Liam Rudden - Fringed Out May 2009

The quirky real-time on-line diary of the Entertainment Editor of the Edinburgh Evening News

Friday 22 May FESTIVALS FUN
AUTOGRAPH books at the ready, the Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced a star studded line up of celebrities for 2009, including Edinburgh's very own Ewen Bremner, Scots actor Alan Cumming, Gregory's Girl director Bill Forsyth and of course, EIFF patron Sir Sean Connery.
Joining the homegrown stars this year will be Robin Wright-Penn, wife of Sean, and Mexican heart-throb Gael Garcia Bernal who was last tipped to be here for the 2004 EIFF when his movie The Motor Cycle Diries opened the festival – he failed to show.
Ex-Neighbours and Priscilla Queen of the Desert star Guy Pearce will also pay a return visit to the Capital next month, as will Hugh Dancy.
Other names announced include, Oscar-nominated Brenda Blethyn, Ian Hart of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone fame, Jaime Winstone, Paddy Considine, Joe Dante, Kathryn Bigelow, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Meera Syal, William H. Macy and directors Roger Corman, Sam Mendes, Darren Aronofsky and Shane Meadows.
Additional guests expected on the red carpet, though not confirmed – this is probably where that well worn phrase 'work permitting' comes in to play – are Claire Danes, Emily Blunt, Kate Winslet, Peter Saarsgard and Paul Thomas Anderson.
Not that you have to wait until June to spot famous faces in Edinburgh. Earlier this week, Henry Winkler, aka The Fonz, could be seen hovering around the entrance of the Holyrood Thistle Hotel.
August of course is the best time to star spot in Edinburgh as the rich and famous head to town, not just appear on the Fringe, but to immerse themselves in its creative energy.
No stranger to the Fringe is Pete Firman, star of Channel 4's Dirty Tricks and Five's Monkey Magic, who is set to return to Edinburgh with his biggest and best show yet in August. In his latest offering, magic meets the circus of horrors as the 'geek' magician cheats injury with animal traps (I'll let you guess which of his 'bits' he traps in a bear trap), swallows two-inch embroidery needles, eats woodland creatures and presents a goose which can read your thoughts. Think Vegas, via Middlesbrough, with blood, sharp spiky things and a wood-chipper.
Also back this August will be Interactive Theatre Australia. Following the success of Faulty Towers the Dining Experience last year, the Oz troupe not only reprise their sell-out evening with Basil, Sybil and Manuel, but also present The Most Important Show of the Day, a one-hour interactive comedy breakfast experience.
If a day at the Big Top is more your thing, August also will also see The Moscow State Circus take up residence in the Meadows, where it will present the world premier of its brand new show Legenda in a brand new state of the art, climate controlled luxury theatre big top.
Centred on the legendary Russian folklore figure Rasputin, Legenda combines contemporary and classical circus to recreate Rasputin's vivid dreams.
Finally, regular readers of this column will remember that I mentioned seeing the actress Katy Manning (Jon Pertwee's assistant in Doctor Who) in a one-woman show in London recently. Entitled Me And Jezebel, it's the hilarious true-story of what happened when the legendary Bette Davis invited herself to stay with the American writer Elizabeth Fuller for a night in the summer of 1985 – and didn't leave for a month. Chaos ensued, as Bette turned the Fuller household upside down almost causing Elizabeth's husband John, the well-known journalist and writer, to walk out.
At the time Katy told me how she would love to bring the show to Edinburgh, joking that if she did she might just turn up on my doorstep looking for somewhere to stay, just like the Hollywood diva.
Well, I've just heard that Me And Jezebel will be running throughout the Festival at the Gilded Balloon... which is great, especially as I've also heard that Katy has her accommodation for the month sorted too.
The full Fringe programme will be announced on 10 June.

