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The pick oi the best post-prandiai entertainment for the rest of the test, specially selected by Sue Wilson.
I Sex Ill Fringe-First winning, Philippe Gaulier-trained Emily Woof conjures a striking dream-like blend of styles, sounds and images using dance, mime, song and acrobatics, moving this week from the Assembly Rooms to a later slot at the Bedlam.
Sex Ill (Fringe) Emily Woof, Bedlam Theatre (Venue 49), 31 Aug—5 Sept, 8.30pm, £5 (£3.50).
I Yo Tengo Un Tio En America Spectacular Catalan company Els Joglars in a colourful and sardonic look at past and present images of Spain, incorporating music, flamenco and drumming.
Y0 Tengo Un Tio En America (International Festival) Els Joglars, Royal Lyceum Theatre, [—5 Sept, 8pm, £5—£I5.
I Attila the Stockbroker and John ONBY Stalwart Fringe pairing of the tongue-in-cheek angry punk poet and ‘rock’s greatest failure’, treating you to a mix of satirical songs and comic-political rants.
Attila the Stockbroker and John Otway (Fringe) Marco’s (Venue 98) 2282141, until5 Sept, 8pm, £6 (£5). I Revelation Trapeze’s dramatic exploration of the apocalypse of St John, currently receiving rave reviews all round.
Revelation (Fringe) Trapeze, Trafalgar Hall (Venue 63) 554 0290. untilZ9Aug, 8.15pm, £4 (£3).
I Injabulao 2000 Dynamic and colourful dance performance by a leading young professional Zimbabwean ensemble. incorporating traditional and modern styles, original choreography and stunning African music.
Injabulao 2000 (Fringe) Sunduza, Fringe Club, until 5 Sept (not 1). 8.30pm, £6 (£4.50) incl Fringe Club membership for the evening.
Tingling
sensation-
Sue Wilson talks to US stand-up Jimmy Tingle about the tragi-comedy of the American presidential race.
Bemused and befuddled by the US election? Can’t tell your Southern Christian from your Southern Democrat, your Ross Perot from your Pat Buchanan (not that there’s a hell of a lot to distinguish the latter two)? Never fear, Jimmy Tingle‘s here. Performing a couple of late-scheduled gigs after two previously successful Fringe runs, the American stand-up will provide your indispensible guide to the Stateside psephological process in his inimitable laid-back but incisive style.
The Edinburgh dates will offer Tingle fans a sneak preview of some new material prior to a US and UK tour in the autumn, and Tingle himself the chance to try it out in a less fraught situation than a full-scale, three-week Edinburgh marathon. ‘It’s much less ofa pressure thing for me this time,’ he says. ‘As far as I know — I’m still
writing some ofthe stuff I’m going to be doing — the show will include pieces from the new set I’ll be performing later this year, material based on what’s happened during the past twelve months; it’s kind of a work-in-progress thing.‘
As you’d expect, Tingle has been keeping a beady and interested eye on the American political scene as the election hots up, and has noticed some significant changes since the last time the bandwagons rolled around. ‘People are much angrier than they were four years ago. It’s partly money, the deficit, it’s when it hits them in their pocketbooks; it’s partly to do with the addition of people like Ross Perot and Jerry Brown into the political spectrum — Brown’s a former governor of California, Perot is pretty much the
true-blue right winger, so they’re both insiders, and when you start getting people like that, particularly a very successful businessman like Perot, attacking the President it has much more impact, it legitimises other people’s anger. You’ve also got the fact that the Republicans and the Democrats have both moved to the right, and as a result the national debate is limited to what appeals to the middle class. You can’t even talk about poverty, you cannot talk in a compassionate way about social justice, because these are not things which will bring people to the polls. If a true social reformer showed up at either party‘s convention, ifJesus himselfhad walked in— “hello, I’m Jesus, I‘m running for President and I have one rule: thou shalt not kill” — there would be an outcry from the audience: “What, are you soft on crime? Get down you faggot, the 605 are over.” ‘
While Tingle is interested to learn the size of the American contingent on the Fringe stand-up circuit this year. he confesses to a degree of ignorance regarding the state of the stand-up scene at home. ‘I very rarely watch other acts,’ he says. ’I’d much rather watch the news, or a documentary or political show, where people are exchanging ideas on the issues of the day —- that’s where I try to get my insights from, not from other comedians.’
I Jimmy Tingle (Fringe) Assembly at the Meadows (Venue 116) 229 9281, 29 Aug, 10pm; 30 Aug, 8pm; Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, 31 Aug. 8pm, £7.50.
Freedom come all ye
It may have escaped the notice ot visitors irom England or other foreign climes, or simply those busy deciding which at the six Macbeths to see, but the democracy movement in Scotland, centred on the demand for some tom of relerendum on the question at Scottish sell-government, has not gone away or even beaten a tactical retreat iorthe Festival’s duration. The round-the-clock vigil outside the parliament building on Calton Road continues to be a resolute thorn in the side oi the Scottish Oiiice; tourists strolling past the Mound a week or so ago were halted in their tracks by the sight at thousands at people dancing a Shetland Reel down the hill, in an inspired political llesta organised by
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week another of the democracy groups, Common Cause, are holding the second two in a series oi three pertormances celebrating Scotland’s arts and language, traditional and modern.
Broadcaster and Scots language-lover Billy Kay is jointly responsible, along with traditional singer-songwriter Bod Paterson, tor one oi the shows: a mix at poetry, music and conversation described as ‘a celebration at Scots in the Europe oi a hundred tongues.‘
‘The aim is basically to show the tremendous vitality oi the Scottish cultural scene,’ says Kay, ‘and to highlight the iact that that's not reilected on the political scene, the
tragedy oi that, the teeling that the artistic community is light-years ahead at the politicians, and it’s about time they got wise to that.’
Despite the lack oi response so lar to the campaign by the powers-that-be, Kay remains lairly optimistic about the democracy movement’s prospects. ‘There are a lot of hopetul signs, particularly the number at people who are joining the organisations involved, a lot at whom have never been politically active beiore. It’s the politicians who are the problem, including the Labour ones; even after the vast majority at people in Scotland voted ior change, the silence irom them has been deaiening. These dodos have to be brought into line, they have to be made aware of the feelings people have.’ (Sue Wilson)
Billy Kay, Bod Paterson and Friends (Fringe) The Netherbow (Venue 30) 556 9579, 30 Aug, 8pm, £5 (£3.50). Democracy: Our Common Cause (Fringe) The Netherbow (Venue 30) 556 9579, 6 Sept, 8pm, £5 (£3.50).
38 The List 28 August - 10 September 1992