On veggie haggis and smart-phone apps for Burns Night
By Thom Dibdin
I love Burns Night and the whole idea of a day that doesn’t just commemorate poetry, but celebrates the performance of poetry and its reading aloud in public.
Of course there are all the organised Burns Night celebrations – the worst of which take it all far too seriously, but the best of which involve copious quantities of spouting off, plenty of haggis-orientated scran, all washed down with good claret, beer and whisky.
We’ve got the MacSween’s veggie haggis in, a copy of Burns ready to turn to – Ian Rankin’s selection contains a good cross section as well as his erudite introduction – and should that fail, both the new Burns Night app and the Robert Burns app, ready on the iPhone.
James McAvoy - Is this man Filth? Photo credit: gdcgraphics
By Thom Dibdin
Glasgow is being used, once again, as the main location for a film adaptation of an Edinburgh-set Irvine Welsh novel, as principal photography begins there on Filth, staring James McAvoy as a racist, homophobic policeman.
Trainspotting was largely filmed in Glasgow, the famous opening sequence along Princes Street apart. According to the press release for Filth, Scottish shooting will primarily be in Glasgow – as well as on location in Sweden, Belgium and Hamburg – with McAvoy joined by Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan, Joanne Froggatt and Imogen Poots.
Filth, like Trainspotting, began life in the theatre in an adaptation by Harry Gibson. Back in 2000, Tam Dean Burn took on the role of the vile, splenetic, D.S. – soon to be D.I. – Bruce Robinson, and a fine visceral performance it was too. Although the subject matter somehow didn’t attract the usual punters to the King’s when it toured to Edinburgh.
Indeed, two of Lothian and Borders finest had to be called to the theatre on the opening night to eject a member of the audience who seemed to be of the impression that Filth is a simple, anti-police diatribe.
Edinburgh University Theatre Company festival open to all
Bedlam Theatre photo credit: EUTC
Bedlam, the Edinburgh University Theatre Company-run venue, is hosting a theatre festival all this week, Monday 23 to Saturday 28 January, with performances and workshops every day open to both students and members of the public.
The festival features 17 performances of 11 different productions over the week, including two performances of the long-running Improverts comedy improvisation session, and a dozen different workshops. Which amounts to at least two shows and two workshops every day this week.
Sarah Hilmy, Bedlam’s front-of-house manager, says: “All workshops are free, and all shows are just £2.50 a pop. In addition to all these wondrous goings on, the building will be open from 12pm to 12am from January 23rd – January 28th, serving delicious delights and sizeable pitchers of cocktails in the Cafe. Come along, hang out, chat!”
The Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh has launched a new amateur theatre group for adults to add to its existing performance group for young people – the Brunton Youth Theatre.
The Brunton Theatre Players will meet weekly at the at Brunton Theatre rehearsal room, with the first meeting on Monday 30 January. The theatre is inviting participants who wish to work with a theatre professional to explore characters, plot and staging to get in touch. The aim is to stage a performance at the Brunton Theatre later this year.
A spokeswoman for the Brunton told the Annals: “We have talked about the idea of an older drama group for a while, as our Brunton Youth Theatre participants often state an interest in continuing when they reach 18 – the maximum age for BYT. Brunton Theatre Players will be for all ages over 18. A good mix of ages would be great for the group dynamic!”
Craigmount High are performing their Hit the Stage production of modern and classic pop hits as a tribute to former depute Head Teacher Beth McDonald, who died suddenly of cancer in July last year.
One-off performances of Traverse smash hit prior to Oz tour
Cora Bissett and Matthew Pidgeon in Midsummer publicity shot
By Thom Dibdin
Midsummer (a play with songs), the 2008 smash hit by David Greig and Gordon McIntyre for the Traverse, is to get a one-off staging in January, ahead of a tour to Australia.
The play is to get two special performances in Traverse One, on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 January. The performances see original performers Cora Bissett and Matthew Pidgeon reunited. Admission is by donation, suggested minimum £6, which will go towards funding the antipodean tour.
