l—l ‘ INSIDE { _
into the Festival organisations. If it weren’t torthe Festival, their businesses wouldn‘t be anything like as successful.‘
The new administrator was born and brought up in Edinburgh and has been associated with the Fringe most at her working life. ‘There are advantages 2 and disadvantages in that" she says’ ‘I IQIII SIIIIIL‘I'IQIIILI gUL‘S It) x\.\'l‘.\IIII'L‘ I” know Edinburgh, and I believe in diseoy er the miners' feelings about
PRIORITY
I L.
R Edinburgh. I’ve seen and assimilated changes in the Fringe—and I’ve a hell
DUNN ROAMIN’
We may be wrong but paying the rates probably wouldn’t be uppermost in the minds of many talk about to come into £17,500. But it was in Douglas Dunn’s
mind, when we spoke to him before his ;
collection of poems lilegz‘es lifted the Whitbread Book of the Year Award on 28 January, Britain’s most lucrative
literary laurel, even if it is upstaged by
the razzamatazz of the Booker.
This is perhaps an inevitable reaction i
foramanwith his rootsinlnchinnan,in I.
Renlrewshire, the owner at an
unsullied working class pedigree, and
stoical resistance to what Bill Shakespeare neatly described as the slings and arrows of outrageous lortune. For there was no early indication that Douglas Dunn had the making of a poet. At school he performed poorly and emerged without a passport to university. Unemployed and bookish he tumbled into librarianship and gradually began to shin up the career beanstalk, arming himsell with certificates and broadening his experience in Akron,
l t
of a lot still to learn’.
NEW SAC CHAIRMAN
The Scottish Arts Council has announced its new chairman. Re is
i. ; : ProtessorAian Peacockwhois
the superlatives and flattered he tlitted to Grub Street, supplementing literary journalism with sporadic slim volumes of verse. lilegiex is his sixth and the one he would prefer not to have written for it concerns Lesley's death from cancer of the eye, cruelly ironic for one in charge of an art gallery. To those
2 who say he has profited from her death
l
Ohio, where he worked in the university
library.
That might have been the last we heard of him for Uncle Sam was scouring for cannon fodder for Vietnam, so he made his getaway and landed in Hull. Hull was good to him, providing him with a subject for his debut collection Terry Street, a first in Eng Lit, and a job practising ‘licensed extravagance’ in the University Library, presided over by the late lamented Philip Larkin. Terry Street was home for Douglas and Lesley, his wife, and he depicted his neighbours with sardonic honesty, revealing as much about himself as the people and their pop culture. Critics dusted down
SIZEABLE CHANGES
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society announced last week the replacement for Michael Date as Fringe Administrator. The job goes to 26 year-old Mhairi Mackenzie Robinson who torthe last three Festivals has been assistant administratorto Dale (who leaves to become Events Organiserol Glasgow’s 1987 Garden Festival).
Already applications from groups have topped the 500 mark, indicating that the lortieth Fringe will be even biggerthan last year’s record breaker. It's a growth which gives the new administrator cause for concern: ‘We have felt torthe last few years that the Fringe has grown so big that audiences are finding it hard to choose. The Fringe programme is now 96 pages long. Companies have asked us to do something about it; obviously we'll not stop anyone from coming — that’s the
Douglas Dunn replies that he is a poet and that it was inevitable he would write about it and share it with readers. Elegies- was written in 1981 and since then he has returned north to Tayport, remarried and now tiles a weekly, knuckle-rapping review with the Glasgow Hera/(1. Last year his first collection of short stories, .S‘eerer Villages was published revealing a new side to his talent and he has the
3 ubiquitous novel on the stocks. lf
anything's spared afterthe rates he should be able to buy some time to
I finish that.
o The Telescope Garden by Douglas
. Dunn has been produced by Radio
Scotland and will be broadcast on Radio Three. Date to be confirmed.
essence of the Fringe — but we will
emphasise the pitfalls, saying to them,
do you realise your audiences are probably not going to be very large, you're not going to be reviewed and it's going to be very expensive...‘
She won’t be able to bring about any substantial changes at the Fringe. however, at least until afterthis year’s Festival, and is waiting until the autumn before considering a review of ‘long-term marketing policy’. There will be extra staff employed over this
summer, though, in orderto ‘process
tickets more quickly, getting them out to encourage sales.’
