Entertainment Archives - Page 25 of 62

SpeedFest Returns With ‘Record Breakers’ In 2016

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Nov 162015

With thanks to Martyn Smith, Marketing & Events Organiser.

Now entering its 7th year, SpeedFest – the Grampian Transport Museum’s flagship event – takes place in Alford on Sunday 3rd July.

A unique event in the north east calendar, SpeedFest will kick off with the ever popular Early Bird Rides, giving members of the public the chance to ride around the museum’s purpose built road circuit in a high performance sports or super car.

Most eagerly anticipated will be the pursuits, where direct performance comparisons are made between pairs of performance cars.

SpeedFest 16 promises to be even bigger and better, with recent track improvements and a new ground plan. The main theme will be record breakers and will include record breaking motor, steam and electric cars.

Museum curator Mike Ward is delighted to be involved in organising SpeedFest 2016

“SpeedFest is now our second biggest event, only behind the Grampian Motorcycle Convention. Its popularity is largely due to the great selection of cars, put together by invitation and the fact that they participate in the track activities. Where else would you see a direct performance comparison between a Tesla Roadster Sport and a brand new Ferrari?

“SpeedFest really does showcase the development of performance cars from the 1920’s ‘Blower Bentleys’ to the very latest competition and supercars. The ‘record breaker’ theme in 2016 will produce some interesting cars. The fact that steam and electric cars are to be included will surprise many petrol heads, but it will evoke the long and proud tradition of record breaking electric vehicles and steamers!”

For further information on SpeedFest 2016 please contact Martyn Smith, Marketing & Events Organiser, on 019755 64517 or email marketing@gtm.org.uk.

From Broomsticks To Fiddle Sticks And Indian Beatboxing

Aberdeen City, Featured, Opinion No Responses »

Nov 162015

Jyotsna Studio Mahesh Padmanabhanagar 2010 (53)

Jyotsna Srikanth will be appearing at the Blue Lamp on Thursday Nov 19

With thanks to Rob Adams.

Jyotsna Srikanth has become used to people telling her that she makes her instrument sing.

It’s a compliment that the violinist from Bangalore appreciates for sure but as she points out, it’s actually just confirmation that she’s doing her job properly.

“In the Carnatic tradition that I trained in everything is based on the voice,” she says.

“To play any phrase, whether your instrument is a melody instrument or a drum, you have to be able to sing it. So it’s always lovely to hear someone say I make the violin sing but if I wasn’t doing that, back home I wouldn’t be considered very good!”

Srikanth’s first experience of violin music, at a concert in Bangalore at the age of five, was life-changing. So taken was she by the instrument that when she got home she ran to the kitchen cupboard, dragged out two brooms and started scraping them together to try and recreate the sound she’d just heard.

“My mother thought I’d gone mad,” says the now London-based violinist who brings her Bangalore Dreams group to the Blue Lamp on Thursday, November 19.

“But I was desperate to hear that sound again.”

Srikanth’s mother, a respected singer in Indian music, had already begun training her to follow in her footsteps with six hours of daily practice. So it took a lot of pleading from Srikanth to persuade her mother to buy her a violin.

Even then, Srikanth’s mother used her motherly wiles to ensure that practice schedules were maintained. There was a bakery next door and by four in the afternoon the aromas of fresh baking would waft into their house.

“I’d get promised a bun or something else tempting if I worked on the exercises I’d been given,” says Srikanth.

“And the bribery worked!”

She made her concert debut at the age of nine and then in her mid-teens she started her training in Western techniques at Bangalore School of Music, going on to gain her grades from the Royal School of Music in London before studying to become a pathologist.

“Playing music for a living is a precarious lifestyle and I was unsure about turning fully professional until my husband got the chance of a job in London in 2004,” she says.

Combining pathology with music didn’t hinder her playing time, however, and she worked on some 250 Bollywood film soundtracks as well as playing concerts, eventually establishing a reputation that has now seen her regarded as the leading Indian violinist in Europe.

With Bangalore Dreams, where she’s joined by keyboardist-pianist Shadrach Solomon and drummer Manjunath NS, she ventures into jazz and rock rhythms while still using the techniques and expression she’s developed through her Carnatic music training.

“It’s a lot of fun to play with these musicians,” she says.

“They’re very serious about their music but they’re always looking to try new ideas and to bring modern ways of playing together with traditional values. Manjunath NS is brilliant. People will love what he does especially as he can play Indian percussion, is a fantastic, swinging kit drummer and he has the skill of vocalising what he’s playing, so what you get in Bangalore Dreams is strong melodies, a lot of improvisation and rhythmical vocals that are the equivalent of Carnatic beatboxing.”

