My Edinburgh Festival and exhaustion.

OK, I have an excuse for my profound exhaustion. I’m 61 and I’m holding a job down whilst taking in exactly 60 shows.

God knows what it must be like for performers doing multiple shows, there are plenty of them, me and my wife’s favourite being Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland (And then the Rodeo Burned Down and What if They Ate The Baby), who put on two shows and, when we talked to them, told us they were taking shows in too.

It turned out to be the fifth biggest Fringe ever in terms of ticket sales, but it was a stripped down official EIF and an uninspiring programme, apart from the dance which was excellent. What theatre I saw was sub-optimal. That said Nicola Benedetti is an inspiration.

So, as said, 60 shows with a big mix of comedy, theatre, dance and music.

What stood out?

Much, I have to say.

I get accused of gushing about what I see, but I spent months planning (advance planning) my itinerary and that paid off well with experience playing a role.

Certain venues are more likely to offer quality than others and that forms the basis of my summary.

Before I start I have to say that week one was banging with those in the know taking advantage of lower ticket prices, the second weekend saw Edinburgh simply overwhelmed, but it tailed off rapidly after that. The cost of the Fringe is scary , although I believe there is astonishing value to be had in ticket prices, even at full price. It really is a bargain if you can find good value accommodation and is surely the greatest place to be on planet Earth for culture lovers like me, in August..

The shows/Venues

Roundabout with Paines Plough at Summerhall provided England & Son (utterly stunning), Daniel Kitson and Strategic Love Play all of which were brilliant. Lady Dealer was good and so was Salty Irina, but Bangers disappointed.

Summerhall itself always inspires and Mass Effect, Ben Target: Lorenzo, An Interrogation, Klanghaus: Inhaus and Club Nights were all amazing. I didn’t see a bad show at Summerhall. I just wish I’d got Gunter and Woodhill tickets.

The Traverse had a mixed bag. Bloody Elle and No Love Songs (you need to see this in Dundee) were both gig theatre inspiration, but The Grand Old Opera House Hotel disappointed, despite the inevitable hype. After the Act was truly awful.

The surprise pick of venues (although it has been rising in my opinion) was Zoo Venues, it picked up three brilliant Fringe First and I saw them all, the Danish Insider, Funeral by Ontreroed Goed and Beasts(Why Girls Shouldn’t be afraid of the Dark) but also a great show from Belgium called the Van Paemel Family. They punched above their weight.

In dance I was blown away by EIF shows Rite of Spring, L-E-V and Alvin Ailey in that order but also the aforementioned Summerhall dance spectacle, Mass Effect.

The Pleasance delivered for me with great shows like Hello Kitty Must Die ( although still a WIP in my view) and the five star Lucy and Friends and the ever reliable Showstoppers (I also hear Icehouse was amazing).

Assembly definitely delivered. Mythos Ragnarock (Death metal Norse mythology wrestling), Baby Wants Candy, Party Ghosts and Tutu,

And even Underbelly had some quality with Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder and the quite good Choir Choir Choir.

Space nailed it with the aforementioned Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland (And then the Rodeo Burned Down and What if They Ate The Baby).

And then, right at the end I saw Singing Sands a new Scottish play by Our Theatre at Greenhill. Magically heartwarming.

On the Festival, official, Food delighted but the theatre programme was gash.

All, in all a brilliant Fringe with one life changer. Funeral.

Day 14: The Edinburgh Festival and Fringe.

Hens Teeth’s lovely Love you more. My pick of the day.

I’ve already shared my thoughts on the Dream Machine experience here. (It’s six stars because it’s a once in a lifetime experience. (Although I will be going back to experience it again.)

But I took in a further three shows yesterday. The first, The Chairs, Revisited at The Pleasance Jack Dome by Vagabond Productions is a fucking shitshow. An elderly couple, living 400,000 years in the future in a lighthouse, invite the local great and good to their home to hear an oration from an orator. It’s told in rhyme (loose rhyme). But these visitors are either imaginary or are just not seen to save cost because it would be a cast of thousands. (Have to leave that for for the movie.) Instead the visitors become mime opportunities and they are represented by the chairs they invited to sit on. Many, many chairs gradually populate the stage. It’s fucking bollocks. 2 stars.

