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Scotsman
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Fringe musical reviews: Hot Mess This Play Sucks!
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Hot Mess ★★★★ Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 60) until 25 August It's not often that you get an earth-shattering new take on a conventionally structured musical. This one, about our changing relationship with the planet we call home, pushes multi-rolling to its extreme with Danielle Steers playing the Earth and Tobias Turley as Humanity, as they get together and fall apart during the evolution of mankind. Having a 'glow up' in a pink denim jacket and jeans, she wants someone who can protect her from a meteorite; he's too 'extractive' and getting increasingly obsessive about agriculture, then oil, then Mars. Hot Mess | Mark Senior It's an ingenious concept that's constantly operating on at least three levels – classic make-up-break-up story, environmental commentary and witty comedy – in which Ellie Coote's and Jack Godfrey's writing and lyrics are defiantly cleverer than the mainstream, musical genre that they're a part of but, nevertheless, tightly stick within. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There's a danger that in trying to fit so something so complex into a structure so rigid that the content will be simplified or contrived, but it's a testament to the writing team's talent that, as the piece goes on, they're able to capture the nuance of corporate capitalist greenwashing versus genuine concern for the environment, offering no easy solutions and instead raising pertinent and, ultimately, unanswered questions. The concept and the song lyrics are more original than the score which, for a piece celebrating the natural world, is contrastingly synthetic with similar-sounding tunes set to varying beats banged out on a Korg keyboard, under the artificial lights of an Ikea-styled set. Steers and Turley give solid performances as characters whose architeypical human traits are made interesting by the planetary concerns that they represent. When Earth decides to go her own way, things become more interesting only for the piece to end as the real conflict begins and we're forced to confront a world in which Earth and Humanity consciously or unconsciously uncouple and its consequences for us all. Sally Stott Hey Stop!!! ★★ Main house at C ARTS | C venues | C aurora (Venue 6) until 22 August Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Billed as a meditation on social anxiety, Hey Stop!!! offers little new insight into the condition. Instead, five dancers depict stereotypical scenes of nervousness and panic: The group jerks their muscles to glitchy electronic music, before one dancer runs hysterically around the stage, stumbling and falling as she tries to stop arguments between people around her. Unlike the work of Pina Bausch, the German expressionist choreographer cited as an inspiration, much of the dramatics come off as overdone and inauthentic. 'I have a lot of complex feelings about social interactions and connecting with people,' says a voiceover, restating what's already obvious from the action onstage. Some moments show potential, such as a performer, engulfed in a white sheet, moving toward and recoiling from the claps and slaps of castmates who appear to taunt her. Yet these are not given enough time to develop. In short, Hey Stop!!! is packed with ideas that would benefit from refinement. Emily May This Play Sucks! ★★★ theSpace @ Venue 45 (Venue 45) until 23 August It doesn't actually (suck, that is), but calling Sean Tennant's mash-up of vampirism and tartan tourism a 'play' might seem a little grand. It's more like a relentlessly good-humoured Halloween panto for adults. Cammy (Jordan Monks) and Lee (Aidan Curley) are low-rent Glaswegian gangsters sent to the bonny Highlands to kidnap the reclusive Lord Armstrong (a very impressively undead Alexander Donaldson) in his castle. Although bonding immediately due to Armstrong's centuries-old anti-English sentiments, things quickly spiral out of control. There are some novel ideas here; the castle is a labyrinthine maze that's bigger on the inside than it appears ('Whut, like thae Tardis?' enquires Lee), which means that some residents of the castle haven't actually seen each other in decades. It even toys with the nature of national identity and reclaims the figure of the Scottish nobleman vampire, first seen in J.R. Planche's 1820 play The Vampire. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad However, this is really an excuse for some high-grade silliness played at 110 miles an hour with surprising physical dexterity (some of the performances are occasionally alarmingly committed) and an unusual vein of gags about Celtic-Rangers rivalry not usually found in gothic literature. Rory Ford Letters to Joan ★★★ Greenside @ George Street Venue 236 Until 23 August When actor and writer Samantha Streit discovered the love letters written by her grandparents in the 1950s, she found herself with more questions than answers. Her grandmother Joan shines out from the pages, a young playwright, full of excitement about her life, deeply in love. She could hardly be more different from the woman Samatha knew, who suffered from paralysing depression. Directed by Martavius Parrish, the play moves between 1956, when Streit plays the young Joan with great charm and energy, and the present day, when she takes her thorny questions to her grandfather Lenny (Kevin Cahill). Their conversation starts awkwardly, gradually growing more confiding, but when Sam's questioning about Joan becomes pointed, he simply changes the subject. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Streit is haunted by the fact that her grandmother was a playwright too, but never fulfilled her potential. Is that why she became depressed? If she could fail, could I? She doesn't really get the clarity she's looking for, and so neither do we, the audience. This makes for a static and slightly frustrating play, but given the complexities of families and secrets, perhaps a more realistic one. Susan Mansfield Ding Dong! Avon Calling! ★★ theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall (53) until 22 August This fun comedy about a group of 'boss ladies' trying to 'sell some shit' might not get the endorsement of the beauty brand in the title, which feels somewhat unfairly caught up in the bitching, body shaming and boozing that 'Queen' Victoria, hanger-on Naomi, straight-laced Sarah Jane and new recruit Frankie partake in. There are some striking laugh-out-loud moments in the sitcom-styled script, particularly from Naomi, who's more interested in selling God than eye shadows, paired with some clunkier lines that stand out like the lipsticks she may have left in the mini quiches. This is a talented company, with polished performances and witty characterful writing that, with a bit more consistency, could have a glossy shine. Sally Stott Pain Killer ★★ Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236) until 23 August Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This unevenly toned but consistently well-performed tale of a woman's desire to heal others, following a vision in an Ayahuasca ceremony in the Hollywood Hills, sit somewhere between satire, personal story and, at times, uncomfortable to watch. Based on Evelyne Tollman's real-life experiences, it builds towards a concluding message of healing yourself before trying to cure your friend's cancer and son's rare leg disease, but using their stories to make a point about self-development, from a stage in Edinburgh in which she's still channelling main character energy, ends up feeling self-centred in a way that the piece is otherwise attempting to warn against. Sally Stott
The Verge
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Korg's new compact synth is also a self-playing percussion instrument.
Instead of just including a library of pre-recorded samples captured from percussion instruments like marimbas and xylophones, Korg Berlin 's Phase8 features eight 'replaceable and tunable metal resonators' that are played using electromechanical triggers. Originally developed as a collection of prototypes, Korg Berlin says the finalized version of the Phase8, demonstrated in a recent video, will go on sale some time in the first quarter of 2026.
The Herald Scotland
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
'Was he being ironic?': King Creosote at the Albert Halls
Three stars 'Was he being ironic?' the woman beside me asked. You could understand her uncertainty. After an hour of ringing, at times joyous music interspersed with comic grumbling and daft anecdotes, Kenny Anderson, aka King Creosote,had just returned to the stage to get some things off his chest. 'These views are purely my own. They do not reflect anyone else, probably in the room … They're just mine. I'm just having a go at things,' he told us before launching into a song he's been working on since 2021, entitled Cattle, Sheep, Chickens, a slightly scattershot lyric that did suggest he was worried about fluoride in the water and 15-minute cities and in which he told us that he'd been called a tree-hugger, a far right anti-vaxxer and a conspiracy theorist in a tin foil hat. And then came Dare I Hope I'm One of the Good Guys, a list-style song that rattled through a number of, shall we say, 'controversial' characters, all of whom Anderson seemed to suggest qualified for the epithet. They ranged from Van Morrison and JK Rowling to Right Said Fred and Eric Clapton. But it may have been the mentions for Mel Gibson, Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson and Neil Oliver - 'one of the best guys' - that had my gig neighbour scratching her head. These days Anderson is still living in the East Neuk, but largely offline and off the grid. He's only using paper money and at last year's Celtic Connections he finished his performance by railing against globalisation. Clear then that he is, as they say, on something of a journey. He spent much of this evening jokily telling us he was keeping his lip buttoned or telling daft anecdotes that, he hoped, wouldn't get him 'cancelled'. Set aside the fact that criticism is not cancellation, where does this leave us? Read More At the end of a very rum evening, I guess, a head-scratching mixture of beauty and bewilderment, starting early with the support act from Keny 'KY-10' Drew on modular synth. He was accompanied by Des Lawson on Korg and UDO keyboards, with Anderson himself 'messing around at the back.' The result was 30 minutes of largely instrumental music (with some jellyfish-flavoured sci-fi voiceover) that had a lovely bubbling warmth to it. Pushing buttons and knobs, Anderson had to put his glasses on just to see what he was doing. A rather sweet human detail. I know the feeling. But, really, if you've come to see King Creosote it's because you want to hear him sing. And so the main part of the evening saw Anderson, Lawson and Drew (this time on visuals) reassemble to jump back and forth through the extensive King Creosote back catalogue, starting with Aurora Boring Alias - one of the tracks he recorded with Jon Hopkins for the Honest Words EP in 2011 - before jumping back to 2000 and Something Beginning With D. Does Anderson himself want to hear himself sing, I did wonder at times? There were moments when he stepped back from the mic, his vocal becoming a slightly muted texture in the mix. As a result Blue Marbled Elm Trees, one of the most beautiful songs on his last album I DES, doesn't quite hit home as hard as it should. But when he comes in close - on tracks like Kirby Grips, an absolutely transcendent My Favourite Girl and Bats in the Attic, the final song of the set - you fully hear the yearn and ache of that glorious keening voice. At those points the night reached for the stars. And then the encore. The Stirling audience received it politely. Maybe they were all wondering if these songs were ironic too.
