The Front
News, gossip and opinion
Twelve of the best for EIF opera buffs
Edinburgh International Festival programme launched
Words: Mark Fisher
t’ll be a bumper year for fans of opera
and dance in the Edinburgh International Festival. The event, running 12 August-1 September, features a dozen opera performances including part two of Scottish Opera’s Ring Cycle and a concert performance of James MacMillan’s acclaimed 2000 work Parthenogenesis, and seven dance productions including the return of New York City Ballet.
As well as Scottish Opera’s premiere of Wagner’s Die Walkiire, there’ll be first-time showings of Office, the playwriting debut of Glasgow’s Shan Khan, sponsored by The List, Novecento, a Ouebecois play about a jazz pianist who spent his entire life at sea, and Marcel Duchamp, James Joyce, Erik Satie: An Alphabet, a staging of a 1982 radio play by John Cage. ‘Breaking those barriers and exploring the new is an essential part of the Festival,’ said director Brian McMaster, introducing a programme of 112 productions.
Familiar names returning to Edinburgh include director Carles Santos with Ricardo I Elena, a surrealist opera, director Stéphane Braunschweig with Mozart's Die Zauberflo'te (The Magic Flute), director Luc
Coming quite soon . . .
ls Nicole Kidman
Bondy with Chekhov’s The Seagull and an all-star German cast, and conductors Pierre Boulez (Bluebeard’s Castle), Sir Charles Mackerras (Idomeneo) and Andras Schiff (Cosi fan tutti).
‘Dance is strong worldwide, that’s true,’ says McMaster who is bringing over PASTForward, an American retrospective of the great choreographers of the 603 and 705, The Diamond Project, the latest work from New York City Ballet, and Metapolis - project 972 from Belgium’s Plan K Company. ‘The radical things in theatre are happening in dance. I’m pleased with our theatre programme this year, but my colleagues at other festivals were saying that there’s no really interesting work around in theatre this year. Of course, a lot of it we’re creating.’
On the music side, there are several up- and-coming performers, many of them still in their twenties. ‘The international music scene is good,’ says McMaster. ‘There are some amazing young people and fortunater we’re able to reflect that.’
I Full programme available by calling 0737 4 73 2000 or consulting www.eif.co.ul<. Booking opens Sat 7 Apr.
some kind of sucker for punishment. a serial masochist or merely a fractious redhead? After putting up with the directorial pedantics of Stanley Kubrick for Eyes Wide Shut. suffering a tormented Split with her diminutive hubby Tom Cruise. and having to pull out of David Fincher's The Panic Room with a crocked leg. she has
agreed to work on Lars von Trier's next film. The man who nearly prompted ijrk to quit the movie business after Dancer In The Dark has enlisted Ms Kidman for Dogvi/le, in which Gothenburg doubles as 19308 smalltown America . . . Promising film sequels on the way include Alien 5 and Exorcist: Dominion but most exciting prospect is The Vega
4 THE LIST 29 Mar—12 Apr 2001
Brothers. the follow-up to Pulp Fiction. Once Quentin Tarantino finishes up on Glorious Bastards, his bash at World War II epicdom. he will make the calls to John Travolta and Michael Madsen to take on the roles of the Original dangerous brothers . . . With Massive Attack already promising us a new album come the autumn.
Cosgrove leads debate on
computer art
Glasgow is to host the first CADE
Glasgow is to host the first CADE conference outside England. One of the world's main forums to digital creatitity the Computers in Art and Design Education conference seeks to cross the border of creative disoplines. lts aim is to understand the
interdisoplinary character of
Stuart Cosgve
digital media in the 2181 century
Attracting internationallyrenowned speakers at discussions chaired by Stuart Cosgrove and Fariba Farshad. the event also features a series of exhibitions by artists working in digital media. Alan Currall, Roshini Kempadoo. Susanne Ramsenthaler. Lindsay Perth and Chris Rowland are among the line-up programmed by Glasgow School of Art from Monday 9 to Thursday 12 April. For further information log on to \wwvcadeacuk. See Art listings. iHelen Monaghanl
Shake up for touring theatre SAC to name inner circle of favoured companies
Visible Fictions
The Scottish Arts Council has announced a new funding system for touring theatre. Instead of the previous system. whereby any company might apply for its fixed-term grants. the SAC will now nominate around a dozen companies. who will be invited to apply. Although the exclusion of companies from the magic circle of nominated companies seems elitist. the SAC
live dates are also in the pipeline with rumours that Damon Albarn will be joining the Bristolian trip- hoppers on stage . . . Among the future highlights announcedin Channel 4's spring/summer schedule are the large-
argues that candidates WI” be spared the onerous process of application. only to be disappomted. The e><isting reCIpients of the awards are Borlerhouse. Borderline. Suspect Culture. 7:84 and TAG. Companies competing for the awards from April 2002 could include Visible Fictions. the Brunton and Catherine Wheels.
The new awards Will also now vary in length from one to three years. This might be more controversial. since those restricted to a year might have little incentive to plan ahead. and the absence of the preVious four-year awards might add to the already precarious nature of touring theatre. (Steve Cramer)
scale Beckett On Film project — filmed adaptations of all nineteen of the Irish miserabilist's plays over two years involving the likes of David Mamet. John Hurt. Julianne Moore and Harold Pinter - Big Brother part two. The 100 Greatest TV Characters and Scottish/Italian Armando lannucci's own eight-part show.
Travolta returns to Pulp Fiction