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A R O U N D T OW N As if their mega influx of visitors was not sufficient, the newly reopened National Museum of Scotland is upping its cultural output with an all-new Museum Lates programme, starting on Friday 11 Nov. Visitors can expect DJs, bands, food, drink and more after hours, with tickets starting from just a fiver. Participants must be 18+. See nms.ac.uk for more. Elsewhere, we’re delighted to hear that Scotland’s Midlothian Snowsports Centre is getting a £500,000 extension courtesy of SportScotland. The popular Hillend-based attraction will have its regular and nursery slopes extended. FILM After much speculation, the Edinburgh International Film Festival have announced they will continue to run in June, with next year’s dates revealed as 20 Jun–1 Jul. It had been widely anticipated that incoming artistic director Chris Fujiwara might be keen to reinstate the festival’s former August slot, following a turbulent couple of years for the EIFF.
MUSIC While we aren’t sad that we’ll no longer have to triple check how many n’s are in their moniker, we are very sorry to hear the news that Dananananaykroyd are to split, after their tour finishes at the end of November. The band said of the break-up: ‘We all still love each other very much. We’re really keen to make sure we’re never compromising or giving anything less than 100% and at this juncture of our collective lives, it makes
sense to go out with a bang.’ In other music news, it’s time to do your bit to support local and up- coming music. We at The List were disappointed to hear that, as part of the BBC cuts, the corporation are proposing to bin Ally McCrae’s Radio 1 programme, Introducing in Scotland . . . Sign an e- petition against the cut at petitionbuzz.com /petitions/ introducingscotland.
THEATRE Derek Jacobi, David Haig and Marianne Oldham are set to fight it out for best performance in a play, as part of this year’s re- branded Theatre Awards UK. Elsewhere, List favourites Cryptic are ‘re-positioning’ themselves from a music theatre company to a producing art house. Watch this space for more.
VISUAL ART If you’re passing along Edinburgh’s Princes Street take a look at Urban Outfitters, where Noel Fielding recently painted the windows at a public event to celebrate the launch of his new art book, The Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton, out now, published by Canongate. Lastly, three cheers for The Royal Institute’s 150th Open Annual Show, which offers the chance to view over 300 paintings and sculptures by established and up-and-coming artists, allowing folk to both browse and buy art, with prices ranging £2950. See royalglasgowinstitute.org for more, or catch it from the 23 Oct–12 Nov, at the Mitchell in Glasgow. £200
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Noel Fielding’s artwork is currently on display in Edinburgh’s Urban Outfitters
DISPATCHES FROM THE SOFA, WITH BRIAN DONALDSON
■ Vaulting ambition and its often dire consequence are at the heart of London-set Top Boy (Channel 4, Mon 31 Oct–Thu 3 Nov, 10pm) just as it is inherent in every drama from Macbeth to The Sopranos. Some observers will no doubt draw parallels between this four-parter and season five of The Wire with its depiction of young men having to make a tough choice between keeping criminal temptation away or maintaining the tragic status quo often to keep up a family tradition. Contrasting the ugly human behaviour on display, Top Boy looks good, no surprise given that its director Yann Demange previously worked on films for Britney Spears and sprayed a lovely sheen onto Charlie Brooker’s zombie romp, Dead Set. But ultimately, Top Boy will rise up or fall flat on the strength of the story and characters and from the first episode, Ronan Bennett quickly and skilfully gets everyone nailed down for us.
There’s the thrusting 26-year-old Dushane (Ashley Walters) who believes that nothing remains for him now other than making the most of a life in crime; 13-year-old Ra’Nell has to step up to the plate at home due to an absent father and mentally ill mother but which road will he take?; the pregnant and penniless Heather (Kierston Wareing) has less than legal plans to make a comfortable life for her unborn child. Exploitation, betrayal and doing the right thing are the fuel for this energetic and affecting drama.
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10 THE LIST 20 Oct–17 Nov 2011