Jyotsna Srikanth
Blue Lamp, 121 Gallowgate.

Thurs Nov 19, 8pm

£12 admission.

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Take One Action! First Aberdeen Film Fest: 13 -15 Nov

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Nov 122015

A young musician plays an instrument made from recycled garbage, in Landfill Harmonic.

With thanks to Barbara Holligan.

Take One Action! will open its first ever Aberdeen Film Festival on Fri 13 November with an exclusive screening of Landfill Harmonic, the inspiring story of a youth orchestra from the slums of Paraguay whose choice of instrument – recycled garbage – blazes with hope.
The festival will close with The Price We Pay, Harold Crooks’ acclaimed new documentary about international tax avoidance, it was announced today.

Landfill Harmonic, which won the audience award at Take One Action’s film festival in Edinburgh and Glasgow this September, follows the journey of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a youth music group from the slums of Paraguay who build classical instruments out of garbage from the giant landfill site that towers over their homes – a story that captured the world’s imagination and featured in Time magazine and on Fox News.

The Take One Action! Film Festival sees thousands of Scots each year experiencing cinema with a difference, actively engaging with filmmakers, activists, politicians, journalists, and other audience members to explore new ways to create a fairer, more sustainable world – and to take action themselves.

Other festival highlights include a preview of The Divide, based on Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson’s bestselling book about social inequality, The Spirit Level and The Price We Pay, which has won rave reviews in Canada.

The Price We Pay examines the dark history and shocking present-day reality of big business tax avoidance, which has seen multinational companies depriving governments of trillions of dollars in tax revenues by harbouring profits in offshore havens – originally created by London bankers in the 1950s. As well as tackling big issues, the festival tells fascinating human stories from across the world.

Stories of Our Lives is a series of moving vignettes about LGBTI people from Kenya, while Casablanca Calling introduces us to the women leading a spiritual revolution in Morocco by becoming Muslim leaders in a country where 60% of women have never been to school – part of a national response to a series of suicide bombings in 2003.

Festival screenings will take place at Belmont Filmhouse.

A special, free screening of Ivory Tower, an examination of the rising cost of higher education will be presented at the University of Aberdeen on Thursday 12 November. Every screening at the festival is accompanied by discussions with campaigners, artists and activists. Guests include representatives from Big Noise Torry (Sistema Scotland), Aberdeen Climate Action and SHMU Radio. Audience members are encouraged to get involved in the issues raised by the films.

“We want people to feel empowered to help make the world a fairer, more sustainable place by taking practical action alongside others in Scotland,” says festival director Tamara Van Strijthem.

“This programme was put together with the direct involvement and support of a great group of Aberdeen residents. We also want to encourage audiences in Aberdeenshire and beyond to organise their own Take One Action film seasons in their own communities.”

Tickets can be booked in advance via Belmont Filmhouse (01224 343 500) Some of the films are available to view in advance of the festival. For information, and to request interviews and images, please contact Tamara Van Strijthem, Executive Director on 07876 612 334 or tamara@takeoneaction.org.uk.

You can watch trailers for festival films on our YouTube channel.

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME IN FULL – Click Here

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Entertainment ‘Royalty’ Lead NE Music School Celebrations

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Nov 122015

With thanks to Eoin Smith, Senior Account Executive, Tricker PR.

Fiona Kennedy is a patron of NESMS.

Much loved Scottish entertainer Fiona Kennedy and influential actor and director John Bett, a founding member of the 7:84 theatre company, will lead the 40th birthday celebrations of the North East of Scotland Music School (NESMS) in November.

NESMS is the longest running independent music school in the area and has been the spring board for internationally renowned musicians such as Lisa Milne who has had lead roles in productions by both Scottish Opera and English National Opera and David Ferguson, the only Scot chosen by Gareth Malone for his Voices Choir.

The school’s major celebration will take place at its annual Keynotes Lunch which will be held at Norwood Hall in Aberdeen on Sunday 15th November.

Fiona Kennedy, long term patron of NESMS and John Bett are creating a musical tableau which will reflect NESMS’ history and contribution to cultural life in the north east since its inception. Current pupils of the school will perform in the tableau.

NESMS was founded in 1975 by the late Dorothy Hately who was awarded an MBE for services to music in 1987. Ms Hately, along with Lady Aberdeen, wanted to give young people who had musical promise the opportunity to have tuition which was not available to them through other pathways.

Dorothy encouraged the then director of education in Aberdeen to allow NESMS to begin classes in a part of the old Aberdeen Academy (now the Academy Shopping Centre) in Belmont Street.

