Th e B r i
in g f
e
BOOKS Huge congratulations to Scottish poet John Burnside, who has been named the winner of the 2011 T.S. Eliot Prize poetry prize just four months after being awarded the Forward prize for poetry. His 12th collection, B l a ck C a t B o n e, was announced as the winner of the £15,000 prize at Haberdashers’ Hall in London, beating a shortlist of high-profile poets including Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Sean O’Brien and David Harsent.
CLUBS We could practically hear the Slam fans rejoice upon hearing the happy news that The Slam Tent will open Friday’s T in the Park 2012. The announcement comes with news that there will be increased capacity for Friday night. See tinthpark.com for more.
DANCE Ceilidh Culture celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and the programme is as exciting as ever. Organised by the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, the four-week celebration, running from Fri 16 Mar–Sun 15 Apr, will present its usual line-up of music, dance and storytelling, with performers from all See ceildhculture.co.uk for more. Elsewhere, sad news just in for Scotland’s dance scene: Janet Smith is stepping down as artistic director of Scottish Dance Theatre after almost 15 years. Smith will take up the post of principal at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance this month. She did Scotland.
over
Lay Me Down Safe by Scottish Dance Theatre, touring Feb–Apr. Artistic director Janet Smith is stepping down.
Visit list.co.uk for daily arts & entertainment news
ARTS AND CULTURE NEWS COVERED IN TWO MINUTES Channel HOPPER
remarkable things during her time at the SDT and will be missed. MUSIC List favourite Stuart Murdoch is, we hear, planning to produce a feature length musical film, about a troubled female songwriter. The Belle & Sebastian frontman is looking for donations and you can show him your support at godhelpthegirl.com. In other music news, the Fence Collective is the gift that just keeps on giving, with rumour that they’re planning a brand new Fence event on Sat 14 & Sun 15 April called Eye o’ the Dug, in St Andrews. See facebook.com/eyeothedug for more.
THEATRE List HQ is very excited about a Play, a Pie and a Pint’s Spring season. Fact. Look out for two co-productions with Dundee Rep Theatre, a co-production with Perth Theatre and a series of six plays from across the Arab world in partnership with the National Theatre of Scotland, as well as new writing from talent including Mel Giedroyc, Gary McNair, Peter Arnott and Peter MacDougall. VISUAL ART And finally, a fond farewell, as James Holloway CBE retires from his post as Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. While the National Galleries decide on a successor, Nicola Kalinsky, Chief Curator and Deputy Director will be the Interim Director of the PG. We wish him well.
DISPATCHES FROM THE SOFA, WITH BRIAN DONALDSON
■ Ahead of his new gaudily- coloured clutter-fest, Noel Fielding admitted that making this solo series left him feeling a bit unhinged. After ingesting just a few minutes of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy (E4, Thu, 10pm) only the most avid Boosh fan will feel anything other than an overwhelming sense of restlessness at this hotchpotch of ‘characters’, ‘set-ups’ and ‘jokes’.
As with the Boosh radio, TV and stage shows, a single idea just about holds everything together amid the pseudo- surrealist swirl and in the opening episode, the hidden depths within Fielding’s felt-tip sketch of Pele is about as much ‘plot’ as he’s willing to offload upon the watcher. Among the creations he flings at us are an ant-eater butler, ‘Andy Warhol’ as a jungle-hut cleaner, a zoo- bound lion on the edge, a yellow-skinned Brooklyn cop with a talking arm . . . you know the kind of thing by now.
As with the relentless anti-
commercialism of Tom Waits’ music philosophy (his ticket prices are another matter of course), there is something to be said for Fielding’s refusal to kowtow to anything other than his own fevered imagination. The bods at E4 have allowed him to indulge his offbeam visuals and nonsensical content but whether there is anything luxurious or comedic about it all remains something of a mystery.
It’s a mystery 2 Feb–1 Mar 2012 THE LIST 11