Festival art see page 71
Still, even if you are camera-shy, you can guarantee there’ll always be more than a few people willing to hurl themselves at the lens: ’You'd think the Brits were a reserved, polite bunch, but we've found they’re generally the most rambunctious in the house. I definitely don’t think the cameras are gonna scare them away!’ (Olly Lassman) ha Boom Chicago Is Watching (Fringe) Boom Chicago, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, 4—28 Aug (not 7, 75, 27) 7.20pm, £8.50—E70 (£7.50—f9). Preview 3 Aug, £4.
MUSIC PREVIEW
Glen Tilbrook
Ex Squeeze songwriter in solo show Maybe you never thought it would happen with you and a boy from Blackheath, but many of us who’ve given the lyrics of Squeeze more than a cursory listen will understand the special qualities popular music can contain. Phrases like 'sunshine on the lino' are capable of rendering the banal suburban world that surrounds us poetical. After what looks like the final Squeeze album, Domino in 1999, frontman Glen Tilbrook is on the road with his own solo acoustic show.
For old time Squeeze fans the past has been bottled, and labelled with love, but if you suggest to us that this stuff is strictly for thirty and forty somethings, you won’t mind the language, it's the beating you won’t need. For Tilbrook’s work through the 905 was just as exhilarating, if not as hyped. So if you see only one music gig this Fringe, don’t be tempted by the fruit of another. (Steve Cramer)
m Glen Tilbrook (Fringe) T on the Fringe (Venue 77) 074 7 339 8383, 70 Aug, 7.30pm, £9.
THEATRE PREVIEW
Shetland Saga
Ei ht years after Bondagers, Sue G over’s cross cultural romance appears at the Traverse. Acclaimed Scottish playwright, Sue Glover, is keen to repeat the success of her last Traverse show. Performed in 1992, Bondagers has gone on to become a modern classic and is now performed all over the world. Although she confesses to its being 'hard to live up to’, her new play for the Traverse is eagerly anticipated by both the critics and a dedicated Scottish audience.
Shetland Saga tells the tale of a small Community faced with harbouring stranded Bulgarian sailors, whose ship has been stranded off the coast of the island. At first wary of the outsiders, formidable bonds are soon formed as the Bulgarians are welcomed into the heart of the community.
Romance, although frustrated by language barriers, soon blossoms in a passionate play that takes communication as its primary theme. As Glover says, ’lt’s about the understanding of each other’s cultures and each other's political restrictions’. (Catherine Bromley) £3 Shetland Saga (Fringe) Traverse Theatre Company, Traverse (Venue 75) 228 7404, 6-26 Aug (not Mon) various times, f 72 (f 7. 50). Preview 3 Aug, 2pm; preview 5 Aug, 2.45pm, £7.50 (£4.50).
MUSIC PREVIEW
Planet Pop
Pop music during the festival Summer's here kiddies and it’s time to take a trip back into the stratosphere
30 plays in 60 minutes with The Neo-Futurists
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of Planet Pop. The Fringe’s premier underground pop-fest is now in its fifth year and is bigger 'n’ bolder than ever
Previously host to such indie-pop titans as Teenage Fanclub, ldlewild, Mogwai and The Fall, this year boasts a typically sparkling line-up, featuring acts from both the capital and beyond. Running throughout the Fringe, with most gigs taking place at the Attic, the hoopla kicks off with an opening night shindig on Saturday 5 August, courtesy of Radio One's Session in Scotland. Hosted by Vic Galloway and Gill Mills, the show features Glasgow quartet Eska, scary noisniks Life Without Buildings and incendiary Edinburgh gurus The Silver Pill, proffering their patented salvo of corrosive sci-punk madness.
Other highlights include bonkers punk survivor John Otway (Sunday 6), the divine Angelica (Saturday 12), astringent squall-merchants Urusei Yatsura (Friday 18), sublime country- popsters Mojave 3 (Sunday 27), Edinburgh urchins Ballboy (Wednesday 30) and, at Gaia, DJ action from Belle and Sebastian’s Richard Colburn and Chris Geddes (Monday 28). So helmets on space- cadets; Planet Pop 2000 is a blast and a half. (Paul Whitelaw)
u Venues and times vary. See Rock listings for details.
THEATRE PREVIEW
Too Much Li ht Makes The Baby Goes B ind
Thirty plays in an hour and you decide
These Chicago based creators of rapid-pace, multi-topic performance make their Fringe debut offering a new show every night. After twelve years packing theatres in the States, performer Anita Loomis promises a show the likes of which Edinburgh audiences will never have witnessed before. A bold claim, but it does sound intriguing.
Covering a wide range of theatrical styles, the company performs 30 plays in 60 minutes with the audience selecting the order by calling out numbers. Audience members also roll dice to determine the number of new plays to be performed the following day. ’Some will be company
favourites,’ says Loomis, ’but others will be written, rehearsed and performed within 24 hours.’
It should be a hectic affair. 'We embrace the idea of speed and change in modern life,‘ says Loomis. ’And we want to shake up people's expectations of theatre. There will be nothing else like it at the Fringe.’ (Davie Archibald)
3 Too Much Light Makes The Baby Goes Blind (Fringe) Neo—Futurists, The Bongo Club (Venue 743) 556 5204, 8—26 Aug (not 73—74, 20—2 7) 6.30pm, f 7.
KOMEDIA@SO SIDE 0131 667 2212 , 4th—27th " 6.30m
Clare Summerskill
in A $00
The Life & Loves of a London Lesbian
“Unorthodox &
uninhibited”- The Independent
“A Lesbian
Victoria Wood” - Woman’s Hour, Radio 4
Scottishl’ower Learning
Playaway Productions Presents
STAGS AND HEN
By Willy Russell
DRINK, VOMIT, MUSIC, SEX . . . The perfect night out.
VENUE 28 MON 7th-SUN 13th 18:40 (19:45) £5.00 (£4.00) 0131-226-5138 or 0131-225-6575
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3—10 Aug 2000 TIIE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 51