NESMS opened offering teaching in four disciplines to just forty students. When work began on the transformation of the building into a retail centre, NESMS found a temporary home in the Methodist Church in the city’s Crown Terrace. Dorothy Hately’s tireless work on behalf of NESMS led to the awarding of a grant from the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund and from the Foundation for Sports and the Arts, to enable NESMS to purchase a permanent home.

In 1998, the school officially opened the door to its new premises and the Huntly Street centre was named the Dorothy Hately Music Centre in memory of its leading light who sadly died in 1996, never seeing the centre which she had worked so hard to achieve on behalf of the area’s musically talented youngsters.

From its early beginnings of four disciplines and 40 students, today NESMS offers 15 disciplines, taught by 20 tutors, to more than 250 students at its Huntly Street base with four teaching studios, a library and a lounge. And it’s not just students from the Granite City alone – talented musicians from the whole of the north of Scotland including the Highlands and Islands are pupils at the school … and they are not just youngsters!

The school welcomes enquiries from anyone who has reached a suitable level of attainment whatever their circumstances, age or musical background.

Potential students audition for entry to NESMS. Instrumentalists generally speaking should have attained Grade 5. Criteria for vocalists relate to voice maturity or experience of singing solo or in groups.

The range of instrumental tuition on offer is wide and includes brass (horn, trumpet), strings (violin, viola, cello, double bass) and woodwind (flute, recorder, clarinet, oboe, bassoon) and of course piano, with tuition in jazz as well as classical styles available. Students who wish to develop their ability to deal confidently with an audience are offered opportunities for both solo and ensemble public performances.

Students pay fees which are kept to a minimum through an active volunteer fundraising programme and the generosity of trusts, foundations, companies such as Aberdeen Asset Management and Mattioli Woods Plc as well as private individuals. There are scholarships which can be applied for annually. These are awarded on merit. Through assistance provided by the John Gordon Foundation and Aberdeen City Council a fund is available to pay lesson fees for students in financial hardship.

Barbara McFarlane, Chairman of NESMS, says that it is remarkable what the school has accomplished over the past 40 years.

Barbara says,

“Since Dorothy Hately founded the school in 1975 we have more than trebled the number of music disciplines that we offer. The number of students we teach has also increased by over six times since the school started.

“We are immensely proud to have reached this 40 year milestone and it’s a time to celebrate the fact that many of our students have gone on to become extremely successful musical composers, teachers and musicians.

“NESMS is also extremely fortunate to have such exceptional ties with the most distinguished music tutors in their field, many of whom are former NESMS students themselves, and also with our patrons who are all extremely passionate about dedicating their knowledge and expertise to the musical development of our students.

“Fiona Kennedy is a faithful NESMS patron and we are honoured that she and John Bett have both devoted their time to creating a musical portrayal of NESMS and all the effort it has contributed to Scottish music over the years.”

To book tickets for the NESMS Keynotes Auction Lunch, or for more information on how to enrol for lessons, phone North East of Scotland Music School on 01224 649685 or email nesms@dsl.pipex.com

Past and Present Notable NESMS Students:

The past 40 years have seen an abundance of notable and influential Scottish musicians begin their musical careers at NESMS.

Lisa Milne

Renowned Scottish Soprano Lisa Milne is one of the best known of NESMS’s alumni after a successful and extensive career in opera and classical music. Lisa was only 14 when she first started singing lessons at NESMS. After securing leading roles for world-famous operas such as The English National Opera, Metropolitan, New York and Scottish Opera, Lisa was awarded an MBE from the Queen in 2005 for her services to opera and music. She is now a vocal coach at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Ian Wilson

Ian Wilson began his exceptional career in music as a woodwind student at NESMS. Ian now shares his expertise with his very own NESMS protégés’ as he is a visiting recorder specialist at his former music school. After winning multiple music prizes during his time studying at Guildhall School of Music and Drama he is now the Principle Recorder Professor at Guildhall and Head of Woodwind at Eton College.

Ian has also spent time performing as a soloist with a variety of Europe’s period instrument orchestras and as a chamber musician in many European festivals.

Oliver Searle

Former NESMS piano student Oliver Searle was tutored at the school whilst studying for a degree in Music Education at Aberdeen University, he then went on to gain a distinction in his Masters degree from The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Oliver frequently collaborates with music charities, most recently with Drake Music Scotland for the London cultural Olympiad, he also regularly produces music for theatre and has been involved in a number of music projects for people with cochlear implants. He is currently Creative & Contextual Studies and Composition Lecturer at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.

