Festival THEATRE
HIBROW HOUR Multimedia arts for smart audiences
H iBrow Hour is more inclusive than the average show. Not only are the individual events being recorded, they are being streamed on BBC Arts Online and shown at Odeon cinemas across the UK. From a set by satirical rockers Jonny and the Baptists to an adaptation of anthropologist Andrew Irving’s writings, Hi-Brow covers the gamut of festival genres.
This eclectic programme, and use of media to reach out beyond the live event, is typical of HiBrow’s attitude to the arts. Don Boyd’s vision for the online arts portal has encouraged diverse artists to find new ways to play. ‘I say to the curators: what do you want to do?’ he says. ‘And when they say, “you are not going to like it”, I say “No! It’s what you want to do!’” This approach has made HiBrow more than an archive: it is a creative space in its own right, encouraging discussion around the
entries. And as the lineup for the week at Summerhall proves, it attracts a high calibre of artists. Alison Jackson, best known for her cheeky celebrity-mocking photographs (pictured), brings an operatic satire, while The Dispute is being directed by National Theatre staff director and former RSC assistant director, Emily Kempson. ‘When you invite people to do something that they love,’ Boyd explains, ‘they can join the party without fear.’ And the HiBrow Hour reflects this dynamism in a selection that has both established names and a sense of experimentalism that fits elegantly into Summerhall’s wider identity. (Gareth K Vile)
Summerhall, 560 1581, times and dates vary, £5–£15. See list.co.uk/festival for full details.
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HITLIST THE BEST THEATRE EVENTS
✽ Beowulf: The Blockbuster (pictured) Imaginative recasting of Britain’s first superhero in a show that’s both epic and intimate. See review, page 80. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 24 Aug, (not 18), 12.50pm, £9–£11(£8–£10).
✽ Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind Chicago’s NeoFuturists get
busy: 30 plays in an hour, chosen by the audience and performed with versatility and ferocity. See review at list.co.uk/festival. Underbelly Cowgate, until 24 Aug (not 18), 4.55pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).
✽ The Object Lesson A masterclass in theatrical magic, as a man grapples with the challenges of contemporary life in a room filled with detritus. See review, page 82. Summerhall, 560 1581, until 24 Aug (not 13, 20), 6pm, £14 (£12).
✽ A Slight Ache Adapted from a late 1950s radio play, this is a slice of classic
Harold Pinter anguish, starring comedians Simon Munnery, Catriona Knox and Thom Tuck. See review, page 85. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 25 Aug (not 13, 20), 12.45pm, £7–£9 (£6–£8).
✽ The Capone Trilogy: Vindici This year’s trilogy from Jethro Compton ranges across different styles, but Vindici is the bloody climax. Updating a Jacobean melodrama to Chicago’s glory days of vice and corruption, it’s a tense, heady hour. See review at list.co.uk/festival. C nova, 0845 260 1234, until 25 Aug, 8.40pm, £11.50–£13.50 (£9.50–£11.50).
✽ Cuckooed Mark Thomas demonstrates his skills as a political theatre-maker, in
a personal tale of industrial espionage. See review at list.co.uk/festival. Traverse, 228 1404, until 24 Aug (not 18), times vary, £19 (£8–£14).
14–25 Aug 2014 THE LIST FESTIVAL 75