festivals
Edinburgh Fringe: Glenn Wool/ Jerry Sadowitz/ Ford and AkramSunday, 14 August 2011
The Canadian is making a welcome return to the Fringe after a few years away and the break has served him well, as he's been doing a bit of travelling, and it was an incident when he flew to Indonesia that provides the starting point - and... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: Jackie Leven/ Jen Brister/ Doris Day Can F**k OffSaturday, 13 August 2011
Physically reduced he may have been, but his talents were as expansive as ever, and more than capable of holding a small room captivated with just voice and guitar. Whereas in recent years Leven has released a somewhat bewildering range of music... Read more... |
Caractacus, Worcester Cathedral, Three Choirs FestivalThursday, 11 August 2011
“The text of Britain’s teaching, the message of the free…”. No, not the Last Night of the Proms or the Olympic Games ahead of time. This is the final chorus of Elgar’s concert-length cantata Caractacus, which was given a vigorous work-out in this... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: Lounge Room Confabulators/ Andi Osho/ Matthew CrosbyWednesday, 10 August 2011
Imagine that Tim Burton, or some other great modern-day storyteller of your choice, knocks at your door and asks if he can come into your living room for an hour to tell some fantastical stories. You would get some beers in and friends around... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: The Monster in the Hall/ Joel Dommett/ Katherine RyanMonday, 08 August 2011
The Monster in the Hall, Traverse **** David Greig's indie comedy musical, first performed at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre at the end of last year, is a bright and inventive four-hander about a 16-year-old girl struggling to keep everything together.... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Locarno: Swiss rules, Swiss rainSunday, 07 August 2011
Think what you will about Switzerland and the Swiss – calm, ordered country, treasured environment, cautious, democratically precise people – but look behind the scenes and things can seem quite scary. Vol spécial (Special Flight), by Swiss-French-... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Great British Beer FestivalThursday, 04 August 2011
Held each year at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre, the Great British Beer Festival is the top-drawer event in any British beer enthusiast's diary. Organised by CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale), it’s a mind-boggling, discombobulating overload of... Read more... |
WOMAD III, Charlton ParkTuesday, 02 August 2011
WOMAD is in its 29th year, and ticket sales have gone up 29 per cent, we are told, with over 35,000 sold. World music, always rather beyond fashion, is thriving, at least in this live festival incarnation in Wiltshire. One criticism, according to... Read more... |
WOMAD II: Baaba MaalTuesday, 02 August 2011
Ten o'clock at night and the WOMAD air felt as hot as Dakar preparing for Baaba Maal. Sadly, given this year's hugely expanded audience, it was hard to see the stage unless you know how to glide to the front like a snake (which years of festival... Read more... |
Tannhäuser, Bayreuth FestivalTuesday, 02 August 2011
In 1981, when I last came to Bayreuth, the festival still seemed to be a battleground between the German Left and Right, between the blame faction and the guilt faction, between the commie East and the fat-cat West. Plus ça change. Without quite... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Sarajevo Film FestivalMonday, 01 August 2011
There is an interesting tension at the Sarajevo Film Festival which, though this was my first time, I suspect exists as a matter of course. And this is a tension between the spirit of the people I meet here – ebullient, good-humoured and... Read more... |
Cambridge Folk Festival, Cherry Hinton HallMonday, 01 August 2011
It was the invasion of the collapsible chairs at this year’s Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival. From above it appeared that an army of extremely well-equipped picnickers was staking its claim on the quarter of a mile surrounding the main stage... Read more... |