Joseph Long

Accomplished composer and concert pianist Joseph Long studied piano at NESMS. He has vast concert experience in a number of world famous venues including The Grand Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, The Calcutta School of Music and The University of Almeria in Spain. After leaving Aberdeen to study at Cambridge he is now back in his native city and teaches advanced piano at NESMS and Aberdeen University.

Donald Gillan

Aberdeen-born Donald Gillan was a cello student at NESMS, he later won scholarships to the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College. He has since toured with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra performing in countries including Japan, Spain and Germany. Donald also freelances for the BBC Scottish Sympathy Orchestra, Scottish Opera Orchestra, plays in duos and quartets and performed at three prom concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.

Sally Garden

Sally Garden is a musicologist, mezzo-soprano, and a former NESMS vocal student who has trained with distinguished Italian soprano Laura Sarti. She was also a finalist in the Mary Garden International prize and was later appointed Historical Musician in Residence at the Wighton Heritage Centre, Dundee. During her time there she was responsible for directing a three year programme of music events to unfold one of Scotland’s finest music archives.

She is now an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Scandinavian Studies at the University of Aberdeen and has been able to dedicate her time towards recital work.

David Ferguson

Current NESMS student David Ferguson has been tipped for musical success after being handpicked by celebrity choirmaster Gareth Malone OBE after a nationwide search for a 17 strong choir. Before joining Gareth Malone’s Voices in 2013, David had been singing as a choirboy since the age of eight and had performed with a variety of different choirs throughout the UK.

After a CD release and a UK tour David joined up with four members of Gareth Malone’s Voices to form their own band, which they named The Harbour. David travels frequently to London to attend recording sessions and performances, as well as receiving voice tuition at NESMS.

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Shooglenifty Lemon Tree Tour Date – Thurs Nov 12

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Nov 092015

With thanks to James Soars Media Services.

2015 has been an epic year for Shooglenifty, a band formed 25 years ago in Edinburgh.

Retaining four of their original members plus their bass player of 12 years standing, the line up has been invigorated in the past year by fiery young mandolinist Ewan MacPherson who contributes four tunes to their critically acclaimed new CD release The Untied Knot.

Also new in 2015 is ‘puirt a beul’ vocalist Kaela Rowan who graces the album with the first ever collection of Shoogle songs.

Shooglenifty’s sound springs from traditional Scottish dance music, energised by the beats and bass line of something altogether more contemporary. It is not a sit-down kind of music, it’s a join-in, and get on your feet kind of vibe.

Attempts to describe this almost uncatagorisable band include: ‘dub-diddly’,‘hypno-folkadelic-ambient-trad’ and ‘Acid-Croft’. Whatever it is, it has endured, evolved and, above all, entertained for quarter of a century.

The band are most at home playing live, and matching the excitement of releasing the new album, 2015 has been a year of very special gigs. They enjoyed not one, but three(!) 25th Anniversary Parties – they sold out the city’s iconic Old Fruitmarket venue at Celtic Connections in January, they blew the roof off a packed Glenuig Hall in April, and, in May, celebrated at a late night album launch at La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, scene of their first residency in the early 90s.

Summer 2015 is packed with appearances at festivals at home and abroad: they include HebCelt in the Isle of Lewis, Cambridge, Rainforest World Music Fest in Borneo and Interceltique in Brittany (with current collaborators the Dhol Drummers of Rajasthan). The year is top and tailed by hogmanay celebrations on opposite sides of the earth – Woodford, Australia for 2014/5 and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay for 2015/6.

But before we hit the fireworks at midnight on 31 December, Shooglenifty is coming to a village/town/city near you. There will be dancing.

Celebrating their 25th anniversary, this is Shooglenifty’s seventh studio album. The breathtaking ‘puirt a beul’ (mouth music) of Gaelic vocalist Kaela Rowan brings a captivating and energising new element to the band’s sound, and the grittiness of the songs further confounds any attempt to categorise them.

The Untied Knot drops additional pins in the Shoogles’ map of international influences, this time hitting the road from Scotland to Rajasthan. Watch out for James Mackintosh and Kaela Rowan’s ‘The High To Jodhpur’, a tune that makes that connection explicit, whilst Burn’s Tam O’Shanter is the ‘closer to home’ substance to the title track by Quee MacArthur.

