THEATRE FILM
BOOKS
BEST OF 2012
1 ULYSSES Dermot Bolger’s adaptation of Joyce’s
masterpiece is a textbook example of how to transfer a doorstopper of a literary classic onto the stage, wisely focusing on the humour and humanity in Joyce’s account of a single day in Dublin in a series of lively set pieces. Andy Arnold’s funny, richly atmospheric and moving production (pictured) was boosted by excellent performances from the eight- strong ensemble who between them created around 80 characters. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Oct.
2 MACBETH A one-man production of the Scotch Play
sounds like the kind of thing you’d avoid like the plague if you landed on it in the Edinburgh Fringe programme. But John Tiffany’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy for the National Theatre of Scotland was truly thrilling, set in an eerie space that recalled a Victorian mental asylum and with a performance of subtle power from Alan Cumming. Tramway, Glasgow, Jun.
3 BETRAYAL Dominic Hill’s first season in charge at the Citz brought an ambitious programme of classics, none more brilliantly conceived than his powerful version of Pinter’s drama of love and infidelity. Hill’s production, complemented by a simple set of sliding screens that evoked the passage backwards through time, mined the wit, sadness and anger beneath the playwright’s economical dialogue, evoking a certain sympathy for the pent-up characters. Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Mar.
4 FURTHER THAN THE FURTHEST THING
Dundee Rep’s artistic chief James Brining signed off with this stunning revival of Zinnie Harris’s modern classic about a group of islanders displaced from their southern Atlantic community by an erupting volcano and sent to live in a hellish, industrial ‘Hengland’. Fine performances and a striking set created by artist Elizabeth Ogilvie using 29,000 litres of water helped make this the perfect swansong for Brining before he departed for the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Dundee Rep, Apr.
1 THE MASTER Five years after 2007’s multi-award-winning There Will Be Blood there was more than a little anticipation for Paul Thomas Anderson’s next project. The Master is the director’s tale of an enigmatic leader of a cult-like group called The Cause. It led to some minor controversy when it was first announced due to its similarities to Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard. Regardless, the film wooed critics with two outstanding performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix (pictured above). Expect it to sweep the board come awards season.
2 SHAME Many wondered what artist Steve McQueen
would do next, after the critical success of his gruelling, yet astonishingly crafted film Hunger, the story of Irish republican Bobby Sands. He chose to team up with screenwriter Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady, The Hour) for a film set in New York about a sex addict. Working again with Michael Fassbinder, Shame is a powerful depiction of emotional alienation with impressive performances from Fassbinder and Carey Mulligan as his vulnerable sister.
1 KIMBERLY’S CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
While Apples and Ten Storey Love Song hinted at a very special talent burning away inside Middlesbrough writer Richard Milward, even his most ardent fan would have been hard pushed to imagine the glories he would give us with this year’s offering. Featuring a central character who tries to come to terms with her partner’s suicide, Kimberly’s Capital Punishment is a typically punchy and experimental tale which puts most other 27-year-old British authors firmly in the shade.
2 HOPE: A TRAGEDY The Holocaust might still be a subject too far for many when it comes to finding humour, but Shalom Auslander had already made great literary hay with Jewish guilt, paranoia and self-loathing. Here, he cranks it up a notch with his debut novel, imagining what might have happened had Anne Frank not died at the hands of the Nazis but escaped to live a life of seclusion in a farmhouse near New York. Holed up, she has been working on a novel when she is finally discovered by Solomon Kugel. Will he have the guts to throw Frank out on her ear?
3 BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO Peter Strickland’s second feature is a
claustrophobic thriller set in the world of 1970s Italian horror film production. The story of a mild- mannered British sound engineer (played by Toby Jones) who travels to Italy to work on a particularly gorey, low-budget film was a finely crafted mystery which blurred the lines between reality and fiction. It was also a celebration of the hidden art of foley – with rotting vegetables, used to make sound effects, becoming an atmospheric visual motif in the film.
3 PHANTOM Scandinavian crime continued to be impossible
to avoid in 2012, and the literary works of Jo Nesbø have helped cement the genre in our minds. Phantom is the seventh novel featuring Harry Hole, a typically messed-up modern detective and some might have concluded that it will be the last book led by this crimebusting anti-hero. After three years in Hong Kong, Hole returns to Oslo and finds the Norwegian capital rife with a new class A drug while a murder takes place very close to home.
4 TABU One of the most distinctive films of the year,
4 NW One of the most anticipated novels of the year
Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’ second feature is a rich tale about memory and the passing of time interweaving two stories, one set in contemporary Lisbon and the second in colonial Africa. It premiered at Berlin Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI prize before coming to Edinburgh International Film Festival this June for its UK premiere. was the new one by Zadie Smith, and the hype and excitement were certainly justified with her tale of four thirtysomething Londoners who grew up together on the same council estate. It’s a story of race, family and friendship, but above all acts as a love letter to a city (and a specific area within it) that Smith can’t let go of.
5 BEATS Following on from last year’s Hitch, Kieran
Hurley delivered another thrilling monologue, this time based around the late 80s/early 90s dance music explosion. On the surface a coming-of-age tale, with Hurley inhabiting a number of characters in the course of the hour-long show, the piece also explored the Orwellian politics of outlawing outdoor gatherings, his story given an added ring of authenticity by a ferocious soundtrack from DJ Johnny Whoop. Arches, Glasgow & Traverse, Edinburgh, May/Aug. (Allan Radcliffe)
5 SKYFALL The plot might be a bit thin but how could you not be carried away by this spy romp, filled with some of the best action sequences the silver screen has seen in a long time. From the opening scenes involving a motorbike chase across the rooftops of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar to a close shave with a komodo dragon and a fitting finale in a Highland manor house: Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) delivered a thrilling and spectacular Bond. (Gail Tolley)
5 THE YELLOW BIRDS Awarded the Guardian First Book Award,
this tale of combat by ex-US military man Kevin Powers may not have been a direct memoir but was clearly penned from desperately real experiences. Everyone from Damian Lewis to Colm Toibin loved this hypnotic debut about Private Bartle whose story shifts between his intense period serving in Iraq in 2004 and the tough time he has on returning to his Virginia home a year later. A highly detailed, short but sharp shock with an unflinching finale, this is a story for our times. (Brian Donaldson)
13 Dec 2012–24 Jan 2013 THE LIST 33