Love You More (at Space, Surgeon’s Hall) is ostensibly a female two hander by Bristol’s Hens Teeth Productions is a delightful surprise. In a sea of metaness (like the aforementioned pish) this is a straight up story play about the cool girl at school who befriends the geek and somehow develop a friendship that works. Told in reminiscent flashback it charts the long term relationship between Megan and Charlie in a simple set that doesn’t get in the way of two excellent performances. It’s only 45 minutes long but it’s a little diamond in the Fringe. Last show today so you’ll need to be quick. 4 stars.

Last up, at the same venue we saw Eric Davidson’s Spin We Gaily Daily Ukulele Ceilidh. A truly horrendous title (and very off-putting – it was chosen by a friend) that belies a very good and very funny one man revue show. The spin we daily bit refers to a giant tombola wheel with cryptic song themes (nicked from Elvis Costello) that he spins between songs to choose the next one. What we get is political satire, and very funny it is too. Fairly sweary but no C Bombs and certainly stemming from the left wing. Great entertainment and think he’s transferring to Fringe on the Sea next week. Certainly one to seek out. 4 stars.

Day 5: The Edinburgh Fringe. The year the women smashed us.

(The triumphal SAP. You HAVE to see this. If you don’t like it I will give you your money back)

This truly is the Fringe that keeps on giving. The Fringe of the Woman.

I’ll start with a major disappointment though. The wonderful Ontrorerend Goed’s “Meta” show “Every Word was Once an Animal” is not a patch on their previous work. I mean it has its moments – especially “the curtain scene” but it’s self indulgent and partly uninteresting. I can’t believe I’m three starring the Fringe Harlem Globetrotters. But yes. I am.

Next the show that Joyce McMillan slept through, I know because I was watching her, was worthy and actually interesting, but not compelling. It was basically a history of Haiti sold as a ghost story. I loved the cast and the enthusiasm and endeavour and LOVE for Haiti’s history but as a piece of theatre it failed to move me. It’s called Bogeyman at Pleasance Dome. It did teach me the difference between Voodoo (USA) and Voedoo (the real thing). I hate to down it because the cast were great but it’s not more than a three for me.

It gets better. So much better.

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Godspell. Brave choice of show. Oh no, Godshit and that. Christian Godshit at that. (There’s a swipe at that in the devised script.) Schwartz doesn’t make it easy with his dialogue, that’s for sure – so any production has to work hard. This does, and it’s magical. A ten-strong cast of MA students keep it moving along with six brilliant solo performances. Jesus, John and two others are exceptional (please, a programme). Act 1 is great. Act two is exceptional. I was fighting back the tears as it concludes in an inferno of magnificence. Very good indeed. Four stars.

Now. Five stars to the women.

This is my festival of women.

Show after show after show. From young Lana Stone writing a great University script, (and then being visited by Phoebe-Waller-Bridge) to The Unicorn, Motherload, She/Her, We should Definitely Have More Dancing… the female writing and expression has been blowing us blokes out of the water. Today I saw two more.

Right, why is this? My Glastonbury was dominated by female artists too. My brother in law, who attended with me reflected on this at the end of Glasto day 2. “We huavnae seen any blokes”.

Have we lost our voice? Is this a revolution? I don’t fucking care frankly. I just love women’s company more than men, always have, so it’s great to see them dominating and I mean DOMINATING music, theatre and comedy.

I mean. Sorry Paul McCartney. Sorry Clive Anderson. But, you know…it’s the year of The Lioness (I hate that description with all my heart for the record).

Back to the job.

The first was Waterloo by Bron Batten (@bronbatten). It’s kinda stand up, but it’s kinda theatre too. And it’s kinda perforance art, and it’s ultimately kinda science.

What it DEFINITELY is, is brilliantly entertaining and thought provoking and challenging. She tells the story of her love of a toff (military toff) with such conviction that it hurts. And the imagination, the colour scheming, the whole Ukranianishness of it, is breathtaking. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Bravo Bron and Summerhall.

But the most compelling thing I have seen this year, even better than all these…is Sap.

Oh.

My.
God.

I’m not going to say any more, other than it’s a two woman show (Rebecca Banatvala and Jessica Clark) in the miraculous Roundhouse. (It’s like a gold leaf stamp of quality.)

