It’s 2pm in Edinburgh, but it’s only 8am in Austin, Texas. Not many of us look too bright at that time in the morning, but Sarah Dossey (banjo/vocals) and Jesse Schaefer (especially Jesse Schaefer…) (bass) are all smiles and enthusiasm, and if Andrew Goolsbee is a little more serious it’s only because he’s concentrating on his violin. The trio throw themselves into the opening sets of Austin Sound Exchange’s first performance at Central Hall, Tollcross with two numbers, Don’t Ya Cut Me Down and a lively rendition of Blind Billy.

The Exchange is a non-profit collaboration of musicians and vocalists who have come together to share the country, folk, blues and Americana of their home city – one which has more live music venues per capita than any other in the US. This is their first visit to Scotland; at least the sun is shining intermittently, and if they’re freezing, they manage not to look like it.

More Exchange members now join the stage, including singer Marie Ring, whose strong singing blends well with Dossey’s higher pitch. Clayton Ring, one of the Exchange’s featured artists, now takes the lead role, and the sound is amped up with drums, keyboard and electric guitar. Ring’s assured voice has a wonderful rich tone; he reminded me of Glen Campbell, but that is because I am Very Old. His self-penned I’ll Be The One is inspired, he tells us, by the idea of living in the moment, seizing the day. I Won’t Back Down Again was written when Ring was suffering from acute Meniere’s Disease, during which time he wondered if he would ever be able to perform again; luckily for us he’s much better now.

After a slightly chaotic changeover (this is, after all. their first encounter with the venue), the lead is taken over by another Sound Exchange featured singer and blues guitarist, Chris Beall. Beall’s voice is quite different from Ring’s, slightly husky, rougher around the edges; to me it says saloon bars and railroads and all those things we – no doubt erroneously – associate with the West. Dug Down Deep is the story of his father’s (‘the motorcycle man’) debilitating bike racing accident and subsequent rehabilitation; it’s played to a thumping beat, which does threaten to drown out the vocals a little bit at some points. It’s followed by Half A World Away, in which Beall is accompanied by singer Amy Hooper; the two voices complement one another excellently, Beall now well into his stride and sounding more confident with each number. Hooper also plays flute, though the sound system could probably do with a little adjustment to allow us better to enjoy this.

The Exchange bring the session to a close with a rip-roaring finale; all of them clearly get a kick out of performing, and it’s refreshing to see people not afraid to look happy on stage. I am sure that the issues with the sound system in this first performance will now have been resolved, so if you like a bit of foot-stomping Texas music of an afternoon, get yourself along to the Central Hall this week.

Austin Sound Exchange will be at Central Hall, Tollcross as part of the 2015 Just Festival at 2pm every day this week, last performance on Saturday 29th August. Tickets cost £10 and are available from eventbrite, the Fringe Box Office, the Just Festival Box Office or on the door (subject to availability). All images (c) Austin Sound Exchange and members.

Markus Birdman’s free Fringe show is a triumph. Grimm Realities deals with Birdman coming to terms with his daughter growing up, with a mixture of comical perspectives and re-imagined fairy tales.

He has re-written, and re-illustrated tales made famous by the Brothers Grimm, such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, to get a clearer, truer message across. Not so filthy that it’s crass, but filthy and clever enough to warrant constant laughter from the audience.

Birdman is a realist, and isn’t afraid to push the limits of what society deems appropriate. He has created an hour of thought-provoking, hilarious stand-up with the added metaphors he has sculpted from well established fairy tales.

From dealing with the role of a parent and all its challenges, Grimm Realities is an engaging hour of insightful black comedy that aims to inspire a rethink of traditional viewpoints.
Canons’ Gait (Venue 78)
August 26-30
Time: 15:40 (55 minutes)

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has just announced the outcome of the elections to the Society’s governing body, the Board of Directors.

The elections were held to coincide with the Annual General Meeting of the Society which took place on Tuesday 25 August at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh.  Anyone is allowed to join the Society and all members of the Society were entitled to vote. This year the turnout in the election was 52%.

Since 2010 the Society has had a constitution in which candidates for the board were able to stand in three categories: show participant, venues and an open category.

In the Show Participant category Harry Gooch was elected over Tamsin Fitzgerald.

In the Venue category Luke Meredith was successfully elected over J D Henshaw and Sam Gough.

Matt Panesh won the election in the Open category ahead of Brian Cleary, Thomas Goodwin, Alister O’Loughlin, Bridget Stevens and Barrie Taylor.

The elections were carried out using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system of preferential voting and were managed on behalf of the Society by Electoral Reform Services.

Each of the newly elected Board Members will serve a four year term.

Police are appealing for information to trace a missing Fife woman who did not return from a night out in Edinburgh.

Louise Davidson was last seen outside the Espionage nightclub in the Capital’s Victoria Street at around 4.30am yesterday morning (Tuesday).

However, the 19-year-old has not yet made her way back to her home in St Kilda Crescent, Kirkcaldy and concern is now growing for her welfare.

It is believed Louise was heading towards the Underbelly in the Cowgate area and may have been in the company of two men and anyone who can assist police in finding her or these individuals is asked to come forward.

Louise is described as white, 5ft 5ins tall with long black hair, and green/hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing light-coloured denim jeans that were ripped at the knee, a cropped black top with the number 21 on the front, black heeled shoes and a black clutch bag.

The two men are described only as being white and wearing tracksuits.

Sergeant Neil McGurk said: “It is unlike Louise not to get in contact with friends or family and let them know where she is and as such we are eager to establish her whereabouts as soon as possible.