Forbes
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Record Roundup 29: Record Store Day 2025 Edition
Record Store Day merch includes the Crosley RSD3 mini record player Welcome to the 29th edition of Record Roundup, my ongoing coverage of the latest developments in the world of turntables and record players. On tap for today: Record Store Day 2025, the Fluance RT81+ and new Fluance Ri71 Reference powered bookshelf speakers, a portable turntable from Korg, MIXX Analog System 5 and the MIXX Revival 65 record player. First up, the day for record collectors. Record Store Day will take place on Saturday, April 12 this year. Visit your local record shop for exclusive and/or limited edition releases like a picture disc version of The Cure's The Head on the Door, Joni Mitchell's Live 1976 and Live On Tour–an exclusive double-album by Talking Heads. You can also pick up RSD merch, like shirts, hats and the always popular Crosley RSD3 mini record player. For more information, check out the RSD 2025 website. Two products from Canada's Fluance have been highlighted in my Forbes columns since the last the Record Roundup. Fluance Ri71 Reference powered bookshelf speakers have RCA inputs for connecting a turntable or ... More record player. The Fluance RT81+ Elite High Fidelity turntable is a follow-up to the classic RT80, adding upgrades including an Audio Technica AT-VM95E cartridge with a bonded elliptical stylus, an acrylic platter mat and rubber isolation feet. If you need a new sound system to make the most of your record collection but space is at a premium, the all new Fluance Ri71 Reference powered bookshelf speakers are capable performers featuring AMT tweeters, 5-inch glass woven drivers and RCA inputs for connecting a turntable (so long as it has a built-in PHONO stage). You can read my Fluance Ri71 Reference first-look here. KORG Handytraxx Play portable record player KORG taps into the past with the Handytraxx Play, a portable, battery-powered record player. Six AA batteries are all that's needed to spin your vinyl anywhere you'd like through the Handytraxx Play's built-in 2.5 W speakers. While anyone can enjoy listening to albums or 45s on the go, KORG also includes a wide range of features aimed at DJs, including playback speed adjustment, a beat looper (which gives the ability to layer scratches over a beat loop), filters, a fader and delay effects. An AC adapter is included for times when power is available, and the turntable can also be connected to external speakers. UK-based MIXX Audio has several new releases that may be of interest. MIXX Revival 65 portable record player The MIXX Revival 65 is a take on the suitcase-style portable record player that features a vinyl-friendly Audio-Technica AT3600L moving magnet cartridge, ensuring records sound they way they should and vinyl isn't prematurely worn. Also on tap is Bluetooth streaming (both to the Revival 65 from your smart device and from the record player to external devices like wireless speakers and headphones), built-in stereo speakers, a tonearm lift lever and a faux leather finish in a choice of three colors. MIXX Analog System 5 mini home audio system The MIXX Analog System 5 is a complete mini home audio system that pairs the company's Analog 5 turntable with a matching pair of powered, wireless bookshelf speakers. Available in black or white, the system features 50W of power, Bluetooth connectivity (both input and turntable output), optical input, an Audio Technica cartridge mounted on a curved aluminum tonearm, two speed belt-drive and a wireless remote control.
