A brand new pantomime written to celebrate Brunton Theatre’s 30th anniversary of professional productions begins on Friday 20 November and runs until Saturday 2 January: Sinbad the Pantomime featuring The Little Mermaid.
Deep beneath the Bass Rock lies the secret undersea paradise Atlantis – home to the Little Mermaid and the Pearl of Beauty, a jewel with magical properties.
When the evil witch Crabsclaw attacks the peace-loving Merfolk of Atlantis in search of the Pearl, the Little Mermaid is forced to swim ashore for help. Washed up on Fisherrow Beach she is discovered by Sinbad the Sailor, who lives on a ship in Fisherrow Harbour with his mammy Saucy Nancy and daft brother Swishee.
Together they set off on a quest to find the great Neptune, Lord of the Seas and the only being powerful enough to defeat the Sea Witch.
The Christmas season starts with an afternoon of glamour and beauty at The Balmoral on Saturday 28 November at 12 noon.
A Christmas Fashion Show for 200 of Edinburghs most stylish is to be held in the magnificent surroundings of the five-star Balmoral Hotel. Guests will be warmly welcomed with a champagne reception before sitting down to lunch with wine, followed by a fabulous fashion show.
The event is being held to help raise funds for Wish for Rwanda, a new charity founded by local businesswoman, Jackie Calder.
Jackie visited Rwanda earlier this year as part of a business exchange programme organised by The Together Partnership and was touched by the strength and courage of the people of Rwanda.
This trip was a life changing experience for Jackie and she returned to Scotland on a mission to raise one million pounds. This is the first event to be held in aid of Wish For Rwanda before its official launch in the new year.
Though I usually cover new films – and more than the occasional old one – on this site, this is a short shout out to any budding Spielberg’s or Meadows’ from the Edinburgh International Film Festival organisers who are looking to the future for submissions for the 2010 festival.
The 64th EIFF will take place from 16 – 27 June 2010 in Edinburgh. The Festival is internationally regarded as a focus for discovery, a celebration of cinema, a centre of debate and a catalyst for new films.
EIFF is committed to screening high quality new short and feature film and video work in all genres from around the world.
Please note all submitted films should be no more than 12 months old by June 2010 and EIFF requires at least UK premiere status.
In case the new M&S advert hasn’t tipped you off already, Christmas is coming once again and it’s time to prepare for the various festive entertainment on offer.
First up we have The Corstorphine Road Nativity, set in the fictional Corstorphine Road Primary School in Edinburgh where all the parts in the annual school nativity play are played by adults.
Based on real stories from actual nativity plays, Firth catalogues behind the scenes jealousy, teasing, blackmail and unrequited love as the “children” prepare to perform for their parents. The play is based on the 1999 TV drama The Flint Street Nativity by Tim Firth (Calendar Girls), this version building on the success of an earlier adaptation staged at Liverpool Playhouse.
Using real stories from actual nativity plays, Firth catalogues behind the scenes jealousy, teasing, blackmail and unrequited love as the “children” prepare to perform for their parents.
Backstage nerves take hold as the trembling narrator tries desperately to learn his lines and the wise man struggles to overcome his lisp and pronounce the word Frankincense.
Mabuse. That name, pronounced Mab-ooz-a, may not resonate with present-day moviegoers, but in the 1920s it struck fear into the hearts of those lucky (or should that be unlucky?) enough to witness the two-part German epic Dr Mabuse, The Gambler (Dr Mabuse, Der Spieler) and the birth of a criminal mastermind.
It was in 1922 that young German director Fritz Lang, perhaps best known today for directing the seminal sci-fi classic Metropolis, brought his version of Norbert Jacques’ novel detailing the exploits of criminal mastermind Dr Mabuse (Rudolf Klein Rogge) to the screen.
Made at a time of great upheaval, both politically and socially, in Lang’s home country, the two-part Der Spieler was a visually hallucinatory attempt to tell the story of a man determined to destroy the economy and legal system of Germany in various dastardly ways.
Using mind-control, violence, con tricks and illusion, this master of disguise would stop at nothing to ensure dominance of the criminal underworld.