‘In the long term my primary concern is to get more space torthe Fringe Offices,’ she says. ‘ltwe are to
increase sales and become more
approachable to audiences and groups, we need more space.‘ She
# would also like to see more investment
from local businesses; ‘I ieel they have a duty to pour some at their profits back
currently heading the Government
~ i committee on the funding of the BBC. A
research professor in public finance at Edinburgh’s Heriot Watt University and
a director at the David Hume Institute,
. Prot Peacock has already shown a
‘ commitment to the arts; as well as
being a previous member of the Arts Council, be chaired an inquiry into orchestral funding and has served on
the council of the London Philharmonic , Orchestra. He also plays the piano and viola. Prof Peacock takes over from the
present Chairman, Gerald Elliot on 1 August and will also sit on the Arts Council of Great Britain.
NEW DRAMA POST
in a unique venture, Sean McCarthy has been appointed Associate Literary Director to all Scottish theatres. Although based at the Royal Lyceum
Theatre in Edinburgh, McCarthy will be ,
responsible for the encouragement of new writers and linking directors and playwrights throughout the country. Highly regarded in theatrical circles, McCarthy was formerly script editor at Dublin’s lamous Abbey Theatre and invites anyone who is interested in writing for the stage, experienced or
not, to contact him at the Royal Lyceum -
Theatre, Grindlay Street, Edinburgh.
CALLING CHOREOGRAPHERS
On 22 February, dancers will converge from all over the country on Stirling to the MacRobert Centre. The Scottish Choreography Festival, set for that weekend is a national event that has
been eagerly anticipated for months.
. appearing are amateurs trom places as far apart as Penicuik and Cumbernauld
l Cover: llaryey and the \Vallhangers
Professionals have also been chosen to
Jean Douglas, the administrator, has been inundated with applications and they are still coming in. ‘The response has been wonderful’ she said. Originally a competition, this aspect has disappeared over the past four years and the festival is now more of a celebration of dance. Most otthose
as well as Edinburgh’s 50 strong ‘Spring’ and ‘The Glasgow Arts Centre Dance Performance Group.
appear for their interest in dance and
Q the community and the weekend should
promise an event where the excitement I ; Published hy'l‘he I.isl l.td. l4 i liglt
Street. lidinhurgh. 5581191 and
ot choreography can be shared. The festival runs on 22/23 Feb all day. Performance given by dancers teaching at the lestival, Sat 22 7.30pm
I £2 (£1.50). Performance by
participating groups Sun 23 2.30pm. Dance Page returns next time.
the strike a yearon. 4 'l’he art of the \Vallhanger. Stephanie Billen talks to the epony motis l lary ey.
6 \VASI’S [trey Ash lindsoitt ahont slttdio \PRIL'L‘ lot' Scottish artists.
9 A til \Viedersehen Pet returns this month. .\|lan Iltmterspeaks to halt the yy riting team Ian l.a l-‘renais. 10 ( iraham (altlyy ell goes lk‘llilltl the seenes ol a next exhibition of \ ideo LII'I. 11 listings: 'I'heatre I3. \Itisie l5. l’ilm 23. Art 2‘). Kids 30. Open 33. Sport 34. Media 37'. 22 I.is:en: .‘ylore gossip I'rom the Roek yyorld.
39
Alan 'l‘ayloryyriteson outlets l'or Seottish l'ietion. Books 4”. late 43. Style 44. Restaurants 45. ll‘thL‘l 4o.
CONTRIBUTORS
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