“Anyone who believes they have seen her since the early hours of Tuesday morning is asked to contact police immediately.

“We would also urge Louise to get in touch with a family member, friend, or with police to let us know she is safe.”

Those with information can contact Police Scotland on 101.

Police have confirmed that the incident on George IV Bridge this morning is now being treated as a serious sexual assault on a 25 year-old man.

The area has been cordoned off to allow for a forensic examination.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Police in Edinburgh are investigating following the serious sexual assault on a 25 year-old man.

“The incident occurred today at around 6.30am. Cordons are in place at the corner of George IV Bridge and Chambers Street and at Greyfriars  Kirkyard.

“Enquiries into the full circumstances of this incident are ongoing.

“Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101.”

The council’s Development Management Committee considered the application to demolish the Victorian building at Canonmills Bridge this morning for more than two hours before deciding to refuse it to resounding cheers from the public gallery.

They heard deputations from Save Canonmills Bridge, local ward councillors, the Cockburn Association and other local groups with an interest along with a representative speaking on behalf of the owner.

The report put before the council recommended demolition of the building. There is planning permission already in place for a development of 2 restaurants, 6 flats and 3 townhouses granted in 2013 when a legal agreement relating to transport requirements was signed.

Councillor Maureen Child commented that the whole sense of place in Canonmills depends on the building on the bridge. Councillor Hinds and the other two local councillors Councillor Barrie and Councillor Gardner pleaded with the committee to refuse the application on the basis that this would lead to the break up of a real ‘place’ in the capital.

Councillor Ronnie Cairns exhorted the committee to refuse the application. He said: “These shops are beautiful!”

Jan Anderson of Save Canonmills Bridge said: “My involvement started with Ross McEwan and I getting together and putting a leaflet through local residents’ doors. We were pushing against an open door. We have around 7,000 signatures for our petition to save the buildings. We have had a lot of people speaking to us on our stall on the bridge. There was a shocking lack of communication in relation to the earlier stages of this process.”

She quoted the well known line from that well known Joni Mitchell song”Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone” and pleaded with the council to save the buildings that are there and which she said now seem to have a successful economic future.

Ms Anderson explained that Canonmills is a busy road junction with four bus routes, and a unique and open skyscape. In more recent times the buildings have been used in different ways and at the time of the last planning permission the building was a bit forlorn. This is not about saving Earthy this is about saving the essence of the area.

The group had gathered ideas and comments from members of the public on luggage labels and these were passed round the councillors attending the meeting. It became clear as the discussions progressed that the mood of the committee was to refuse the demolition order of the Victorian building.

Marion Williams Director of the Cockburn Association told The Edinburgh Reporter: “I am delighted that the committee were unanimous in refusing permission to demolish this building. Demolition would have had a detrimental impact on the urban setting and sense of place Canonmills enjoys. The community made a clear case and the councillors have responded well to their heartfelt representations to save the building.”

The committee took the decision after two hours of deliberation and discussion that they would refuse the application to demolish the building. This leaves the planning permission for the new building in place, but it would appear that the developer will be unable to do anything with it if they cannot demolish what is already there.

We are currently awaiting comment from Fouin and Bell on behalf of Glovart Holdings who own the property.

Here is a round up of some comments on Twitter:

Slightly quicker off the mark with yesterday’s authors. Amongst those visiting the photographers yesterday were Edwin Collins, Ian Rankin, Festival Director Nick Barley and ex-MI5 head, Stella Rimington.

The Scottish SPCA is appealing for information after a pygmy hedgehog was found in a box within a cage in Edinburgh.

Scotland’s animal welfare charity was alerted on Thursday (20 August) after a member of the public found the animal in the communal garden of South Clerk Street in the Newington area of Edinburgh.

The hedgehog is now in the care of the charity’s animal rescue and rehoming centre in Balerno, where staff have named her Nawari.

Animal rescue officer Stephanie Grant said, “Pygmy hedgehogs can legally be kept as pets in the UK.

“These animals are becoming increasingly popular as household pets but some people may not realise the specialist care they need. We think this could be why Nawari has been abandoned.”

“Nawari was thin when we found her but she has been eating well since then and we will be looking to rehome her to a new owner that will give her the love and care she deserves.

“We are asking anyone with any information to contact our animal helpline on 03000 999 999.”

Abandoning an animal is an offence under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 and anyone found guilty of doing so can expect to be banned from keeping animals for a fixed period or life.

Photo by Scottish SPCA

Parts of George IV Bridge have been cordoned off by police who are investigating a possible assault.

Officers were called to the scene earlier this morning and an enquiry has commenced into the circumstances.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said:  “Police in Edinburgh are investigating following a possible assault on George IV Bridge.

“The incident was reported to police today  at around 6.30am. Cordons are in place at the corner of George IV Bridge and Chambers Street and at Greyfriars Kirkyard.

“Enquiries into the full circumstances of this incident are ongoing.”

Celebrity Organ Recital: Michael Harris (Organist and Master of Music, St Giles’) will play Muffat Toccata Decima, Rinck Six variations on a Theme of Corelli Op 56, JS Bach Prelude and Fugue in G BWV 541, Ritter Sonata No 3 in A, Heathcote Statham Rhapsody on a Ground, Judith Weir Ettrick Banks and Dupre Prelude and Fugue in B Major. 8pm, St Giles’ Cathedral, High Street. Tickets cost £8/£5 (students)/accompanied children free, and are available from the Cathedral shop (0131 226 0673), from the Fringe Festival Box Office by calling 0131 226 0000, online here, or on the door (sta).

