Pleasures in Prose - the Book Festival is celebrating Muriel Spark's centenary with a number of events but I've only been able to fit one of them into my schedule. The organisers obviously expected a deal of interest and put it in their biggest space but to my surprise and no doubt their's the place was half empty. Alan Taylor led a lively discussion with writers Louise Welsh and Zoe Strachan focusing on the place of sex and shopping in Spark's oeuvre and life. It was excellent. Why were there so few people in the audience and particularly why only a handful of men?
Job-Cher - a fun show about a Cher tribute act. Not you would think natural territory for me but I had a friend in the show. It was very lively and very entertaining, thoroughly enjoyable. It also introduced me to the splendid restoration work that has been done on Riddles Court. I'm encouraged to visit after the festivities.
Rome, Sweet Rome - I was a minority of one in the audience crammed into the Spiegel Tent to hear Lindsey Davis talk about her crime novels set in ancient Rome. I'd never heard of her or her books but everyone else knew them by heart. It was like being at a cult meeting. She spoke very well and the books sounded fun so I popped into the bookshop afterwards and found the first in the series, The Silver Pigs. I enjoyed it well enough but don't see myself lapping up the score or more that followed.
Maths, Magic and the Electric Guitar - despite my relative lack of academic success with mathematics I find myself drawn now and then to the subject. David Acheson gave a light-hearted presentation of a number of mathematical ideas that do seem to verge on magic and polished it off with a stomping guitar solo illustrating for those with very keen ears the formula that defines the frequencies of the harmonic vibrations of strings -
Famous Puppet Death Scenes - Hard to know why I decided to see this show. It did get five star reviews but that was I think back on their home ground in Canada. The press here were a bit more restrained. It was very well done and had it been half an hour long I might have sung its praises but it wasn't so I won't.
Catriona Morison - an Edinburgh girl who is the first and only Briton to have won the Cardiff Singer of the World competition gave a lovely recital at the Queen's Hall. Her voice ranged from quiet and sweet to loud and powerful in pieces by Brahms, Schumann, Mahler and Korngold.
Stories of Africa - two young female novelists, one from Uganda the other from Zimbabwe talked about their books and more widely about the worlds they grew up in and the influences that had operated on them. Jennifer Makumbi's Kintu is a story that follows a family from the 18th century to the present day but misses out the colonial era and Idi Amin which the Guardian reviewer suggests delayed its publication in the UK. In contrast Novuyo Tshuma's House of Stone takes her country through Cecil Rhodes and colonialism to Mugabe's reign.
We Need to Talk about Africa - non-fiction this time but some of the stories told in Paul Kenyon's Dictatorland beggar belief. Reviews of the book declare it to be a little lightweight which can't be said of Tom Young's Neither Devil nor Child. He's a lecturer in politics and economics who argues that western interaction with Africa is doing more harm than good.
Laugh Out Loud (Cry Quietly) - is one of Arkle's Fringe shows. It's about internet dating which is certainly not my thing. Although I found some of it quite amusing and some of the performances admirable I wasn't convinced that the text was worth the effort. Here's a very fair review.
You Remind Me of You - Arkle's other show. A much more coherent text but with its frequent changes of location better suited in my view to film than stage. Mind you they had an ingenious way of handling the props in scene changes. It got a very good review so while I wouldn't go all the way with it I don't want to rain on their parade.
Portrait of a Marriage - a super session at the Book Festival with John Bellany's widow Helen talking about her life with him. Chaired by the admirable Richard Holloway who teased out some gems.
The Beggars' Opera - a 21st version of John Gay's 18th century ballad opera. I enjoyed the show but much prefer Brecht and Weil's version.
Xenos - the renowned choreographer and dancer Akram Khan in a visually stunning work. I was somewhat too far away in the gods to feel as much part of the show as I would have liked to. It was nonetheless a gripping and absorbing evening.
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