An Appointment with the Wickerman, Edinburgh Fringe

 I managed to go back to Edinburgh to see my pals, I realised while I was there how much I missed them (as I always do!) and I managed to go stay with them for three days and see a lot of good shows, all the shows, bar this one, I saw were at the Sweet venue at the Apex International Hotel on the Grassmarket, what a lovely hotel and venue- great food too! I had a few meals there! Because all my pals were working, either at the venue, which they manage and run, or in the shows, I spent all my time there, and with a horrible rainy summer I didn't mind, I've done all of Edinburgh you can do, I really enjoyed sitting in the bar waiting for another chum to go on a break and have a meal or a drink with me! I saw magic and mind reading, drama, comedy and student theatre! They had a great mix of shows. Pierrepoint, a monologue with the condemned man acting out his last night silently behind the straight-talking yorkshire hangman was extremely good, both actors were brilliant, gripping stuff! The only show I saw outside the Sweet was An Appointment with the Wickerman, a show reccommended to me by Paul.


If you like Still Game, Fags, Mags & Bags, the boy who played Oliver Wood in the Harry Potter films and The Wickerman you would LOVE this show. I love all those things, and I loved that show. It's about a small island am-dram group putting on a horrendously camp and inappropriate musical version of the Wickerman, their lead actor mysteriously disappears so a young professional actor (off of a naff Scottish tv cop show) takes the gig and while rehearsing starts to wonder if the islanders aren't hiding something sinister from him... It was friggin amazing. I hope they film it.

Edinburgh Fringe 2012 DAYTRIP

I wasn't sure if I would visit my pals at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, but I booked a daytrip for me and Rob, an early train and a late train back to York, four shows of different genres and enough time for a big dinner at the steak and mussles place! I actually booked the trip when I thought my friend Suzie was coming from America so they were all chosen with her in mind! Suzie is into sporty things and arty things, also she is a published children's author/illustrator, so she likes kids things too! So the four shows I picked were Peter and the Wolf performed by two Russian clowns with minamilist puppets! Leo, a one man dance sensation! The Man Who Planted Trees, a nice little eco-puppet story half in French and my friends' comedy sketch show A Brief History of Scotland, so she could meet them! If I'd have known I was picking for Rob I would have cut the first three!! It turned out he did like my friends' show the best, lot of laughs! I have reviewed it before but there were new sketches and tighter old sketches, it was great. DBS are an excellent young theatre company, I'm proud to have been involved in a few of their ventures!



So we arrived in Edinburgh in the rain (August, of course it's raining!) went straight to John Lewis and had a massive breakfast while looking out of their cafe windows at the rooftops, this was a highlight! It didn't rain all day, Peter and the Wolf was good fun, the first half anyway, when they played the record and acted it out, the second half had odd new-age lift-muzak playing while they fucked about like a couple of idiots, that way you left the show with awful music in your head instead of the recognisable tune you enjoyed in the first half! We then had a coffee and went to see Leo. Flip!! He was amazing! I can't even begin to describe how clever it was, maybe there's a youtube video I can post here. Again, it went on a bit too long but otherwise I really liked watching it. Then The Man Who Planted Trees, which I saw last year and booked because I thought Suzie would like it, it was just as good as last year. Love that dog puppet. After seeing my pals' show and Rob meeting them and having a drink we had an amazing big meal at mussles and steak, then we came home- man we were TIRED!

The Illusionist (2010)

It was because of seeing old whatshisface that I remembered this film. I had seen it at the cinema and then been so overwhelmed by emotions that I had to have a lie down, I don't know why I didn't write about it at the time because I thought it was so good then.
The Illusionist is a stunning film, visually and emotionally. If you know Edinburgh well you will really appreciate it. I first watched it with a boy who lived in Edinburgh, then with my parents who had just been on a little holiday to the city and on New Year's Eve I watched it with my chap after earlier in the month we had ourselves had a little holiday there.
The artwork is beautiful, so much care has gone into each background painting and the watercoloured style is so fitting for the 1950s story. The characters too are well designed and all the animation is seemless and perfect. Scotland has the best scenery and the artwork does it such justice, some scenes are just breathtaking!
The story is sad but full of gentle humour. There is hardly any dialogue, he speaks French and she speaks Galic, you don't need to understand what they say as it's animated so well and the point of it is it can be enjyed by anyone in any country, ah, such a joy to have such thought put into a film!
Sorry Rob, that I made you watch something so sad when you were ill, but at least it was beautiful too, non?