Wednesday 15 May 2009: SWEET TALKING
EVERY now and then a plan comes together. Everything falls into place and there are no disappointments. Last weekend was a bit like that. It started at the Edinburgh Playhouse, where The Orchestra were well and truly on fire. The Orchestra consists of former members of the Electric Light Orchestra and ELO Part II and rule number one is: Don't call them ELO. Founding member Jeff Lynne would not be amused as he holds the rights to that name.
As a kid I loved the ELO. They could do no wrong. Then they disappeared, mired in the aforementioned rights battle. Thanks to the dedication of Mik Kaminski they finally returned, in a sense, as The Orchestra.
The first date on their 2009 tour, Saturday's gig was tinged with sadness as it was the first since the sudden death of vocalist and bass player, Kelly Groucoutt. A tribute then, it turned out to be an emotional roller-coaster of a concert. Highlights included Kaminski whipping the audience up into a clapping frenzy with a rare rendition of his 1979 Violinski hit, Clog Dance and, of course, all the old favourites, from Livin' Thing to Sweet Talking Woman, Mr Blue Sky to Telephone Line, my own favourite.
Bringing some additional kudos to the line-up, ex-Styx member Glen Burtnik stepped in to play bass and provide his own distinctive vocals. While die hard ELO fans might find what I'm about to write sacrilege, hearing to The Orchestra perform these classic hits live, knocks listening to the original recordings into a cocked hat. Sometimes the original just isn't good enough anymore.
The following night I finally managed to put aside my aversion to Tom Hanks and watch The Da Vinci Code – the follow-up, Angels and Demons hits cinema screens this week. The Da Vinci Code is heavily influenced by the theories expounded in the controversial 1982 book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. The main premise being that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and they had a child creating a royal bloodline, the Holy Grail. The movie version provided an evening of good old-fashioned hookum. Conspiracy theorists tempted to believe it however, be warned, Lincoln knows how to write a good yarn, in the 60s he penned episodes of The Avengers, Emergency Ward 10 and was the man who responsible for Patrick Troughton's Doctor Who battling Yetis in the London Underground.
The highlight of my week however, came on Monday at Cineworld. Now, I've never been a Trekkie, but the new Star Trek film is a must see. There's something very emotional about seeing Leonard Nimoy reprise the role of Spock as a frail old man. This new re-imaging of the franchise is very close in feel to Paul Verhoeven's 1997 movie Starship Troopers. Older sci-fi fans who remember the 80s fantasy series Otherworld might just experience a sense of deja vu too, but only if they remember the episode Zone Toopers Build Men. Starting to sound like a geek now...
Which brings me nicely to this weekend's Eurovision Song Contest. I'll be heading down to Kitsch on Bernard Street to watch the annual songfest on the big screen. In the meantime here are my 2009 Eurovision tips: Norway go down the Dexy's Come On Eileen-route this year with Fairytale, by folky fiddler Alexander Rybak. Can't really see why, but it's hot favourite. Then there's Sweden's entry, La Voix, with soprano Malena Ernam. If you remember the operatic sequence towards the end of the movie The Fifth Element you'll get the picture. The winner? Well, if it's not Finland with Lose Control there's just no (pop) justice in the world.

7 MAY 2009: CURTAIN UP
THERE'S an exciting season ahead later this year at the Royal Lyceum. Two world premieres, a co-production with the award-winning Vanishing Point theatre company and a touring production of Spike Milligan's Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall are just some of the highlights announced earlier this week by artistic director Mark Thomson.
Mark's seventh programme for the Grindlay Street theatre will open on September 12 with a new version of The Beggar's Opera (September 12-October 3). Based on the original 1728 ballad opera by John Gay, the
co-production with Vanishing Point finds director Matthew Lenton's unique storytelling style used to create a radical and contemporary new version of the tale, featuring a live score, cutting-edge projection design in a dark, dirty, absurd and cruelly comic production.
The forthcoming season also boasts the world premieres of two specially commissioned works – one by Jo Clifford, the other by John Byrne. In the first, Clifford takes the medieval morality tale Everyman as her inspiration to uncover the nature of human grace, mortality and love in an exploration of the human spirit
entitled Everyone (March 19-April 10, 2010).
The second, is a reworking of Anton Chekhov's classic, The Cherry Orchard (April 17-May 9, 2010). Award-winning playwright John Byrne, best known for The Slab Boys Trilogy and the BBC comedy Tutti Frutti, transfers the action of The Cherry Orchard from Russia at the turn of the 19th century to Scotland during the turbulent years of the early 1980. Byrne is reported to have remained faithful to Chekhov's characters (while taking one or two liberties) and their painful and comic lives, hence the extraordinary Madam Ranyevskaya, who struggles to adapt to the changing times becomes Mrs Ramsay-Mackay.
Meanwhile, her would-be suitor Lopakhin, who sees the opportunity to unshackle himself from his humble beginnings and land Mackay's fabled cherry orchard, becomes the rapacious Malky McCracken. Tipped as a highlight of the Scottish theatre calendar, it's one not to miss.
Other highlights announced include the return of director John Dove, who will direct The Price (January 15-February 13, 2010), his fourth Arthur Miller play for the Lyceum. The theme will be familiar to fans of the American playwright: In a dilapidated Manhattan brownstone, scheduled to be torn down, two brothers confront each other and their past conflicts for the first time in years.
At Christmas, Jemima Levick, who has previously directed productions of A Christmas Carol and The Glass Menagerie for the Lyceum, returns to take the helm of this year's seasonal offering, Peter Pan (November 27, 2009-January 3, 2010).
Completing the season Mark directs Confessions of a Justified Sinner (October 16- November 7), his own adaptation of James Hogg's 1824 Scots novel, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, in which Hogg probes the reaches of religious fanaticism. And BAFTA-award winner Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane (February 19-March 13, 2010) is a brutal and uncompromising exploration of oppression.
Finally, Spike Milligan's celebrated anarchic war memoirs will be brought to life in Spike Milligan's Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (October 6-10). Presented by the acclaimed Bristol Old Vic Theatre, Milligan described the show as 'showing how humour, music and comradeship enabled a hapless and disparate bunch of young men to prevail against the might of the Nazi war machine.'
Full details can be found at www. lyceum. org.uk