Former band member Luke Plumb’s fresh compositions – the psychedelic ‘Arms of Sleep’ and ‘The Highway Carpark,’ a ‘hurry up and wait’ classic – are included, whilst new mandolinist Ewan MacPherson makes his mark with three tunes. His ‘Somebody’s Welcome To Somewhere’, a tongue-in-cheek Highland march, features the princely pipers of a guesting Ross Ainslie. Ewan also contributes a dark nautical romp ‘The Devil’s Breath Hornpipe’, and a speedy pair of reels clearly spawned by the Shoogle dance gene, ‘Samhla Reel/Scolpaig’.

A dazzling contribution by Garry ‘Banjo’ Finlayson ‘The Scorpian’ (sic) is a fascinating and enigmatic creature, whilst ‘Fitzroy’s Crossing’, the striking Antipodean closing track by Shooglenifty front man Angus R Grant, is proof positive that there is no musical journey this band can’t take.

The cover was designed by renowned John Byrne who previously created album sleeves for Gerry Rafferty, Stealers Wheel, Billy Connolly, and The Beatles, among others.

“This is a class act, truly in line for album of the year” – fROOTS.

“Remarkably exciting, and fresh *****” – Songlines.

“Top to bottom The Untied Knot is a fine piece of work awash with spectacular displays of musicianship and bewildering levels of innovation” – Folk Words.

“Gaelic vocalist Kaela Rowan fits Shooglenifty’s skilfully-knitted left-field sound as snugly as a kilt” – The Australian.

THE UNTIED KNOT TOUR:

Friday 6 November 2015 | The Up Front Gallery | Cumbria | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Saturday 7 November 2015 | Mac Arts | Galashiels | Find the venue | Tickets available soon

Thursday 12 November 2015 | The Lemon Tree | Aberdeen | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Friday 13 November 2015 | Gardyne Theatre | Dundee | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Saturday 14 November 2015 | Gordonstoun | Elgin | Find the venue | Tickets available soon

Friday 27 November 2015 | Inchyra Arts Club | Perth | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Saturday 28 November 2015 | Sabhal Mòr Ostaig | Skye | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Friday 4 December 2015 | Applecross Community Hall | Applecross | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Saturday 5 December 2015 | MacRobert Memorial Hall | Tarland | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Friday 11 December 2015 | The Canteen | Bristol | Find the venue | Tickets available soon

Saturday 12 December 2015 | The Borderline | London | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Sunday 13 December 2015 | The Crescent | York | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Friday 18 December 2015 | Stereo | Glasgow | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Saturday 19 December 2015 | Memorial Hall | Resolis | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Sunday 20 December 2015 | The Old Bridge Inn | Aviemore | Find the venue | Tickets available soon

Monday 28 December 2015 | Astley Hall | Arisaig | Find the venue | Buy tickets

Tuesday 29 December 2015 | Tolbooth | Stirling | Find the venue | Tickets available soon

For more information and the latest tour news, please visit:www.shooglenifty.com

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Reviewed

Aberdeen City, Opinion No Responses »

Nov 062015

The found footage supernatural horror series Paranormal Activity has now reached its sixth and final instalment. Aberdeen Voice’s Andrew Watson reviews The Ghost Dimension, more or less a sequel to Paranormal Activity 3.

Not many people came for the Tuesday midmorning showing at Union Square’s Cineworld, the film having being released almost a fortnight ago. It perhaps serves to prove that this franchise has run its course. Though not hackneyed in the sense it shows cupboard doors flapping of their own free will, it’s largely predictable.

Having said that, the you-know-it-is-coming moments frighten because you can never totally anticipate that split second they’ll make you jolt; though that’s the case for just about every horror film, good or bad.

Plus points, however, include when the besieged protagonists explore the nature of the demonic presence they seek to be rid of.

The plot itself generally revolves around father Ryan Fleege (Chris Murray), wife Emily (Brit Shaw) and daughter Leila (Ivy George). Ryan’s brother Mike (Dan Gill) joins the family for Christmas after breaking up with his girlfriend.

Suspicions regarding the house are roused when family friend Skyler (Olivia Taylor Dudley) comes on the go. She’s somewhat of a Feng Shui expert and her comment upon its ‘energies’ validate what soon takes hold.

Whilst preparing the house for the festivities they find a box of tapes they’ve never seen before. Out of curiosity, brothers Ryan and Mike view some of them not realising that they’re family videos belonging to the previous family that lived there.

In fact, the current house is built upon the site of that very family’s house, which burnt down. The footage, which is not only weird and potentially satanic, references the current householders despite being recorded years ago; describing them in great detail.

The main debate with this is whether this girl with her eyes closed in the video is picturing the future, or is in fact viewing these viewers in some sort of spiritual plain within the present. Being honest, it seems a tad reminiscent of the girl coming out of the screen of the television in The Ring.

