in the hypocrisies around shock value,’ Strickland explains. ‘The wrong things often seem shocking; and the things that you should be shocked by are not seen as shocking. And it’s led right into Documentingthis.’

A darkly funny and gruelling examination of decadence’s logical endpoint.

September 2022 THE LIST 27 GOURMETFLUX

box office gross

LA GRANDE BOUFFE

In which drag icon Divine eats real dog poo from the ground to prove how disgusting she can be.

Jan Švankmajer’s food phobia is well documented, and it’s ever-present in one of his few feature-lengths, turning a pleasant meal between family members into a series of visceral close-ups as food is shovelled into mouths like innards into a threshing machine.

THE MEANING OF LIFE François Rabelais would be proud of Monty Python’s Mr Creosote sequence, a gleeful celebration of vomit and viscera. Creosote is a rotund upper-class grotesque who loves food and vomiting on his inferiors. His waiter in an upmarket restaurant overfeeds the glutton to literal bursting point, watching as his greedy guts explode over well-dressed patrons.

Flux Gourmet is not the only film to find horror in gastronomy. To put you right off your next meal, Kevin Fullerton has cooked up some cinematic recommendations for those with very strong stomachs were laughing a lot. I was so happy,’ she says. ‘You need a specific sense of humour, especially for this movie.’ Although it’s niche, Flux Gourmet does come with Game Of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie (who appeared in In Fabric) playing the group’s flamboyant patron Jan Stevens. Then there’s Asa Butterfield as Billy, the collective’s youngest member. Well known for his role in Netflix hit Sex Education, Butterfield was suggested by Strickland’s casting director. ‘He’s interesting,’ says the director. ‘I was after this Joe D’Alessandro feel from the Warhol days, this very low-key passive guy who everybody wants to have sex with. He really found that.’ When they shot (under covid conditions), everyone lived and worked together in a house outside York. When they weren’t shooting, they played croquet on the lawn, while Butterfield and Papadimitriou entertained the others with their guitars. Strickland faced external pressures (he had just 14 days to shoot) so having actors on set that he knew helped enormously. ‘Especially Fatma,’ he admits. ‘We’ve done every film together. So there was a shorthand definitely. She really pushed herself on this one.’ Certainly that’s the case in the finale when Mohamed’s Elle goes full-on in front of a live audience. ‘She’s someone who lives off shock value, and she became addicted by it,’ says Strickland of the character. ‘Once you get people gasping in an audience, it’s quite a thrill.’ In his eyes, though, he’s not interested in shocking for the sake of it. ‘To me, I get shocked very easily. Extreme violence shocks me. I don’t like it. My films are not that violent at all.’ Violent, no? But provocative? Most definitely.

It’s not big and it’s not clever, but it is one of the most famous scenes in underground cinema.

A cause célèbre of its time, Marco Ferreri’s 1973 satire is the age-old tale of rich aristocrats and their prostitute pals who retreat to the countryside and gorge themselves to death with a feast of chicken legs, orgies and mash.

John Waters, your crown as the king of trash remains untarnished.

PINK FLAMINGOS

MONTY PYTHON’S

DAISIES

Vera Chytilová’s anarchic 1966 comedy-drama uses fine dining and food consumption for plenty of subversive fun, from satirising the rich to meditating on hedonism. But the film’s finest sequence finds its female leads chopping phallically shaped foodstuffs to mock their expectant male lovers. You’ll never look at a cucumber the same way again.

Flux Gourmet is in cinemas from Friday 30 September.

LITTLE OTIK

It’s time to celebrate all things literary with the Wigtown Book Festival, which features a programme of more than 200 events. Speakers from the worlds of science, journalism, poetry and fiction will engage audiences in this thought-provoking season. Various venues, Wigtown, 23 September – 2 October.

WIGTOWN BOOK FESTIVAL

ARCTIC FORGOTTENVENTURES:STORIES OF SCOTTISH WHALING

Newtonmore Village Hall, 20 September, 7.30pm.

Gairloch Museum is hosting a wealth of storytelling events for all the family as part of their Year of Stories programme. Included on their roster is the broadcaster Roddy Maclean who’ll lead Gaelic walks, and artist Abe Locke whose illustrations have inspired a new animated short based on Gairloch fairy tale ‘The Gille Dubh’. Gairloch Museum, 2–13 September.

The Scottish whaling industry’s rich history is being placed in the spotlight at the Scottish Fisheries Museum. These forgotten stories will be brought to life through bespoke textile art, echoing the crafts and logs undertaken on whaling voyages, while local folk musicians will give a rousing performance of traditional whaling songs. Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther, 2 September – 27 November.

In a unique celebration of Scotland’s stories, history, landscape and people, the Findhorn Bay Festival gives local communities a voice. Expect a musical exploration of Scotland’s coast and maritime heritage and hopes for its future. Various venues, Findhorn, 23 September – 2 October.

THE APPRENTICE’S TALE

Enjoy a wide-ranging exhibition charting the real-life journey of the Tall Ship Glenlee from Sydney to Cape Town using the logbooks of apprentice Ernest (Andy) Andersen, who joined the ship’s crew in 1918 aged just 16. Providing a vibrant account of the events onboard, this is an evocative way to experience the high seas. The Tall Ship Glenlee, Glasgow, until 5 December. For more info on all Year of Stories events, scan the QR code or visitscotland.com/storiesvisit Force K6 Indian Contingent Story (credit Miss J.L.Legge) Caraidean is Uilebheistean (credit Pauline Mackay and Gwen Bowie)

GAIRLOCH MUSEUM’S FESTIVAL OF STORIES

YEAR OF STORIES EVENTS TAKING PLACE THIS AUTUMN MORE THAN 300 EVENTS ARE TAKING PLACE ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS PART OF SCOTLAND’S YEAR OF STORIES. HERE ARE EIGHT TO ENJOY AS WE LEAVE BEHIND THE SUMMER MONTHS Arctic Ventures (credit Caroline Hack) Tall Ship Glenlee (credit Museums Galleries Scotland) Left: The

FINDHORN BAY FESTIVAL

The Gille Dubh A Gairloch Fairy Tale (credit Ralph Creative Ltd) ADVERTISING FEATURE

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VOICES FROM DAVA MOOR Grantown Museum will celebrate the centenary of Maurice Walsh’s novel A Key Above The Door with an exploration of the novel’s location, Dava Moor. Includes a storytelling walk that will discuss the moor’s history and the people who lived there when Walsh was penning his best-known work. Grantown Museum, Grantown-on-Spey, 9–11 September.

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During the second world war, a small Indian force was stationed in the Cairngorms after fleeing Dunkirk. This thewithstoryperformancemultimediatellstheirfascinatingastheyforgedfriendshipslocalcommunitiesthroughoutHighlands.

THE FORCE K6 – INDIAN CONTINGENT STORY

CARAIDEAN IS UILEBHEISTEAN (FRIENDS AND MONSTERS) Discover the power of Gaelic storytelling with free stories for children up to the age of eight, read by local authors. It’ll be an afternoon of games, songs and stories, and kids will be able to make their own spider to take home. Inverness Library, 17 September, 2pm.

BIG FEED

shopdrinkeat LTDSTUDIOSVANCEPICTURE: September 2022 THE LIST 29

Travelling street food collective Big Feed have moved indoors (at least partly), with their Big Feed Kitchen’s recent opening on the ground floor of Glasgow’s Princes Square. Led by chef Michael Scott and initially running from Thursday to Sunday, they plan to build up to daily opening, with online ordering making it easy for the lunchtime crowd to do a quick pick-up for the office. Inspired by their Big Feed experience, the menu focuses on elevated versions of street-food classics: expect dirty burgers, loaded fries and bao buns, plus knickerbocker glories and cocktail trees for kicking off the weekend. (Jo Laidlaw) n big-feed.com

All the seedheads are brown, and people start to say, “oh god, I’m dreading the winter”. When you forage, you’re sad summer has come to an end, but there’s the smell of the fungi in the woods and knowing that they’re just waiting for that rain, for that moistness.

Foragers develop a renewed appreciation for the changing seasons. ‘Now the leaves are falling off the trees, we’re starting to get the red sunrises that herald the end of summer and the start of autumn.

And as the grasses and vegetation die back and everything becomes limp and wet, that pink purslane will come up in November and take its day in the sun without having to compete with everything else. And the sorrels in the cool woods will become so muchWildecrisper.’notes that there’s something in every season that is special and which changes how people feel about nature and the outdoors.

‘Most people are not going to go on a fully fledged forest diet,’ she says, ‘but I say to people, “add one wild thing a day”; you know, as a garnish, as a tea, or even as a side.’ You don’t have to live in the countryside to add foraged food into your diet. ‘Most ingredients that we forage are not found in the depths of pristine wilderness, they’re found wherever humans disrupt the edge; the edges of parks, the edges of fields, the edges of woods and the edges of ditches,’ says Wilde. ‘When we break up the mat of the grass or cover of the forest, that’s where we create opportunities.’

org or get involved in this year’s

Gut-health specialists agree that modern diets lack diversity. Over 50% of the world’s calories come from just three species (wheat, corn and rice) with soya and potatoes not far behind. In a year, Wilde ate 300 species of plants, 87 species of funghi and 20 species of seaweed. Should we all abandon the supermarkets and go foraging?

Foraging Fortnight across Scotland, Saturday 3–Sunday 18 foragingfortnight.co.ukSeptember, Foraging won’t solve the cost of living crisis, but expert forager, herbalist and ethnobotanist Mo Wilde tells Ailsa Sheldon that adding wild foods to our diet could benefit both health and happiness

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‘People say, “oh no, the weather in Scotland”, but that’s only if you’re inside looking out the window. When you’re actually outside, it’s not like that at all. It’s a very different experience.’

Mo Wilde’s book The Wilderness Cure is out now, published by Simon & Schuster. To find a foraging guide, go to foragers-association.

GO WILD WICKSROBPICTURE: EAT

M o Wilde recently spent a year only eating food she foraged in Scotland, an experience she believes fostered a deeper relationship with the land. ‘If you choose to go foraging, you are choosing to have that direct connection with nature and this planet,’ says Wilde. ‘A lot of people think that foraging is about taking from the world. It’s not: it actually very quickly becomes a far deeper connection of stewardship. Because if you trash the place, you’re not gonna get seconds.’

EAT

side dishes

KREMA BAKEHOUSE Slabs of red velvet cake and a rainbow of photo-perfect cupcakes might tempt passers-by into this takeaway cake shop at the bottom of the Walk. But made-to-order brioche (topped with fresh strawberries, or perhaps vanilla cream and piped with a filling of your choice) is the star of the show.

David Kirkwood reports on the latest news and openings while bidding farewell (for now) to an Edinburgh street-food innovator

Over in Glasgow, the West End gets some baked-goods lovin’ with Pasteis Lisbo, an Iberic deli/bakery hanging its hat on handmade pastel de nata (custard tarts), landing on Byres Road, while much-loved Colombian café Andina has opened a second spot in Finnieston after a successful couple of years at their Dennistoun original. Meanwhile, both cities continue to climb towards pizza zenith, with the Bread Meats Bread group opening the Neapolitan-style Leopardo in Glasgow Fort shopping centre at the end of September, and good old Gordon Ramsay getting in on the act in Stockbridge with his first Street Pizza offering outside of London. If it’s the same as the London ones, then it’s bottomless pizza. All you can eat. We shall see . . .

WOODLAND CREATURES Deluxe cocktails topped with charred marshmallows, small plates focused on Scottish produce and a wide selection of craft beers attract newcomers to this friendly pub. But it’s the faultless service and neighbourhood feel that keeps a stream of regulars calling back. Plus they do a mean Sunday lunch.

T here was a salutary mood down on Pitt Street as Leith hosted its last ever Pitt food market on 28th August, before it all moves to Granton in spring next year. The new site is considerably bigger, with space to host 20 vendors compared to the current six, and so it’s with excitement rather than heavy hearts that we say goodbye to this game-changing spot. Before signing off, though, the venue hosted the Scottish Street Food Awards one final time, and this year’s winners, Junk, are now taking their ‘fine dining-meets-junk food’ ethos down to the British awards in September. Meanwhile, the winner of the People’s Choice nod was Kochchi, whose Sri Lankan delights are now part of the offering up at Bonnie & Wild food hall in St James Quarter.

ORIGANO Handmade pasta dishes and gourmet pizzas are on the menu at this casual spot, which radiates Italian rusticana. A stone pizza oven roars away and the mood is set by flickering candlelight. Spinacio pizza topped with oozing egg and cannelloni stuffed to bursting are the highlights. The wine selection is curated by independent merchants Great Grog.

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URBAN JUNGLE This sleek and trendy spot offers casual brunch, coffee and cake amid lush, green foliage. Verdant houseplants for sale create a botanical backdrop to meals of feta and avocado on freshly baked sourdough and single-origin Brazilian coffees. street food We choose a street and tell you where to eat. Suzy Pope embarks on a twopart culinary tour of Leith Walk. First up, she treks from the Foot of the Walk up to Iona Street

ORINOCO This fast and friendly Venezuelan streetfood joint serves up a menu of arepas, empanadas and cachapa (stuffed corn pancake). It’s the kind of place people make a pilgrimage across Edinburgh to visit, just to try those arepas (corn bread with Latinspiced fillings). Orinoco offers takeaway and delivery only.

Pasteis Lisbo

Tucked away on St Stephen Street in Stockbridge, this cosy ramen bar is like a little slice of late-night Tokyo amid the neighbouring townhouses. An ink-black and raw-wood motif feels Japanese zen, but there’s an upbeat quirkiness to the neon-painted cornices and classic rock and hip hop on the sound system. It’s a precision menu, with just four or five variations of ramen and five or six sides and snacks. Noodles are handmade every day and are served slightly al dente in big bowls of steaming broth. The menu changes regularly, but the signature Rokko Ramen and Toky-No veggie option are almost guaranteed to be on the board. The Rokko Ramen has all the tang and flavour of a traditional tonkotsu broth topped with melt-in-the-mouth slices of pork belly and a gooey egg: it’s the epitome of soul food. Then there are the seasonal dishes that shake it up a bit; a bisque-like broth topped with softshell crab and a venison tataki, both an homage to Scotland’s produce but packed with Japanese flavour. With its cosy interior and steaming bowls of umami-rich ramen, this is definitely a spot for the shorter nights and colder weather.

(Suzy Pope) n 112 St Stephen Street, Edinburgh, rokkorokkodesu.com

RESTAURANT ROKKO ROKKO DESU

Up until a few months ago, if you were in the Gallowgate and in a queue, it was for a gig at The Barras. But then Outlier began pricking the consciousness of the weekend brunch crowd, and now the start of London Road has a trendy buzz aboutCertainit. elements are striking upon entering. First, the size: high ceilings and a space that stretches way back give it a utilitarian warehouse quality that’s contrasted by glazed tiles and waxy plantlife. It’s bigger than we’re used to for breakfast. Then there’s all the bakery equipment. Loads of it. This is a bakery-café with a big emphasis on the first bit; fully functioning, all around you, turning out a serious spread of goods (we’re talking 20-plus options). There’s cardamom and custard tarts, summer berry frangipanes, earthy sourdough, and decadently oleaginous and chewy focaccia. Sometimes, more is Exceptmore.when it’s not, of course, and that means a ‘menu’ of the day which is simply two sandwiches; one’s a riff on fried chicken (always) and the other’s veggie. It’s the chicken that they queue for. Once a batch is ready, it seems like half the tables in the place get them brought over in swift succession. Components like mooli slaw and pickled chilli ping and pop on the palate, while a crisp batter of miso and orange leaves a drawn-out, sticky-spicy growl that lingers. Every element is exciting and has its place: between two slices of delicious bread. As mid-morning becomes early afternoon, those burgeoning counters are often near-enough empty. It’s the place to go. (David Kirkwood) n 38 London Road, Glasgow, instagram.com/outlier.gla

32 THE LIST September 2022 EAT BAKERY/CAFE OUTLIER

Book your tickets Sample,Scotland’swww.thegintomytonic.comatPremierCraftSpiritFestivalSip&CelebrateWithOver50CraftDistillersAberdeen26th-27thAugust2022Edinburgh10th-11thSeptember2022Glasgow28th-30thOctober2022www.thegintomytonic.comScan Me Scotland’s Premier Craft Spirit Festival

BAR FILES

When asked to name my favourite pub in Edinburgh, The Royal Oak immediately came to mind. I was introduced to it by a poet friend of mine, Dorothy Lawrenson, and was captivated by the atmosphere from my first visit. The very best thing about the pub is the live music, which is often traditional folk music. Every time I visit this vibrant pub, I genuinely feel like I’m a part of a community, of something exciting and special that the musicians and warm environment create. Alycia Pirmohamed discusses her new book Another Way To Split Water at Lighthouse Bookshop, Edinburgh, Thursday 1 September and Portobello Bookshop, Edinburgh, Tuesday 6 September.

n the good old days, pubs gave you a simple choice between a pint of Tennent’s or a punch in the face, both of which were welcomed like the embrace of an old friend. Then came craft beer, and with it a tsunami of flavours, hues and viscosity levels.

