1994 PREVIEW FEATURE
I Edinburgh Festival Fringe We confidently predict that the Fringe will be huge and unwieldy. though this year there’ll be different faces managing the chaos — administrator Mhairi Mackenzie-Robinson and assistant Trisha Emblem leave their posts at Easter after an eight year tour of duty. As ever. it‘s all a mystery who’s coming to Edinburgh this year but the Traverse plans to revive Tom Courtenay‘s one-man hit. Mosmw Stations, and the Holy Trinity of Assembly Rooms. Gilded Balloon and the Pleasance is understood to be
repeating its comedy-led alliance. Sun l4 Aug—Sat 3 Sept.
I 48th Edinburgh International Film Festival The strand format (New British Films. State of Independents. Animation. Documentary) continues in Penny Thompson‘s third year as director. bringing the best of international cinema to Scotland. After last year’s exceptional set of British films and the success of the special focus on low-budget film-making, the Edinburgh event should be applauded for persevering in its aims to bring local talent and major industry figures face- to-face. Sat l3—Sun 28.
I Edinburgh International Jazz Festival The musical mix will be pretty much as usual here. although director Mike Hart is said to be mulling over a surprise or two. No details as yet. but plans are under way to include major- name concerts at the new Festival Theatre and the Queen‘s Hall. with a couple of new venues added to the established circuit. The associated Blues Festival continues in the Caledonian Brewery, with the possibility of at least one additional big-name concert. Edinburgh. Sat 6—Sat I3
I Tllli Round Midnight Jazz Festival The format ofthe event is currently under review, and no details or dates are available as yet.
I Glasgow lntemational Early Music Festival The third biennial bonanza for lovers ofearly music and those to whom its delights are yet to be revealed. Music from all over the world, including early opera and dance. workshops and educational events and even a Festival Fringe hosting performances in museums and galleries. Promoted by the Scottish Early Music Consort. its own Festival Opera production is Purcell's The Indian Queen. Tel 041 334 9229 for further details.
I Edinburgh and Glasgow Festivals of British Youth Orchestras Two three- week festivals kick off simultaneously with two of the world's leading national youth orchestras —- the National Youth Orchestra of Norway in Edinburgh and the South African National Youth Orchestra in Glasgow.
Art
I Monet to Matisse A stunning collection of French landscape painting at the National Gallery which includes works by Cezanne. Bonnard and Gaugin. amongst others. Arranged thematically with sections such as Paris, the Mediterranean and the Seasons. it aims to illustrate the influence of one successive generation over another.
I John McLean Using pure colour and gesture. McLean‘s abstract paintings create an accessible visual language which some have compared to music. This solo exhibition at the Talbot Rice Gallery will show a range of work which. as curator Duncan MacMillan has written. ‘is not expressionist but is the pursual of pure, visual harmony'. Wed l0 Aug—Tue l3 Sept.
I Visions oi the Ottoman Empire An exhibition of works inspired by the Orient at the Scottish Portrait Gallery including works by Delacroix, Holman Hunt and Edward Lear. Photography also played a crucial part in shaping Western perception and works by Teynard and Salzmann will also be on display. Tue 16 Aug—Sat 5 Nov.
V SEPTEMBER
Music
I Shirley Bassey The newly-ennobled Welsh diva fills her lungs for another belt through ‘Goldftnger‘ and other favourites. Mon l9 at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
I Scottish International Piano Competition Biennial internationally prestigious competition with many events open to the public.
Theatre
I Fiddler on the Boot Chaim Topol, star of the movie, wishes he was a rich man at the Edinburgh Playhouse in the musical oflewish village life in pre- Revolutionary Ukraine. Wed 7—Sat 24.
Art
I Peter llowson - The Bosnian Series New prints and paintings at the Glasgow Print Studio which show how a spell as Official War Artist to Bosnia in 1993 affected Glasgow's most loved/hated painter. Thurs 15 Sept—Sat 15 Oct.
V OCTOBER
Festivals
I 3rd French Film Festival Running simultaneously in Glasgow and Edinburgh, this grand repas of French fare has, over the last couple of years, allowed Scottish audiences to see several superb films that would otherwise have been squeezed off our screens. Now that the GATT dust has settled, we can be sure the French industry will continue to produce a large and varied production slate, the cream of which will be shown here between Fri 21—Sun 30.