Lang’s singular vision, much copied but rarely equalled, ensured that audiences of the time were treated to visually stunning set-pieces and camera tricks the equivalent of today’s computer generated effects, generating gasps in auditoriums as Mabuse’s head detaches itself from his body in one standout sequence.
Blood, high-heels and heartache form the basis of Rona Munro’s new adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s 1945 play, sun-baked rural Spain swapped for rain-sodden East End Glasgow as a matriarchal family comes to terms with the death of the man in their lives.
Returning home from the funeral of her gangster husband Tony, Bernie (Siobhan Redmond) and her five daughters are given little time to grieve as reporters surround their home and a film crew are given exclusive coverage of the family as they appeal to be left alone.
Aware that she’s unlikely to ever be free from her daughters, all of whom still live with her, there is still some hope that the relationship between Agnes (Julie Wilson Nimmo) and rival family offspring Peter Romanov could save them from financial difficulty if it all goes smoothly.
When youngest daughter Adie (Vanessa Johnson) shares her feelings for Romanov with older sister Marty (Louise Ludgate), who also carries a torch for the man, it looks like Bernie’s stranglehold on her brood might, for once, not be strong enough to stop things from taking a turn for the worse.
By taking the bare bones of Lorca’s play and setting it in present-day Glasgow, Munro has very much put her stamp on the piece, her attempt to make it relevant to a modern audience successful in that its references never appear forced.
Following a run at Edinburgh’s Traverse during the Fringe Festival with The Doubtful Guest, Hoipolloi returns from Wednesday 11 – Saturday 14 November with Story of a Rabbit.
Hugh is asked to look after his neighbour’s rabbit, but soon finds it dead in his back garden. Oops! He temporarily puts it in a plastic bag in the shed to decide what to do with the dead pet, but comes back to it, only to find it gone.
This leads Hugh to consider more about what else disappears once we die.
The play is a humorous yet moving story that mixes theatrical sections, direct addresses to the audience, film and live music.
According to the Traverse, if you enjoyed any of Daniel Kitson’s recent shows you’ll enjoy this.
Returning to Edinburgh’s Filmhouse for a second year, the Diversions Film Festival (Friday 6 – Sunday 8 November), aims to provide an educational introduction to historical works and a glimpse into ongoing dialogues at the edge of moving image production.
This year’s programme has been curated by distinguished filmmakers, distributors and researchers both local and from around the world.
On November 7, Finnish filmmaker Sami Van Ingen will present his 35 mm found footage narrative, Just One Kiss – The Fall of Ned Kelly (2009), with a live electronic musical accompaniment.
On November 8, the Filmhouse will host The Sublime Is Now, an intimate evening with New York-based filmmaker Jeanne Liotta. The event will trace her development as one of the most innovative artists working in the medium today.
Making his cinematic debut with 2006’s The Gigolos, a story about relationships in modern Britain told in a uniquely sensitive manner, director Richard Bracewell returns with a variation on the theme in new film Cuckoo.
Opening with a stark close-up of Polly (Laura Fraser) as she travels to her work as a medical researcher in an unnamed city, we’re soon introduced to her world of science experiments, tight budgets and odd colleagues in the shape of Simone (Tamsin Greig) and her boss, Professor Greengrass (Richard E Grant).
As Polly begins to doubt that her current job is really for her, a feeling compounded by the obsessive nature of Greengrass, she also finds her home life somewhat lacking.
With her live-in boyfriend Chapman (Adam Fenton) barely in the house at night thanks to his work as a singer, and sister Jimi (Antonia Bernath) hardly the most compassionate of siblings, when Polly starts to hear things in her bedroom it seems that events are finally getting on top of her.
Determined to discover the source of the sounds, Polly begins searching both her surroundings and herself for an answer, a search that will bring her close to the edge of sanity and her own moral judgement.
Africa in Motion (AiM), the UK’s largest African film festival, returns to Edinburgh’s Filmhouse for its fourth year from 22 October to 1 November.
Providing a platform to challenge, engage with and explore issues surrounding the African continent and its films, the festival includes a range of over 50 classic and contemporary films – long, short, fiction and documentary.
AiM 2009 will launches on Thursday 22 October with the UK premiere of My Secret Sky (Izulu Lami). Hailed as South Africa’s answer to Slumdog Millionaire and acclaimed for the brilliant acting of its main child characters, themselves from an impoverished background, My Secret Sky is a poignant tale of suffering and redemption.