I’m not telling you any more, because to reveal a second of the plot would be to spoil it.

It’s thrilling. It’s jaw dropping. It’s gasp out loud.

You wanna see world class acting for, literally, nothing? Here it is.

FIVE STARS

Edinburgh Festival and Fringe 2022: Days One and Two.

(My highlight so far: Motherload at Summerhall)

Day 1 (Previews Day)

I opened with The Unicorn. A one Woman Show about sex addiction at The Pleasance. A terrific performance by Georgina Fairbanks who is enthralling as she tells her tale of a descent into sexual indulgences that don’t always go as planned. Graphic but gripping. If only I hadn’t seen Jodie Comer in Prima Facie a few weeks ago this would be a five star show, but it couldn’t quite scale those production heights. A great 4 star opener though.

Next up, Something in the Water at Summerhall. An absurdist exploration of sexuality through the medium of puppetry, projection and squid sex. It’s bonkers. Sometimes very funny but ultimately a little too long. Three stars.

Day one closed with a madcap three person sketch show by the team behind Radio 4’s Soundbleed. Sketch shows inevitably vary in quality but this is mostly at the very highest end of originality and laugh out loud moments. Oh, it’s called Tarot: Cautionary Tales and I give it 4 Stars overall. Very, very funny.

Day two took in six shows.

Materia is a love affair with Polystyrene at Summerhall that is enthralling and I give it 4 stars.

Fire Signs is an award winning Edinburgh University production written by Lana Stone. It’s great and covers young love in a highly amusing way and a decent sized six hander cast (big by this year’s Fringe standards). Also 4 stars.

She/Her is a Brian Cox Produced 7 woman storytelling show with music. It’s not especially challenging but it’s a lovely piece of work directed by and including his wife. It’s femninist in its sensibilities and very much worth your time. Another four stars.

The title of my fourth show at The Assembly Rooms is: Fool Muun Komming! [BeBgWunderful/YEsyes/ Hi5.4sure.TruLuv;Spank Spank:SOfun_Grate_Times]. By some incredible coincidence it’s presented by the partner of the trans person who I saw yesterday in Summerhall’s Something In the Water. Both are bonkers (this one concerns an alien arriving on earth). It’s charming, lovely, funny but too long. So 3 Stars from me.

Number five is the pick of the Fringe for me so far. Motherload at Summerhall. Yet another One Woman Show featuring Mother Nature in an elaborate globe costume. It’s part comedy, with audience participation, (yes I was on stage playing a baby ape at one point) but part horror as she challenges the fragility of her existence. The best thing I’ve ever seen (maybe apart from Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth) on Global Warming in that it challenges and enthrals throughout. My first 5 Star show of the Fringe, and a must-see.

Finally we have Baby Wants Candy, a perenial crowd pleaser in which six actors/singers improvise a musical on the night – in this case Harry Potter and the The Half Blood Prince Albert. Despite not being an HP fan and having only limited knowledge of the work it was hilarious. I might have to go again. Really great entertainment. Another 4 stars.

Rosas: Rain. Choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

My wife and I had the fortune to see this at The Playhouse, Edinburgh, in the 2017 Edinburgh Festival.  It was one of our highlights of that year’s Festival.  So imagine my delight to see that it is now being screened for 8 more days (until 20 April 2020) for free on Sadlers’ Wells’ Facebook Page.

Here’s the link.

It’s wonderful.

 

My Edinburgh Festival and Fringe 2019.

It’s been great.

It always is.

Have I seen a life-changer yet?

Not sure I have, but I’ve seen a lot of class.  (Update, since I first wrote this I have.)

I hate star ratings, but for convenience I have chosen this methodology to save time.

Those in bold are official Edinburgh Festival shows

5*****

The Rite of Spring by Yang Liping’s Peacock Dance Company – This is the life-changer.  A mind-bogglingly beautiful contemporary dance show, weaving together the quiet innocence of Nepalese temple dance with the power and fury of Stravinky’s masterpiece.  Truly outstanding.

Ontroered Goed, -Are we not drawn onward to new erA – I’ve seen this bonkers Belgian political theatre company, from Ghent, before, doing LY£$.  They specialise in Climate Change polemics.