Edinburgh Book Fringe: daily events – all of them free (donations appreciated) – for two weeks at Word Power Books, Edinburgh’s independent radical bookshop. Today: graphic designer and Yes Scotland artist Stewart Bremner and The National cartoonist Greg Moodie discuss their work. 1pm, Word Power Books, West Nicolson Street. All welcome! No booking required, but arrive promptly as space is limited.

Lunchtime Concert: Morley Whitehead plays organ requests. 1.10pm, Morningside Parish Church, Braid Road/Cluny Gardens. Free: a retiring collection will be taken for the church’s music scholarship fund.

Thomas Muir in Literature: A Portrait Gallery Tour. Professor Gerard Carruthers and Professor Nigel Leask (University of Glasgow) lead a tour of selected works from the Portrait Gallery collection relating to the 18th century republican and revolutionary Thomas Muir of Huntershill and his circle. The tour will discuss Muir’s relationship to Scottish culture in his own day and afterwards, especially through literature. It will also consider Muir’s associations and his journeying from Glasgow to Edinburgh, Paris, Botany Bay and the American continent. 12.45-1.30pm, Great Hall, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street. Free but places are limited and tickets should be obtained in advance from the Information Desk at the Scottish National Gallery or by calling 0131 624 6560.

LGBT Icebreakers: if you want to meet people, are just coming out, or don’t feel confident going out on the ‘scene’, try this informal, fun and friendly social group for LGBT people and anyone questioning their sexuality or gender identity. For over 18s only. 7.30-9.30pm, The Regent Bar, Montrose Terrace. For more information please contact Alison Wren on 0131 652 3283 or alison@lgbthealth.org.uk.

St Mary’s Cathedral Coffee Concert: John Bryden plays Mozart on the Cathedral Steinway. The recital will be followed by coffee and shortbread. 10.30am, St Mary’s Cathedral, Palmerston Place. Free.

‘Lifting the Lid’ Exhibition Tours: Manuscripts Curator Olive Geddes leads a tour of Lifting the Lid: 400 Years of food and drink in Scotland, an exhibition that uses the Library’s rich collections to explore Scotland’s changing relationship with food and drink, the diversity of Scotland’s larder and some of the myths and traditions of the Scottish diet. 11am-12 noon, National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge. Booking is essential and may be made by calling 0131 623 3734 or online here.

LGBT Women’s Wellbeing Group: an inclusive group offering the chance to meet other LGBT women in a relaxed environment – a chance to chat, pick up information and take part in activities promoting health and wellbeing. The group is open to all LGBT women and welcomes transgender people who identify primarily as women. Today: Summer Nights – a visit to a range of free festival shows, line-up to be confirmed. 3-8pm; for details of meeting place, etc and to join the mailing list to keep up to date with the group, please contact Alison Wren on 0131 652 3283 or alison@lgbthealth.org.uk.

The Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival: the only event run both by and for the television industry, celebrating the creativity, diversity and inspirational talent in the field, and debating the major issues facing the industry. Today: (1) At 4.30pm, Masterchef: The Professionals – an exclusive preview screening of the first episode of the eighth series of the show, which returns to BBC2 in the autumn. The screening will be followed by a Q & A session with judge and chef Monica Galetti; (2) At 8.30pm, Singing in the Rainforest – an exclusive screening of the new show from Watch, which sees musicians leave their creature comforts behind and embrace life with remote tribes from all around the world. Scottish indie rock band Glasvegas visited the Waorani of Bameno, Ecuador, in one of the most remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest, two days by canoe from the nearest road. The screening will be followed by a Q & A session chaired by Andrew Collins and a live performance from Glasvegas. Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets may be obtained from the Box Office in person, by calling 0131 228 6382 or online: prices vary. The festival concludes at the Filmhouse on Thursday 27th August: see listings.

Edinburgh Gay Men’s Book Group: an inclusive group where you can meet new people and read and discuss interesting books. 7-9pm, LGBT Health & Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. For more information please contact info@gaybookgroup.co.uk.

Tollcross Community Council: the meeting will include a Living Streets presentation by David Hunter, feedback on planning developments in Kings Stable Road and Fountainbridge, and licensing applications. 7-9pm, Tollcross Community Centre, 117 Fountainbridge. All who live or work in the area are welcome.  For more information please visit the Community Council’s website here.

St Mary’s Cathedral Lunchtime Recital: Chalmers Ensemble. 1.10pm, St Mary’s Cathedral, Palmerston Place. Free.

1-6 Canonmills

Museum closures

Fringe Tip of the Day

Drop in events in Morningside 

TRIM do CPR!!

A protest is expected at the City Chambers this morning to support opposition to the planning application to demolish the buildings on Canonmills Bridge currently occupied by Earthy.

Read more here

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The National Museum of Scotland may remain closed in part today so check the position on the museum website here before setting out for Chambers Street.

Read more about the industrial dispute here.

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Our Fringe tip today is one for lunchtime so even if you are at work you might be able to make some time for this – Sy Thomas in Jumper. A solo comedy show which has had good reviews when the press have made it along.

If you go (or if you have been) then do send us your five word review! theedinburghreporter@gmail.com

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Yesterday’s included Roy Hattersley and the hyperactive Norwegian crime-writer, Jussi Adler-Olsen

Forfar Athletic 1 Heart of Midlothian 2 (after extra time)

Scottish League Cup Second Round, Tuesday 25 August 2015 – Station Park

Hearts may have set the Ladbrokes Premiership alight this season with five wins in a row but they made hard work of progressing to the third round of the Scottish League Cup, requiring extra-time to defeat League One side Forfar Athletic at Station Park.