We ask creative folks to reveal their favourite watering hole

DRINK

34 THE LIST September DRINK2022 UP I

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 to talk to Kevin about . . . pale ale



Now, in this Jetsons age where everyone’s getting pissedup from a microbrewery in their garage, even scheme pubs have IPA on tap, and it’s difficult to discuss beer without highfalutin terms like ‘mouthfeel’, ‘sessionability’ or ‘wet hopped’ infecting the conversation. I’m a sucker for trends as much as any drinks reviewer, so let’s sample three craft beers of the pale ale variety and see if they tickle our tonsils.

First on the bar tab is Stewart Brewing Ka Pai South Pacific Pale Ale, a light and fruity number that parades the taste of mango with single-minded zealotry. It’s as good as any drink from Stewart Brewing, yet its over-reliance on tropical overtones creates the impression that this pale ale is designed for someone who doesn’t particularly like beer. Although machine-tooled for the populous palate, South Pacific remains a step up from the mono-flavour of its arch-rival BrewDog. Approachability’s part of the point, so think of it as a gateway to purer beer and enjoy yourself. The same can’t be said for Edinburgh Beer Factory Untitled IPA, a smoky, malt-centred delight that welcomes you into the domain of unfettered booze. Despite a strong malt overtone, Untitled would make a stilt walker jealous for its faultless balance of hoppiness and milder fruity aftertaste. Keep flying the alcoholic flag, Untitled: I love you. For liver lovers comes the alcohol-free Drynks Unlimited Smashed Pale Ale. It looks like beer, it tastes like beer (a bit), and the label loudly proclaims ‘PALE ALE’ in a doth-protesttoo-much fashion. But Smashed’s overall sensibility is like an encounter with a shapeshifting alien masquerading as your lover. This skin-wearing impostor gets the gist, but its Martian touch is woefully unable to hit the pleasure points of the real thing, leaving you with the limp swirl of barley lingering on your unstimulated tongue. Smashed I was not, impressed even less so.

WRITER AND POET ALYCIA PIRMOHAMED

September 2022 THE LIST 35 sugopasta.co.uk 70 Mitchell Street, Glasgow G1 3LX ALWAYS FRESH. ALWAYS AUTHENTIC. Follow us on social media FINNIESTON | GIFFNOCK | EDINBURGH JOIN US AT THE BRUNCH CLUB WE YOULOVEABRUNCH www.thebrunchclub.co the.brunch.club_ FREE COFFEE* Bring this voucher to The Brunch Club to claim your free coffee *when any main is purchased

S ituated on the creatively vibrant West Princes Street in Glasgow, Hatch has spent the past two years establishing itself as a valuable hub for small-scale designers. The boutique shop is owned and carefully curated by graphic designer Jessica Cora Taylor who, after deciding life was too short, opened this bricks-and-mortar shop in August 2020, shortly after the first lockdown ended. ‘I viewed the premises in February,’ Taylor told us. ‘And then, obviously, the lockdown happened. I wasn’t able to get the keys until June of that year, so I spent that time building theAnwebsite.’online presence laid a solid foundation for her business when she finally received keys to the shop. ‘I relied on that online network first. I managed to build about 1000 followers before I even got in the shop. There are people that say, “We’ve been following your journey. It’d be great to pop in and support you”.’ The wellspring of support surrounding Hatch seems more than appropriate for a brand dedicated to bolstering the success of makers across the UK. Its brightly coloured shelves are teeming with apparel, prints, cards, coffee, pet products and homeware, with a focus on indie sellers whose work Taylor enthusiastically champions. ‘When I first opened the business, I had 40 different creatives I’d met through markets with my own designs. Everything’s UKbased and small brands, and everything’s got that personal touch to it.’ Since then, her roster of talent has ballooned to 120 sellers, including several who are stocking their work in a shop for the very first time. Brands like Edinburgh-based printmaker Alexandra Snowdon, candlemakers House Of Rothach and Glasgow-based jeweller Aillie Anderson have all worked in collaboration with Taylor to create exclusive products for the shop. From its mission statement to the brands on display, Hatch feels like an extension of Taylor’s personality. ‘I find Hatch is like a home from home. Everything there is something I would use and recommend. We’ve run out of space at home to decorate so I put prints in the shop too.’ This is a shop about personal connections, those made in the creative community, those between the local businesses of Glasgow’s West End, and those formed by visitors to the shop itself, many of whom become repeat customers. Hatch’s logo was even designed by an old friend Taylor met at Glasgow Caledonian University in 2014. Community and inclusion form the backbone of Hatch’s creative workshops and talks from local artists, and its focus on sustainable brands. The sense of togetherness means Taylor is attracting a broad range of customers beyond the makers and craftspeople of the local area. ‘We’re getting a mix of people. You never know who’s going to walk in the door, which is great.’ Hatch, 340 West Princes Street, Glasgow, hatchglasgow.co.uk Glasgow’s Hatch is offering a colourfully curated space for indie makers to sell their wares. Kevin Fullerton chats to owner Jessica Cora Taylor about the origins of her business and creating a sense of community

DESIGNGRAND SHOP

36 THE LIST September 2022

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MAMA BROSS’ SIGNATURE SCENT

Focused on producing organic single-origin, microbatch chocolate from bean to bar in their Glasgow factory shop, Bare Bones Chocolate is leading the way in sustainable confectionery production. Learn about the process and try one of their limitededition collaborations (a salted dark chocolate bar with Maldon Salt or a croissant chocolate bar with Southside bakery two.eight.seven). n 7–9 Osborne Street, bareboneschocolate.co.ukGlasgow, ROSE’S WARDROBE With a focus on creating inclusive, generationlasting and sustainable vintage fashion, this virtual shop makes chic frocks inspired by the 1940s to 1960s, using textiles produced close to their Langholm-based workshop. Designs are handdrafted by co-founder Leanne, offering garments in UK sizes 8–26, as well as custom sizes on request. n Online shop, roseswardrobe.co.uk

SUNGLASSES

POO BAGS I always have poo bags for my dog Dude. Actually my daughter got some new school shirts from M&S the other day and they came wrapped in plastic. I thought, ‘oh well, I’ll re-use this’, so ended up using it to pick up some poo. So that wasn’t just any poo bag, that was an M&S poo bag [holds for applause].

Leith

TOOTHPICKS A bagel lady always needs her dental picks because you don’t want a poppy seed lodged in your tooth.

BARE BONES CHOCOLATE

LAMINATED PRINT OF GRACE DENT’S BROSS BAGELS REVIEW We didn’t know she had come in. There’s a line at the end where she wrote: ‘the gang down at Beigel Shop in Brick Lane have been serving some of Britain’s greatest bagels since 1855. They didn’t see Larah Bross coming.’ I was like, ‘YES!’ It ended up great. In fact, it couldn’t have been better. With the passing of another month, it’s time, once more, to rummage through the possessions of a stranger. This time, Megan Merino peaks inside the bag of Larah Bross, founder of Bross Bagelswhat’s in the bag?

MANTRA ON A NAPKIN This is always in my bag but I can never remember when or why I wrote it . . .

THE LEITH COLLECTIVE AT FORT KINNAIRD After making history as the UK’s first single-use plastic-free shop in 2021, The Leith Collective is expanding. A multipurpose space, The Leith Collective At Fort Kinnaird is bringing together over 130 local artists selling a range of repurposed and pre-loved items, as well as helping emerging artisans find their niche with a business mentoring programme. n Fort Kinnaird, Newcraighall, Edinburgh, theleithcollective.co.uk

This is my smell. They make it in front of you at Le Labo and look super-sciency. During the pandemic they closed and I panicked because I can’t smell of anything else! I think I was their first customer back after they reopened. I need to smell like this scent; if I don’t smell like it, I’m off. I limp, my sentences aren’t complete, everything is just wrong!

38 THE LIST September 2022

The Collective

Leah Bauer checks out a trio of recent openings in our shopping column shop talk

The sunglasses that never leave the case because it’s never sunny in Scotland. To be fair, sometimes I do use them when I’m leaving Casablanca (cocktail club) at 4am.

SHOP

COOKEVERYONEMEALSWILLLOVE GET 40% OFF YOUR FIRST 4 BOXES LIST.CO.UK/OFFERS

40 THE LIST September 2022

KEVIN BRIDGES

You’ll have to move fast to get a ticket for any of . . . oh wait, no, Kevin Bridges’ near monthlong residency at the enormodome that is OVO Hydro is utterly and completely sold out. Probably has been since 15 minutes after booking opened. No doubt some people are popping along at least twice, probably fearful of being sat next to the kind of professional heckler who has halted his shows in the past. But still, these are mind-boggling numbers which will act as either an inspiration or be utterly deflating to anyone trying to make their way in the stand-up game. (Brian Donaldson) n OVO Hydro, Glasgow, Thursday 1–Sunday 25 September.

outgoing

September 2022 THE LIST 41 www.ticketmaster.co.uk www.ticketmaster.co.uk Tickets Scotland Glasgow/Edinburgh. Venue Box Offices and all usual outlets. regularmusic.com regularmusicukregularmusicltd EXTRA TICKETS RELEASED TICKETMASTER.CO.UK / GOODBYEMRMACKENZIE.COM FRIDAY 21 OCT 2022 LIQUIDEDINBURGHROOMTHURS 20 OCT 2022 GLASGOW ORAN MOR THEA GILMORE TICKETSTICKETMASTER.CO.UKSCOTLAND/ORANMOR PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS NORMAN JAMESBERNARDBLAKEBUTLERGRANT TICKETMASTER.CO.UK / VENUE BOX OFFICE SATURDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2022 EDINBURGH QUEENS HALL SUNDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2022 ABERDEEN TIVOLI THEATRE MONDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 2022 PAISLEY SPREESOLDOUT PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS TICKETMASTER.CO.UK / TICKETS SCOTLAND THE GARAGE Tuesday 6 September 2022 GLASGOW (ATTIC) SaturdayPLUSTICKETSTICKETMASTER.CO.UKWWW.DEHD.HORSESCOTLANDSUPPORT 19 November GLASGOW Oran Mor By Arrangement with On Point Touring Former frontman of The Grim Northern Social Thurs 29 Sept VoodooEdinburgh2022Rooms Fri 30 Sept OranGlasgow2022Mor TICKETMASTER.CO.UK | TICKETS WWW.EWANMACFARLANEMUSIC.COMSCOTLAND

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With a prized opening slot at Scotland’s biggest techno night, DJ LISALÖÖF is one to watch. She talks to Malcolm Jack about the challenges of making a name for herself and pays tribute to those who have championed her career ‘W hen you get invited time after time to play with Slam,’ muses Lisa Brown aka fast-rising Paisley techno DJ and producer LISALÖÖF, ‘you’re like: “OK, I must be doing something right here’.” And yet you need only wind back five years or so to a time when Brown had never so much as worked a set of decks, much less performed in some of the biggest rooms in Glasgow as frequent guests of, among others, Scotland’s godfathers of electronic dance, producer/DJ duo Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle (of T In The Park Slam Tent fame and cofounders of the Soma label). It’s thanks to the tutorship, mentoring and support of an array of wise and experienced heads on the Glasgow scene since 2017 that Brown has advanced rapidly as a purveyor of delectably dark and hypnotic beats. This journey will continue when she opens Slam’s legendary and highly influential techno night Pressure as it makes its return to SWG3. The event is an afterparty for the Soma Skool 2022 electronic music conference and showcase, with a line-up headlined by Spanish old-school rave aficionado Héctor Oaks and young retro-techno German powerhouse KlangKuenstler.Brownoftenattended Pressure as a punter back when it was still a regular night at Glasgow’s much-missed underground mecca, The Arches, where it ran monthly from 1998 through to the venue’s closure in 2015; since then, it has become a nomadic and more sporadic affair. ‘It’s just such an important event to me because that was kind of how I started getting into techno music,’ reminisces Brown, whose tastes to that point had flitted from happy hardcore in her teens to post-rock and metal in her student years (she played guitar and bass in a couple of different bands while studying in Dundee). It was at the afterparties that she first got a taste for choosing tunes for a crowd. ‘We were going back to parties and all that, and getting the aux cable on the go, and just playing loads of tunes,’ remembers Brown. ‘Everyone was always really impressed by my songs.’ After hearing DJ friends play tracks in clubs which she knew that she’d turned them on to, Brown decided to have a go for herself. But lacking the confidence to dive straight in, particularly at a time when women were still a relatively uncommon sight behind the decks, she began by attending weekly DJ lessons at Grassroots Glasgow, run by renowned DJ, promoter and disruptor Sarra Wild. Later, she went to an Intersessions workshop run by Producergirls collective founder E.M.M.A and Glaswegian-Slovenian rave shaman Maya Medvesek aka Nightwave. All of them have been major champions of women and nonbinary DJs. Brown quickly stood out for her instinct and commitment, making connections and friends which still last to this day. ‘I don’t think it would have happened for me without them,’ she admits. Via a short stint promoting her own club night Moonlight, Brown, who is a social worker by day with a burgeoning sideline in craft beer brewing (‘very middle-aged man vibes,’ she laughs), has gone on to guest and headline at some of the best underground nights and clubs around Scotland. From Nightwave’s Nightrave at Room 2 to Acid Flash at The Tunnels in Aberdeen and Boiler Room’s Open Dancefloors series at Fat Sam’s in Dundee, she has progressed to gigs in bigger rooms, including opening for Charlotte de Witte at SWG3 in 2020. She can’t seem to recall the very first time Slam invited her to do one of their events (‘I must have been absolutely fucked,’ she jokes, ‘or just nervous and traumatised’). But she impressed enough that she’s been asked back repeatedly, including at Riverside Festival, Return To Mono and last year’s Pressure Halloween special together with Shoot Your Shot and Optimo (Espacio).‘Lisaisa top party-starter, playing deep and dark,’ says Slam’s Orde Meikle. ‘She’s a real talent; building things up is such an important and underestimated skill. Knowing when to bang it and when to create atmosphere comes naturally to her. It’s great to see her profile building since last year.’ Meikle reveals that the frequency of Pressure nights will be picking up a little again, with another two planned this year as well as a couple at the start of 2023. ‘We are itching for this first big Pressure of the season,’ he says, ‘which for clubs in Glasgow starts when the students return and the nights start getting darker earlier.’ Meikle notes that since lockdown restrictions were lifted, crowds have been very up for it. ‘Togetherness on a dancefloor is tribal and primitive, and humans need interactions like this. Even with the advances of media and online socialising, physical contact and shared experience is vital and fun. The atmosphere has been better than ever. Long may that continue.’

42 THE LIST September 2022 PREVIEWS

Pressure, SWG3, Glasgow, Saturday 3 September.

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it is to be human without knowing our place in the universe, in knowing how many stars there are in our galaxy, and how many planets and galaxies are out there. So, music and philosophy and art are all in the show alongside the science because we’re trying to make sense of the universe. That’s what humans do. We spend our whole lives trying to make sense of our lives.

Brian Cox: Horizons – A 21st Century Space Odyssey, Edinburgh Playhouse, Thursday 1 September; OVO Hydro, Glasgow, Sunday 2 October.

Do you feel any pressure when discussing big questions about the universe? A central part of the show is that we don’t know the answers to many of your questions. I’m always careful to draw a line between what we know is true, and what is my opinion. So, I’m very comfortable talking about my opinion on some of these big questions. That’s the first step on the road to knowledge, to accept that you don't know. And so, when we start talking, for example, about the origin of life, we have some theories. And then the theories are based on interesting observations about life on Earth, and what we know about the evolution of life on it.

Your last arena tour broke two Guinness World Records for the most tickets sold for a science tour. If you could break any other Guinness World Record, what would you pick? Wow. You know, I think I’d like to break a sporting record, because it’s just so out of the question! I’d love to run 100 metres faster than Usain Bolt. Why wouldn’t you want to achieve something physically, that no one has ever achieved? So, I’d like to break the 100 metres world record. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?

How are you delving deeper into these huge subjects since your last world tour in 2019? It’s a very different feel. It’s trying to go much deeper and focus on these questions of what it means to be human in this vast and possibly infinite universe, which I didn’t do before. Since 2019, there’s been a revolution in our understanding of black holes. So, I talk about black holes a lot in the show, because they are one of the most interesting things in the universe, in the sense that we don’t understand them. But we’re making really rapid progress. We’re beginning to ask questions about the nature of space and time themselves. And a lot of that work was done in 2019, 2020 and 2021. So the subject has moved really quickly since I last did a live show. Also, we’re going to have some new results, which are going to go into the show, from the James Webb space telescope. There are new images coming all the time of the surface of Mars that we didn’t have in 2019. It’s very exciting.