Music
I Jan Directions Assembly Direct returns with another winter programme of events and a new series of The Jazz Club covering the same period. Look out, too, for the Aberdeen Alternative Festival, which usually has a big jazz name or two in its larger rock and folk programme. I llunoon Jazz Festival This recent addition to the jazz calendar goes into its third year, and will retain the mix of Scottish-based artists and the odd guest from further afield which has proved successful thus far. Fri 2l-Sun 23.
lling in the old
llewTVdrautafrornScotlaadhasan unashuedly revivallst air in 1994. Scottish Television tested the water with‘ or Finlay last year, and iound a receptive audience for their revamp of the 60s BBG hit. David nlntoul returns as the middle- aged but ldeallstic doc around March or
April.
Following suit, BBB Scotland has gone back to its own archive cupboard for The Vital Spank. llell Munro’s Para llandy hero plied the Vlest Goast waterways In a popular comedy in the 60s, and returns (looking a lot like Gregor Fisher) in a comedy/drama format filmed on location in the Glyde Estuary.,Broadcast dates have yet to be finalised and probably depend on the fluctuating moods oi BBG scheduling chiefs Alan Yentob and Michael Jackson. Details as soon as we
get ’ern Fresher ideas include BBG Scotland's malor new six-part drama serial Mating
Murphy (oi Tutti Frutti fuel. Producer Ghris Pair describes it as ‘a brilliant Glasgow story - iunny and sad’. Watch these pages In future issuesioreaact - broadcast dates. '
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Vlaves, written by Donna Franceschild. ' .4- - r
3'1 ll 8 Malawi: “Slim” '3le Gregor Fisher takes to the water as Para
station, it stars Ken Stott and liaty llandy In The Vital Spark V NOVEMBER
I John Byme An eagerly-awaited exhibition at Glasgow Print Studio for Byme’s humorous and original paintings and prints. Sat 22 Oct—Sat 19 Nov.
I flew Scottish Art Season Two exhibitions at the CCA which will be picked from open submission and act as a survey of new and current trends in the Scottish art scene. A week has also been set aside specifically for time- based work. Sat 3 Sept—Sat 26 Nov.
I Festival of Women’s Photography Stills and Street Level will both be hosting shows. Erotica is turned upside down at Stills where 40 invited artists will show studies ofthe nude male form in an exhibition called What She Wants. Street Level‘s plans are still under wraps but it has scheduled a one day seminar addressing the themes of the show. Sat I Oct—Sat 5 Nov.
Theatre
I Widows Not totally confirmed yet. but looking likely is the Traverse Theatre’s production of Ariel Dorfman’s play about the ‘disappeared‘. the people who go missing under suspicious circumstances in totalitarian regimes. From Sat 22.
Sport
I league Cup Final The first trophy of the new season. contested at Hampden. Usually a carve-up among the big boys of the Premier League. but eternal optimists might chance a few bob each
way on Falkirk. Sun ‘23.
film
I Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Kenneth Branagh tackles his most ambitious project to date. bringing a more faithful adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel to the big screen than ever before. Robert De Niro heads a star cast as the monster, with Branagh himself as the deluded doctor. Filmed as we speak at Shepperton studios.
Art
I llative American Photography Fourteen American Indian artists whose work has never been seen before in Britain will show their photography at Street Level. Sat 12 Nov—Fri 23 Dec.
V DECEMBER
Festivals
I Edinburgh’s llogmanay The streets were packed with people bringing in I994 and there was a definite feel of a city come alive. which makes a repeat ofthis three day party look very likely. Film
I llightmare Before Christmas A year on from its US release, Tim (Batman) Burton’s stop-motion animated feature hits British screens, with a skeletal hero who shows much of the tortured innocence of other Burton characters like Edward Scissor/lands. ln style and content, the darker side of the Disney banner.
I Interview With The Vampire Anne Rice aficionados may shudder as Tom Cruise dons the elegant cloak ofthe Vampire Lestat. but the rest of the cast — including Miranda Richardson, Brad Pitt. Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater as replacement for the late River Phoenix — is expertly selected. Neil Jordan follows his Crying Game success, hoping to pull off an erotically charged. suavely atmospheric genre blockbuster.
Television
I The Blue Boy A BBC Scotland g production of a Christmas ghost story. ' with Oscar-winner Emma Thompson in the starring role.
The List 14—27 January I994 11