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Buster Keaton's Our Hospitality *****
Silent classic gets a winning soundtrack
You might be surprised to hear that there's a silent movie pulling in the crowds at this year's Fringe. But if you've ever encountered the Blue Grassy Knoll, you’ll understand why. With infectious energy and enthusiasm this Australian gypsy bluegrass troupe perform a specially written soundtrack, perfectly complementing Keaton's classic movie. Our Hospitality was Keaton's first full-length feature and, as the group explain, it was never intended to be experienced without sound. A hillbilly feud provides the backdrop for Keaton's adventures, complete with villains, comic characters and love interest. For anyone who has doubts about the appeal of silent film in today's high tech cinema environment, one visit to this event will have you convinced. Keaton mixes subtle humour with breathtaking acrobatic stunts, and the Blue Grassy Knoll heighten the experience every step of the way. Veering from gypsy to jazz via bluegrass and zydeco depending on the moment, this accomplished band of musicians seem entirely in sync with the actor, making the dramatic moments more intense and the comic situations even funnier. It’s a genuinely refreshing experience and while the band and the film could happily be enjoyed individually, together they’re dynamite. You'll laugh, you’ll cry and you'll pine for their next visit. (Louisa Pearson) :25 Buster Keaton ’5 Our Hospitality (Fringe) The Blue Grassy Knoll, Club Pleasance @ Potterrow (Venue 23) 556 6550, until 28 Aug (not 22) 5pm, £8/£9 (£7/£8).
BOOK PREVIEW
Anthony Bourdain on Kitchen Confidential
Chef author spills the beans on the restaurant world
You don't have to ask Anthony Bourdain twice to talk about his new book, Kitchen Confidential, a flamboyant expose of the restaurant business. The chef turned author motormouth is straight in there in his New York drawl. ’lt's a completely unvarnished account of 28 chequered years in the restaurant business, part memoir, part deranged rant,’ he claims. ’I’ve tried to use the language and sub-culture of chefs to capture the demented world view and paranoia of the kitchen.’
Bourdain’s last book, Bone In The Throat, was a fictional work which mixed the seedy underworld of organised crime with, you guessed it, the restaurant business. From his own experience Bourdain sees the two worlds going hand in hand. ’There’s been a long and powerful streak of criminality in restaurants,’ he says. ’Being a chef is basically the child’s dream of running a pirate crew, and
' behaviour,’ Machen says, ’and
running a restaurant is like being a rock star without having to learn guitar.’ (Doug Johnstone)
2 Anthony Bourdain on Kitchen Confidential (Book) The Field 8 Lawn Silver Marquee, 624 5050, 23 Aug, 4. 75pm, £6.50 (£4.50).
THEATRE PREVIEW
Venus In Furs
Suffering for their art
In Negative Equity’s production of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s classic erotic novel of obsessive love, Peter Machen, who plays masochist Severin, has taken suffering for his art to extremes. ’I’ve certainly picked up some lacerations from various beatings that I’ve had in rehearsals over the last few weeks,’ he says, ’and Rebekah (Fortune, who plays Wanda] has injured her wrists, but other than that, it’s been relatively injury free.’ Oh, well that’s alright then. The play, which is somewhat incongruously showing in the afternoon, promises to be an ’imagistic delight'. ’Most people have this idea of masochism as being this seedy world full of inhuman
34 THE lIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 17—24 Aug 2000
while there’s a certain amount of that, it is also quite beautiful. We’re very visual as a theatre company and some of the images which are brought to bear in this production are very striking.’ No pun intended, I'm sure. (Kirsty Knaggs)
l Venus ln Furs (Fringe) Negative Equity, Hill Street Theatre (Venue 4 i) 226 6522, until 28 Aug, 3. 10pm, £6.50 (£4.50).
BOOKS PREVIEW Journalism Of Attachment! Women And Witness Semi-detached reportage
Feargal: Here, all is devastation. The debris, the detritus of broken lives lie in tatters and we journalists are left to wonder, as we so often do, who will pick up the pieces?
Kate: Knock it off, Feargal. It’s just the remains of the Book Festival launch party.
Feargal: And all about me are the bodies, with sunken eyes that have given up seeing, with lips that have spoken the utmost horrors —
Kate: Get a grip Feargal — they’re the contingent of hacks.
Feargal: Ach Katie. Don't you get fed up being so prim and proper? Don’t you ever yearn, now there's a grand word, to relay the emotion of the moment, feel the moment.
Kate: You really hack me off. Irish lyricism is all very well in Yeats or Synge, but on a battlefield you need to distance yourself, give the public the bare facts, let them make up their own minds.
Who would you evict from the Big Brother newsroom? (Gabe Stewart)
I Feargal Keane: Witness (Book) Charlotte Square Gardens, 624 5050, 79 Aug, 3.30pm, £6.50 (£4.50); Journalism Of Attachment (Book) Charlotte Square Gardens, 20 Aug, 3.30pm, £6.50 (£4.50).
Kate Adie: Witness (Book) Charlotte Square Gardens, 20 Aug, 5.30pm, £7. 50 (£5. 50); Women And Witness (Book) Charlotte Square Gardens, 27 Aug, 7pm, £7.50 (£5.50).
COMEDY Frankie McGyre In Person ***
One man, a missing comedian and three desperate characters According to his agent, Frankie McGyre has always had an ambition to die on stage. This ambition is presumably not shared by Frankie’s
creator, Laurence Howarth, yet for the first few minutes, it seemed he was doing just that. Perhaps the walk-outs didn’t understand the premise; top comedian McGyre has failed to turn up, leaving his agent, former partner and theatre manager to fill in. Howarth plays all three characters, who grow increasingly desperate as time goes on, revealing dark secrets about themselves and each other. Chuckles are guaranteed, but overall, it’s the concept rather than the comedy which deserves appreciation. (Kirsty Knaggs)
l Frankie McGyre In Person (Fringe) Frankie McGyre In Person, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 28 Aug, 5.50pm, £7/£8 (£5/£6).
TTHEATRE
King Of Scotland **** Gogol’s Diary Of A Madman updated
When Brian Pettifer first begins his monologue, he seems perfectly normal. He has a wee rant about his job, his wife and other everyday niggles common to us all. However, as he continues, you realise there's something a little off-kilter; this is a journey through the mental landscape of a man who has clearly lost his grip on reality. Loosely adapted from Diary OfA Madman, the play is set in modern-day Scotland, an inspired move which emphasises the relevance of Gogol's classic novel in today’s society. Pettifer plays the part with such conviction, he'll have you doubting your own sanity. (Kirsty Knaggs)
l The King Of Scotland (Fringe) Theatre Babel, Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 28 Aug,
5. 75pm, £9/£70 (£8/£9).
The king’s crown begins to slip