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Do you think that people are going to be looking for answers, now more than ever, after the past few years of uncertainty with the pandemic? My friend Robin Ince is in the show and the Q&A to provide some comedic relief. But at the end, he reads a poem that he wrote during lockdown when he was looking at the stars. Like many of us, you know, he had nothing to do but think about the universe. So certainly, for him there was a reflection of life that went on. Maybe that did happen to many people. I think it’s a time that’s affected everybody that went through it, isn’t it? This is a really strange period of our existence. The show has been described as a celebration of civilisation due to its use of music and art as well as science. Do you believe that music, art and culture are all science? I wouldn’t say that. What I would say is that science is one of the reactions we have to nature. And so I think the right way to look at science is that it’s something that takes place alongside the other human responses to being human. You can’t understand what Superstar scientist Brian Cox has become the go-to guy for explaining the universe’s mysteries to an awestruck general public. Ahead of his new state-of-the art arena tour, the good professor tells Rachel Cronin about black holes, the meaning of life and outrunning Usain Bolt

44 THE LIST September 2022 PREVIEWS GOING

OUT‘I'd like to break the 100 metres world record’

CLASSIC CUT: ¡ THREE AMIGOS!

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Any fans of Only Murders In The Building who watch this 1986 US comedy will surely experience a special feeling inside as they see the much younger Martin Short and Steve Martin hamming it up deliciously. They play, respectively, Ned Nederlander and Lucky Day, two of the titular trio; the undoubtedly talented Chevy Chase has gone a slightly different route in recent years . . . maybe the less said about that the better. Then again, was Steve Martin ever considered young? Even in his 80s heyday, he always had the air of an older brother or a slightly eccentric uncle. In this John Landis-directed farce, our threesome are silent movie stars mistaken for genuine gun-totin’ heroes who are tasked with saving a Mexican village from nasty bandit El Guapo (Alfonso Arau). Cue a series of ridiculous incidents as they themselves believe this is just another film job and are merely playing out a set of fictionalised encounters with pretend gang members. No one is claiming that this is a work of genius (it’s certainly no Man With Two Brains or The Jerk, two of Martin’s finest hour and a halves of the period) but it’s absolutely a fun and silly ride. (Brian Donaldson) n GFT, Glasgow, Monday 12 September, shown as part of the cinema’s Access Film Club programme of monthly autism-friendly screenings and post-film discussions.

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While 3000 Years is enlivened by Miller’s thrilling visuals and storytelling elan, there is a deeper layer. Swinton, who will next be seen in Wes Anderson’s Spanish-shot Asteroid City and Joanna Hogg’s ghost story The Eternal Daughter, notes how the film demonstrates just how important narrative is to us, something the pandemic rammed home. ‘We saw everybody across the planet missing cinema, really missing it. Not even the cine-geeks like us, but everybody just feeling deprived. And realising our dependence on other people’s narratives, not just our own. These narratives, they’re really important to us. Fiction is really useful, because it gives us a sense of perspective. And it also gives us a break from ourselves.’

3000 Years Of Longing is in cinemas from Friday 2 September.

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his has been a whirlwind romance,’ smiles Tilda Swinton, talking about her latest collaborator George Miller. Well, ‘whirlwind’ in Swinton terms; the iconic flamehaired Scottish actress is known for cultivating working relationships with directors over decades (I Am Love’s Luca Guadagnino; Memoria’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul). Here, she met the Australian filmmaker behind Babe and the Mad Max films five years ago at the Cannes Film Festival. He immediately sensed she was perfect to play the lead in his new film, the modern-day fairytale 3000 Years Of Longing Based on AS Byatt’s 1994 short story, ‘The Djinn In The Nightingale’s Eye’, Swinton plays Dr Alithea Binnie, a lonely narratologist who is in Istanbul for a lecture. She buys a small trinket in a bazaar, and when rubbing it clean, out pops a pointy-eared djinn (Idris Elba) offering her three wishes. But rather than take him up on bringing her what her heart desires, Alithea sits in her hotel room and listens to his remarkable, centuriesspanning story of love and incarceration.

Swinton found the script ‘intriguing’, although it was Miller’s mind she clearly wanted to explore. ‘Really I wanted to make it with him,’ she says. ‘The mysterious thing for me was how those two tones [reality and fantasy] were going to co-exist. And we had early conversations about that, which really hooked me in, about the fact that they wouldn’t! We would keep coming back like a boomerang, like a big bungee backwards, into the hotel room. It was very, very intimate and in many ways mundane . . . the situation very mundane, almost banal.’ Still, you can see just how this might suit Swinton, an actress who has been experimenting with directors ever since she teamed up with Derek Jarman on films like Caravaggio and Edward II. Here, she compares it to Japanese animation. ‘This is meant as the highest compliment: it felt like we were making a live action Miyazaki Hayao,’ she says, referring to the director of Spirited Away. ‘It felt like it was very slightly animated, the whole thing. So it wasn’t grainy in that sense, but we knew that we had to fill these rather shapely chocolates with soft centres. And so it had to have a downto-earth quality.’

46 THE LIST September 2022 PREVIEWS 'T

SOUNDFUTUREmischief REIDHARRISONPICTURE:

‘It’s come full circle,’ says Zygadlo. ‘I don’t think I’d have developed a live band in London, it would have been too logistically challenging and expensive, but the two gigs we’ve done have been the best performances I’ve ever done; me in a mischievous mood, just ampliﬁed a bit. There’s solos and spoken word bits and a bit of audience immersion; getting a bit hysterical in the crowd. It felt quite freeing. Electronic music, for me, had become quite gridlike and constricting and I just wanted to blast out some messy guitar and bring more humour and rowdiness and irreverance and brashness into it; not light-hearted, because there’s plenty of dark themes going on, but I think there’s a raised eyebrow that wasn’t there before.’

Rudi Zygadlo, King Tut’s, Glasgow, Thursday 8 September.

Now his collaborators are his own band, featuring musicians who have played with Fat White Family, C Duncan, Alex Rex and in Zygadlo’s ﬁrst ever group, Velcro Quartet. Together, they have produced a number of singles which will be gathered together on the forthcoming ‘Chattanooga’ EP, with a new album, Doggerland, to follow at the start of next year.

September 2022 THE LIST 47 PREVIEWS

Zygadlo also cites Frank Zappa as a hirsute hero; thanks to creative parents and three older siblings, he was guaranteed an eclectic musical upbringing in rural Dumfriesshire, hoovering up jazz, rock, folk and classical music before creating his own DIY electronica on ‘a whole bunch of questionably sourced music software when I was in my early teens’.

Our column celebrating music to watch continues with Rudi Zygadlo, whose rediscovery of guitar has reinvigorated his sound. Fiona Shepherd hears how surrounding himself with a live band has brought out the Scottish musician’s sense of

‘My own project is the most important thing to me,’ he says.

‘However, there are periods of my life where I haven’t felt that clear-headed about my own stuff so I’m more than happy to get stuck into collaboration.’

‘My home environment was conducive cos it was in the middle of nowhere,’ he says. ‘But I thought I could do music wherever. I wanted to live in Berlin cos I loved it when I played there, but during that period most of the industry stuff was Londonbased and I felt a bit disconnected. So after a while I moved to London and continued to feel disconnected there . . . ’ During eight years in London, he recorded using a number of aliases as well as undertaking some ‘survival bread and butter’ side hustles, including sound design for Gorillaz, a soundtrack for a lengthy Tim Yip documentary and podcast editing.

O nce upon a time there was a Berlinbased artiste called Rudi Zygadlo who recorded a couple of electronic albums for the respected Planet Mu label. By his own admission, the music was ‘all a bit sincere, and the lyrics were a bit po-faced’. But that was before Rudi grew a moustache, reacquainted himself with his ﬁrst instrument (the guitar), moved to Glasgow to form a band in August 2020 and activated the prancing popster Rudi Zygadlo that the world should come to know and love. The real moustache comes and goes but is now always replaced by a painted one, like a Rudi talisman. ‘I think that mark is the transition,’ says Zygadlo. ‘I like it cos it’s a bit Groucho Marx vaudevillian and so obviously artiﬁcial.’

48 THE LIST September 2022 12 – 16 OCTOBER OVOGLASGOWHYDRO CIRQUEDUSOLEIL.COM/CORTEOLIVENATION.CO.UK A LIVE NATION PRESENTATION FUN-FILLED5 Floors Interactiveof Fun! Enjoy wonderful unique displays, breath-taking views, clever illusions and hands-on exhibits; where 21st-century tech meets classic optical tricks. Beside Edinburgh Castle. Britain’s most fun attraction camera-obscura.co.uk ONLINEBOOK Call 0131 226 3709 TheCastlehill,Royal EdinburghMile,EH1 2ND

The National Theatre Of Scotland return with a fourth instalment of Rona Munro’s acclaimed James Plays cycle.

‘I think we felt a bit freer with James IV because he is better known: taking a part of the story about James which is not so well known felt interesting,’ says Sansom.

Queen Of The Fight introduces a new perspective to Munro’s scripts, which previously explored the reigns of James I, II and III. For James IV, Munro describes the court of 1504 through two Moorish courtiers in an episode of history that has not always been recognised.

September 2022 THE LIST 49 PREVIEWS theaatre•the•ert GAME THRONESOF

Gareth K Vile considers the questions it asks about Scottishness S peaking just before the start of rehearsals, director Laurie Sansom is palpably excited by the prospect of returning to his collaboration with Rona Munro, and continuing the National Theatre Of Scotland’s sequence of James Plays. Having produced the original trilogy during his time as NTS’ artistic director, he delights in the prospect of only having to work on a single historical drama this time, but looks forward to a more playful process that, he says, ‘is similar in some respects’.

Describing it as both familiar and different to the trilogy (which was staged as part of Edinburgh International Festival), this production makes bold claims for the continued relevance of drama to expand public debates about the very meaning of Scottishness.

50 THE LIST September 2022

PREVIEWS >>

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Kingmakers: Laurie Sansom and Rona Munro

James IV: Queen Of The Fight, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Friday 30 September–Saturday 8 October; Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Tuesday 11–Saturday 15 October.

Danielle Jam plays Ellen, one of the courtiers at the story’s heart. ‘I have been in the rehearsal room with NTS before, but never on the stage,’ she says. ‘Sometimes you get jobs that take you back a bit, and this is one of those. When I was reading for the part, I felt a connection because she has African heritage and lives in Scotland, and has grown up with two cultures: that resonated deeply with me.’ Jam sees contemporary parallels for people of colour in Scotland today. ‘If we are telling stories about the past that are relevant to today, we need to use the people who are here now. So much history was covered up. There were people of colour all the way back to 250AD in this country and it has not been told; this opens the door for so many stories to be told now. Ellen is a royal courtier of the Spanish-Portuguese court. She has never been to Britain and her lady, whom she attends, thinks she is in England and not Scotland; it’s not quite what they expected. It is a new life for them and they have to find a way to survive, climbing their way up the ladder in theMunro’scourt.’

script is also concerned with the ways in which power maintains itself through public displays such as tournaments. While the cast is smaller than in the previous James Plays, Sansom wants to look at what happens both ‘backstage’ at the court and the way that it presents itself to the public. Far from being an attempt to imitate Shakespeare’s approach to history, Queen Of The Fight grapples with contemporary concerns, both in terms of identity and the nature of power, in both domestic and public domains.

Showing a commitment to a theatre which speaks of the past, but also to the present, Queen Of The Fight promises an engagement with history that combines the spectacular, the familiar and the excluded. Although Sansom commissioned this play some time ago during his tenure as artistic director, the intervening years have seen considerable social changes and extra demands on performance.

‘One of the difficult things is going to be to communicate that this isn’t just modish or woke; not jumping on the bandwagon. It is telling a story that we should all know but, because of later shifts and changes in popular consciousness and prejudices about the past, we don’t even know that there were people of African heritage in Scotland at that point. It was before slavery, and many historians have made wrong assumptions about these people from the Iberian peninsula. They were of high status, from courts that were much more cultured than the English ones.’ Just as the earlier trilogy aspired to lend an epic theatricality to the Scottish kingdom, Queen Of The Fight encourages a rediscovery of James IV that recognises how colonialism has corrupted the transmission of knowledge. Although the story is well documented, the racial assumptions of Enlightenment history have marginalised the importance and status of these courtiers. ‘This just doesn’t fit a colonial English-dominated view of history. It is great to blow the cobwebs off!’ Sansom says.

Thursday 01 ofRuPaul’sWednesdayWithoutBretTuesdayBrodkaSundayIanTuesdayBigWednesdayTuesdayGiantsSaturday90sJoFridayEmbraceSeptember09SeptemberWhiley’sAnthems17SeptemberofSoul23September24SeptemberBigGinFestival27SeptemberBrown02October04OctoberMcKenzie‘SongsJokes’Tour05OctoberFantasticFive14 Friday 21 October The +TheSaturdayDualers22OctoberEnemyLittleMan Tate Monday 31 October Paolo Nutini Saturday 05 November Sunday 06 November Big Big Wedding Fair & Fashion Show Thursday 10 AfrojamNovemberSeries Presents SIMI + Raybekah Saturday 12 FontainesMondayBlossomsWednesdayDarrenNovemberStyles23November28NovemberD.C. Wednesday 30 November The Game Friday 09 December Saturday 10 December Big Big Christmas Party Wednesday 14 December Fields of the Nephilim Friday 16 December Saturday 17 December Big Big Christmas Party Friday 20 McfleetwoodJanuary & Freddie & Queen Experience Saturday 25 February Paul Smith – Joker Friday 31 JohnnyMarchLee Memphis / Aaron Walker - Double O2TroubleAcademy Edinburgh 11 New Market Road o2academyedinburgh.co.ukEH14Edinburgh1RJ

ART DREAMACHINE

umsci •mu s ic • •art•art•traart• Arcade Fire

Ever see polka-dot patterns behind your eyelids after looking at a bright light? Or starry swirls when you close your eyes in the sun? This is the phenomenon that birthed Dreamachine, an immersive art affair designed to be enjoyed with your eyes shut. Murrayfield Ice Rink has reopened its doors for the first time since 2020 for this one-of-a-kind event, where light and sound create a personal picture of movement exclusively in your mind. The concept was inspired by artist-inventor Brion Gysin in 1959. Annoyed at the bright sunlight that flickered through gaps in the trees during his bus ride, he decided to close his eyes. The warm tricks of light triggered an array of kaleidoscopic patterns in his mind that were the muse for creating his ‘dreamachine’. A recreation of his vision has been expanded and designed for the 21st century by Collective Act in collaboration with Turner Prizewinning artists Assemble, while Grammy-nominated composer Jon Hopkins has fashioned a sonic score to accompany each audience member’s journey into their own mind. Presented in partnership with Edinburgh Science, this free and original exhibition has been brought to Scotland as part of UNBOXED’s artistic festival, Creativity In The UK. The multi-sensory spectacle will be staged at Murrayfield throughout September, having been packed out in both London and Cardiff.

‘Beyond the confines of screens or devices, our programme will creatively explore the most fundamental of human connections,’ says Collective Act director, Jennifer Crook. ‘Dreamachine offers an insight into the everyday miracle of consciousness. To explore one of the greatest remaining mysteries to humankind; all you need to do is to close your eyes.’ (Rachel Cronin)  Murrayfield Ice Rink, Edinburgh, until Sunday 25 September.

Talking of splitting, Andrea Bocelli (Tuesday 20 September) has broken many hearts in two with his operatic tenor gymnastics. If you can watch footage from 2020 in Parma of Bocelli and his then eight-year-old daughter Virginia duetting on ‘Hallelujah’ without becoming an emotional wreck, you’re made of seriously strong stuff. His singing son, Matteo, is doing pretty well for himself these days, too. Kicking it up a notch or 12 will be Swedish House Mafia (Friday 30 September) with their Paradise Again tour. Fresh from a not exactly understated display at Coachella, they’ll bring fans tracks from what is effectively their debut album, a record which NME summed up neatly in their review: ‘it slaps’. Is it too much to expect a walk-on appearance from recent collaborator The Weeknd? Well yes, of course it is. (Brian Donaldson)  ovohydro.com

Celebrating just over two decades of creating among the finest baroquepop in the business, Arcade Fire (Monday 5 September) take to the road after an enforced hiatus because of, well . . . you know the script by now. Released in May, their sixth album, We, was largely regarded as the proverbial return to form, after the decidedly patchy last two collections. For one thing, it will take less than three-quarters of an hour of your life to listen to it all the way through, and when in there you should bear witness to a split-personality of a record: one half bleak and beautiful, the other jaunty and joyful.