But this was a step up in class.  The entire play is a palindrome; as you will have spotted from the title.  This means it is performed backwards and then replayed in reverse as a film.  How they manage to speak backwards is simply brilliant.  And funny.  And thought provoking

The Patient Gloria – Traverse.  Outstanding theatre about a psychotherapy experiment from the 60’s by Abbey Theatre

Baby Reindeer – Richard Gadd’s masterpiece in the Roundabout at Summerhall.  Awe inspiring performance and story

Efterkalang – The Festival Music strand was a triumph this year.  Few household names but curated with love and real knowledge of quality.  Efterklang closed this year’s offering and they were simply terrific.

Villagers – The best live performance at Leith Theatre. Perfection

This is the Kit – (No this was).  A sublime performance both by TITK and support and beautifully lit by Grant Anderson.  Outstanding sound quality.

The Incident Room – superb story about the Yorkshire Ripper enquiry at The Pleasance

Peter Gynt – outstanding and hilarious take on mid 19th century classic at Festival Theatre

The Shark is Broken – Jaws – the back story at Assembly.  An amazing and very, very funny three-hander by actors playing Robert Shaw, Rod Steiger and Richard Dreyfuss

4****

Anna Calvi – wonderful performance at Leith Theatre

Matt Forde’s Political Podcast – Interviewing Nicola Sturgeon.  (Scotland’s First Minister.)  A delightful hour of Boris-bashing and independence speculation.

Crocodile Fever – tremendous co-pro between The Lyric Belfast and The Traverse.

Fish Bowl – Hilarious French physical comedy at The Pleasance

The Last of The Pelican Daughters – very funny Pleasance show that I had to leave after 30 minutes due to fire alarm

Oedipus – Would have been five stars but for the subtitles. The Kings

Shit – Ultra-sweary, hilarious but deeply moving Ausie show at Summerhall.  Brilliant.

Nightclubbing – Grace Jones inspired Summerhall Performance art.

Kala Kuti Republic – Tremendous dance show about Fela Kuti.  Met, and made best mates with, Bobby Gillespie at The Lyceum

Elgar’s Kingdom – Great tunes from The Halle and Edinburgh Festival Chorus.  Rubbish lyrics. At the Usher Hall

Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation – outstandingly original NTS show by Tim Crouch. At Festival Theatre Studio.

Once on This Island – Forth Children’s Theatre. My own company’s show.  A truly beautiful musical with a fabulous ensemble and several great performances .

Tartuffe,  Assemble Rooms – a great Scottish cast performing an abridged version of Liz Lochhead’s classic Moliere adaptation.  Very funny.  Great work from all four in the case (including Grant O’Rourke and Nicola Roy)

3***

The Burning – great performances but treacle-like script, at The Pleasance

Cométe – nice festival opener – pub band that may have gone to 4**** with a bigger audience

Who Cares – polemical Summerhall stuff about the care system but no narrative to properly engage with

The Crucible – too hard a story to tell through dance at The Playhouse

Best of the Fest – mixed bag, not the best of the Fest or it would have been 5*****

Ed Gamble – Work in Progress gig. Great warm up chat but the ACTUAL material was…meh.

Trips and Falls –  The spirit of the Fringe alive in this interesting but poorly cast and largely poorly performed Glasgow Uni production.  The Chief of police and the Granny were good though.

Square go – Started great but fell away, Scottish playground romp at the amazing Roundabout, at Summerhall.

If You’re Feeling Sinister by Avalon and BBC Arts in association with Tron Theatre at The Gilded Balloon.  Thios was always going to be tough to deliver a play about an album by Belle and Sebastiane, but by and large the two hander cast pulled it off .

2**

Teenage Fanclub – Boring.  At Leith Theatre – left after 45 mins.

Twin Peaks – Show about breast cancer billed as a comedy but not funny.

1*

Dynamite – it wasn’t – utter student improvisational crud by Bristol Uni Improv Soc.  Felt sorry for the excellent small girl with a pony tail (Katie) – not enough to save her blushes.

 

 

 

 

 

Simply the best gigs I’ve ever been privileged to attend

My pal Pete, and I, were discussing our all time favourite gigs after we gushed about Anohni on Wednesday night at the Edinburgh Festival.