Old Reviews 1: Look Back in Anger (Feb 2005, Edinburgh Lyceum)

So we saw the tall and very thin David Tennant today in Edinburgh in the play Look Back in Anger... It was an ace play, and wonderful set design! But what a bastard Dave played! And the whole premise of the play was people living in a flat and feeling smothered, very appropriate for me at the mo, but in the play it was because David Tennant's character was such a bastard!
Ok, but here's the important bit!
We parked outside the theatre at about 12 and the show wasn't til half two, I said we should go look at the posters in the window, my dad saw the big poster and he said "Oh look he's a rapist!" And then he said "Oh wow, look! It's the guy!" And it was!!! It was David Tennant going into the theatre!! But me and Anna were totally scared that Dad-Y would embarrass us so we ran away as Dave walked into the theatre! He was so tall and handsome looking with lovely glasses on!! And Anna was totally grinning. But by the time Dad-Y had decided to "grab him" (as he put it) Dave had already gone back stage. So Moo-pa hung around outside for a while in case he came back out- to tell him that Anna was his biggest fan and could he sign the flyer- but he didn't...

2011 Author's Note: I was having trouble living with someone at the time. This was the first time I saw anything at the Edinburgh Lyceum (I was living in Dundee at the time) and it was not the last, every play I've seen there has been absolutely excellent- maybe there'll be more reviews in the livejournal. Also it was the first time we saw pre-Who, pre-Potter even, DT on stage, having seen him on telly only in He Knew He Was Right where he played a flared-nostrilled flirty vicar. He was extremely good, and he did sign our flyers when we posted them to him, Anna got two kisses, I only got one.

Kevin Bridges (West Yorkshire Playhouse)

Went to see Glasgow comic Kevin Bridges last night in Leeds. Yes, he's funny but he's not good enough for an hour and a half.

The guy's only twenty three, he doesn't have enough material yet, cut half an hour and it would have been great.

Murder in Samarkand by David Hare (Saturday Play Radio 4)

Dramatization of former Uzbekistan ambassador Craig Murray's memoirs.

Good stuff, depressing of course but no-nonsense and the occasional nervous giggle. Not the sort of thing to listen to while drawing children having a jolly time at the cinema, I had pen paused over paper for the full hour and a half unable to draw while listening to this play.

And I'm glad I did listen to it, it was a gripping piece and Tennant is good at proper acting, a nice performance of a passionate but flawed man, glad he's back on the radio.

I hope those at Dundee University now (I attended 2004-2007) understand how good they have it with a heroic human-rights activist as a Rector rather than Lorraine Kelly.

Tutti Frutti (1987)

Tutti Frutti is still good but I don't think it's stood the test of time quite so well as other TV series from the 80s, it's not as good as Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983) but then not a lot is.

My favourite characters were Richard Wilson and Katy Murphy, they were great together, I liked how full of hate and disdain she was, she's always been great.

I found Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson's relationship just a bit too weird... I was willing to accept that she was an art school chick and so probably mad and always fancied him 'cause of his talent despite the fact he was a big fat bastard, but I didn't really get how she could fancy him after getting to know him because he was basically insane- Though in episode 5 when her husband who is an actual rapist and wife-beater shows up I suppose I can see how potential-rapist Robbie Coltrane is practically an angel.

The band were good- my favourite was Jakey Pete.

Bit of a downer really though. Not enough comedy to lighten all the horror that seems to happen in Glasgow.