Head Coach Robbie Neilson made seven changes from the side that defeated Partick Thistle on Saturday with Jack Hamilton, Jordan McGhee, Kevin McHattie, Sean McKirdy, Billy King and Gary Oliver all finding a starting place.

As you might expect for a team top of the Ladbrokes Premiership, Hearts dominated possession but found former Scotland goalkeeper Rab Douglas in fine form.

With the game goalless and thoughts turning to extra-time, it looked like Hearts had at last made the breakthrough when they were awarded a penalty. However, as in keeping with much of Hearts season so far, the penalty kick was missed – Douglas producing a fine save from Gavin Reilly.

With 16 minutes left, Hearts finally got the goal their play deserved when Kevin McHattie fired home Sam Nicholson’s cross. Relief at last for the travelling Maroon Army – but not for long.

With just six minutes left, The Loons equalised with a header from Dunlop and thus another thirty minutes extra-time had to be played – but not before Denholm was sent off for the home side.

Midway through the extra-time period, Hearts made their numerical advantage and superior fitness pay off when Gavin Reilly diverted Callum Paterson’s effort past the despairing Douglas to ensure Hearts went through. Forfar were then reduced to nine men when Nicoll was sent off for a shocking tackle on Hearts youngster Callumn Morrison.

Forfar Athletic: Douglas, Dunlop, Campbell, Nicoll, Travis, Young (Malin, 46′), Hay, Hodge, Templeman, Fotheringham, Denholm.

Hearts: Hamilton, L. Smith, McGhee, Rossi, McHattie, Gomis, McKirdy, King, Nicholson, Oliver, Reilly.

Referee: Greg Aitken

Att: 1,844

Where Stories and Self-expression Overlap: Rachel Cusk and Benjamin Wood at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 

Whilst they sit on stage it is not entirely obvious to see why acclaimed, award-winning author Rachel Cusk is collaborating with the relatively youthful, fresh-faced Benjamin Wood at an Edinburgh International Book Festival event. Cusk’s twenty years of experience writing in comparison to Wood’s two novels does give room for us to question this fusing but once they start discussing the thematic strands of Outline and The Ecliptic it starts to become clear. Delving even further into the writing experience and process, before and after publication, the audience are given an even richer insight into the act of creating, and insular livelihood which is incremental to its yield.

Rachel Cusk, with seven novels published and two Whitbread Awards, one of which for The Last Supper, discusses the processes that went into the creation of Outline, which was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2015. Wood, who presently lectures Creative Writing at Birkbeck University, captured the attention of reviewers with his first novel, The Bellweather Revivials and has created a stir with new novel The Ecliptic.

Both get the audience to think about the introverted, insular life of the writer and the process of writing a book, both before and after. Chaired by Serena Field, BBC Arts Producer, we are given an insight into their acclaimed works, with the focus being on artists, exposure and writing retreats.

Rachel Cusk informs the fairly hefty but enthused crowd that with Outline she, “wanted to find a form that would describe a devastated landscape and conceiving that took a long time.” The Ecliptic, which is about a young Scottish female painter, Elspeth, in refuge, Portmantle, and works back to how she gets there. Benjamin admitted that a great deal was drawn from his own experience as he had a residency to live in Istanbul, writing for three months. “Istanbul’s absorbance of culture took over me,” Wood highlighted. He also alluded that there was a lack of interference from the publisher, editor, the outside.

Cusk exclaims on the notions of creative retreats: “I do need that shelter, I need to shut away and write” as she reflects on her time in Helensburgh. She elaborates that what she, “felt was that being among these people things you would have to justify, to be with your own kind where you don’t have to explain yourself.”

Wood’s view on the pre and post writing process highlights the vast differences in experience for the author: “intense experiences of solitude and those of participation can be quite brutal” Serena effectively plays devil’s advocate on the concept of creative retreats, “strange idea that art can be created in isolation as art is your translation of the world.”

Wood advocates however that it is unquestionably understandable and productive for creative people to work amongst other creative minds. If nothing else Cusk and Wood both hit home the impact that writing and publicity can have on them as writers, which in itself is highly interesting: “the work that you do is very insular and then you are expected to go out, talk about it.”

Evidently, both Cusk and Wood draw significantly upon their own experiences rather than research when it comes to the foundation and crux of their work, with Cusk exclaiming, “If I have not seen it, not done it, then it is not what I do.”

 Outline by Rachel Cusk is published by Faber & Faber. The Ecliptic by Benjamin Wood is published by Scribner UK and, both are available from bookshops and online.

Friends of the Earth tell us that Edinburgh Council has announced plans to formally extended its city centre Air Pollution Zone by another 3.5 km to the South and West of the city. They also say that this designates an area where air pollution regularly breaks Scottish Air Quality Safety Standards.

Campaigners marked the new area with a photo stunt this morning showing people on their morning commute wearing gas masks and struggling to breathe against a backdrop of a gigantic gas mask banner on Nicolson Street which is in the heart of the newly extended Pollution Zone.

Friends of the Earth Scotland air pollution campaigner Emilia Hanna said,

“Toxic traffic fumes right here on Nicolson Street are harming the public’s health. Long-term exposure to this sort of air pollution can increase the risk of having a heart attack or stroke and has been linked with babies being born with low birthweights. Air pollution causes 200 early deaths in Edinburgh alone every year. [3]

“Nicolson Street is heaving with festival goers as well as commuters at this time of year and it is a scandal that everyone is forced to breathe in illegal air pollution. Nicolson Street needs to be transformed from a toxic thoroughfare into a sustainable transport avenue. Priority should be given to walkers, cyclists and public transport users, and car use should be restricted. The bus lanes on Nicolson Street should be upgraded to be in operation all day rather than just at peak hours. This would create a cleaner, safer, and more attractive environment where everyone could breathe clean air.”

