[First published by The Zone.] As far back as the original release of Star Wars, a grumbling criticism of a lot of science fiction — certainly that seen on the big screen, but also television — has been its increased infatuation with sheer visual and aural spectacle above narrative, character and ideas. That, ever since […]
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First Glimpse of New Writing Talent at EIFF
Nine new writers will introduce their debut feature film ides at a special event at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, combining presentation “pitches” and “script in hand” performances by an ensemble of actors. “The writers applied for one of our Screen Writing Residencies Programme, which are part of Creative Scotland’s Creative Futures,” explains Claire […]
The Transit of Venus
It happens twice a century, is cosmically ‘irrelevant’ and still gets astronomers excited. Paul F Cockburn looks at the transit of Venus Clouds permitting, on Wednesday June 6 2012, early-rising Londoners could catch a brief glimpse of something quite special – the planet Venus passing between the Earth and the Sun, appearing as a small […]
Snails & Ketchup
Based on a novel by Italo Calvino, Ramesh Meyyappan’s touring production, Snails & Ketchup, explores dependance and independence. Paul F Cockburn reviews this Unlimited commission, produced as part of the Cultural Olympiad. Published originally in 1957, the Italian writer Italo Calvino’s award-winning novel, Il Barone Rampante (The Baron in the Trees), explores ideas of independence […]
Douglas Adams’ Shada, by Gareth Roberts
Edited version published on Edinburgh Book Review There are many “lost” Doctor Who stories. Most obviously, there are 106 monochrome episodes — starring the show’s original lead William Hartnell and his 1960s successor Patrick Troughton — missing from the BBC Archive, the legacy of the then-unthinking (and now unthinkable) industry-wide policy of wiping video-tape or […]
The Man Who Lived Twice
“You only live twice, or so it seems/One life for yourself and one for your dreams.” Despite its overt 1930s New York staging, and period music, I couldn’t help but watch Garry Robson’s “fictionalised account” — of the real-life meeting between the actor John Gielgud and the blind, paralysed playwright Edward Sheldon — with Nancy […]
The Pale Imitations masquerading as Scotland’s Quality Papers
First published by Scottish Review, 28/03/2012 The timing is certainly apt; Enquirer, the new “rapid-response verbatum work” being put on by the National Theatre of Scotland, is a much-needed opportunity to explore the stark choices facing the UK’s newspaper industry at a time when it’s under innately hostile public scrutiny and the financial rug of […]