A worrying message was issued by Edinburgh’s Cameo cinema today via their Twitter feed, stating that: “It seems the poor reviews have killed Pontypool. A real shame as it’s one of the more original films out there. Creepy and humorous.”
A quick email to the cinema’s manager confirmed that audience numbers have been low in the only cinema in Edinburgh, and I believe the only one in Scotland, to be screening the film.
The reason I’d say this is worrying is that the Canadian thriller/horror, which tells of an attack on a small town by a horde of zombies, is one of the best I’ve seen this year, a film I recently gave four stars on this very blog, stating that it’s “something of a “grower”, an always entertaining little film which stays in the memory long after you’ve seen it and improves with age.”
In Friday’s Edinburgh Evening News I went on to say it’s “a claustrophobic film with an impressive central performance from McHattie…director Bruce McDonald wrings out just enough tension along with a few laughs to create a memorable horror gem.”
Following this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival I took part in a Pontypool audiocast for the Filmstalker website, where three of us gave the film a glowing review, while the site’s owner, Richard Brunton, reviewed Pontypool and said that “despite some issues it was intelligent, different, visually engaging and had some laughter in there too.”
If you knew that you were going to Heaven no matter what you did, what would you do? That’s the question at the centre of the Royal Lyceum’s latest production, Confessions of a Justified Sinner (Friday 16 October – Saturday 7 November).
In this dark thriller, Robert Wringhim’s powerful faith in predestination means he knows his name is in the Book of the Saved. He will be going to Heaven and nothing he does can change it.
Based on James Hogg’s classic 1824 novel, Confessions of a Justified Sinner looks at what a man will do when freed (in his own mind at least) from any moral restraints.
When Wringhim’s religious certainty is combined with the devious whisperings of a mysterious figure known as Gil-Martin, he finds himself caught up in a blood-soaked life of criminal activity.
Tomorrow night at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh there’s a rare showing of 1970 sci-fi chiller Colossus: The Forbin Project from 6pm.
The film depicts a time when the United States decides to build a giant supercomputer called Colossus to look after all military decisions for the Western world.
Colossus will sense any possible attacks on America and take the best course of action, a foolproof plan designed by genius scientist Dr Forbin (Eric Braeden).
Of course when those pesky Russkies reveal they have their own version of the computer, and then problems arise with Colussus, it’s up to Forbin and his team to try to resolve the problem swiftly.
Quite by coincidence I watched the film on DVD over the weekend and enjoyed its faintly ridiculous plot and semi-serious tone.
Dubbed by some a “spiritual sequel” to 2006’s comedy horror film Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland arrives on UK shores with positive buzz and high expectations from those who still view Shaun as the high watermark of the rom-com-zom genre.
The film opens in modern day America, an alternate version of our world where Mad Cow disease has mutated into a virus which can turn healthy humans into rampaging zombies.
Dispensing with the commonly held belief that zombies can only shuffle along the ground after their prey, this breed of genetically altered undead can run faster than many humans, meaning a new set of rules has to be abided to if they are to be avoided.
Chief rule maker is Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), so called to avoid any feelings of closeness between survivors which might occur if real names are used, who roams the wastelands trying to eke out a life on his own.
Columbus soon meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), also out on his own and looking for Twinkies before they go out of date.
As the pair cross America they encounter groups of zombies in unusual places, sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) who will do anything to stay ahead of the competition and the occasional pit stop which may or may not be the hiding place of the last Twinkie on Earth.
Terry Gilliam fans in the UK should be very excited right about now as the cult director’s latest, much discussed, film The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus is now in a cinema near you.
Well, it’s hopefully near you. A strangely subdued marketing campaign has been given to the film, as well as a staggered release schedule which sees it come out in the UK this week while it won’t be seen in America until 25 December, and even then only in New York and Los Angeles.
Starring Heath Ledger, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Christopher Plummer, the film is a fantastical adventure that takes place in various dimensions and tells of a travelling magician who sells his daughter to the devil in exchange for a life of extraordinary powers.
Please note: I’ve tried to avoid giving spoilers in this review but if you haven’t seen the trailer and have no idea what happens in the film you might want to wait until you’ve watched it to continue reading.