He’s a massive James and Rolling Stones fan and said it even beat James.  I was more cautious.  Whilst I gave it a full five star rating and said it was in my all time top ten it’s had me thinking all week.

So with much consideration here are my all time top 20 favourite gigs.  Each in different ways was a five star performance.

In no particular order, because that’s too hard.

The Clash.  Edinburgh Playhouse. (Combat Rock tour)

Sufjan Stevens. Edinburgh Playhouse. (Carrie and Low tour Edinburgh International Festival – simply the best sound I have ever heard)

Anonhi. Edinburgh Playhouse. (Edinburgh Festival, this week)

Siouxsie and The Banshees. Edinburgh Playhouse. (around the time of Israel)

Kraftwerk. Edinburgh PLayhouse (front Row.  Computer Love Tour)

Kraftwerk.  King Tuts Stage (T in the Park – 3D tour)

Bill Nelson. The Nite Club (Upstairs from Edinburgh Playhouse)

Faust.  The Citrus Club (original one in Edinburgh Grassmarket (set fire to the stage with Petrol)

Simple Minds (supported by Positive Noise).  Tiffany’s, Glasgow.

Simple Minds.  Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow.( 5 x 4 Tour)

Chic. West Holts Dance Stage (Glastonbury)

Massive Attack. The Other Stage (Glastonbury)

Nic Cave and the Bad Seeds. The Pyramid Stage (Glastonbury)

John Grant. The Park Stage (Glastonbury)

Savages.  Williams Green Stage (Glastonbury)

Melody Gardot.  Voodoo Rooms

Emma Pollock. Voodoo Rooms

Laurie Anderson.  Queens Hall (possibly the O Superman tour, certainly around that time)

King Creosote performing From Scotland with Love at  The Hub Edinburgh (Edinburgh Festival)

Frank Sinatra.  Ibrox Park (Glasgow 1999 headline spot).  I’ll never forget him say that “I never thought I’d hear every single member of an Ibrox crowd cheer a Catholic”

One major point to note.  Only one single stadium gig.  The last one.

Some of the greatest were in the smallest venues; Pollock, Gardot, Bill Nelson, Faust.

Who did I never see that I wished I had?  Magazine, Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols, Steely Dan, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Belle and Sebastian, Cocteau Twins, Can, Velvet Underground.

 

FFS. That was good. (Franz Ferdinand and Sparks at Edinburgh Festival Theatre)

Pardon the obvious cheap jibe but it HAD to be done.

Franz Ferdinand and Sparks (known as FFS) collaborated on stage tonight in the Edinburgh International Festival and ended their show with the ironic “Collaborations Don’t work”.

Ironic because they do.

Not since Elton John and Kiki Dee has collaboration hit such great heights.

I jest.

Sparks and Franz Ferdinand are made for each other.  Their art school schtick is a perfect match.  Their angsty jittery, jangly synth/guitar combo creates greatness at every turn and, of course, each gets to showcase their three best songs.

Franz chose Take me Out (awesome), Michael (good) and Do you Want to (awesome) to shattering response.

Sparks elected for No 1 Song in Heaven (awesome), This Town ain’t Big Enough for the Both of us (awesome) and When Do I get to sing “my Way” (good).

Frankly the effect of this and their sublime collaboration was almost overwhelming.  This was a truly life affirming gig that anyone in that audience will talk about for years.

Thank you Franz Ferdinand.  Thank you Sparks.  Thank you Edinburgh international Festival.  Thank you Fergus Linehan for your vision to put this on.

And so the festival lies before us…

We saw the Wheel at the Traverse to kick off our festival and next we have the show that FCT is doing; The Chess Game.  I chair this youth theatre and we have 40 excited youngsters treading the boards for the 33rd year in a row at the Festival.

Next, I have Wondrous Flitting, which The Lyceum is staging at The Traverse;  The Lyceum Theatre Company’s first Fringe outing in many years.

Then there’s the shows I’ve booked so far.  I’m seeing Steven Berkoff in action in Oedipus next Friday.  That should be utterly sensational.

But also one of the hot tickets which I have is to see Marc Almond  In Ten Plagues.

But my aching hollow in my chest is for Dance Marathon.  Who will go with me to this experiential play in which the audience dance for four hours in a real life “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?’