Leila starts acting up, though it begins innocently as what they think is her talking to an imaginary friend. It turns out that this imaginary friend seeks the young girl in a bid to take a physical form.

Things escalate to the point where they call in Father Todd (Michael Krawic), a priest. Despite being bitten by Leila during a fit of rage, he doesn’t think that she’s possessed. He therefore elects for a cleansing, and not an exorcism.

Concern had already grown for Leila, and they’d placed a camcorder in her room in a bid to get a handle on what’s going on. During another very active night, Leila is seen via this surveillance walking through a passageway that has appeared in a crack above the headboard of her bed.

Perhaps this is the same spiritual plain within the present in those family videos, ‘the ghost dimension’.

One thing you cannot knock these films for is a lack of unhappy, and in turn conceivably realistic, endings. No psychics battling spirits of the netherworld, at least not this time round. Just feeble, mortal men and women clinging onto life; logic and reason leaving them as panic overtakes them.

‘And Then There Were None’ At HMT: Reviewed.

Aberdeen City, Featured, Opinion No Responses »

Nov 062015

Duncan Harley reviews And Then There Were None at HMT.

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Agatha Christie, and is also the tenth anniversary of the founding of The Agatha Christie Theatre Company.
To mark both occasions, her best-selling thriller ‘And Then There Were None’ has returned to the stage for a full UK tour.

Originally published in novel form in 1939 and entitled ‘Ten Little Niggers’ after the children’s nursery rhyme of the same name, this classic whodunit ranks high amongst the best-selling crime novels of all time.

The politically incorrect word ‘Nigger’ was soon dropped and the word ‘Indians’ substituted. The rhyme ‘Ten Little Indians’ remains central to the plot.

First adapted for the stage in 1943, this current adaptation is set in August 1939 just weeks before war is declared. The island setting off the coast of Devon represents not only a prison for the players but also perhaps the national mood of the time, as conflict looms and the spectre of death from abroad beckons.

A group of complete strangers is lured to a hotel on a remote island using a variety of pretexts. On arrival they discover that the host is not present. A gramophone recording is played in which each in turn is exposed to all present as having a guilty secret worthy of extreme punishment. One by one the assembled guests begin to die horribly.

Judicial hanging is not an option, and vigilante style justice arrives by various means including poison, drowning and of course shooting. The unfortunate butler, Mr Rogers, suffers the Cluedo-like indignity of being ‘murdered with the axe in the scullery’ and Anthony Marston’s demise occurs after drinking cyanide-laden whisky. Perhaps oddly, some of the guests continue to dice with death via poisoning by raiding the drinks trolley, virtually right through to the end of the play.

There is obviously a homicidal lunatic on the loose, and the race is on to identify the likely culprit.

By the final curtain no-one is left alive on stage. Don’t expect a Reservoir Dogs style corpse-strewn set, however. Many of the murders occur offstage.

This is high art classic crime fiction performed pitch, word and even letter-perfect. Despite a fast diminishing cast, the tension and suspense build throughout the performance and on occasion the theatre audience audibly gasps at the finely delivered plot twists.

Throughout the unfolding drama, there is a fair amount of subtly accented wry humour. Indeed, one victim dies not once but twice.

There is also a modicum of romance, or is it simply carnal lust on the part of Ben Nealon’s revolver-wielding Captain Lombard towards the young but not quite so innocent Ms Claythorne?

Deborah Grant’s eccentric spinster, the fusty Emily Brent provides an engaging foil for Kezia Burrows’ feisty Vera Claythorne, in a distinctly ‘maiden aunt versus femme fatale’ sort of way.

Simon Scullion’s distinctly minimalist Art Deco set is nothing short of impressive; and costumes by Roberto Surace provide complete authenticity to this high-energy period crime drama.

All in all, this is a finely crafted, immensely entertaining and professionally delivered tribute to the Queen of Crime and is a definite must-see.

Oh and Vera’s sexy red ultra-low-backed red evening gown has to be seen to believed!

Directed by Joe Harmston and produced by Bill Kenwright – ‘And Then There Were None’ plays at HM Theatre Aberdeen until Saturday 7th November.

Tickets from Aberdeen Performing Arts Tel: 01224- 641122

Spear of Destiny Meets Krakatoa

Aberdeen City, Featured, Opinion No Responses »

Nov 062015

Staring up from the depths of a fluorescent blue cocktail served in a fishbowl is a beautifully carved goldfish made of pumpkin. Skull-splitting metal of some sort is making conversation nearly impossible. A Ninja in full regalia at the door is having a pint with a goth who’s wearing fangs as neon Tiki figures shimmer on the walls in the black light. If not for Spear of Destiny playing in an hour’s time, this could have been your average night at Krakatoa.