FoE say that Edinburgh has five pollution zones and the city centre pollution zone was first declared in 2000. In addition they say that Edinburgh City Council has so far failed to eradicate illegal levels of air pollution. The Scottish Government also apparently missed a European legal deadline to achieve clean air in Edinburgh by January 2015. Along with the UK Government it has been forced by the Supreme Court to produce a new Air Quality Plan before the end of the year. It is currently drawing up a Low Emission Strategy to tackle the country’s air pollution.

Ms Hanna continued: “Road traffic is the main cause of air pollution, so the Council needs to work together with the Scottish Government to get more people walking and cycling and using public transport. It also needs to introduce a Low Emission Zone across the city, where vehicles entering the most polluted areas need to have meet clean emissions standards or pay a fine.”

by Michael Casey

Boy,can Maire Clerkin dance. Yes, we know she is now a choreographer in Hollywood but when she break loose throughout this tale of Irish dancing in Crouch End, North London, it is a wonder to behold.

Maire paints a familiar picture of growing up in an Irish family in North London, with the dancing as the hobby of her family.

There is skilful use of images to punctuate the story but Maire fills the floor with her movement and her words. We particularly like the dancing sequence with an over-amorous Northern Irishman. Oh, and George Macrae!

There is some great break out dancing towards the end, when Maire’s footwork is dazzling.

A tender love letter to a dance form that was a vital part of immigrant life for many Irish, growing up in London.

Tickets here

Michael Casey is the Editor of YourThurrock and this review is a collaboration between The Edinburgh Reporter and YourThurrock, two of the many hyperlocal news websites in the UK.

Bette Davis aka Jessica Sherr jumps for joy with her Two Oscars as she celebrates her successful run of her show Bette Davis ain’t for Sissies at Assembly Rooms. The show which returned to the Edinburgh Fringe has had incredible sell-out houses with fans of the diminutive actress including Liz Leonard tweeting ”Highly recommend @BetteDavisAint at @EdinburghFringe Excellent writing & superb performance by #JessicaSherr ”.

Sherr who featured in blockbuster film Annie with Jamie Foxx said ” There are no better audiences than those who come to the Edinburgh Fringe they have such love for the legend that is Bette Davis”.

ABOUT BETTE DAVIS AIN’T FOR SISSIES
It’s the Academy Awards 1939 and the Los Angeles Times leak the winners early! Bette Davis will lose to Vivien Leigh. With newspaper in hand Davis decides to leave! Witness Bette’s most defining moments as a tenacious young starlet fighting her way to the top. See what happens when someone who always wins … loses. The play, written by Sherr, who has an uncanny resemblance to the young starlet, offers audiences a rare insight into the mind of one of Hollywood’s greatest stars.

Bette Davis Ain’t For Sissies, Assembly Rooms until 30 Aug.
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/bette-davis-ain-t-for-sissies

Submitted by Ann-Marie Baptiste

Reviewer: Amy Taylor: The Public Reviews

Lance is a performer, a visionary, a jack of all trades behind the stage on his two gay dads’ cruise ship, who longs to have this moment in the limelight. For one night only, he’s in town with his chat show, Late With Lance! and he’s invited Hugh Jackman, Liza Minelli and Miami Sound Machine to be his extra special guests. They just haven’t turned up yet.

The follow up to Marino’s previous one-man show, Desperately Seeking the Exit, performed at the 2012 and 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Late With Lance! is, a parody of that Edinburgh Fringe staple, the solo show. In Marino’s hands, the show is a send up of our celebrity-obsessed culture, a pastiche of the talk show confessional and a sneering comment on the quest for fame.

Underneath all that desperation and flair, Lance is a damaged, lonely man, yet, for what he lacks in actual talent and intelligence, he’s just so damn sweet. In lesser hands, Lance would be an unsympathetic character, but Marino makes him a completely sympathetic character. Marino’s energy and ability to relax and involve the audience is inspiring, because although it looks like Lance has no idea what he’s doing, the audience are completely under his control.

Although the jokey references to Edinburgh as ‘Edinburger’ wore a little thin near the end, you can’t help but Lance a man who is so disarmingly charming that when he asks members of the audience to get on stage in lieu of his missing acts, they agree willingly. A great follow up to his previous work, Late With Lance! Is delightful ray of sunshine at this year’s Fringe.

Runs until 30 August 2015

Submitted by Amy Taylor

The first time Khalo Matabane heard Nelson Mandela’s name he was seven years old and living in Ga Mphahlele, a village in Limpopo. It was 1981, South Africa was still split by apartheid; Khalo’s mother whispered to him of the man who would one day set people free – she whispered because she was afraid;

‘My parents’ anger was silent, their pain unbearable’

By the time of Mandela’s death in 2013, Matabane had become an acclaimed filmmaker. Apartheid had been officially ‘over’ for 19 years – but were black South Africans really free? Matabane decided to investigate Mandela’s legacy by speaking to people who knew him, people who lived through apartheid and the new generation growing up in today’s South Africa. His film Nelson Mandela: the Myth and Me, was shown at Henderson’s @ St John’s on Sunday as part of the 2015 Just Festival, in partnership with Africa in Motion Scotland African Film Festival.