There is more…all at the Traverse at the moment, a site specific piece in Edinburgh’s Medical Hospital which is about death and the afterlife called “What Remains” and David Greig’s reputedly wonderful “The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart” with its promising Kylie Minogue finale.

You’ll notice I am not doing the Fringe Cancer; Comedy.

I may do Dave Gorman, and I’ve been invited to The Stand opening night pre-fest jolly with CBS, but I don’t do comedy because I’m a miserable Quantas flyer.

Oh, and a snob.

Meredith Monk. Songs of Ascension at The Royal Lyceum Theatre. Edinburgh Festival 2010

Well, it’s not every day you see a legend in the flesh.  When I say a legend, I don’t mean of Clooneyesque proportions.  I think we’re more in Daliesque territory because Meredith Monk (who records for ECM which might give you a clue) is not what you’d call mainstream.  Approaching 70, she led the line in her own production with grace and conviction.

Her and co writer, Ann Hamilton’s Songs of Ascension (which was commissioned by the wildly applauded Kronos Quartet) is never, ever going to trouble any sort of populist chart any day soon.  And the mass exodus from The theatre after about 15 minutes when it reached the height of “obscurity” was quite tell tale and amusing.

In the foyer beforehand I was told it was, to paraphrase, “pish”.

But it wasn’t.  It’s a devastatingly original smorgasbord of jungle noises, American Indian type language and a range of string and wind instrumentation that goes from dischordant noise to utter beauty in less than a minute.

There’s quite a lot of creepy hippy dancing and some blurry meaningful monochrome video in abundance too.

But.  It works.  I loved it.

Although I guess I’d be a little challenged to explain the plot – other than it’s about nature, getting back to one’s roots and rebirth.  Maybe.

Even Jeana loved it.  Mostly (sort of).

Moments of pure Penguin Cafe Orchestra magic, particularly when what sounded to me like a harmonium was to the fore, just blew me away and actually, if you put your mind to it, you could ignore the silly dances. (She’s famous for her dancing apparently.  But only in hippy circles.)

The choir (I assume put together locally) stole the show in the finale number and we all left happily.

Aah! Apart from the couple behind me who got a flea in their ear from me for chatting through the first 20 minutes.  “If you don’t like it you can leave.” I informed them.  “Some of us are trying to listen to this.”

Up they were shut!

Try this.  You’ll no doubt hate it.

Is this FCT’s last radical road trip?

WPC McBulldog dumped all 70 of us FCT members off the back of our float at the end of last Sunday’s Festival Cavalcade, leaving us transportless and facing the long walk back to Bangholm which, in fact Izzie and nine intrepid explorers embarked upon.  The rest of us were left to ponder the demise of a tradition of 30 years where we all travel to Holyrood Park (or Princes Street in the old days) on the back of a 40 ft Artic.

So, for those of you who’ve shared the fun, have one last nostalgic look at Cavalcade 2010 starting at Bangholm as we left our spiritual home and later as we took the second of two wrong routes to the start.

It was a hoot.

The Last Witch by The Traverse Theatre Company at The Lyceum

Me and Mrs G went to see this highly recommended production yesterday and just managed to squeeze in with the last two seats in the theatre.

Let’s start on a plus note.  The visual effects are stunning as is most of the acting, but especially the quite extraordinary Kath Howden.  the music and sound add greatly to the experience and my overall take on it was positive.  Good but not great I’d say.

The story is interesting and the dialogue is really good but something was missing for me (and I suspect most of the audience because the applause at the end was more grateful and polite than raucous).

It’s about the burning of The Last Witch in Scotland (in Dornach of all places in 1727) and I liked the way the story really centered on this madwoman’s affection for her daughter and her blind belief that she was indeed a witch when in fact she was really just an illusionist (and olden days junkie).  The story of the daughter (played beautifully by Hannah Donaldson) was what actually gripped me most because there was just the suggestion that she (not her mother) might indeed be touched by the hand of the devil.

Rona Munro, in her programme notes, told us that there were many ways she could have told the tale (one thought was that the Witch may have had an ancient version of Alzheimers) and although I very much enjoyed the dialogue I just felt it missed a beat somewhere along the way.

Ragtime Publicity Photos

I spent most of today taking cast photos for Ragtime.  Great fun and the kids at FCT were fab.

