New Visual Art Exhibition Earth Rise at Glasgow Tramway

Jessica Ramm presents Earth Rise, a new exhibition for Tramway from 14 March to 19 April.

Jessica Ramm’s films, sculptures, and performances explore the relationships between people, the environment, and technology. Resembling imaginary sets or curious experiments her works convey a sense of material translation, often involving reconfigurations of objects and materials drawn from nature. Ramm’s works also allude to mythological themes as well as our environment, and her immersive installations investigate different notions of space and matter.

Ramm’s research consists of a series of ongoing, sometimes haphazard, experiments which examine contemporary civilizations and their ordering of nature through technology and science, often contrasting with the environmental forces of the natural world.

This is reinforced by the allusion to different orders of time in her works which juxtapose themes of day to day life with long term geological and cosmic events.


For Tramway, Jessica Ramm will present new sculptural works that extend her research into the mobility and resistance of matter. 

Presenting documentation of her performances in which she uses her own body to manipulate the environment, alongside objects lifted from nature such as a large erratic boulders, her work evokes landscapes which are both interior and exterior to the human body.

This new Jessica Ramm exhibition is supported and presented by Tramway, and is part of Rip It Up.


14 March– 19 April
Tramway 5

DEATH OF A COMEDIAN @ Soho Theatre

SOHO THEATRE, THE LYRIC THEATRE BELFAST and ABBEY THEATRE PRESENT

DEATH OF A COMEDIAN
BY OWEN MCCAFFERTY
DIRECTED BY SOHO THEATRE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR STEVE MARMION



Tue 14 Apr – Sat 16 May, 7.15pm (Matinees 3pm, Sunday 5pm)

Tickets £15 – £20 (£10 Previews Tue 14 & Wed 15 Apr)

Meet Steve Johnston in Death of a Comedian, a man who covets the spotlight despite the compromises, in Soho Theatre’s major new collaboration with Ireland’s theatrical powerhouses the Lyric Theatre Belfast and the Abbey Theatre. 

Written by Lyric Theatre Belfast’s Artist-in-Residence Owen McCafferty and directed by Soho Theatre’s own Steve Marmion, this funny and brilliant new play has its London premiere season – 14 April to 16 May – following its critically acclaimed world premiere season in Belfast and Dublin.

For Steve Marmion, this collaboration between the theatres’ artistic and creative teams has been a long time coming.

“When I first moved to London, one of the

first shows I saw was Owen McCafferty’s Scenes from the Big Picture. It was amazing. Ten years later, as Artistic Director of Soho Theatre I sat mesmerised by the same writer, with the Abbey Theatre and Jimmy Fay’s production of Quietly. We went on to collaborate and present Quietly here at Soho Theatre, and when Fiach (Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre) sent Owen’s new play to myself and Jimmy (Executive Producer of the Lyric), they had us at “hello”. To co-produce a play with the three powerhouses of new writing - the national theatre of comedy and the two national theatres of Ireland - all with a track record of making plays, is really very exciting.”


Starring Brian Doherty (God in Ruins - RSC, Aristocrats – National Theatre) as the Comedian, Shaun Dingwall (Spooks, Doctor Who, Silent Witness) as the Agent and Katie McGuinness (Mary Broome – Orange Tree Theatre and TV’s The Borgias) as the Girlfriend, Death of a Comedian is set across four separate stand-up gigs. As Steve Johnston’s career takes off the stages get bigger, however, his choices begin to prove costly as he is thrust into the limelight. Said Owen McCafferty, “Death Of A Comedian is the story of a man who compromises his art in the pursuit of success, and pays a heavy price for being funny.”


Adds Steve Marmion: “The play itself is not about stand-up comedy. In the same way Anthony and Cleopatra isn’t about Romans. It is, as ever with plays, about something much bigger. We have approached this story as a Faust or a Macbeth – anyone who takes on a noble ambition or has a good idea, and finds it gets corrupted or changed en route to its realisation. It’s the first play I’ve ever done where I’ve not had to do a second of research, which has been lovely, as we have every literal location in the play in this building other than the stadium stage.”