The film takes the form of a letter form Matabane to Mandela, interspersed with news footage of events before, during and after Mandela’s presidency and interviews with activists, writers, journalists, academics, world leaders, politicians and ‘ordinary’ people. What emerges, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a picture of a complicated man and a complicated country; a man who was not always the benign elder statesman of recent fame, and a country in which the forgiveness that he seemed to advocate does not come easily to a people who suffered so much, and are suffering still;

‘People fought for freedom and people paid a huge price…this land is stained with blood’ (Zubeida Jaffer, journalist and anti-apartheid activist).

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison; he was, as Kenyan-born anti-apartheid campaigner and former Cabinet Minister Peter Hain points out, seen as a terrorist, ‘politicians used to wear ‘Hang Nelson Mandela T-shirts’. During those years Matabane’s parents saw Mandela as a hero, but during those same years thousands of young black South Africans were detained and killed for taking the fight into their own hands,

‘Do you, Tata Mandela, know what happened to that generation?’

And this is one of the recurrent themes of this engrossing film; Mandela did great things, but many, many people shared the struggle;

‘South Africa was created by its people and not by one person’s greatness’ (Seline Williams, whose sister Coline died in 1989, when a limpet bomb she was preparing with another ANC activist detonated prematurely in questionable circumstances that have been linked to South Africa’s National Intelligence Service).

Throughout Nelson Mandela: the Myth and Me, Matabane highlights the conflict between those who think that Mandela was wrong to favour post-apartheid peace and reconciliation, and those who feel that compromise was the only route he could have taken. Activist and former judge Albie Sachs, who lost an arm and the sight in one eye when his car was bombed in Mozambique in 1988, shook the hand of his would-be killer – but only once the man had given evidence at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Others feel that Mandela sold them short, that he was far too willing to forgive their oppressors; leading figures in the apartheid regime were never punished; if murderers are locked up, asks one mother, why are these people free?

South American academic and activist Ariel Dorfman, who lived in exile throughout the Pinochet regime in Chile, is interviewed at length; he believes that you cannot forgive your enemies until ‘they have got rid of the apartheid in their soul’. The Dalai Lama, who also speaks to Matabane and who met Mandela on several occasions, says that forgiving does not mean forgetting. Matabane: ‘I struggle with forgiveness’.

Whether or not Mandela was right, there can be no doubt that vast numbers of black South Africans still live in appalling poverty. The young blacks that Matabane speaks with are cynical; their parents still revere the ‘Father of the Nation’, but for them the right to vote, to ride in the same buses as whites and swim in the same pools, does not address the fact that South Africa remains one of the least equal countries in the world; ‘the young people are out of options’. Academic and leading feminist Pumla Gqola agrees, saying ‘better’ is definitely not good enough, ‘When there has been no real transfer of power, no restitution of land rights, we cannot and must not say ‘it could have been worse”.

Political journalist and author John Carlin, however, defends Mandela’s policy; he thinks that without it South Africa would (as Mandela himself said) have ‘gone up in flames’, or become another Congo or Palestine. Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah (whose own sister was killed by a Taliban bomb in Kabul in 2014) also takes the view that there is nothing to be gained from killing your enemy.

Although Nelson Mandela: the Myth and Me does its best to show both sides of the story, Matabane does not hide his fears for the new South Africa, the so-called ‘rainbow country’. He sees his homeland as a tinder box, a time bomb over which no-one has control, and asks

‘What was the ultimate price of peace?’

Nelson Mandela: the Myth and Me by Khalo Matabane is part of the Just Festival’s strand of films looking at myth and misinformation surrounding African leaders. The last film in the series Capitaine Thomas Sankara, is the story of a courageous leader who fought to liberate his country, Burkina Faso, following the end of colonisation; it will be shown at Hendersons @ St John’s at 7.30pm on 30th August 2015 – see Just Festival website for details.

The series is screened in partnership with the tenth Africa in Motion: Scotland African Film Festival, which will take place 23rd October-1st November 2015 in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Tony Marx, the President of the New York Public Library, likes to tell a story about Polish telephone directories; it’s a story a colleague told him when he suggested getting rid of a roomful of the things. At the end of the Second World War, the Polish authorities were denying restitution claims on the basis that there were no Jews living permanently in Warsaw in 1939. The library had the one remaining copy of the city’s telephone book – and it was this very book that proved that the authorities were wrong.

Tony Marx is speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival; he and his fellow panelists, curator Clementine Deliss and sociologist Richard Sennett, together with chair, writer Ken Worpole, are considering what city libraries and museums are for – do they matter? And what impact do they have on the life of the city itself? Deliss, Worpole and Sennett are all members of Theatrum Mundi, a forum in which architects, artists and researchers think about cultural and public spaces in modern cities. What should these spaces look like? And in the 21st century do their functions need to change?

Libraries in the UK are struggling. Their funds have shrunk – some have even been shut down; in 2013 Moray Council closed seven of its fifteen libraries. We are told that people don’t go to libraries any more – they may like the idea of The Library as an institution, but they buy their books online – if at all. (One local librarian told me that whilst the whole village campaigned if the library was threatened, hardly anyone came near it at other times – and it’s borrowing numbers that councils base their decisions on).

In New York the financial situation may have been equally parlous, but New Yorkers didn’t take the cuts lying down (not even with a good book…). There are 217 public libraries in the city; they receive over 40 million visits per annum (more, says Tony Marx, than all the NYC museums and sports teams put together, ‘Just saying…’) and they’ve recently received a huge grant from public funds. This city understands the centrality of libraries; the New York Public Library is one of the most prestigious in the world. In a country that we may see as a monument to capitalist, profit-driven ideology, public libraries are thriving. How did this happen? And how does Tony view their future?