Well we ran off about 400 photos this afternoon at Newhaven Harbour and The Botanics.  Here’s just a few as a wee taster.  You can find them all on this Flickr link…

The New Rochelles were shot in sepia to reflect the stuffiness and formality of the time and their super wealth.

The Immigrants are shot in a blue duotone to represent the cold misery they are about to face in an America that ain’t gonna welcome them.

Thank the lord for Lidl

The Scottish unicyclying drought has ended. At last.  Lidl has thankfully found a consignment of them just in time for The Fringe.  I understand 25 million juggling balls are on the way for May.

Phew.

365 by the national Theatre of Scotland

I was privileged to be among the audience at the opening night of The National Theatre of Scotland’s Festival production of 365 -a new play by David Harrower (appropriate name) and directed by Vicky Featherstone, at The Playhouse in Edinburgh last night.

The show was sold out and for good reason.

It’s a polemic piece about the plight of young people entering society after life in care. The show explores, through a cast of about 16, mostly in their teens, what the reality of life is in such a friendless, hostile and downright scary environment.

It’s performed by an ensemble, so no one particular actor stood out. But the technical achievements were noteworthy. Set, sound design, lighting and choreography were all outstanding. Paul Buchanan’s specially commissioned song that forms a central part of the denouement is spine tingling.

The acting is universally good and at times excellent.

But the greatness of the play is all about the writing.

This is very modern theatre and, as such, doesn’t follow a plotline or typical narrative structure and although it’s fairly bleak it’s by no means humourless. Fundamentally though it touches on the very darkest side of society – misogyny, neglect, class, prejudice, sexual orientation, fear and lack of confidence. Essentially it is about loneliness because most of the relationships we witness are a veneer.

Life as a kid with no familial network is not a good place to be and David Harrower brings this into sharp relief quickly and consistently.

I think it could do with a touch of editing but overall this is an important, thought-provoking and engaging piece of work.

I notice it’s playing at the Lyric, Hammersmith from 9 – 29 September. Not knowing the theatre I suspect it will be rather less spectacular than in The Playhouse which, as a stage, offers wide open spaces (and which contributed to the theme of isolation by its very brooding presence).

It’s distinctly Scottish, but the points it makes are universal and you lot in Englandshire shouldn’t struggle too much with the dialect. (You might not like the language though. My god, the National Theatre of Scotland like a fucking swearword do they not?)

all the world’s a stage

all the world’s a stage

Originally uploaded by mark gorman.

my dad doing what my dad did best. basically showing off . Found this shot in Jane’s house on Easter Sunday and fiddled about a bit in photoshop with it.

Edinburgh Festival to be bombed. Fact.

Is it just me or is Supt Lovegrove just being a bit of a scaremonger? “It’s not just a case of “if” but “when” he tells us.

I appreciate that the public needs to be vigilant. But does it have to be terrified, and does he have to put out a message that can only damage the festival.

One of Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officers last night warned it was only a matter of time before Edinburgh was subjected to a devastating attack.

Superintendent Brett Lovegrove said Scotland’s capital would be an “extremely attractive” objective for terrorists – and said the Edinburgh International Festival, which last year attracted 380,000 visitors, was a prime target.

Speaking at an anti-terrorism seminar in the capital, Mr Lovegrove, the head of counter-terrorism for the City of London Police, said: “Edinburgh is an extremely attractive proposition to terrorists, as it has many international businesses, an airport, sports stadiums and crowded streets.

“In particular, the Festival ticks all the right boxes, so it’s essential the public are made aware of the threat and what action should be taken.

“Like London and New York, it is also an iconic city which is flooded with tourists all year round.

“Last year’s Glasgow airport attack proved Scotland isn’t immune to the threat of terrorism. Unfortunately, it isn’t a case of ‘if’ there will be an attack on Edinburgh but ‘when’.”

Read the whole article here. And the comments – most of which subscribe to my point of view (other than the person who wittily exclaims that a bomb going off at the Edinburgh Festival would be a good thing. Oh really? a few hundred Edinburghers and arty tourists dead and maimed would be a good thing? An interesting take on terrorism).

Should The Scotsman have risen to this sensationalism and printed the story?

You tell me…