52 THE LIST September 2022 PREVIEWS

MUSIC 3 TO SEE AT . . . OVO HYDRO

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With a new book out and a movie in the pipeline, controversial US comic Doug Stanhope is also getting back on the stand-up horse this month for a series of long-delayed UK gigs. He talks to Jay Richardson about doomed TV pilots with Johnny Depp, having Frankie Boyle on his comedy bucket list, and why he’s actually looking forward to coming to Scotland for once

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Along with Jerry Sadowitz, whom Stanhope has recently read about having his show cancelled at the Fringe, Boyle is ‘a bucket list guy’ he hopes to see perform at some point. ‘I'm sure he’s completely different on an artistic level,’ he reﬂects. ‘But my name always gets dropped in with Frankie Boyle, whom I’ve never met, even though I’ve written op-eds defending something he’s said.’ He sighs, world-wearily. ‘Every time I’m in the UK, there’s some kind of controversy or other that you can decide whether you want to be involved in. Do I want the press? But then I

D oug Stanhope is recalling one of the last times he played O2 Academy Glasgow, when fights erupted in front of the stage. ‘I mean, it was a major brawl,’ he maintains. ‘It had nothing to do with me and was early in the set. But I kept looking over because everyone was completely non-plussed. They just kept watching the show, even as four or five people were swinging limbs at each other.’ Ah, Glasgow. As the American is chatting, while smoking outside his hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I realise I was at that gig. I check my notes and identify it as 2015, though there's a detail that the veteran stand-up conjures from his failing memory that supplants mine. ‘I kept looking at this guy who was there amongst it, who looked like Frankie Boyle, thinking that he never blinked an eye. But I figured, it couldn’t have been him, because he’d have come backstage after the show. Then I found out later, it was Frankie Boyle!’ he chuckles throatily. ‘Just happily drinking it all in.’

A wasn'tofsmokingshittystand-up55-year-oldstilldoinggigs,chainanddyingliverfailure.Itastretch

Featuring his ‘old road buddy’ Greg Fitzsimmons as a fellow comedian and rookie stand-up Des Mulrooney as his character Jimmy Quinn’s son, when it came to casting the role of Jimmy’s ex-girlfriend, whom he repeatedly cheated on and treated like shit, Emmy-winning actor and former model Khrystyne Haje was the obvious choice.

don't know if things are different to how they are over here. Obviously, cancel culture. I fucking hate even using that expression because it gives it power, because it’s fake. Yeah, I’ll be talking about that, because which comic doesn’t?’ He won’t be discussing Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars though. Rather, he’ll be reminiscing about one-time celebrity castration victim, John Wayne Bobbitt, if that has any legs. ‘Or Pee-wee Herman jerking off in an adult movie theatre. Because every single comic is going to be talking about Chris Rock, so I’ll just let it go unless I have something brilliant that no one else has. Like, Roe vs Wade just went down over here and I have this abortion bit. But I’m confident no one else is going to stumble into the territory that I’ve found.’ For once, the 55-year-old, who lives in Arizona and decries inclement weather, sounds genuinely enthused to be returning to Scotland. ‘I really am looking forward to it because it’s been put off for so long and so many times because of covid. I’m in a kind of denial, reverse psychology thing, where normally I dread the UK, but now I’m like “fuck you! You can’t postpone it again!” Covid screwed up my whole comedy rhythm of touring and releasing.’ He’s just published the print edition of his third book in five years, No Encore For The Donkey, and it’s the one he’s proudest of, ‘because anyone who listens to my podcast knows the stories. So I had to really focus on the writing this time; I had to put a lot of effort into it.’ One of those tales is of a doomed television pilot Stanhope tried to make with his friend Johnny Depp, ‘a little bit of sketch, hidden camera, based in a podcast setting,’ he recalls, ruefully. ‘I tried to do too much with it, figuring we could do it in a week at my house. In a small town with no access to props, actors or even minorities. We didn’t even have Black people to play a Black person. So that was a failure.’ Still, he can at least now lay claim to being a bona-fide film star, having shot the lead in upcoming indie film The Road Dog, about an alcoholic comic who gets a second chance at life when he reconnects with the son he never knew. ‘A 55-year-old stand-up still doing shitty gigs, chain smoking and dying of liver failure. It wasn’t a stretch,’ he remarks drily. Unlike when he’s on stage, he swore off drinking during filming. ‘I’ve never felt like I’ve been showing myself like this. If you have a bad 90-minute set, you know you’ve sucked when you walk off stage. But when you make a 90-minute movie, you won’t know if you sucked until a year and a half later.’

‘When I showed up a week early for rehearsal, they still hadn’t cast it completely and needed someone to play the love of my life from 20 years ago,’ he recalls. ‘And I said, “what about my ex-girlfriend from 21 years ago? She happens to be an actress, I cheated on her repeatedly and treated her like shit”. We hadn’t seen each other in so long. But we still had that chemistry!’

Doug Stanhope, O2 Academy Glasgow, Friday 23 September.

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September 2022 THE LIST 57 dance of the month •dancenadce•5STARS In Scottish Ballet’s hands, a work created 150 years ago based on a story more than two centuries old is thrillingly relevant. Lucy Ribchester is blown away by blistering sci-fi dance piece Coppélia >> REVIEWS ROSSANDYPICTURES:

Bruno Micchiardi brings an enigmatic presence to the role, all Svengali-like as he commands his army of scientists and workers, and comical as he completes his workout while going through a business meeting. Coppelius has created some AI software of which he is extremely proud, a doll called Coppélia that can be 3D-printed into life. And here is where Jess & Morgs begin to show us what they do best with their movement language. The uncanny creepiness of the human dolls (and there are many of them, not just one Coppélia) is skin-crawling, yet so magnetic you cannot look away. By some trick of Bengt Gomér’s lighting, they appear rubbery and pliable. When carried across the stage, the original Coppélia has just enough wobble in her limbs to show her suppleness, and yet she seems definitively dead inside.

M any adaptations of classics do so with the aim of updating their themes. That’s not necessary with Coppélia which has always been about the horrors and amusement of fiddling around with artificial life. In the early 19th century, they had mechanical automata; these days we have sex robots and social media.

Scottish Ballet’s bang-up-to-date production is choreographed by Jess & Morgs (Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple), a team whose background is in dance film. This is their third collaboration with the company, and by far their most ambitious, mixing dance, live capture and recorded action, all seamlessly interwoven and thoughtfully integrated. In this version, Swanhilda (Constance Devernay-Laurence) is a journalist, sent to interview megalomaniac Silicon Valley mogul, Dr Coppelius, in the head offices of his company NuLife (no prizes for guessing Coppelius’ inspiration, when he appears in a black polo neck).

Later, Swanhilda ventures out in the middle of the night to sneak into NuLife’s laboratory, and witnesses a mesmerising danse macabre of its doll ensemble. They hold extra limbs that look almost like prehistoric bones, forming odd skeletal shapes; and these robots seem gentle, curious and alluring. This is cleverly juxtaposed shortly afterwards with an office party at NuLife, where the human office workers thrust and jerk in a mechanical Macarena-like formation: who is more sentient and tender now?

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A huge part of this Coppélia’s brilliance comes from the new score, composed by Mikael Karlsson and Michael P Atkinson with echoes of Delibes’ 1870 original. The Scottish Ballet orchestra is fired up with drama and danger, conducted by Jean-Claude Picard, and that other famous Californian neighbourhood (Hollywood) bleeds through the music, just one more layer of fictional/real head-wreck that this production serves us. There’s noirish mischief, sweeping passages reminiscent of space-travel films and murmuring underwater mystery.

Coppélia, Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Thursday 22–Saturday 24 September.

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At Coppélia’s climax, when Swanhilda embeds herself in the AI, seizing its power with her humanity, the music rises to the swagger of her Fosse-like movements, a passion and a flair that shows us exactly what humans can do that robots cannot: dance from the heart. ‘Women like that don’t exist,’ comes the voiceover from Coppelius. Actually they do, Swanhilda tells us. You just have to believe in them. Of course, this weaving of technology and movement is another of the stars, and it immediately becomes clear how integral Jess & Morgs’ dance-film vision is to the piece. Digital projections can sometimes seem gimmicky and distracting against dance, but here Will Duke’s creations are not only essential for the storyline, but adapt their visuals to each situation to produce different (usually disturbing) effects. When Swanhilda takes a peek behind the curtain at NuLife’s laboratories, the sweep of creepy things we are presented with (plastic limbs, human torsos spread across tables, a snake in a jar) has a deepdive David Lynch feel to it. Later we’re in voyeuristic territory as we watch through a CCTV camera as (in real time) Swanhilda goes through her bedtime routine. For much of the ballet, dancer Rimbaud Patron tracks the action with a Steadicam, projecting huge captures of the dancers’ faces onto the backscreen, giving us a kind of intrusive over-close glimpse into a person’s soul that only a digital camera can bring. It's a blistering, glossy blockbuster of a horror-ballet, and ultimately, Dr Coppelius’ chilling question is one we might all want to stop and consider: ‘do you derive more pleasure from running your finger over your lover’s skin, or across the glass surface of a phone?’

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In a world where people no longer suffer pain or have to worry about infection, Mortensen is successful performance artist Saul Tenser. Saul can seemingly will into existence new organs and turns their removal into a creative spectacle, with the assistance of his former trauma surgeon lover Caprice (Seydoux). Stewart and Don McKellar are bureaucrats charged with the registration of new organs, with both becoming fixated on Saul, while Welket Bungué is a ‘new vice’ detective with whom the artist co-operates. Meanwhile, a boy seen eating plastic at the outset may hold the key to a more sustainable future.

The Baron Of Blood, David Cronenberg, gets stuck back into some body horror in his first sci-fi feature since 1999’s eXistenZ. Crimes Of The Future recycles a title he used in 1970, but that shares only superficial similarities with its namesake. It’s set in an unspecified, thoroughly dystopian future, where humans are evolving at pace to the increasing concern of the authorities. Frequent Cronenberg collaborator Viggo Mortensen once again heads things up, with Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart flanking him, the latter seductively informing us that ‘surgery is the new sex’.

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This solo exhibition by Charlie Hammond embodies the nature of play and work. All the pieces mirror the physiology of the ant, an animal often associated with hard work and diligence. The selection focuses on art on paper, with unframed drawings, posters, textile designs and more, alongside works selected by Hammond of other artists in the Hunterian’s collection, including Prunella Clough and Carole Gibbons. Each part of the exhibition oozes a sense of incompleteness and work-in-progress that adds a subtly humorous touch. The audience is taken through a metaphorical back door to see the clutter behind an artist’s creative process. At the start, a medium-sized painting of a foot hangs up high on the wall, reflecting the need to walk around and ‘put in the work’. The sheer volume of work here could have been a double-edged sword if handled wrongly. On one hand, it overwhelms the viewer, giving them no time to detox from absorbing the previous piece. However, this is an accurate representation of the imbalance between play and work as well as the unstable routine that many artists are all-too familiar with. (Chris Opoku) n Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, until Sunday 16 October.

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n In cinemas from Friday 9 September.

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There are plenty of fascinating ideas here to pique your interest and enough bizarre imagery to haunt your dreams, including the monstrous devices employed by Saul to aid sleep and digestion. Yet the film’s reality feels inadequately fleshed out; it’s sparsely populated without enough sense of society at large and the supporting characters are thinly drawn, including Stewart’s. If it feels like a starting point rather than the finished product, the committed cast and engagement with issues like the climate crisis and cosmetic-surgery craze should keep you hooked. And, as is no doubt Cronenberg’s intention, there’s something gloriously perverted about the whole thing. (Emma Simmonds)

September 2022 THE LIST 61 OIDHCHE AMERICANA 24. 09. 2022 WILLIE CAMPBELLIAIN‘SPANISH’ MACKAY EVIE WADDELL AWKWARD FAMILYIAINPORTRAITS‘COSTELLO’ MACIVER 8.00f / 8.00pm CCA 350 Sràid Sauchiehall £14 / £10 Oileanaich / Students £5 Autumn is a great time to visit Fife, find out what’s happening at followwww.welcometofife.com/eventswelcometofifeon

A s the title suggests, this subversive, blackly comic spin on the slasher film piles the bodies pretty high and it lays the fun on thick too when a group of attractive young frenemies gather at an isolated mansion just in time for a hurricane to hit. Featuring a who’s who of up-and-comers, it’s the second film and first English-language effort from Dutch actress-turned-helmer Halina Reijn. Focusing on a group of affluent young Americans, Bodies Bodies Bodies introduces us to new couple Sophie (Amandla Stenberg from The Hate U Give) and Bee (Maria Bakalova, the Oscarnominated breakout star of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) as they join Sophie’s privileged pals at the family getaway of Pete Davidson’s David. Also along for what will prove to be a wild ride are: Alice (Rachel Sennott, who wowed us in Shiva Baby and is great here); the older guy she’s hooking up with, Greg (Lee Pace); Myha’la Herrold’s Jordan; and Chase Sui Wonders’ Emma. Despite ticking off a fair amount of horror genre traditions and generating ample intrigue, the film is more concerned with social tension than terror. The group dynamics are a doozy, with unreliable former addict Sophie a complicated character disliked by many, the doe-eyed Emma enjoying manipulating the menfolk, the easily irked David pretty open in his contempt for macho man Greg, and Bee’s dubious backstory failing to stand up to scrutiny. As night closes in, drink and drugs fuel the resentments and the eponymous party game culminates in a discovery of the first real corpse. Suspicion falls on an absent friend, who is harbouring yet another grudge, and those who are less well known.

. The script ingeniously harnesses what is, on the face of it, a very conventional concept to delve into the characters’ histories and expose just how much they loathe each other, while Disasterpeace’s terrific electro score pulses ominously in the background, creating a disconcerting but persistently funky mood.

Bodies Bodies Bodies is in cinemas from Friday 9 September.

The film’s appearance is very stylish (cinematographer Jasper Wolf shot the gorgeous and similarly savage Monos), with the use of neon glow jewellery amid the gloom particularly neat. Utilising its diverse cast, the film has amusing things to say about the ignorance and embarrassing behaviour associated with privilege, stressing this is not just confined to white men like David, with these rich kids’ haphazard attempts at virtue-signalling proving cringeworthy across the board. There are points where it feels like it’s hammering some of these messages home, but it’s mostly enjoyable.

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Director Halina Reijn brings us a darkly funny slasher movie in Bodies Bodies Bodies

Alongside the killer satirical instinct of modern slasher classics like Scream, screenwriters Sarah DeLappe and Kristen Roupenian channel the backstabbing bitchiness of films as varied as Heathers and Zola, while the blowout, hip hopflanked hedonism recalls Booksmart and Spring Breakers

. Emma Simmonds rates its strong cast of upand-comers and a smart script which maintains a sense of mystery

If Bodies Bodies Bodies maintains an impressive sense of mystery throughout, Reijn might have done a little better on the frights. Horror fans may be disappointed with the lack of jump scares here, yet there’s value in its intelligent approach and the canny, knife-twist of an ending makes it all worthwhile.

62 THE LIST September 2022 REVIEWS

‘When you love someone it never really goes away,’ Sara tells her partner Jean, not particularly reassuringly, when her old flame (and his ex-friend) arrives back on the scene after a decade of absence. As played by Juliette Binoche, Parisian radio host Sara is a complicated, duplicitous, often infuriating woman whose apparently idyllic marriage is built on very shaky ground indeed.

The latest from French filmmaking legend Claire Denis is a domestic (melo)drama that isn’t afraid to pack a punch. Denis teams La Binoche with an actor of near-equivalent stature, the Cannes and César-winning Vincent Lindon. Lindon plays ex-rugby star and former convict Jean, who is trying to put his life back together with the help of his at first seemingly supportive wife. His 15-year-old, mixed-race son Marcus (Issa Perica) is being raised by Jean’s elderly mother Nelly (Bulle Ogier), who is struggling to control the increasingly off-the-rails teen. When Jean’s former pal François (Grégoire Colin) offers him a job scouting talent for a new sports recruitment agency, he’s nervous of bringing Sara’s ex back into her orbit with, it turns out, good reason.

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n In cinemas

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n Tramway, Glasgow, Friday 11 November; reviewed at Dance Base, FILM BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE (Directed by Claire Denis) lllll

The human body is a precious, contradictory thing; fragile and strong, pliable but brittle, in a constant trajectory of ageing, though still carrying the memory of its youth. This duet from Errol White and Davina Givan riffs in meditative and tender canons on all of these things, using as a motif the Japanese art of kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with liquid gold. The lighting gives us patterns of these golden cracks spread across the stage, and they are echoed too on the trim of Sophie Ferguson’s costumes, ruched and stitched with beautiful scars. Divided into several episodes, the movement is brooding and occasionally melancholic. White and Givan begin in an embrace that could be an end-of-night dance or an end-of-life gesture of love; either way, it turns out to be a position to which they return again and again.They move in unison or in staggered passages of repetition, the flow and momentum of their bodies sending arms into sweeping windmills or stalking squats. These are interrupted by moments of stillness, sometimes painful, sometimes peaceful. It’s a thoughtful slow burner, but the moody reprises become too much after a while. It would have been nice to see more gold gleaming proudly on these wonderful, wise dance bodies. (Lucy Ribchester)

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In a film shot in fluid and probing fashion, Denis infuses proceedings with the ominous, unsettling air of a thriller, with François a remote, shadowy and ultimately threatening figure. The attempts to capture the intensity of Sara’s attraction to François and the refusal to flesh him out beyond his hair-sniffing and enthusiasm for padded jackets results in a few preposterous scenes. But the film benefits from two dynamite performers in Binoche and Lindon and isn’t afraid to foreground its characters’ flaws, whatever the consequences. From the intimacy and awe of its first, wordless sequences to the pair’s authentically awful arguments, there are some truly magnificent moments here. (Emma Simmonds) from Friday 9 September.