NYC libraries provide internet to three million New Yorkers who don’t have it at home. They back up the creaking public school system with library services and pre and after school learning. Tony sees their most important, crucial, role as the free sharing of knowledge; he doesn’t just like the internet, he loves it, and he wants to ensure that every good book in the world is online so that everyone can access it,

‘Imagine the explosion of creativity if we can supply all this information to everyone’.

In the meantime his libraries are committed to providing hard copies of the quality information that isn’t yet out there in cyberspace. He doesn’t see the internet as any kind of threat; he doesn’t think books will become obsolete, but if they do the role of libraries will, he says, be more important than ever;  information will be protected in a way that physical books can’t always be,

‘libraries are crucial to a functioning economy and a functioning democracy’

In a world where people are increasingly isolated, Tony sees libraries as the front line of resistance to ‘the gated community society’. It’s not only knowledge that’s shared there, it’s human life.

‘We are the free space of civic society in New York; there is nowhere else’.

Ken Worpole agrees; ‘The library has moved from collection to connection; it has a new role’.

All this inspiring talk places the emphasis on sharing, communality, the breaking down of barriers, the antidote to exclusivity and privilege. Richard Sennett is a dyed-in-the-wood socialist but, he says, in public spaces not everyone likes to be doing everything with everyone else. In opera houses, singers don’t want to rehearse in front of other people; in offices, open-plan designs actually seem to reduce productivity. Have we, asks Sennett, made a fetish of openness? Perhaps people need to be sheltered from the public eye while they ‘create knowledge’? If it is impossible to justify financial expenditure on something before you know what it is, so artists can’t be expected to show their work to the public before they’ve made it.

Sennett sees justification – especially of the financial sort – as anathema to the development of knowledge. Deliss agrees; old art schools had private studios for teachers to work on their own projects – now they’re expected to turn up, teach and go away again. She is keen on holding seminars in public areas of museums, and even encourages students to go and lie down in them, to challenge traditional expectations of what those spaces are for. In South Africa students are going into libraries and deliberately changing the classification system; Deliss sees this as a wonderful usurping of oppressive, outdated ideas; Sennett praises the possibility of wandering through the book stacks not knowing what you might come across. An alternative interpretation (as an audience member points out) might be that it’s a highly irritating and irresponsible act.

This is all very well, but if local councils haven’t enough money to fund even a small part of the demands made upon them, just how much can they be expected to pay for ‘non-essential services’, much less spaces for people to ‘be private’ in? The panel doesn’t really address this question, though Marx acknowledges that finances have to be taken into consideration. Whilst you can’t put a monetary value on knowledge, people don’t often die for a lack of a book or an exhibition (and I say this as a lifelong library supporter).

A Scottish librarian in the audience comes to the rescue here – though I’m not sure that the panelists think they needed rescuing. He makes the excellent point that research has proven the economic value of libraries and reading; money spent on making books accessible is money well spent because it produces a better, healthier society and even a more capable workforce. It saves money in the end because people who read don’t feel so isolated and are probably less likely to become mentally ill. Whether or not we like the idea of justification, for the moment we have to put up with it and this is an argument that’s more likely to persuade governments, both local and central, than any talk of artistic integrity, subversion of the autocracy or even personal enfranchisement. In fact Matt Haig and Tony Bradman made very similar points in the Siobhan Dowd Trust lecture last Sunday.

So what about that Polish telephone directory? Marx’s point – echoed by all of the panelists – is that it’s impossible to predict what knowledge will be valuable in the future. Picking and choosing, assigning worth to some things and none to others, is simply not an option; we have to keep all of it. And that, for him, is where the internet comes in; Sennett and Deliss seem less convinced, though the latter shows some powerful slides of the museum in Tunis, its walls full of bullet holes, ‘This is a wake-up call: there is a precise and ominous destruction going on’.

For me these panel discussions are the best part of the Book Festival; this one was hugely engaging and could have gone on for hours. I would have liked to have heard more about the practical ways in which libraries might be reinvigorated; Marx said that, at least in the USA, both public and private funders will be swayed by the reading = health arguments, but whether these will win through in the UK remains to be seen.

This session was one of three taking place at the Book Festival as part of Spaces for Literacy project; two workshops were also held at the Signet Library. For more information about the Spaces for Literacy project visit Theatrum Mundi here.

Images: subversive librarian mug by CafePress; Tunis Museum by Christophe Ena/AP; New York Public Library by James Maher Photography.

by Michael Casey
We were familiar with Justin Moorehouse through his appearances on Radio 5Live “Fighting Talk.
He did not disappoint. From the b of the bang, Justin Moorehouse gave a five star performance. He engages the audience early on and feeds off the energy.

He has funny bones and builds up a series of characters and series of scenarios that get funnier and funnier. His world is one of frustration and bewilderment. He is a breath if fresh air and we think his career has a lot of paths it can go down.

He did let himself be put off by a couple chatting at the back. He dealt with it in firm terms but it did get to him and you could tell he probably had a right paddy when he went off.

How he would have coped in northern clubs in the seventies is a moot point.

A great show that the audience loved.
Michael Casey is the Editor of YourThurrock and this review is a collaboration between The Edinburgh Reporter and YourThurrock, two of the many hyperlocal news websites in the UK.

by Michael Casey
A police officer from Scunthorpe, who is on sabbatical. Doesn’t sound promising but over the last two years, Alfie has made a real impression especially his Radio 4 podcasts.