It’s been 50 years since The Twilight Zone first took viewers on weekly journeys of mystery and suspense, Rod Serling weaving strange stories and scenarios which they had probably never considered before but which were soon the stuff of nightmares, for one night at least.
Now comes the latest attempt to hurt the brains of audiences everywhere, writer and director Christopher Smith concocting in Triangle a story which starts out simple enough but soon evolves into a jigsaw of actions and repercussions which should really come with a man with a flipchart in every screening to jot down who’s doing what to whom and when.
As young mum Jess (Melissa George) prepares to go on a boating trip with new friend Greg (Michael Dorman), she hears someone ringing her front doorbell, though on investigating she finds nobody there.
Confused but seemingly nonplussed, Jess then heads to the Harbour to meet Greg and a group of his acquaintances who have also agreed to go sailing for the day. Soon after venturing into the gentle blue seas the wind cuts out completely, the calm followed by an electrical storm which upturns their vessel.
As Halloween approaches it’s once more time for the film studios to roll out their Horror offerings, blood, gore and ludicrous goings on in the spirit world par for the course.
Thankfully this year sees a new contender on the block in the shape of Pontypool, a small Canadian film in which Zombies may be central to the plot but which opts for simple visuals and the power of the spoken word to convey its own unique brand of terror.
Opening on Valentine’s Day in the small town of Pontypool, Ontario, shock jock radio DJ Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) is driving to work at the small radio station when he sees a strange figure on the road.
As the snow impairs his visibility and he speeds on into the night, Mazzy heads for the warmth and safety of his station where his producer Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle) and technician Laurel Ann (Georgina Reilly) are waiting.
Soon after the phone-in begins, complete with links to the station’s Eye in the Sky and local callers, messages start to filter through that something is very wrong in the town, crowds of people wreaking havoc on nearby buildings.
Based on Spike Milligan’s 1971 novel of the same name, Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall comes to the stage full of the absurd wit and tomfoolery one would expect from a one-time Goon.
As Spike (Sholto Morgan) recounts his time in the army and the many ways he and his colleagues try to stave off the boredom – and the horror – of war, the audience are treated to a barrage of jokes and observations fired at will into the stalls.
Taking the form of a show put on for the forces, introduced by a plummy officer (Matt Devereaux), we’re soon in the company of a group of men thrown together to fight the Nazi hordes who’d rather be at home in Blighty with a bag of fish and chips and a pint in the pub.
To ensure they maintain some sort of normality, Spike and co pick up instruments and entertain the troops, and each other, in between fighting and the odd mission, black humour carrying them through the many months of service.
Here’s a treat and a surprise: as part of their Introduction to European Cinema course, Edinburgh’s Filmhouse are this Tuesday screening Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1932 film Vampyr, a film I’ve wanted to see for years.
According to the blurb on their site:
Based on Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel ‘In a Glass Darkly’ and shot in France using real locations, Vampyr is one of the first psychological horror films. Helped by a dreamlike logic, the film takes its main character on a voyage through light and darkness to a point where he can imagine his own burial (disturbingly shot from a subjective point of view).
With the help of Rudolph Maté’s luminous photography, Dreyer creates a film of great beauty.
I’ll try to get along to this one and then decide whether I want to buy the DVD.
Recalling memories of his own childhood in the far north of Scotland, Neil M Gunn’s 1941 novel comes to the stage with a vigor that belies its age and subject matter.
The play tells of a Highland way of life altered by the Clearances, life on the land replaced by life on the open seas, where fishing for herring, the “silver darlings” of the title, puts at risk the lives of men every day.
Those left behind, women like Catrine (Meg Fraser) abandoned by her husband Tormad who has been press ganged into working aboard a boat, are left to fend for themselves with little money to their name.
As Catrine makes new friends with boat owner Roddie (Tom McGovern) and Kirsty (Anne Louise Ross), her son Finn (Finn Den Hertog) grows into a young man with definite shades of his father, something that threatens to tear them apart.
Though the death, disease and deprivation at the heart of the 600-page novel are present in this new adaptation, the necessary trims made to the adaptation by Peter Arnott ensures that the story rattles along at a decent pace in the first half.