64 THE LIST September 2022 REVIEWS

‘Rockstar’ is the buzz word attached to this production; a chance to reframe Scotland’s National Bard in new terms. At first glance, you might think it implies some kind of hagiography: how different is idolising Burns as a ‘rockstar’ nowadays to plonking his face on a biscuit tin a hundred years ago? But it soon becomes clear that Alan Cumming has different ideas about the term. His Burns is indeed like a rockstar, not just in the god-like status bestowed on him by his fans, but in his narcissism, solipsism, blackened moods of depression, self-destruction, entitled behaviour around women and yet, throughout all of this, a burning, feverish passion for the work he is creating. This has been billed as Cumming’s debut dance role, and while the movement is mingled with monologue (taken from Burns’ letters and poems), Cumming is a revelation as a dancer. Dressed plainly in black pedal pushers and vest, he punctuates his words with gesture. He speaks plainly to us, in bold confident strides and thrust-open arms, and descends into mania, dancing demented jigs to Anna Meredith’s fantastic score that melds Scots music into unsettling discord.

Burn excels at conjuring up the dark chaos of the farmer poet’s mind. Where it comes up short (despite academic rigour) is in its presentation of Burns’ relationship with women. Although Frances Dunlop is raised up (literally) as a figure of influence on Burns, the nanny from whom he famously received his education in superstition, sparking his most famous work, is dismissed in a line (of Burns’ own) as ‘remarkable for her ignorance’. Do we still uphold these snotty-nosed values about the folk stories of the rural working class? Are they not an intrinsic part of Scots culture? Burn doesn’t even pause to engage with this idea. (Lucy Ribchester) nTheatre Royal, Glasgow, until Saturday 3 September; reviewed at King's Theatre, Edinburgh.

FILM HATCHING (Directed by Hanna Bergholm) lllll ‘I hope your everyday life is as lovely as ours,’ smirks a monstrous influencer mother, cosying up next to her beaming brood during yet another piece of self-promotion. This macabre Finnish horror from debut feature director Hanna Bergholm recalls Rosemary’s Baby and the grimmest of fairytales as it introduces a scenario which initially screams domesticTalentedbliss.newcomer Siiri Solalinna plays Tinja, an aspiring gymnast being pushed to her limits by the aforementioned matriarch (a ferocious Sophia Heikkilä), while her chump of a father (Jani Volanen) sits ineffectively on the sidelines. Following an alarming incident revealing her mum’s true colours, Tinja happens upon an egg in nearby woodland which grows to enormous proportions before unleashing a strange creature into their lives. The creamy perfection of the family’s immaculately manicured home gives way to the grotesque during deliciously horrible scenes which see the anxious Tinja’s repressed emotions manifest themselves in increasingly frightening fashion. The best and worst of motherhood is at the heart of a film crafted with considerable finesse, its modern concerns presented within a classic allegorical structure. Skilfully teaming satire and scares and drawing great performances from her cast, Bergholm delivers a satisfying look at what lies beneath. (Emma Simmonds) n In cinemas from Friday 16 September.

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KIDS JUSTIN LIVE The expressively faced Justin Fletcher, a bona fide CBeebies superstar, hits the road with a live spectacular featuring songs, dances and a remarkable amount of slapstick. n Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Sunday 25 September.

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Some Christians have boycotted this musical but that was always the least you’d expect from something created by South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone. n Edinburgh Playhouse, Tuesday 13 September–Saturday 8 October.

The nights are not quite drawing in just yet, so you'll have no excuse not to get out and about into town and take in the latest live entertainment, from controversial musicals to a superstar for toddlers

COMEDY ISY SUTTIE To many she will always be Dobby from Peep Show, but to those who knew her stage act before that big break, Suttie is one of the most talented musical comedians in the country. For her new show, Jackpot, she’s on a mission to inject some adventure into her life, reckoning that mums’ weekends away or family walks in the woods are not quite cutting it. n The Stand, Edinburgh, Wednesday 21 September.

TALKS BLOODY SCOTLAND

CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY Based on the 1994 historical novel for children by Karen Cushman and directed by Lena Dunham, this features Billie Piper, Andrew Scott and Bella Ramsey (Lyanna Mormont in Game Of Thrones). n In cinemas from Friday 23 September.

FILM THE FORGIVEN Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain star in this story which takes place over the course of a dramatic weekend in Morocco when the aftermath of a car accident changes lives forever. n In cinemas from Friday 2 September.

CLIPPING Not often that Glasgow hosts a gig by an original cast member of Hamilton, but West Coast rap trio Clipping features one in the shape of Daveed Diggs n SWG3, Glasgow, Wednesday 21 September.

The tenth anniversary of this country’s foremost crime-writing festival features the likes of Ambrose Parry, Abir Mukherjee, and one Irvine Welsh. n Various venues, Stirling, Thursday 15–Sunday 18 September.

OTHER THINGS WORTH GOING OUT FOR

MUSIC AGNES OBEL Practically reinventing the musical notion of ‘delicate’, the Danish singer-songwriter brings us her fragile aesthetic, all subtly delivered. n Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Friday 2 September; O2 Academy Glasgow, Saturday 3 September.

66 THE LIST September 2022 HIGHLIGHTS

Catherine Called Birdy (and bottom from left), The Book Of Mormon, Isy Suttie, Clipping

THEATRE THE BOOK OF MORMON

Tue 22 Nov SWG3 Galvanizers Glasgow Wed 23 NovThe Liquid Room Edinburgh SUN 16 OCTOBER GLASGOW SWG3 GALVANIZERS LIVENATION.CO.UK | TICKETMASTER.CO.UK A DF CONCERTS PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH X-RAY A DF Concerts presentation by arrangement with Wasserman Music gigsinscotland.com ninanesbittmusic.com UK TOUR 2022 WED 02 NOVEMBER GLASGOW SWG3 POETRY CLUB GIGSINSCOTLAND.COM | TAMZENE.COM A DF CONCERTS PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH WME A DF CONCERTS PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH UNITED TALENT AGENCY VUKOVI.CO.UK / UK/EUGIGSINSCOTLANDTOUR2022 THE NEW ALBUM OUT OCT 7TH SUN 30 OCTOBER GLASGOW SWG3 TV STUDIO MON 24 OCTOBER 2022 ARRANGEMENTAWARGASM.ONLINEGIGSINSCOTLAND.COMGARAGEGLASGOWDFCONCERTSPRESENTATIONBYWITHWASSERMANMUSIC FRI 30 SEPT 2022 GLASGOW G2 GRACEY.WORLD | GIGSINSCOTLAND.COM A DF CONCERTS PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH WME

WEDDING SEASON

We’ve all been there, right? You fall for someone who is engaged to another, and on the day of their nuptials, your love rival and their entire family is wiped out. You think that their intended did it. They think you did it. Who knows what the police make of it all. This is the basic premise behind rom-com action thriller Wedding Season starring Rosa Salazar and Gavin Drea as the smitten couple who eventually flee with assorted nefarious types and cops hot on their tails. (Brian Donaldson) n Starts on Disney+ on Sunday 8 September.

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PREVIEWS STAYING IN BOOKS KATY HESSEL

BINGE FEST vt •tv • tv •vt• boo ks oob•sk •

Our alphabetical column on viewing marathons reaches I Macabre, menacing and monstrous, but also full of mirth, Inside No 9 (BBC iPlayer) is one of the key British drama/comedy triumphs of this last TV decade. A self-reflexive nod to Tales Of The Unexpected but with its own twist that the two writers (Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton) appear in (almost) every episode. All 43 half-hours are available for your demonic delectation during which this duo have been passengers aboard a sleeper train, former double-act buddies and police officers on a stakeout.

As she recalls the research process, it becomes strikingly evident that the 500-plus page book is a project which comes straight from the heart. International in her approach, Hessel has spent the last two years tracking down world experts in various areas of art history (from the Harlem Renaissance to the Glasgow Four) to gather relevant information for the book.

Gabriel Byrne has been treading the boards telling his own life story recently, but for some, his finest role was as Paul Weston, the charming but hugely conflicted psychotherapist who found himself in quite the moral pickle each week with his various clients (even the ones he wasn’t punching in the chops or sleeping with). In Treatment (NOW TV) returned with a decent flourish last year featuring Uzo Aduba in the shrink’s chair but Byrne/Weston’s shadow was all-too present for fans of its three earlier seasons. (Brian Donaldson) Other I binges: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Netflix), I May Destroy You (BBC iPlayer), I Hate Suzie (NOW TV)

‘I got frustrated that writing around women artists included several male artists’ names . . . I don’t want to see them as the “wife of” or the “muse of” or the “daughter of” or the “sister of”,’ she insists. While not intended as the definitive art history book, The Story Of Art Without Men is about ‘flipping the script’ of the canonical record. Hessel observes that, broadly speaking, the attention dedicated to male artists is similarly unjust at curatorial level. ‘Who cares if Dora Maar dated Picasso for a bit? People curate exhibitions of one year of Picasso’s life, and to be honest, it’s not that interesting.’

Despite the rigour of her research, there is a sense of urgency to continue recording the stories of lesser-known artists. ‘I know how many artists I’ve left out and it kills me,’ she says. ‘When you deal with a subject that is about marginalised people, you really don’t want to do them a disservice.’ She hopes readers immerse themselves in elevating the contributions of women artists, as well as finding kinship with the stories her book tells. To celebrate its publication, Hessel will be discussing the inspiration behind the book in a live online event hosted by bookshop.org on Tuesday 13 September.

In her new book, this author and podcaster attempts to reclaim the rightful place of women in the history of art. She tells Rachel Ashenden about the inspiration behind a mammoth project and her frustration at the way women artists are treated Katy Hessel is a trailblazer in revisionist art history. Her debut book, The Story Of Art Without Men, illuminates the women artists whose lives and legacies have been relatively obscured by history of art’s patriarchal recordings. Spanning 500 years and transporting readers across the globe, this major book serves as a captivating rebuttal to male-dominated art history textbooks. It mimics the chronological structure of EH Gombrich’s 1950 book The Story Of Art, except it begins in the 1500s, with the first recording of women’s art. The Story Of Art Without Men has been brewing since Hessel started her acclaimed Great Women Artists Instagram account in 2015. For the last three years, she has also been interviewing the likes of Marina Abramovic and Lubaina Himid for her insightful podcast of the same name. Emerging from this robust bank of research, The Story Of Art Without Men is made for the ‘millennial reader’, says Hessel, who wrote it, in part, because she herself ‘struggled to read a lot of art books’.

The Story Of Art Without Men is released by Penguin on Thursday 8 September; Great Women Artists podcast episodes are available at thegreatwomenartists.com/katy-hessel-podcast

Synth-pop supremos Blancmange are back with a new album on their original label, four decades after they first hit the charts.

Frontman Neil Arthur tells Fiona Shepherd how he keeps the creativity flowing after all this time

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A ffable Blancmange frontman Neil Arthur is having a pinch-me moment. Not so much because he has recently re-signed to London Records after a decade as a fully independent artist but because it’s 40 years since Blancmange had their first chart hits on the label. Yet 40 years can easily pass in a blur when you are as productive as Arthur. Blancmange’s initial purple patch, when they racked up booming synth-pop hits such as ‘Living On The Ceiling’, ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and ‘Blind Vision’, only lasted until the mid-80s when Arthur and his musical partner Stephen Luscombe chose to split amicably and accept that their ephemeral pop adventure was over, on their terms.

September 2022 THE LIST 71 PREVIEWS STAYING IN

‘I still keep in touch with Stephen. I send him the stuff, he has a listen and he gives me a kick up the backside.

‘I was completely flabbergasted that “Living On The Ceiling” was a big hit,’ says Arthur. ‘When we signed to London we were pretty experimental in many respects but we were into dance music and thought “lets give it a go”. We just embraced it, had a bit of a run of it and then you go on to other things.’

There’s a song on the last Fader album called “Serpentine”; all the songs are named after paint colours Benge was considering using while he was redecorating his house during lockdown. “Serpentine” is the story of a day I spent with Stephen swimming in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, just me and him. We had such a laugh and I thought it was worth documenting as a memory of a lovely day spent with a great old mate.’

Private View is released by London Records on Friday 30 September.

For Arthur, this included a solo album and soundtrack work for documentaries. However, Blancmange’s music lingered long with their loyal fanbase and they reformed just over a decade ago at a time when many of their synthtoting peers were also discovering that classic pop music’s sell-by date was ever extendable. They released comeback album, Blanc Burn, in 2011 but shortly afterwards Luscombe was forced to step back from the band for health reasons. Blancmange essentially became Arthur’s solo outlet, releasing a steady flow of albums, including a re-record of their debut, Happy Families, a series of instrumental records called Nil By Mouth, and the forthcoming London Records release, Private View ‘In a way, I’m off the leash,’ he says. ‘I can just do it when I want to do it. The creative process is when I’m happiest, getting stuff off my chest, observing things, finding a way of extrapolating and making some kind of sense of it in a Blancmange world; a mixture between fact and fiction, to have that ambiguity in a lyric. If you explained everything about a song it would be like the artist standing next to the painting and telling you everything about it, so there’s nothing left for you to think about it.’

Arthur is a great advocate of simplicity (he says he only uses two of six strings on his guitar) and of letting go and moving forwards, possibly a legacy of the tight turnarounds in soundtrack work. This has freed him up to pursue other electronica projects, including Fader with Blancmange producer Benge and Near Future with Brighton-based musician Jez Bernholz, plus a forthcoming covers collaboration with Erasure’s Vince Clarke, about which Arthur will only say ‘we’ve had a lot of fun putting that together’. Arthur also has more than enough material for further Nil By Mouth releases, and the next Blancmange album. ‘It’s lasted a lot longer second time round,’ he reflects.

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What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? Anne Likes Red. It went something like, ‘Anne likes red. Red! Red! Red! Red hat! Red dress! Red shoes! Anne likes red!’ Highly formative, this book shaped the style of both my prose and my clothing. What was the book you read that made you decide to be a writer? When I was in my teens, I went through a big American modernist phase, and I gobbled up everything Hemingway, Katherine Anne Porter and the Fitzgeralds wrote. I basically did that adolescent thing where you hook yourself up to an intravenous flow of reading, and I immersed myself in a widening pool of modernist nonsense. No single book galvanised my will to write; instead, it was spelunking in the mosh pit of modernism.

PREVIEWS STAYING IN

What’s your favourite first line in a book? ‘When your mama was the geek, my dreamlets,’ Papa would say, ‘she made the nipping off of noggins such a crystal mystery that the hens themselves yearned toward her, waltzing around her, hypnotised with longing.’ With this sentence, Katherine Dunn tells you everything you need to know about Geek Love. It’s going to be a wild, confusing, enchanting and repellent ride that will pull you with one hand as it pushes you away with the other.

WRITES

FIRST

It’s the question on many an observer’s lips: do we really need a small-screen version of one of the most epic stories ever told? For years, JRR Tolkien’s vast Middle Earth universe was deemed largely unfilmable. Peter Jackson said a big poop to all that and repaired to New Zealand to create the overwhelming spectacle of three films (including Best Picture-winning finale The Return Of The King) and a trio of hobbitshaped spin-offs. But they were all built for the big screen, so how can a multi-episode TV affair possibly have the same impact? Perhaps it’s best not to fret about it, especially given that the viewing public went ape for the complex worldscape of Westeros, many of whom were no doubt huddled round a laptop. The recently launched 156-second trailer is likely to be the smallest thing about the series which takes place thousands of years prior to the books and will no doubt start to tee up several origins stories. Its cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark and Lenny Henry. Whether this will have the broader impact of Game Of Thrones remains to be seen on a weekly basis after the blockbusting opening double-bill. (Brian Donaldson) n Starts on Prime Video, Friday 2 September.

Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you? John Lanchester’s The Debt To Pleasure. Everything about it is perfection and my writing cannot do it justice. My writing goes to bed at night and wishes it could be The Debt To Pleasure. I can’t really say more about the book or about my experience reading it because, like swimming at night, it’s best to dive in utterly blind.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day? Hydrate. Then I drink a large mug of coffee whilst simultaneously doing The New York Times Spelling Bee and watching YouTube videos. When I can, I like writing in the afternoon through to the evening, then having some kind of dinner and editing in the morning. What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day? I love television. There, I said it. I love to watch TV, preferably hour-long dramedies.