01 May 2009: FRINGE FIRST
AUGUST might be three months away, but already the PR machine that accompanies every Edinburgh Fringe is in full swing. Consequently, here is a sneak preview of some of the celebrities and home grown talent gearing up to entertain later this year.
Let's get the birthday's out of the way first. Julian Clary ("I'm 50. The shame of it," he announces in his publicity) heads to the Capital for a nine-night run – his longest stay in Edinburgh during August for some time. Catch Lord of The Mince at The Underbelly.
Meanwhile, at the Gilded Balloon Craig Hill presents 40 Love... yes, you've guessed it, Craig has turned 40 and found himself single and back on the market. That can only mean one thing, a new show, his tenth in a row.
Also at the Gilded Balloon you'll find Hollywood star Janeane Garofalo – Janis Gold in 24 – who brings her eponymous one-hour stand up routine to town for the first time.
Local talent in 2009 is represented by 18-year-old Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss. The comic prodigy best known for writing material for Frankie Boyle is fast making a name for himself performing in his own right. Don't miss him in Teenage Kicks at the Pleasance Dome.
Other comedy institutions back for more include Reginald D Hunter in The Only Apple In The Garden of Eden And Niggas, at the Underbelly, and Jason Byrne who, as well as his usual Fringe run, will do four nights at the EICC.
On the music front The Magnets – you may remember seeing them support Tom Jones at the Castle – also head to the Underbelly with another a cappella feast called Gobsmacked, while public demand sees the sultry temptress Camille O'Sullivan reprise her five-star show The Dark Angel, at the Assembly Hall.
Talking of beauties, super model turned writer/performer Robyn Peterson will also make her Edinburgh debut at the Assembly Hall in Catwalk Confidential, a one-woman show chronicling her journey to become one of the most successful models of the 1970s.
Other returns include Big Brothers Big Mouth presenter Jack Whitehall, who heads to The Pleasance with a new stand-up show, and Fringe favourite Lizzie Roper who is back at the Gilded Balloon after a year out and a guest role in Shameless. This year Lizzie teams up with Richard Fry, who garnered five star reviews last year for Bully. They play a married couple in Killing Me Softly, a new play tackling domestic violence.
Following the success of Breaker Morant in 2006 and Talk Radio in 2007 I hear that Phil Nichol's Comedians Theatre Company are to return to The Pleasance with a production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 18th century comedy of manners, School For Scandal. Rumour has it that it will star Nichol, Marcus Brigstock and... Lionel Blair!
Another drama cast with comedians this year can be found at The Stand, where Gregory Burke's Gagarin Way is the piece receiving the treatment. Phil Nichol again stars, this time joined by Bruce Morton and Jim Muir aka Rev Obadiah Steppenwolf III.
Finally, and he won't be everybody's cup of tea, porn star Ben Dover makes his Fringe debut this year in a show about his life at The Underbelly.
To read the full programme you will have to wait until June 11. In the meantime, I leave you with my favourite title of the year, so far. It's an evening of the finest young comedians at The Stand, called... wait for it... The Silence Of The Trams. Inspired.