As election day looms closer, Death of a Comedian forms part of a wider Politics season at Soho Theatre. Sarah Cameron, Philip Ridley, Em Hussain and Anders Lustgarden are all on their theatrical soapboxes in different corners of our theatres.



“There’s a sense that in his new play, Belfast writer Owen McCafferty has moved his writing up a gear…his most accomplished work to date.” ★★★★ Belfast Telegraph

“Steve Marmion’s slick, assured direction is splendidly supported by Ben Ormerod’s lighting, Tom Mills’ perfectly judged soundscape and Michael Vale’s deceptively simple conceptualised set…” ★★★★ The Stage

Rum and Vodka @ Citz

Citizens Theatre presents Rum and VodkaBy Conor McPherson
5 – 7 March, 8PM
Circle studio

Citizens Theatre


Rum and Vodka by the multi-award winning McPherson, most famous for his 1999 play The Weir, will be directed by Birkbeck Trainee Director Stephen Darcy and star Citizens Theatre Actor Intern Martin Donaghy. 

Rum and Vodka tells the story of one young man and his three-day alcohol-fueled rampage around Dublin. Exasperated with his mundane nine-to-five existence he embarks on a path of self-destruction in an unorthodox quest for redemption. 

Written when McPherson was only 21, Rum and Vodka sparkles with an energy, wit and brutal honesty that prefigures the playwright’s later successes including an Oliver Award for Best New Play for The Weir and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for The Night Alive.



The one-man show is directed by Stephen Darcy who is currently on a year-long placement at the Citizens Theatre as part of the Theatre Directing MFA at Birkbeck University. 

Since beginning his placement in autumn 2014, he has worked with Citizens Theatre Artistic Director Dominic Hill on A Christmas Carol as Assistant Director and on Hill’s production of Hamlet. 

Assuming the role of the hopeless antihero is Martin Donaghy, Citizens Theatre’s Actor Intern, a position sponsored by the Robertson Scholarship Trust. Donaghy graduated from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2014 and has already starred in Citizens Theatre main stage productions of Hamlet as Horatio and A Christmas Carol as Bob Cratchit.



Describing Rum and Vodka, Darcy says: “I’m really excited to be directing my first production at the Citizens Theatre. Rum and Vodka is a remarkably funny yet poignant piece of writing by one of the most exciting and influential living playwrights today. The intimate scale of the Circle Studio naturally lends itself to a very personal and immediate retelling of this tragicomedy where the audience become immersed in the protagonist’s recounting of his chaotic binge through Dublin.”



Tickets are available from 0141 429 0022  citz.co.uk

Glasgow Film Festival announces winner of first-ever Audience Award, closing dates and 2015 admissions

As the 2015 Glasgow Film Festival comes to a close with the UK premiere of  Force Majeure, the organisers are delighted to announce the winner of their inaugural Audience Award, as well as 2015 admissions numbers, and the dates for 2016’s event. The directors of the festival paid tribute to the 2015 audience and described this year as their ‘best ever’.


AUDIENCE AWARD

The winner of GFF’s first-ever Audience Award was Radiator, a beautiful and moving low-budget British film created by writer/ first-time feature director Tom Browne, and shot in the Cumbrian house of his deceased parents. 

Radiator features a pair of astonishing, career-best performances from veteran British actors Richard Johnson and Gemma Jones as elderly hoarders Leonard and Maria. Johnson and Jones, with Browne, were among the visitors to the festival this year. 

The Audience Award was voted on by the GFF audience from a selection of ten films made by first or second-time directors. Over 1100 votes were cast. The Audience Award runner up was the documentary Tender, directed by Lynette Wallworth. Both Radiator and Tender are currently seeking distribution.

Radiator writer/director Tom Browne said:
‘Receiving the Audience Award has made us all terrifically happy - thank you! Radiator has an unfashionable theme and was made on a tiny budget. Unsurprisingly it is taking a while for the film to find a place within the film industry so to receive this award is very significant for Radiator's future. Richard, Gemma and I had a great time in Glasgow - we were treated so kindly and were touched by the engagement of the audiences evident in the Q and A sessions.’