Suzanne Kelly goes to her third SoD Moorings – sorry Krakatoa – show.

Tonight is the penultimate night of the current Spear tour; tomorrow they have to be in Whitby headlining a goth festival, as you do. Would they be pulling their punches and going through the motions tonight? Other acts have done so when hitting Aberdeen, but resting on past successes isn’t part of the ethos for Spear.

Opening Act Mark Ayling (pictured below) said:

“I had a great night, Spear of Destiny were on form and played a great set and it was nice to see a good crowd out to support live music.

“it’s the biggest crowd I’ve seen at an Aberdeen gig for a while.”

Some of the wiser, more experienced fans, or ‘Spear Family’, prudently decided to stay back from the front of the stage.

Tonight wasn’t quite as frenzied and bruise-inducing as usual, perhaps in some part due to the presence of Spear virgin Alan Gray. I was a bit concerned about him, as he happens to be a wheelchair user.

Knowing that anyone in vicinity of the dance floor at a SoD show is likely to wind up covered with bruises and marinated in beer, I mentioned to a few nearby guys to please keep an eye out for Alan.

Before I could finish speaking, they’d opened up a path for him to the front of the stage.

Only once towards the end was I worried about him, but I needn’t have been when the floor turned into the expected frenzy.

So – did Alan like his first ever Spear live show?

“I waited 30 years to see them live. It was everything I wanted it to be and a lot more.”

He left with a copy of their latest album, 31, and a huge smile on his face.

It’s been said I’m partial to this band, and indeed I am, but you’d not be able to find any fault tonight. The pacing of the set, the well-honed but fresh, energetic musical calibre – all great stuff. I’d love to give you the full set list but for the fact I was looking after others’ limbs, my own limbs, drinking a pint and trying to write in a little notebook at the same time.

At any rate they opened with World Service; most of the audience naming that tune and screaming for it before the first measure had been played. Never Take me Alive soon followed, then to Roddy Kennedy’s delight Once in Her Lifetime.

From the most recent album 31, Spear played Sputnik, Fascinations (single from the album) and The Failure.

In all these pieces you can hear subtle or large differences from the studio work; at the risk of repeating myself from previous reviews, this is why you come to live performances; to hear something new brought to the arrangements.

For many bands displaying basic musical competence outside of a studio is a stretch; for SoD playing live seems to be something they truly relish.

For others, the reason to go see a band has to be to take selfies and record the show on a mobile, so you can watch it back later, and don’t have to stop talking to your friends about who’s going to win either celebrity bake-off or the ladies’ Queen of the South v Hearts match. I pity these people.

Truly, some people are incapable of letting a 3 minute song go without speaking; tuning them out seems to be becoming an art form.

This is not to be confused with the people who for instance wouldn’t normally speak to each other at all, but when hearing Mickey (my favourite anti-war anthem) will sing every word and dance with their arms around each other’s shoulders. And that’s how it should be.

WE also had Everything Has A Price, Soldier Soldier, and close with I Liberate. Brandon said something about Edward Snowdon – or at least I think he did. The only fault was that it was over too soon.

The band genuinely seemed to have had an enjoyable evening in Aberdeen; Aberdeen loved having them.

When they got to Whitby the next night they did a stunning version of The Sisters of Mercy’s Temple of Love (on a cobweb-decorated stage no less) with Craig Adams taking lead vocals. Have a look at that here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANdYppeJVU&feature=youtu.be

But yes, it was all over in a flash; the band, the cocktail with the fish and the Ninja all disappeared. But I dare say Aberdeen will welcome Spear with open arms again next time.

Spectre: Andrew Watson Reviews

Aberdeen City, Opinion No Responses »

Oct 292015

Spy thriller Spectre is Daniel Craig’s fourth outing as James Bond. It’s not as good as the previous Skyfall, though even that wasn’t particularly remarkable. Aberdeen Voice’s Andrew Watson watched the most expensive Bond movie yet in its second day in cinemas.

There were just over a dozen people at Vue on Aberdeen’s Shiprow during the Tuesday morning showing, which was probably good given that most people were at work at that time of day.
Casting-wise the composition of its starring actors is interesting. Much time was spent placing the voice of main antagonist Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Indeed Christoph Waltz is best known by many as Jamie Foxx’s sidekick in Django Unchained.

He’s very soft spoken like Bond’s previous adversary, Skyfall’s Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem).