TV THE LORD OF THE RINGS

In our Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut authors. This issue we feature Chelsea G Summers, author of A Certain Hunger, a darkly humorous and gory tale of food critic Dorothy Daniels and her appetite for food, life and killing men

In a parallel universe where you’re the tyrant leader of a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn? I loathe the works of James Fenimore Cooper with a white-hot flaming passion, but I’d probably burn The Fountainhead because it appears on the best-books lists of the worst sorts of people. What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist? Finish the bitch. You don’t know what you have until you’ve completed a draft. You don’t know what you’re working with. And you don’t want to reject yourself before you give someone else the opportunity to accept your work. Finish the bitch. Finish the bitch. Finish it. A Certain Hunger is out now published by Faber.

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In the song ‘Lonely’, this isolation takes on a physical form so that she might better grapple with it.‘Falling, falling, I can’t see / I don’t know what is good for me / Lonely, lonely, lonely / Likes my company.’ Here her voice reaches new depths, as when she elicits the ragged, almost bestial roar: ‘I’m too exposed / Honey, I’m rubbed raw.’

It’s in ‘Fractals’ where the drums of the album really kick in, a luminous and surprisingly dancey track in spite of the sad finality of the hook: ‘You stop believing in magic.’ It’s a song you’d imagine dancing round your kitchen to, more ‘alone’ than ‘lonely’. Then there’s ‘Arms Around A Memory’, perhaps the album’s most atmospheric moment. Among other things, it’s about the shifting sands of unreliable memories, where in one fevered recollection it might be‘me, with my broken bottle smile’ and next ‘you, with your broken bottle dreams.’ Just like the disparate sounds emerging from this many-layered track, truth feels elusive, something hard to grab hold of. Still, we are lucky that Beth Orton has spent time ‘wrapped with [her] arms around a memory.’ To use a final nature metaphor, there are moments when it feels like she’s succeeded in catching a bird between two hands; the evanescent listening experience akin to watching it take flight. And it’s the urge to watch that bird fly again and again that makes Weather Alive so ripe for repeated listening.

andrecordedOrtonBethSinger-songwriter studio.gardenherinalbumlatestthisproduced atmosphericorganic,thereckonsTaliesenBella formtoreturnvitalamarkresults albuums•alb•sm4STARS REVIEWS

Weather Alive is released by Partisan Records on Friday 23 September.

74 THE LIST September 2022 PREVIEWS STAYINGmonththeofalbumIN

t’s difficult not to use the abundant language of nature when describing Beth Orton’s magnificent and muchanticipated new album, Weather Alive. The English singer-songwriter builds a wild and wonderful soundscape you could easily get lost in. Weather Alive is certainly her darkest and heaviest album yet, with eight pregnant tracks exploring themes of loneliness, grief and spiritual connection (and disconnection). But there are also shades of light here, like dawn dappling a dark lake, and there are times when the listening experience is almost meditative. Orton emerged in the pre-millennial wee hours with her debut album, 1997’s Trailer Park, quickly becoming the definitive sound of 90s comedowns, via her own music and collaborations with The Chemical Brothers. She went on to win the Brit Award for Best Female Artist following her second album, 2000’s Central Reservation. Both those records went gold, and her next, 2002’s Daybreaker, made the UK top ten. Since then, she’s released a further six studio albums, each after a period of apparent hibernation, and with each one she has poked her head up in a slightly unexpected place, like a flower pushing through a new crack in the pavement. Released on Partisan Records, this is the first album Orton has produced entirely on her own, in her garden studio in Camden, complete with what she describes in a statement as ‘a cheap, crappy upright piano’; it retains that organic, ragged quality, while never feeling underproduced. In this sense, Weather Alive is a return to form after her last album, 2016’s more software-centric Kidsticks, which, though critically acclaimed, felt somehow spiritually misaligned as though the electronicism filtered out something vital. But here, it feels as though we’re listening directly from the source.Orton remains a wonderful collaborator, and there are contributions here from Mancunian jazz star Alabaster dePlume, Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, The Invisible bassist Tom Herbert and multi-instrumentalist and composer Shahzad Ismaily. But she has never sounded so fully in control of the overall sound (or so alone within it all). This sense of self-assurance bleeds into her lyrics too. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a woman long ago crowned The Comedown Queen (reigning over the dopamine-barren half-light following a drug-fuelled night, rather than the drugfuelled night itself), ‘Friday Night’ is not about a night out clubbing. Instead, with characteristic poeticism, Orton seeks to capture the ‘pressure’ of someone’s absence (‘there’s a stillness left after you leave that will speak of what you left’)

BOOKS IAN MCEWAN Lessons (Vintage) lllll

September 2022 THE LIST 75 STAYING IN REVIEWS

In Lessons, Ian McEwan unravels the life of one man and, with it, a whole host of connected characters and personalities. The writer’s 18th novel spans seven decades, from the years following the Second World War all the way to the pandemic. In recounting the story of dissatisfied protagonist Roland, McEwan takes a sweeping look at the events that shape him. These influences range from the micro to the macro. There are the piano lessons from a young female teenager when he is just a boy that turn into something entirely different and darker; a formative, scarring and seemingly thrilling experience that he feels complicit in, unable to recognise its abusive nature. Then there are the huge world events: the Cold War threat of nuclear annihilation that drove him into the arms of his piano teacher; the Berlin Wall and its eventual fall; the Thatcher years and the way they changed the ideals and morals of Roland and his contemporaries; and the way the Second World War influenced the lives of his parents and in-laws.

It’s been 50 years since the Munich massacre, when 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and killed during the 1972 Olympic Games. The bungled attempts to control the dramatic, televised situation led to a steep increase in security measures afterwards.

It’s an epic tale with domesticity at its centre, encompassing a swathe of history, designed to make you think of the impact events have on you and, in turn, the impact you make on the world. (Lynsey May) n Published on Tuesday 13 September.

This Sky Deutschland series imagines an anniversary memorial football match between Germany and Israel to show the world how international relations have improved. Beneath the PR spin, however, there is a tense frenzy of activity among counterintelligence services, trying to keep track of shady business deals, terrorist plots and angry radicals on the dark web.

The book’s scope is wide and so much comes back to the central examination of the kind of lessons we learn and teach ourselves in deciding how to exist in this world. Roland believes that he has drifted through a life he hasn’t chosen, reacting to events rather than setting out his own path. And yet the decisions are all his own, no matter how they have been influenced by experience: ‘He supposed he had put together a sort of education for himself, but that was messily done in a spirit of embarrassment or shame.’

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TV MUNICH GAMES (Sky Atlantic) lllll

Seyneb Salah and Yousef Sweid are excellent as Maria Köhler, a German State Criminal Police officer, and Oren Simon, a Mossad agent stationed in Berlin. Both are aware of the corruption and subterfuge in their countries’ security and police forces but still find themselves outsmarted and must reluctantly join forces. The tautly nuanced script recognises the many complicated intersections between Arab, Hebrew or German speakers, Jews, Zionists, white Muslims, refugees, lovers, liars, crooks and heroes. Chilling footage of the original hooded terrorists features in its title sequence and the disturbing echoes to modern-day conflicts make it a gripping, often uncomfortably real, work of dark fiction. (Claire Sawers) n Starts on Friday 9 September.

The xx were expert at creating an intimate sound despite lyrics that kept audiences at a respectable distance from their band members’ personal lives. Their co-lead singer Oliver Sim’s debut solo album, Hideous Bastard, favours a different approach, eschewing emotional vagueness in favour of lyrics with the disarming candour of a diary entry.

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76 THE LIST September 2022 PREVIEWS STAYING IN

The seductive spark that made The xx so popular is never far off, creating an intriguing tension between Sim’s harsh lyrics and the slow uncoiling of each song, making his divergences from the formula all the more thrilling, like the sudden Lynchian guitar outro of ‘Sensitive Child’. There are points where the magic fades (as in the aimless drones of ‘GMT’, ‘Saccharine’ and ‘Confident Man’) but overall Hideous Bastard solves a problem that eluded The xx when their sonic range led them to a creative cul-de-sac, taking his band’s wilting style and giving it grit. (Kevin Fullerton) n Released on Friday 9 September.

This nine-part podcast from the BBC lies somewhere between an examination of a tragedy and an investigation into whether it could have been prevented. Argentinian footballer Emiliano Sala was 28, in the middle of a glittering career as Nantes’ star striker, when a transfer was brokered for him to be bought by Cardiff City, where he would play in the Premier League. He never arrived at the training ground. Having been flown back to Nantes after his Cardiff medical, to say goodbye to friends, Sala boarded a light aircraft bound for Cardiff. The plane disappeared off the coast of the Channel Islands and was later found to have crashed. Helmed by presenter Kayley Thomas, Transfer takes its time with the story, allowing the panic and grief of Sala’s relatives to unfold in episode one, as the focus is on the search for this missing aircraft. Later episodes address the people involved in putting Sala on the flight, from Cardiff City who allegedly failed to make transport arrangements, to the man who stepped in to book the plane, to the pilot who was not qualified to fly at night. It doesn’t (yet) point any fingers, nor does it let anyone off the hook for a tragedy that leaves an empty space in the hearts of football fans. (Lucy Ribchester) n New episodes available every Wednesday.

PODCASTS

ALBUMS OLIVER SIM Hideous Bastard (Young) lllll

Now aged 33, Sim has lived with HIV since he was 17, and the long shadow of shame that’s followed him after his diagnosis lies at the heart of each song, from the lurching anti-rhythms of lead single ‘Romance With A Memory’ to the album’s confessional opener ‘Hideous’. But this isn’t a work of self-flagellation. It’s a successful therapy session, moving from revelation to acceptance in the space of ten carefully structured songs. Beyond its lyrical concerns, Hideous Bastard is musically as close to a new album from The xx as fans are likely to get. While Jamie xx (who produced the album) and Romy Madley Croft’s solo work has pivoted into dance and electronica, Sim cleaves to his band’s signature sound, adding a newfound snarl and sense of synth experimentation to his familiar playground of minimalist production design and breathy vocals.

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BOOKS NICK DRNASO

There’s a suggestion that external influences, namely environment and culture, are playing a leading role. The characters join the acting class on account of their social dislocation and cultural preconceptions about relationships, while the ensuing drama accentuates the permeability of an individual’s psyche. You get an impression that the American context is significant, although the blend of mundanity and insanity is a pretty exaggerated representation of a society. Acting Class leaves you with unease and a lot of questions, including how healthy a read it is. (Rosanna Miller) n Out now.

ALBUMS PJ MOORE & CO When A Good Day Comes (Mozie Records) lllll PJ Moore departed The Blue Nile in 2004 and it has taken him almost two decades to release his debut album. When A Good Day Comes sees him team up with composer Malcolm Lindsay and vocalist Mike McKenzie on a collection of warm, stately pop. Opening track and lead single, ‘Need To Believe’, grabs attention with its gorgeous floating synths. Unfortunately, this arresting instrumentation appears only sporadically across the rest of the album, which instead relies on predictable strings and choral voices which fall short of their cinematic potential. Some tracks do build satisfyingly, most obviously with centrepiece ‘Pale Moon Light’, which has as perfect a pop structure as it gets and hints at Moore’s previous success. One of the issues the album encounters is McKenzie’s voice which, while technically flawless, struggles to fully find emotion. It makes it all the harder to engage with songs which rely heavily on his vocal, such as ‘Next Time It Rains’. When A Good Day Comes definitely shares DNA with Moore’s previous band, although it lacks the finely-tuned pop precision of their best work. The Blue Nile were undoubtedly influential, with groups such as The 1975 citing them as inspiration. But despite this album’s undoubted warmth, these songs feel like the afterglow of a once roaring fire. (Sean Greenhorn) n Released on Thursday 22 September.

Nick Drnaso’s contrived cartoon style creates an ultra-twodimensional world where subtle facial expressions form important clues for deciphering the narrative. Insofar as we are drawn in by the exercises in pretence and imagination, the book positions its reader on a level with the class participants. It becomes gradually harder to discern which scenes are real and which imagined. As for John Smith’s encouragement to practice uninhibited expression, it’s the reader who’s in danger of feeling two-dimensional in contrast to the characters; it’s impressive how Acting Class explores and practices manipulation on so many levels. Without suggesting any answers, the book raises awkward ethical questions. For a while, it feels comfortable to try to empathise with the characters, including an ex-convict who’s trying to redeem himself and build his self-esteem, until we learn that this guy is a sex offender. Meanwhile, the encouragement to let go of inhibitions leads to some participants inflicting harm on others. When it comes to empathy and freedom from inhibitions, where do we draw the line?

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In Acting Class, a diverse group of people, many of them social outliers, are brought together to participate in a series of acting classes led by creepy instructor John Smith. Piecemeal insights into the psychology of these characters make the book intriguing throughout.

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Jungle (and bottom from left), Kramies, Maggie O’Farrell MACLEODMURDOPICTURE:

HIGHLIGHTS REYNOLDSBILLPICTURE:

YEAH YEAH YEAHS Back with their first album in a whole nine years, the New York indie rockers give us Cool It Down, which features a collaboration with Perfume Genius. n Secretly Canadian, Friday 30 September.

ALBUMS KRAMIES

JUNGLE This six-part scripted series follows the connected lives of several strangers, each facing their own struggle. All of it is viewed through the prism of UK rap and drill music, providing a fresh perspective on an often unseen world. n Prime Video, Friday 30 September.

STEPHEN KING ‘Welcome to the dark side of happy ever after’ warns the tagline for Fairy Tale, the latest addictive thriller from King which dips back and forth between this world and another. n Hodder & Stoughton, Tuesday 6 September.

Previously seen as an inferior product to the fiction feature movie, documentaries continue to shine many a light onto the human condition. This podcast asks some key filmmakers how they go about creating an engrossing non-fiction film.

OTHER THINGS WORTH STAYING IN FOR

n Double Elvis, available now. TV GUTSY The Clintons (Chelsea and Hillary) are inspirational figures themselves but who are the women that have helped motivate them? Among those they catch up with across eight parts are Gloria Steinem, Dr Jane Goodall, Megan Thee Stallion, Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn. And Kim Kardashian. n Apple TV+, Friday 9 September.

Straight out of Ohio comes a series of expansive alternative-folk dreamscapes and a set of intriguing musical hook-ups with the likes of Patrick Carney from The Black Keys and Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle. n Vangerrett Records, Friday 9 September.

BOOKS MAGGIE O’FARRELL After the barnstorming success of Hamnet, O’Farrell returns with The Marriage Portrait, which tracks the fortunes of a young duchess in 16thcentury Florence. n Headline, out now.

PODCASTS THE DANGEROUS ART OF THE DOCUMENTARY

As we move slowly to the moment when the nights aren’t quite so light as they were mere weeks earlier, entertain yourself indoors with a long-awaited return, two gutsy women and a different kind of prison drama

This award-winning French comedy revolves around an out-of-work actor who runs a theatre workshop in a prison, with Waiting For Godot next on the agenda. But whose idea was it to tour the production? n TVOD, Monday 12 September.

FILM THE BIG HIT

September 2022 THE LIST 79 SEE THE WORLD ANEW TODAYCHINESELEARN Individual and group classes: • 20 hours from £115 Study and scholarship opportunities in China CONTACT US TO LEARN MORE T: 0141 330 7730 E: glasgow.ac.uk/confuciusinstituteconfucius-enquiries@glasgow.ac.uk Of OnlineSoilsScotland’sandSoulmusicevent 15 –25 September 2022 Featuring Rachel Sermanni, Hamish Hawk and Last Boy performing in three garden settings at Benmore, Dawyck and Logan Botanic Gardens. Including newly commissioned music, songs and spoken word, the event is exclusive to Scotland’s Soils and Soul, part of Year of Stories. For event information and tickets visit rbge.org.uk/stories Rachel Sermanni

THE Q & A WITH FYFEIONA

Who would you like to see playing you in the movie about your life? Who do you think the casting people would choose? You know they apps that do the ‘what celebrity do you look like?’ Every time, it comes up with Saoirse Ronan. A few people have said I look like Saoirse. It’s a huge compliment. So, I guess, it would be Saoirse. She was ace as Mary Queen Of Scots, so I know she can nail the accent!

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Award-winning folk singer and Scots-language advocate Iona Fyfe releases her latest single this month. In our Q&A, she fronts up about her love of Chihuahuas and war movies, and recalls that time she and her mum hounded poor Richard Madden

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What’s the punchline to your favourite joke? Who has favourite jokes? If you were to return in a future life as an animal, what would it be? I could be tropey and say ‘a bird because then I could fly’, but in reality, I’d come back as a wee nippy Chihuahua. I love Chihuahuas. I actually met a now-close friend Sharon, through Borrow My Doggy. She let me borrow her Woody.

Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise people? I grew up in a loneparent, working-class household in borderline poverty. People see a glint of ‘success’ and are so quick to try to re-write your narrative or your story, so much so that I find comments on Twitter or Reddit claiming that I was ‘born with a silver spoon in my mouth’ or that I was ‘middle class’ because I had an education at the Conservatoire. It upsets me. All I want to do is inspire people and show that if you have ambition and work yer bum aff, ye can achieve guid hings. Cringefest ower. When did you last cry? Last week. I’m an ugly crier. Think of that meme of Kim Kardashian and times it by 100. What’s the most hi-tech item in your home? My WeeKett (kettle from a Scottish-based company) which is connected to my Alexa. I can literally boil the kettle from bed, just as long as there’s water in the kettle first. What’s a skill you’d love to learn but never got round to? I really would like to learn how to play the mandolin. Inspired by Sierra Hull, Chris Thile and, closer to home, Graham Rorie of Gnoss, who has produced every song I’ve released since 2019. What’s your earliest recollection of winning something? The under-six Doric poetry competition at the Keith Festival circa 2003. By decree of your local council, you’ve been ordered to destroy one room in your house and all of its contents. Which room do you choose? I guess my bedroom? It’s the one with the least music gear, CD stock or books. I need a new mattress anyway. If you were selected as the next 007, where would you pick as your first luxury destination for espionage? Copenhagen. Amazing city. I did the Build-A-Bond podcast and despite having never seen a Bond film, it was actually great crack. My episode is called ‘Hyundai-Another-Day’, because my Bond car was my own trusty Hyundai.

If you were playing in an escape room, name two other people you’d recruit to help you get out? Alan Cumming. I reckon he’d be good at an escape room, and if he’s rubbish, then at least he’d be guid crack. I’d also enlist the help of my childhood (and adult) best friend Cit, who would probably do all the work. Just like with my dissertation (joke, if anyone from the Conservatoire is reading this). When was the last time you were mistaken for someone else? I’m a bit of an unsociable hermit, so I don’t leave the flat much if I don’t have to. I don’t even have an answer to this, let alone a good one. What’s the best cover version ever? I love Karine Polwart’s Scottish Songbook, where she covers loads of ace songs by Scottish artists. My favourite cover version has to be Laura Marling singing Bob Dylan’s ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’. Whose speaking voice soothes your ears? On tour in 2019, Aidan Moodie and I got into the true-crime comedy podcast My Favourite Murder. During lockdown, the only way I marked the passage of time was each Monday and Thursday when Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark would release new episodes. Their voices soothe my ears in a familiar, companionly sort of way. Tell us something you wish you had discovered sooner in life? The transpose button on my digital piano. Describe your perfect Saturday evening? I’d visit Bar Vini in Glasgow for some great Italian food and a few Negronis, then kick back and watch a war film. I have started to really enjoy war films. Have I officially become a boring bastard? Don’t print that if you can’t. If you were a ghost, who would you haunt? I’ve got my hitlist (*taps nose*). If you could relive any day of your life, which one would it be? Probably my graduation from The Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland in 2019. Mostly because I didn’t have breakfast and helped myself to one-too-many post-ceremony Proseccos. Then, together with my mum, hounded the honorary doctorate Richard Madden for a photo. The RCS have now updated their alumni wall, and I’m up there next to Richard Madden and Alan Cumming. Full circle crack, right there. Did you have a nickname at school that you were ok with? And can you tell us a nickname you hated? A classmate at university called me Spice, for reasons you cannot print. I think some classmates at school would occasionally call me Fyfey, which I hated, but now I’d like to mobilise my listeners to call themselves #Fyfeys. Like #Swifties, but less cool. Maybe I’ll make stickers and no one will want them. The opportunities are endless.

Think of that Kim Kardashian meme and times it by 100

NEXTTIME

September 2022 THE LIST 81 BACK

When were you most recently astonished by something? Every day, the patter of some people on Twitter astonishes me. What tune do you find it impossible not to get up and dance to, whether in public or private? Miley Cyrus’ ‘Party In The USA’. I’m on my first US tour in September, so I’ll be blasting this in the car on our drive from California to Seattle. Which famous person would be your ideal holiday companion? Can I answer with Taylor Swift again? As an adult, what has a child said to you that made a powerful impact? I was recently teaching Scots Song at the Scottish Culture And Traditions Youth Camp in Aberdeen, and one of the participants said something along the lines of, ‘my teacher at school used to tell me to speak proper, but I told her that Scots is a language because I learned it from your TikToks.’ Job done. That’s me retiring noo.

If you were to start a tribute act to a band or singer, what would it be called? I translate lots of Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift songs into Scots and post the cover videos on TikTok. I think Taylor is my favourite artist, so it would be a Swift tribute act: Swift In Scots?

” “

Iona Fyfe’s new single Lady Finella is released on all platforms, Saturday 3 September. It doesn’t seem that long ago we were all getting excited about a summer jam-packed with festivals. Now, there’s Christmas chocolate in the shops and ‘autumn specials’ are all the rage. We’re not quite doing one of those in our next issue but we will be covering a whole range of October highlights, such as eclectic instrumental ensemble Snarky Puppy, recordbreaking comic Jordan Brookes, jolly TV historian Lucy Worsley, and dystopian sci-fi thriller writer Ever Dundas. n Next copy of The List will be out on Friday 30 September.

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Coming to cinemas and Apple TV+ on Friday 23 September is Sidney, a documentary film which looks back at the life and work of the talented Mr Poitier, with contributions from the likes of Spike Lee, Barbra Streisand, Halle Berry, Lenny Kravitz and Robert Redford. Down Paisley way, The Spree is back from Thursday 1 to Saturday 10 September with another truly excellent music line-up featuring the likes of 80s new wave icons Altered Images, desert blues pioneers Tinariwen and Manchester indie rockers The Slow Readers Club (pictured).

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Those who lack a head for heights might struggle with Banff Mountain Film Festival but for others it’s a delight for all the senses. At Glasgow’s King’s Theatre (Sunday 18 September) and Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre (Sunday 25 September), you can witness feats of human endurance against a background of jaw-dropping scenery.

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HOT SHOTS

September 2022 THE LIST 83 2 July–30 October 2022 Book now Chambersnms.ac.uk/anatomyStreet,Edinburgh EH1 1JF Actual Investors Sponsored by CollectionWellcomeCredit:1841/1844.Maclise,J.bylithographafromadaptedImageSC011130CharityScottishScotland,MuseumsNational A journey of exploration and discovery for Scotland’s Year of Stories #FindhornBayFestival #YS2022 #TalesOfScotland

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STUDENT GUIDE 2022 | GLASGOW

What’s your best memory of ﬁrst year? Deﬁnitely Freshers’ Week as a whole. I cannot recommend enough getting as involved as you can in your Freshers. Some of your best nights out in uni can come from that week.

What advice would you give your Fresher self? Get involved in societies from ﬁrst year! As daunting as it was, I found some of my really close friends in my societies, but I only joined at the end of my second year. Strath Union boasts almost 200 societies so there’s something for everyone. What’s the most underrated study spot on campus? As much as the library is a best-seller, the private booths on levels three and four of our Learning And Teaching Building are very underrated.

Welcome to The List’s Student Guide for 2022, packed with all the inspiration you need to get out and experience something new. From food and drink, to music, art and culture, this guide is the starting point for your next night out. Whether it’s a night in the pub with our premium pilsner lager, or a trip into the unknown, curiosity is the gift of Heverlee and we’re here to help you discover your next adventure. But don’t just keep it to yourself. Bring your mates along for the ride. It’s all about the joy of knowing something good is on its way, shared together with friends, old and new. So, what are you waiting for? Go beyond what you already know and read on to find the beginning of your next great story. You just never know where your curiosity might take you.

Which society is the most fun on a night out? As someone who used to work in the bar in the Union, I’ve seen loads of really fun nights out from the Law Society, the Cocktail Society and the Modern Languages Café, along with most of our sports clubs who put on a cracking night out. Who does the best cup of coffee on campus? Our very own Roasters coffee shop does a range of tasty and affordable coffee at the entrance to the Union.

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Which GU student accommodation is the loudest and which is quietest? Murano Street Student Village is certainly the loudest. With so many students in one compound, every night is a busy one. The quietest halls change every year. But in my ﬁrst year, the quietest was Cairncross.

Adam Morrow, Strathclyde University

What makes Glasgow a great city for students? Glasgow is a city with a really strong social scene. There are countless good pubs and music venues. No matter where you end up staying in Glasgow, you’re almost guaranteed a good night nearby. What was the first society you joined at uni? The first society I joined was the Baking Society. I had just spent a summer getting into baking, so the society was a great way to meet people when I first came to university.

September 2022 THE LIST 87 A family-run restaurant looking to make eating vegan as dynamic and tasty as possible 0141suissivegankitchen.co.uk494DumbartonRd,GlasgowG116SL3399331suissivegan@gmail.comFollowusonsocialmedia OUR NEW FOR 2022 EVENING SUNSET CRUISE Relax and unwind with a complimentary drink while cruising around our local islands including Fidra as the sun sets. DAILY TOURS FROM NORTH BERWICK HARBOUR, ONLY A SHORT JOURNEY FROM EDINBURGH Enjoy our daily 1.5 hour Bass Rock Sightseeing tour and take in the spectacular sight of the largest colony of Northern Gannets in the world. Our Cross Forth Ferry service between North Berwick and Anstruther offers a full day out either side of the Firth of Forth without the hassle of driving. For more information and booking visit sulaboattrips.co.uk

GLASGOW NECROPOLIS Handiest for Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian students, the Necropolis cemetery is ideal for a short walk, with rewarding views of the city from its peak. It’s also where Robert Pattinson rode a motorbike that time for The Batman

TENNENT’S BREWERY Perhaps the most important factory in this industrial city, the Tennent’s Brewery on Duke Street is visible from far and wide (it has a gigantic red ‘T’ on the side). Students can discover the history of Scotland’s most famous lager for just £9 a ticket (and get a pint at the end).

Top to bottom: Necropolis, The Burrell Collection, Tennent’s Brewery

THE BURRELL COLLECTION In Pollock Country Park, the newly refurbed Burrell Collection is home to over 9000 works of art from around the world. From Egypt to China, this free museum showcases the array of treasures collected by mega-rich 19th-century shipping magnate, Sir William Burrell.

2. CITY CENTRE The Glasvegan, St Enoch Square

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KELVINGROVE ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM

We couldn’t mention culture without including Kelvingrove Art Gallery And Museum. Smack bang in the middle of Kelvingrove Park and neighbour to the GU campus, this classic collection features everything from Rembrandt to Rennie Mackintosh.

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3. EAST CreativeENDEast End CIC, Trongate A women-owned creative hub that serves coffee and hosts film nights; the perfect atmosphere of creativity and togetherness in café form. With plenty of plugs and strong wifi, all your study bases are covered.

1. WEST END S’mug Coffee bar, Byres Road

4. CaféSOUTHSIDEStrangeBrew, Shawlands One for when you feel like something a little fancier. Sit in for brunch or take away a coffee for a walk around Queen’s Park (which arguably has better views than Kelvingrove). 4

SickofsippingthesamedrinksfromStarbucksandothercoffeegiants?Keentobeyourlocalbarista’sfavouriteregular?OurcafécompasswillleadyoutothebestcoffeespotsaroundGlasgow STUDENT GUIDE 2022 | GLASGOW | DAY

CultureClub

Just near Glasgow Uni’s campus, S’mug is a great study spot for when you have half an hour between classes. Their signature S’mug Fog drinks mix herbal teas with spiced syrups and foamed milk: don’t knock it til you try it.

It’s September which means (love it or hate it) pumpkin spice is essentially inescapable. Glasvegan’s dairy-free, pumpkin-spiced latte is perfect if you’re a cinnamon superfan and want to try a local take on this cosy autumnal classic.

Forthosestudyinginthecountry’sculturecapital(sorry,Edinburgh),there’snoshortageofspotstosoakupart,historyorjustsomegoodGlasgowenergy.We’veroundedupafewofthecity’srichestculturalgemssoyou’llneverbestuckforsomethingtodo

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Artistic3pm inspiration at Centre For Contemporary Arts (CCA), Sauchiehall Street, free CCA is home to some of Sauchiehall Street’s most interesting sights (second only to Garage nightclub a few doors down). With new art exhibitions every few weeks, it’s my go-to place to spend a free afternoon.

Burger5pm and a drink at BLOC+, Bath Street, £6.50 Lastly, I find my way back up Bath Street to BLOC+, Glasgow’s best bang for your buck. I often turn to their unmissable weekday bargains when money gets tight. They sort me out for a full sit-in meal that costs under a fiver. Burger Tuesdays take care of dinner for £3, and with mixers at £3.50, it feels like you’re robbing them.

Takeaway2pm wrap from Mrs Falafel, Woodlands, £5 After exiting the Botanics, I circle round Woodlands Road to Mrs Falafel’s street food van. Not the cheapest falafel in G-town, but the server sometimes slides me some free falafel balls while I wait on my wrap. A cutesy food truck that’s ideal for a meal on the go.

Mayze,11am Finnieston, oat milk cappuccino, £3 I’m kicking off my low-funds fun with a coffee from a true hidden gem. As cheap as it is cheerful, Mayze deserves to be on anyone’s list of regular café spots. They’ve recently opened another branch in Dennistoun for students in the East End. Also, they make the best vegan empire biscuits in Glasgow.

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ANoonwalk around Glasgow Botanic Gardens, free Next, I wander deeper into the West End to this classic spot for Glasgow Uni students (as it’s essentially on the uni’s doorstep). With free entry to their tropical greenhouses, plant-lovers are sure to find their new happy place here.

TOTAL: £14.50 It’s the end of the month and SAAS is running low. You’d rather not rot away in halls all day (especially when no one’s cleaned the kitchen in two weeks). Follow Rachel Cronin around Glasgow as she takes on our Spend The Day challenge, sharing her tips on how best to spend your precious time while spending as little cash as possible

Retail4pm therapy at The Vintage Scene Clothing, St Enoch Square, free (unless I see something I really like) Next, I continue my hike up Sauchiehall Street into town (I’m so glad I had that falafel) for some window shopping. With used clothing at reasonable prices, this little spot is ideal for when I feel like big spending and my wallet is saying no.

THE GARAGE

The Garage is Scotland’s biggest nightclub. For people who don’t care who’s on the aux if the vibe is there. One Direction played here once (in 2010).

LA CHEETAH Another spot for techno lovers. In the basement of Max’s Bar in Merchant City, La Cheetah is a very up-close-andpersonal club (the DJ booth takes up half the floor). However, its small size doesn’t take away from its charm.

STUDENT GUIDE 2022 | GLASGOW | NIGHT

CATHOUSE Famous for being a ‘goth’ hangout spot. For ex-emos and people who under no circumstances listen to chart music. OLDTECHNOSCHOOL

FIREWATER Undoubtedly the most popular Thursday night in the city. Good tunes and cheap drinks, but get there at least two hours before you planned or you’ll be queuing up Sauchiehall Street.

The longest-running dance club in the world. Just down from Glasgow’s Four Corners, this iconic techno venue is a staple of underground culture.

music personality quiz:whichglasgow club are you?

BAMBOO Another one for a Wednesday (free entry for students before 11pm). A room for every genre, but if you’re not one for the main dance floor, the ‘indie room’ at the back is for you.

STUDENT GUIDE 2022

SUB CLUB

Struggling with what clubs to try for Freshers? Take our music personality test to find your new regular boogie spot, based on your favourite genres and artists (and to discover what nights are cheapest)

THE POLO LOUNGE Easily the most popular gay club in Glasgow. If you can get past the infamously sour bouncers, The Polo is the place to be. Student night is Wednesday.

KOKOMO R&B club that’s definitely one for Freshers. Great for a last-minute night out (or when the queue for Bamboo next door is too long). The Venom cocktails come with little rubber duckies in them.

CHARTS INDIEOR TECHNO DANCEHITS INDIEPOP ROCKINDIEOR OR

TECHNODANCE R&B POPSAM FENDER THE KOOKSARCTICMONKEYS OR SOMETHINGHEAVIER DOJACAT DRAKE 00s HITS A BIT EVERYTHINGOF

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‘It can get stressful when assignments are due and you’ve got an important gig coming up,’ explains the full-time English student and part-time musician.

Juggling academic life and the early stages of a music career can be a tricky balancing act. The frontman of Glasgow-based student band Junk Pups tells Rachel Cronin how he’s managing both of

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‘We’re still taken seriously enough as a student band,’ says Faulds. ‘We’re normally on the bill with other bands made up of mostly students, so we’re not really discriminated against because of that. We get discriminated against because of how awful my make-up is!’ Instagram.com/junkpups

‘It’s very doable to maintain a love for music, or any other pastime, while doing a degree,’ says Faulds. ‘If you’re in a band, communication is key. Make it clear from the get-go what you would like to achieve and listen to your bandmates’ needs, especially if they’re students and are under stress. Also, just have fun with it. It could be the best or worst thing you ever do. For us, it’s been a blast so far.’ Famous for its music scene, Glasgow has no shortage of student bands. Whether you’re a budding musician yourself or interested in supporting new acts, the city offers a generally fertile breeding ground for‘Glasgow’stalent. music scene has its victories and failures,’ notes Faulds. ‘I’m glad it’s becoming less of a boys’ club and that there’s more diversity; bands like Walt Disco have given us the confidence to be an openly queer band in Glasgow. The new wave of bands here are just fabulous too: Big Girl’s Blouse, She, Lloyd’s House, The Wife Guys Of Reddit . . . there are so many amazing acts.’