According to The Traverse: “Midsummer began life as the pilot project of the Traverse Theatre’s experimental strand of work, Traverse Too. David Greig and Gordon McIntyre were asked to create a piece of work using a small budget and very short rehearsal time, which allowed them to take greater risks. The resulting play has toured the UK, and to Ireland, Canada and Washington.” … Continue reading Bissett and Pidgeon reunite for Midsummer in January
NTS Staging the Nation political theatre event at Holyrood
Kieran Hurley takes on Gil Scott-Heron
By Thom Dibdin
Staging the Nation, the National Theatre of Scotland’s road show talking shop, arrived back in Edinburgh this week with all guns blazing, to prove that political theatre is alive and well and quite capable of pricking against the kicks in Scotland.
Staged in the somewhat ironic setting of the MSP’s restaurant in the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, “Thorn in Their Side: Nurturing the Thistle of Scottish Political Theatre” was curated and presented by renowned political theatre maker David MacLennan.
This was one hot ticket. With MacLennan calling into mind his own history of political theatre making, from 7:84, through Mayfest and Wildcat to his current venture, Play Pie and a Pint, to give the whole a framework, he was able to draw on a series of fascinating contributors to flesh it out.
Linda Mackenny, remembered her work for 7:84′s Clyde-built season, rediscovering Scottish plays written in the twenties, thirties and forties by popular dramatists. If John McGrath featured highly in her talk, it was even more so for Nicola McCartney, to whom the playwright was mentor, after seeing her first production, Easy. Her recollections of touring Easy, when engagement with the audience was rather greater than you might usually expect, was a brilliant example of the power of political theatre to engage with its audience.
Entertainment is at the heart of Gang Show 2011, just as it was for the very first show in the 1930s. But it has evolved and matured in the meantime and there is an edge of menace about this very 21st century production.
The whole show is still firmly built on the variety formula introduced by Gang Show founder Ralph Reader back in 1932. And director Andy Johnston knows exactly how to use the mix of music, dance and comedy to ensure that the whole is structured and paced to maximum advantage.
It’s in the individual elements that the menace slips in. The opening number, Our Manifesto, makes better us of Take That’s Kidz that the middle-aged man band ever have. The full gang of 210 – there’s 50-strong section of brownies who alternate nightly, giving a total of 260 performers over the run – give it an edge which Take That’s rather plummy rendition never achieves.
“Welcome to the future of the world, not sure what the future holds,” they sing in their anachronistically pastel t-shirts. Before adding in almost a whisper that carries an ominous sense of menace: “But we all know, there’ll be trouble when the kids come out.” … Continue reading Review – Gang Show 2011
Dress rehearsal pictures from the Edinburgh Gang Show 2011
By Thom Dibdin
Photos by Michael G Walker
The Edinburgh Gang Show is always a spectacular event, and the 2011 production which opens at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh on Tuesday 22 November promises to be no exception.
Having put up a preview of the show on Monday, the Annals was particularly delighted to receive a fistful of pictures from Monday night’s dress rehearsal – taken by Michael G Walker.
Many thanks to Scott Walker for providing a little bit of information on the individual photos. For full knowledge you will have to see the show itself which runs at the King’s until Saturday 26 November. We hope to run a full review of the show on Thursday.
Edinburgh scouts and guides are taking to the stage of the King’s Theatre this week, as months of hard work towards the 52nd Edinburgh Gang Show come to fruition.
With a cast of 260, the Gang Show is one of Edinburgh’s largest annual productions. It has also become one of the staples in the amateur theatre circuit. Of course it always attracted doting parents and up-for-it cubs and brownies ready to woggle-out. The difference today is that you don’t have to be either a relation or a member of the scouting movement to appreciate a satisfying piece of variety entertainment.
That change is widely credited to the show’s current director, Andy Johnston, together with his musical director John Duncan. It was 2003 when they took over, picking up and dusting off Gang Show founder Ralph Reader’s traditional formula. The result retains the show’s music hall and variety roots, but isn’t scared of looking to contemporary popular culture for its inspiration. … Continue reading Edinburgh’s Gang on 52nd Street
By Thom Dibdin
By Thom Dibdin