18 August, 2008

What the Papers Say Today

The papers are peppered with Festival 08 as a week of World Premieres fast approach and the reviews just keep on coming.
Australian dance company Chunky Move made a splash in the papers with images from the UK premiere of this hi-tech, laser dance show Mortal Engine. The review in today's Herald read; ‘if the technology was impressive, the flesh and blood dancers were outstanding'. To hear a behind-the-scenes interview with the choreographer Gideon Obarzanek click here.
The hotly anticipated World Premiere of Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray graced the cover of Metro Life Festival today, featuring an interview with the London born choreographer, who leapt to fame with his all-male Swan Lake chorus, about adapting Oscar Wilde's classic to London, here and now. The Independent on Sunday profiled the lead dancer Richard Windsor about this, his sixth, Bourne show.
The Scotsman features an interview with German composer / director Heiner Goebbels about his EIF return with the World Premiere production I Went to the house but Did Not Enter, which collaborates with the Hilliard Ensemble - the British vocal chamber group renowned for its accomplishment in early and new music. This month's Classical Music magazine interviews The Hilliard Ensemble, about their new role as speaking, moving singing actors in avant-guardist Heiner Goebbels' latest production.
Yesterday's Scotland on Sunday peels back layers of the National Theatre of Scotland's latest World Premiere production 365 - which opens at The Playhouse this Friday - and interviews director Vicky Featherstone and three youngsters about how they overcame their tragic beginnings. The Sunday Times also focused on this, the latest from the team behind Black Watch and The Bacchae, interviewing the writer David Harrower.
Yesterday's Scotland on Sunday follows arts writer Mark Fisher and The Sunday Times arts writer Anna Burnside to Belgrade where they interview East West Theatre Company about their adaptation of Nigel Williams' play Class Enemy, which opens at the Royal Lyceum Theatre this Wednesday and runs through to Saturday.
Today's Independent interviews choreographer and artistic director of Israeli's Batsheva Dance Company, Ohad Naharin, about the upcoming EIF production Deca Dance 2008 which features the ‘greatest hits' of the company's past 18 years of contemporary dance productions.
Looking at Tazieh
‘One of the most magisterially brilliant works of art ever shown at the Edinburgh Festival; and the chance to see it is a privilege not to be missed' The Scotsman *****
‘this astonishing display of wordless poetry is a humbling portrait of culture at one with its sense of grief' The Herald ****
Belcea Quartet
‘Exhaustive and fulfilling' The Scotsman *****
‘Here - in sound, rhythm, humanity and consistency of presentation -
they were keenly unified' The Herald ****
Roby Lakatos & Ensemble
‘Terrific stuff from a band that makes playing exceptional music seem as natural as breathing.' The Herald *****
‘hugely spirited performance' The Scotsman ****
4.48 Psychosis
‘Watching 4.48 Psychosis can be almost unbearably harrowing. But when it is staged as brilliantly as it is here, it also feels profound, moving - and unforgettable.' The Daily Telegraph
‘thrilling theatre' The Guardian****

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