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uilding a social life in a new city, working part-time and trying to fit in your hobbies can prove hard work. But Jack Faulds, frontman of Glasgow student band Junk Pups, argues it’s possible to squeeze it all in.

‘But, in a weird way, having gigs during term time gives you something to look forward to through all the stress. I think it’s more than possible to maintain a healthy balance between studying and music-making, as long as you make time for both and for yourself.’ Junk Pups was formed during lockdown and consists almost entirely of students. The self-described ‘queer pup-rock quartet’ recorded and released their first single, ‘Front Garden Flamingo’, last year. They’ve since played some of Glasgow’s top spots for emerging local music, including Mono and The Hug And Pint (a Junk Pups favourite), proving you can pursue your passions, despite studying full-time.

September 2022 Competition

Curiosity is the gift of Heverlee, and whether it’s a night in the pub with our premium pilsner lager, or having mates back to yours, we’re here to help you discover your next adventure. It’s all about the joy of knowing something good is on its way, shared together with friends –old and new. Check out this competition where you could win some of our favourite merch – including everything you need to master the perfect pour at home – glasses, beers and one of our skim kits. We’ll also throw in a sweatshirt and tote so you can bring the fox and hare with you wherever you go. So, what are you waiting for? Go beyond what you already know and enter now to find the beginning of your next great story. You just never know where your curiosity might take you. To enter, just log onto list.co.uk/offers and tell us what the gift of Heverlee is? Win this signature Heverlee jumper and a prize bundle of other amazing Heverlee products to enjoy. drinkaware.co.uk for the facts

universitiesandEdinburghishometoahostofeducationalinstitutions,allwithdistinctareasofspecialitycampuscultures.Wechallengestudentrepresentativesfromfourofthecity’stoanswersomeburningquestionsaboutstudentlife

STUDENT GUIDE 2022 | EDINBURGH

Vishal Khattar, Edinburgh Napier University

Niamh Roberts, University Of Edinburgh

What’s the funniest thing to have happened at your student union? When Rocco (our resident therapet) started chasing the QMU swans. Who, in your opinion, is the coolest alumnus/alumna of your university? Jane McCarry and Mark Cox from Still Game. It was amazing seeing them receive honorary doctorates at this year’s graduation. However, I’m a sucker for Grey’s Anatomy so also Kevin McKidd who plays Owen Hunt in the show.

What’s your ideal Edinburgh night out?

The best I’ve experienced started at Three Sisters Union bar, where we can get student discount on drinks and food before heading to a nightclub; my favourite is Why Not. What piece of advice would you give to an upcoming Fresher? Embrace this new and fresh journey of life! This is going to be the best rollercoaster ride, full of fun, knowledge, growth and ultimate success. Where’s your favourite study spot? My favourite spot is the Jack Kilby Computer Centre, which is open 24/7.

Vishal Khattar, Edinburgh Napier University

What’s the biggest misconception about your university? I think often Heriot-Watt is considered relatively small, but we are a truly global university with five campuses around the world; three in the UK, one in Dubai and one in Malaysia. What’s the wackiest society at HeriotWatt? All of our societies are great but we did have a Garlic Bread Appreciation Society a few years back. What’s the most common phrase uttered by a Heriot-Watt student? ‘You Watt?’ Describe your campus culture in three words Fun, inclusive, diverse.

Aasiyah Patankar, Queen Margaret University

The ideal night that I have experienced started at Three Sisters union bar, where we can get student discount on drinks and food before heading to a nightclub; my personal favourite is Why Not. What piece of advice would you give to an upcoming fresher? Embrace this new and fresh journey of life! This is going to be the best rollercoaster ride, full of fun, knowledge, growth and ultimate success. Where is your favourite study spot? My favourite spot is the Jack Kilby Computer Centre, which is open 24/7.

What’s the biggest misconception about your university? That our main pull-factor is our reputation for being an ancient and world-renowned uni. I really think the best thing about the University Of Edinburgh is all the people you meet and the things you learn from your independent life here. Go-to comfort food near/on campus? Over the years I’ve consumed tons of curly fries and nachos from Teviot. Baristo coffee (Potterrow) is also genuinely underrated, and I am now caffeine dependent.

What piece of advice would you give to an upcoming Fresher? Get involved as much as you can. At QMU, there are so many new things going on. My uni experience didn’t really start until I got involved in the women’s rugby team!

What’s your ideal night out in Edinburgh?

What will be the most exciting thing happening on campus come September? Definitely all the free sober and non-sober events we’ll have on every night in The Gem in Bristo Square, and the amazing atmosphere that’s created by all the students getting out there and exploring Edinburgh again.

Which society would you most want to go on a night out with? Definitely the Musical Theatre Society. They throw the best karaoke nights on campus!

What’s your ideal night out in Edinburgh? The ideal night that I have experienced started at Three Sisters union bar, where we can get student discount on drinks and food before heading to a nightclub; my personal favourite is Why Not. What piece of advice would you give to an upcoming fresher? Embrace this new and fresh journey of life! This is going to be the best rollercoaster ride, full of fun, knowledge, growth and ultimate success. Where is your favourite study spot? My favourite spot is the Jack Kilby Computer Centre, which is open 24/7.

Rundown from the reps

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Sanjit Krishnakumar, Heriot-Watt University

What’s the funniest thing to have happened at your student union? Beef-gate (a failed bid to ban beef on campus), and the fact that it was the most engagement we’ve seen in student issues for a long time. You laugh or you cry!

Starting around the corner from Bruntsﬁeld Links, Modern Standard is a charming café on Barclay Place selling delicious own-brand coffee and baked goods. It is also one of the few artisan spots in the city where you can get a ﬂat white for under £3 (you’re welcome).

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Next up we’re headed to Marchmont Crescent to a small multi-hyphenate space called Ilium Founded by an Edinburgh student as a welcoming community hub, this spot can be a place to sip on coffee while you study, listen or partake in local jam sessions, browse for clothing or shop for records. Stay up-to-date with their weekly events on Instagram @ilium_shop.

Top to bottom: National Museum Of Scotland, Jupiter Artland, Scottish National Portrait Gallery Ilium

Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art, free The home of modern and contemporary art in Edinburgh, the Modern One and Modern Two buildings are located just next to picturesque Dean Village and house works by the likes of Joan Eardley and Barbara Hepworth.

Talbot Rice Gallery, free Part of University Of Edinburgh, this gallery champions artists of the future in its exhibitions, as well as established names. Its central location and free admission make it an accessible destination for contemporary art lovers. Jupiter Artland, £6 If a day trip out of the city is what you need, jump on a bus to this artistic mecca immediately. Boasting marvellous outdoor and indoor exhibitions from international and local names, this place is as culturally nourishing as it is Instagrammable.

National Museum Of Scotland, free A great crowd-pleaser with sections dedicated to engineering, space, natural history and fashion, as well as constantly changing, expertly curated temporary exhibitions.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery, free Marvel at the intricate interiors of this Victorian building as you discover a blend of old and new artworks. Photography exhibitions are often housed in the temporary space while the permanent collection of portraits, immortalising numerous famous Scottish faces from the sixteenth century until today, is a timeless classic.

Let us know your favourite Edinburgh hangout spot by using the hashtag #BangingHang on Instagram and tagging @thelistuk

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Surgeons’ Hall Museums, £4.50 Great for any medics, gore-lovers and biology enthusiasts. Expect to learn about Edinburgh’s fascinating medical history while walking past lots of gruesome stuff in jars.

Whetherit’saquietcornertoﬁnishanassignment,aspaciousspottomeetupwithfriends,oraplacetocaffeinatebeforeafulldayoflectures,havingasolidlistofhangoutspotsaroundthecityiskeytoasuccessfulstudentexperience

Fruitmarket, free A spot for all modern art lovers, this city centre gallery regularly hosts wonderful exhibitions by a range of international artists in its newly renovated and expanded space. The cafe and bookshop by the entrance are also well worth a look.

Further north, just off Leith Walk on Dalmeny Street, is Out Of The Blue Drill Hall, a community space hosting artist residencies, ﬂea markets, practice rooms and performance spaces. With indoor and outdoor tables dotted around the spacious building and a café operating between 10am and 5pm, this versatile destination is perfect for your next group project meeting, band practice or Saturday morning coffee.

State of the art

Artsandculturestudents,appreciatorsandobsessivesalike,arespoiltforchoiceinEdinburghwithsomanydifferentgalleriesandmuseumstochoosefrom.Checkoutourtoppickstoﬁndyourperfectmatch

BurritoNoon from Tortilla and doughnut from Krispy Kreme, St James Quarter, £6.08 Plenty of places do Mexican food but this has been my go-to recently. They do a 10% student discount, and if the medium or large burrito is still a bit much for your lunch or snack, they actually make a small/kids’ size for £3.90. While you’re in St James Quarter, if it’s ‘Hot Light’ hours at Krispy Kreme (indicated by their ‘Hot Now’ sign lighting up red), you can get a free and hot original glazed doughnut, no purchase required. Watching3pm a movie at VUE Omni, £2.49 Just over the road, I cash in a discount code from a family member to get two-for-one cinema tickets (available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) for myself and a friend. The tickets come in at £2.49 each and we bring snacks and drinks from home to avoid extortionate popcorn prices.

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Culture10am fix at Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art, free Due to being slightly out of the way, these galleries can easily be forgotten. Made up of two buildings just a 10 to 15-minute walk from the city centre, these are free to visit (if you avoid the paid-for exhibitions) and have such lovely grounds to have a picnic or even sunbathe when the elusive Scottish sun shows itself. With displayed works spanning from the 1900s to now, and featuring artists like Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol and Douglas Gordon, these galleries are treasure troves for students.

Throat9.30amPunch Coffee Co, Haymarket, filter coffee, £1 I bought my usual, a black filter coffee. The staff are super lovely and knowledgeable, and the aesthetics of the place are perfect for those who feel obligated to share on Instagram. The place also doubles as a cocktail bar in the evening. Oh, and they have the biggest and fluffiest dog called Bear. Worth the visit for him alone!

STUDENT GUIDE 2022 | EDINBURGH | DAY

Sunset6pm at Wardie Bay beach, Newhaven, free To end this lovely sunny day, I head down to Wardie Bay beach in Newhaven. This is a quiet gem of a beach where you can go wild swimming, barbecue with friends and enjoy the sunset. Aren’t we lucky to have this right on our doorstep?

TOTAL: £9.57 spend the edinburghday: Napier University student Robyn Bell takes on our Spend The Day challenge, where she enjoys an actionpacked day visiting some of her favourite Edinburgh spots while trying to keep the cost as low as possible

96 THE LIST September 2022 STUDENTDISCOUNT £5 STUDENTDISCOUNT £5STUDENTDISCOUNT £5 STUDENTDISCOUNT £5 STUDENTDISCOUNT DISCOUNT £5 STUDENTDISCOUNT £5 STUDENT Additional Student discounts available from Club Partners hibernianfc.co.uk/students Saturday 8th October | 3pm kick-off £5 student tickets VS. MOTHERWELL

Thenetworksocial

Let’s dance

The Stand’s Red Raw nights are a great way to see up-and-comingcomedians test new material. For just £5 a ticket and with regular surpriseappearances from more established names, it’s a high-risk, high-rewardevening guaranteed to generate a few laughs.n The Stand, York Place, 8.30pm.

Sign up to the free 16–25 student membership at Filmhouse andTuesdays will become your new £2 film night. Keep an eye on their socials to find out whether the pick of the week is a new release or an old classic. n Filmhouse, Lothian Road, times vary. When being a student affords you the luxury of avoiding weekend crowds,head to one of the city’s classic pubs, Captains Bar, to listen to local folkmusicians jam. In this place, toes are always tapping and pints are alwaysflowing well into the wee hours.n Captains Bar, South College Street, closes at 2am. Put all of that higher education to good use at The Golf Tavern’s weeklypub quiz, where the top trivia team walk away with a bundle of extra cash or a bottle of wine. Book a table in advance to guarantee your spot. n The Golf Tavern, Wright’s Houses, 9pm. Head to Edinburgh’s former Corn Exchange venue for regular Bongo’sBingo nights from now until the end of the year. Expect traditional bingowith a party twist and lots of audience participation.

n O2 Academy Edinburgh, New Market Road, Fridays & Saturdays (dates vary), last entry 7.30pm.

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Fans of live funk, soul and jazz should get themselves to The Jazz Bar on Chambers Street, and for those who love Latin rhythms, head to Boteco Do Brasil on Lothian Street or El Barrio on Hanover Street; all of these stay open until 3am. Take your pick, start your engines and see you on the dancefloor.

STUDENT GUIDE 2022 | EDINBURGH | NIGHT

Havingregulareventstodropinandoutofisagreat(andlow-maintenance)waytoorganisematedatesinEdinburgh.Whetherit’sapubquiz,movienightorabingoboogie,theseweeklyfaithfulswillseeyouthroughtheterm

If you’re partial to a pop hit, sprinkled with some classic club bangers, the New Town’s Why Not and Shanghai or Atik in Tollcross are solid choices. Down Leith Walk, CC Blooms is the longest-standing LGBTQ+ club in the city and always delivers top-notch floor-fillers as well as live drag acts. Over in the Old Town, The Hive’s weekly Trash Tuesdays are a pop-punk fan’s dream, with Blink 182 and Paramore making regular appearances on the playlist, while The Liquid Room and Wee Red Bar have nights to cater to indie lovers, as well as R&B, house and reggae events. Those with a heavier musical persuasion can head down towards the night-time hotspot that is Cowgate. First on the list is Cabaret Voltaire which proudly waves the electronic music flag with their numerous resident DJ nights, while just a few doors down, Sneaky Pete’s and The Bongo Club put on an equally eclectic range of club events throughout the week.

WhentheurgetohitthedancefloorinEdinburghkicksin,thereisonlyonethingforit:headstraighttoyourideaofaperfectclubwherethevibesareimpeccableandthemusicjustright

F ounded 52 years ago at Essex University, after increasing reports of suicides and poor mental health, Nightline was introduced as a listening and information service run by students for students. Today, 36 branches of Nightline exist around the UK and Ireland, including an Edinburgh service open to all of the capital’s universities and beyond. ‘It was started as a suicide helpline,’ says Saaniya Desai, Edinburgh Nightline’s publicity coordinator. ‘In Edinburgh we started in 1973; as you can imagine, rising suicide rates and mental-health decline are a big part of why we’re here for students.’ Run entirely by specially trained student volunteers, Nightline offers a phone line and instant messaging service from 8pm to 8am every day. Sticking to overarching principles such as being non-judgemental, Nightline volunteers are not there to steer calls in any particular direction.‘Themain thing is that we don’t give advice at all. It’s a listening and information service. We don’t judge, we just listen, so wherever you want to take that space is up to you,’ explains Desai. Anonymity is taken very seriously; no caller or volunteer will ever be asked to disclose their identity. ‘That’s an assurance to the callers that you can really talk about whatever you want and be confident that nothing will leave the call.’ What kinds of things, then, warrant a phone call? ‘I can see why people may think, “I can only call this helpline if I’m in severe distress”. But what I like to say is that you can really talk to us about anything, from being homesick or lonely, to if you had a really good piece of pizza and you just wanted to share that with someone but your friends are all out. Call us and be like, “my mum sent me a picture of my dog and I miss my dog”. That’s totally fine. No problem is too big. Nothing is too small. You can talk to us about literally anything.’

98 THE LIST September 2022 STUDENT GUIDE 2022 Student life involves navigating many new and confusing situations. Megan Merino discovers how Nightline provides Edinburgh students with a valuable resource to talk about anything Listen up STUDENT GUIDE 2022 | EDINBURGH | NIGHT

For anyone interested in joining Nightline, once every two to three weeks is the general commitment required from volunteers. ‘It’s a long shift, but it’s worth it,’ says Desai. ‘Just to know that you’re there for someone is nice. It’s a really good way to give back. Personally, applying to Nightline was one of the best decisions that I made when I joined university. It’s just a really great community of people who all want to help. So if anyone out there is considering joining, I’d really encourage you to sign up.’

Find out how to contact or volunteer with Edinburgh Nightline at ednightline.com

BANG!WITHBACKA DECEMBER 2022 edinburghshogmanay.com

The List Issue 764

Articles inside

Edinburgh

Hot Shots

Iona Fyfe

Wild Food

Katy Hessel

The Insider

Art Special

Hatch

Kevin Bridges

My New Hobby

Flux Gourmet