Best of the fest
Your guide to the week’s finest live entertainment
BOOK FESTIVAL
Graeme Armstrong: Welcome Tae Airdrie
The New York Times Theatre (in Sculpture Court) & online, Monday
The Young Team is a raw, realistic look at young men as they navigate the friendship, turf wars and stereotypes of Scottish masculinity, a once-in-a-generation novel based on Armstrong’s experiences of growing up in Airdrie. Following the first screening of a short film by the author and film-maker James Price,armstrong discusses the book with chair Casi Dylan.
David Keenan: A Mausoleum For The Two Of Us
Baillie Gifford Theatre (in West Court) & online, Friday
Keenan’s debut,this Is Memorial Device, an alternative history of life for the lost youth of Lanarkshire in the late 1970s and ’80s, quickly became a cult classic. Four years on his latest novel, Monument Maker, feels like another career-defining project. He discusses his labour of love with writer Lara Pawson.
FILM FESTIVAL The Road Dance
Filmhouse, Tuesday-wednesday & online Kirsty Mcleod is a young woman in a small island community in the years before the First World War. She dreams of a life away from the harsh land and strict religion of her island home, but tragedy strikes twice. Inspired by a true story, this world premiere is based on John Mckay’s novel.
Here Today Filmhouse, Wednesday
The festival’s closing film is the UK premiere of Billy Crystal’s new comedy. He plays a writer who forms an unlikely but touching friendship with singer Emma Payge (Tiffany Haddish). Before long, they discover they are soulmates, forging a deep bond that redefines the meaning of friendship, love and trust.
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL Ariadne Auf Naxos
Edinburgh Academy Junior School, Wed-sun
Lothar Koenigs conducts the RSNO in a concert performance of Richard Strauss’s comedy. This is a new concert staging by director Louisa Muller, and among the cast are Dorothea Röschmann,thomas Quasthoff and Catriona Morison.
FRINGE Thunderstruck
Scottish Storytelling Centre, (venue 30), Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday Having been well received at the Fringe in 2019 before undertaking a successful Australian tour, David Colvin – an original member of the Black Watch cast – is back with his one-man show about the life of acclaimed piper Gordon Duncan, and the effect each man had on the other.