Anyway, the film primarily revolves around Bond and his main love interest Dr Madeleine Swann, played by Léa Seydoux. She’s the daughter of a man with serious links to a shadowy organisation called Spectre.

Basically Bond starts the film following the death wish of M (Judie Dench). Her assignment from beyond the grave lands him in some serious trouble. It turns out that new management at MI6 wants to steamroll the ‘00’ project, and 007’s transgression justifying this process.

He goes rogue anyway, and tracks down Swann’s father. Upon revealing his daughter’s location, someone to help Bond in M’s search for answers, he urges him to protect her before killing himself.

This is amidst the new setup of the British intelligence services, soon to turn global, warring with the old guard like the current M (Ralph Fiennes). The latter is, of course, in favour of the ‘00’ project.

When Bond seems certain to die, inextricable links are made between himself and Blofeld. The revelation concerning Bond’s childhood almost makes enduring some of the film’s less watchable moments worthwhile just for this alone. Of course, looking back it was Bond’s upbringing that made Skyfall intriguing.

However, barely a couple minutes of key dialogue within a film clocking almost two and a half hours is a lot to ask. Highbrow types maybe wouldn’t have the patience.

The fascinating detail revealed is seemingly the one of few things of substance revealed in the duration; the rest just cars, combat and explosions. The whole “Bond, James Bond” routine early on in the film in this particular outing is meant to be brooding and sexy, but just comes off as corny.

Yes, despite how more serious Bond has become in the Craig-era there are, thankfully you suppose, some lights moments; the third ‘c’, comedy.

Overall it’s typical of most Bond films that have preceded it: spy thriller slightly more intelligent than your average exploding action film. Shaking, but not too stirring.

Trail To Tranquility Premiers At Belmont 14.11.15

Aberdeenshire, Featured, Information 1 Response »

Oct 292015

Trail to Tranquility and Trouble Again in Tranquility are to premier on 14 November at Aberdeen’s Belmont Cinema. Suzanne Kelly, who played a role in Trail to Tranquility, reports.

Trail to Tranquility was written by and produced by Alistair Baranowski and directed by Paul Vernon. Trouble Again in Tranquility was written by Stewart Walker. They were shot on location at the Tranquility Wild West Town in Huntly.

Located near the Glendronach Distillery in Aberdeenshire, Tranquility was begun in 2005 and is a reconstruction of a small frontier town in the old American West.

Award-winning director Paul Vernon said:

“Trail to Tranquility has been very well received at some exclusive previews, so I know you are all in for a fun treat in the old Western tradition of good guys vs bad guys.”

Also appearing on the same programme is another short western – Trouble Again In Tranquility – which is a follow-up to last year’s short Trouble In Tranquility.

Of Trail to Tranquility, Alistair Baranowski said:

“I think the making of this film has been a labour of love by everyone involved in front & behind the cameras. We were extremely lucky to have some great young & talented local actors on board helping us out. There’s plenty of action throughout the film to satisfy all western fans & there’s some fantastic cinematic work from our award winning director, Paul Vernon.”

Acctor Karl F Hiemeyer who played the US Deputy Marshal said:

“It was a lot of fun working with director Paul Vernon, Mikey Mcallen and the rest of the cast and crew for TTT. It was a great experience for me and memories for a lifetime. The makeup crew did a fantastic job throughout.”

Paul Vernon added:

“With some enthusiastic new talent from the south, some lively returnees from last year’s ‘Return of a Son’ and a few firm loyal favourites from the Town itself, we hit the ‘Trail To Tranquility’ running. We had two and a half days to shoot a 30 minute film – no mean feat. However with the whole team totally committed to the project, working hard and pulling in the same direction we managed to pull off a great looking film.

“With plenty of action, fist fights, gun play and plain old skullduggery this is a romping western in the good old tradition of the Wild West.”

Mikey McAllen, who plays outlaw Kelly, said:

“Working on Trail to Tranquility was something really different for me. I really enjoyed portraying the outlaw Kelly – this is a guy who doesn’t care about anything other than himself.

“This is my first western and playing this cowboy villain was a great new experience for me. It has now made me want to push myself more in taking on a variety of different roles for future projects. Not only did I get to neet and work with some fantastic actors but having the chance to work with an amazing and creative director Paul Vernon as well, made it a very positive experience. It was a big shame the production had to come to an end as I had so much fun.

“I can’t wait to see the finished piece of Trail to Tranquility.”

Tranquility Wild West Town is open to the public only on our “Open Days” or “Round Ups”.

Ticket Hotline – from Ally on tranquility_town@hotmail.c o.uk

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