Reviews
Andrew Marr’s Great Scots - The Writers Who Shaped a Nation, BBC TwoSunday, 31 August 2014
You didn’t have to wait for the words in the closing credits, “written and presented by”, to know that The Writers Who Shaped a Nation was a project that Andrew Marr was involved with fully. Its sheer broadcasting quality showed it from the... Read more... |
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Volkov, Usher Hall, EdinburghSunday, 31 August 2014
It is the fate of Edinburgh Festival directors to programme their music in the considerable shadow cast by the Proms in London. The undeniable economics of large scale touring means that few orchestras will visit Edinburgh alone, so to attract all-... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The 13th Floor ElevatorsSunday, 31 August 2014
The 13th Floor Elevators: Live Evolution Lost“I lost control of my body. I looked up and Tommy and Roky were turning into wolves, hair and teeth. And in my mind I was hearing the echo of space, and rays of light were shooting through the roof... Read more... |
Kate Bush, Eventim Apollo, HammersmithSaturday, 30 August 2014
Ms Bush walked on in a black, tasselled tunic with the slight air of an aging hippy. Her feet were bare and her tousled hair was half tied-back. And that – for anyone who had managed to avoid the papers all week – answered the first question: what... Read more... |
Toast, Park TheatreSaturday, 30 August 2014
Richard Bean has had a busy year, and it isn’t over yet. Great Britain, his bawdy play about press ethics and police corruption, is transferring to the West End after hitting the spot at the National. Pitcairn, a new piece about the aftermath of the... Read more... |
Stammer School: Musharaf Finds His Voice, Channel 4Friday, 29 August 2014
What a difference four days can make. Stammer School: Musharaf Finds His Voice took us on an emotional journey from deep frustration and pain towards something like triumph and hope. "Triumph" may seem a big word, but it was hard to think of a... Read more... |
Obvious ChildFriday, 29 August 2014
Opening as it does on a frank, witty and somewhat extended discussion of female discharge, Obvious Child lets you know from the outset that it is every bit as uninterested in making nice as its blunt lead character. Jenny Slate is Donna, a late-... Read more... |
CounterSpyFriday, 29 August 2014
CounterSpy looks brilliant. This stealth-action adventure delivers a perfect Man From U.N.C.L.E. spy aesthetic in videogame form. And largely delivers on the premise in gameplay terms too.Two superpowers are locked in a pointless and potentially... Read more... |
Les Troyens, Mariinsky Opera, Gergiev, Festival Theatre, EdinburghFriday, 29 August 2014
The Edinburgh Festival reserved its biggest operatic event for last. From St Petersburg, the Mariinsky Opera brought a production of Berlioz’s Les Troyens that could truly be described as epic: a stellar cast, a vast trompe d’oeil set, and an... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2014: Circa, BeyondThursday, 28 August 2014
Once, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was all about penniless students presenting avant-garde plays to audiences of three in church halls. These people still come, but now they compete for attention with professional production companies who, it’s to... Read more... |
Star Paws: The Rise of Superstar Pets, Channel 4Thursday, 28 August 2014
Mid-week at 9pm has always struck me as the perfect televisual sweet spot. It’s not so close to the weekend that you’re likely to want to go out, but enough of the week is done that it seems right to put your feet up and relax with a glass of wine... Read more... |
Patrias, Paco Peña Flamenco Company, Edinburgh PlayhouseThursday, 28 August 2014
Dance as an art form doesn’t have a great track record in social and historical commentary. The endless grey areas, not to mention the complicated details, of history really require words to do them justice. Flamenco, of course, has words, but it’s... Read more... |