Alfie is an unusually (in our experience) personable and self reflective bobby with an astute political mind (wonder what rank he is?)
Alfie sees the police at a cross roads and clearly subscribes to the school of “Cuts have consequences.” He takes us through several avenues during the hour and comes to a number of conclusions about the state of play for the police. it doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs but it is.

Alfie is so personable and so engaging that the audience love him. Alfie clearly loved/loves being a copper but is perhaps one of the best commentators on the present, some say parlous state of British policing.

Tickets here

Michael Casey is the Editor of YourThurrock and this review is a collaboration between The Edinburgh Reporter and YourThurrock, two of the many hyperlocal news websites in the UK.

by Michael Casey

We always admire young people who come up to the Edinburgh Festival with an ambitious play.
The play chronicled the crossroads that four young people were at on a particular night.

The strongest part of the play was the use of multi-media which was excellent and brought depth and meaning to the piece.

All four actors brought something to the piece. There is a tremendous physicality, especially in such a confined space.
But you are rooting for the four of them as the skilful actors make you want them to succeed.

Yes, it does lose its way and lacks a convincing conclusion but if we lived in Ipswich, we would be checking out this theatre group.

Tickets here

Michael Casey is the Editor of YourThurrock and this review is a collaboration between The Edinburgh Reporter and YourThurrock, two of the many hyperlocal news websites in the UK.

by Michael Casey

There were people in the midday show, who had seen his Churchill and his Hitler and were now going for the hat-trick.
They were not disappointed in what was a wonderful one man show of a one off woman.
Tour-de-force is an over-used word but this was.
From his portrayal of the conflicted actor preparing to go on, to the speech “she” makes early on.
But then there is the Q and A with the audience, which was very skilful indeed.
Every question answered and all in the tone, in the style and directly as you would expect from the controversial prime minister.

Michael Casey is the Editor of YourThurrock and this review is a collaboration between The Edinburgh Reporter and YourThurrock, two of the many hyperlocal news websites in the UK.

by Michael Casey

A packed house at Pleasance was entertained by the wonderful bon vivant, Gyles Brandreth. He is an honest man is our Gyles. In his memoirs, he admits that he was once touted as the next Orson Welles but ended up a man best known for funny jumpers on TV AM. But this man is no underachiever and his word play dazzles throughout the hour.

Mr Brandreth also knows how to play to an audience and uses the whole of the theatre to great effect. He has charm, wit but also a great eye for detail. He is clearly a man in love with language and the modern world and he is also very likeable. That may well be why he is packing them in at the Pleasance.

Tickets here.

Michael Casey is the Editor of YourThurrock and this review is a collaboration between The Edinburgh Reporter and YourThurrock, two of the many hyperlocal news websites in the UK.

by Michael Casey

Performed by Julia Munrow at the Merchants’ Hall, Hanover St

The three lovers of Pre-Raphaelite painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti are portrayed with an exquisite touch by Julia Munrow,

The first half sees her juxtaposing the bawdy housekeeper of Fanny Cornforth with the somewhat 19th century Desperate Housewife, Elizabeth Siddall. Both are besotted and deluded that they are the one an only muse of the famous painter.

Later on, Munrow also plays the delicate Jane Morris, who also defends her infidelity to her husband, William Morris.

Julia Munrow really inhabits the characters, especially Cornforth but she also builds up a picture of Rossetti, who we never meet but feel we get to know.

Tickets here

Michael Casey is the Editor of YourThurrock and this review is a collaboration between The Edinburgh Reporter and YourThurrock, two of the many hyperlocal news websites in the UK.

by Michael Casey

A dark fable that centres on the story (originally by Franz Kafka) of an ape who, after being captured, learns to speak and becomes a star employee of a company at the heart of the military industrial complex.

This “one ape show” is a tremendous  performance by Howard Rosenstein who keeps the audience entranced for the whole hour.

It is a dark journey into the night. It is a sad tale that hints and then hammers at the dark night of the soul that the ape inhabits.

This is also tale told with a black injection of humour. The ape may be inhabiting a Roussean paradox but that does not mean he can hold a mirror up to the absurdities of man’s existence.

Tickets here.

Michael Casey is the Editor of YourThurrock and this review is a collaboration between The Edinburgh Reporter and YourThurrock, two of the many hyperlocal news websites in the UK.

Edinburgh Council today approved the plans for a new playwark in Craigpark Crescent Ratho responding to calls from residents for a new space to be provided.

The Friends of Craigpark Crescent petitioned the council to demand that new plans would be drafted for the park. There had been earlier concerns about the age and condition of the swings and other play equipment.

In addition to new play equipment with a wood chip base, there will be a meadow flower area planted.

This is a flavour of what the new play park will look like

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She said:  “It was clear that there was a lot of local support for a play park so it is only right that we listened to the community and that our plans reflect what they want to see. We have been working with residents to draw up plans for this new, improved facility and I am very pleased that they have now been approved.

“I would like to thank Friends of Craigpark Crescent and all the residents who have helped us shape these plans. I look forward to work progressing and the new play park becoming a real asset for the community.”

£30,000 of funding is now in place to initiate the work and further improvements will be made as more funding is identified.

Local councillor Bill Henderson is also delighted at the news:

Victory as kids’ park at Craigpark Crescent saved http://t.co/eqhXTKNh2A Nice to hear that @Edinburgh_CC listened to the people of Ratho.

— Bill Henderson (@_Bill_Henderson) August 20, 2015

Photo from Facebook.