Glasgow Film Festival Co-Director Allan Hunter said:

‘We've always known that our audience has the best taste and now they have proved that all over again. The GFF audience has

enthusiastically embraced the responsibility of picking their favourite film from a list of ten contenders and deciding the winner of the festival's first Audience Award. They couldn't have picked a more worthwhile winner than Radiator.

Tom Browne's deeply autobiographical film resonates across the generations as it deals with the dynamics of family relationships and the challenges we will all face in our final years. It is funny, touching and told with a fearless truth and beautifully judged performances from Gemma Jones, Daniel Cerquiera and the magnificent Richard Johnson. I only hope distributors will take encouragement from the public passion for Radiator and the Audience Award and bring the film to the wider audience it clearly deserves.’



AUDIENCE NUMBERS
Despite fielding 23 fewer events this year due to unavailability at long-term venue partner Cineworld, the festival has still managed to reach over 40,000 admissions for the second year in a row at time of going to press.  45% of the events in the programme sold out completely; 61% of screenings sold 75% of their tickets.


Glasgow Film Festival Co-Director Allison Gardner said:
‘This year might just have been the best Glasgow Film Festival ever. It’s certainly been the most fun I've ever had. From ballroom dancing to roller-skating, from coming together in rapt appreciation at classic festival films like Wild Tales or

Mommy, giving a standing ovation to legendary Scottish writer William McIlvanney, or queuing for tickets for the Internet Cat Video Festival, our audiences have been generous, committed, passionate and open-minded. 

And they’ve all got fabulous taste in fancy dress costumes, which we have asked them to wear in some form almost every night. We’re also absolutely delighted that we've broken 40,000 admissions for a second year running, despite working with a smaller programme. Thanks so much to our wonderful audience: you make all the hard work worth it.’









2016 DATES
Glasgow Film Festival 2016 will run from 17-28 February.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

@garethkvile @rgarciafons @GCHalls thanks: it affirmed my belief that #film and #music are always at their best shared and live
— Svend Brown (@svendbr) March 1, 2015

 Svend Brown is a Vile Arts' favourite. Not only does he programme contemporary classical music that demonstrates a

sensitivity both to its populist potential and intellectual intensity, he engages with the idea of the concert as a performance. His comment on The Adventures of Prince Achmed not only correctly assesses the success of Renaud Garcia-Fons' live soundtrack to this early animation, it reveals his underlying aesthetic, which challenges simplistic ideas about what consist of 'performance'.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed is the oldest surviving animated feature film (it is just over an hour) and is a 1926 retelling of a tale from the Arabian Nights - with the story of Aladdin thrown in for good measure. While some of the representations of oriental people could be criticised for racism, the animation style, based on shadow puppetry, holds up against contemporary techniques. The story relies on the panels to explore character rather than explanatory text - except in one sequence when director Lotte Reiniger reveals a sophisticated understanding of controlling dramatic tension - and is charming and melodramatic in equal measure.

Achmed's use of the frame will be revisited in this blog - the way that it adapts shadow puppetry and self-consciously shifts perspectives throughout is fascinating and surprisingly advanced for a 1920s' production - but Garcia Fons deserves kudos for his score. 

Most musical adaptations of silent cinema are either perfunctory (Glass' effort for Dracula is a lazy disappointment) or founded in the egotism of the musicians (55Daysof Static ruined Silent Running by bursting out into expansive post-rock every time the camera observed outer-space). Garcia Fons' ensemble, with a mixture of western and eastern instrumentation (the tabla rocked the show),

was delicate and subtle, never merely illustrating the scenes but, equally, refusing to overshadow the animation. A fluid, measure composition, it added romance and humour to a film already full of beauty and inspired images.

The 'liveness' of film is a tough idea, but Brown is saying something about the film as a performance - the way that it brings together an audience, making a community. The live music adds to the theatricality, and the sense of event... and the music itself is deepened by the visuals (a trick used effectively by Godspeed You Black Emperor). Cheers, Sven.