Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spion Kop

The new film adaptation of the seminal espionage novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré owes as much to its sterling British cast as it does to the erstwhile foreigner at the helm. Rarely does a film trust its audience as much as Tinker, Tailor and the decision to hand over the directing to Tomas Alfredson (Let The Right One In, 2009) has unleashed what one hopes is the first in a line of intelligent adaptations of le Carré.

George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is a retired cuckold thrust back into the grimy world of the secret service in order to track down a Soviet double-agent. Smiley is out to clear his own name in the eyes of his mentor, Control (John Hurt), who sets the benchmark for paranoia in “The Circus” of 1970′s MI6.

Secret service hoods Percy Alleline (Toby Jones), Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), Roy Bland (Ciarán Hinds) and the insipid Estherhase (David Denick) comprise a cabal that Smiley must crack in order to track down the Russian mole. Each actor would be comfortably capable of carrying his own 90-minute vehicle, but here, every line is spoken by someone at the top of their game.

In 2002, when we were treated to the first of a trilogy of Jason Bourne novels adapted for the silver screen, the watchword was realism. James Bond had been replaced by a more cerebral, realistic spy and the aesthetic was as gritty as Bond had been glamorous.

It is hardly surprising that The Bourne Identity, voted the second greatest spy novel of all time in Publisher’s Weekly, should have made such a compelling trilogy. It certainly started a trend away from the meretricious world of Sean Connery’s MI6 spook and paved the way for Daniel Craig’s more spartan incarnation. It is also telling that topping the list was The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, the prequel to Tinker, Tailor.

With Tinker, Tailor the trend to nullify the Semtex and amplify the drama has taken us well beyond the measured assassinations and explosions of Robert Ludlum’s Bourne masterpiece: now we are in a world of people and places. We are introduced to a Budapest frozen in time, minarets sizzling in the distance while godless agents fill the bazaars. Alfredson casts London in a starring role and his unobtrusive selection of 1973 signifiers deftly builds the heavy atmosphere of a world on the brink.

Peter Straughan and his late wife, Bridget O’Connor, cannot be commended enough for constructing a screenplay that refuses to yield to the excess of so many modern thrillers. There is nothing unnecessary here, and Alfredson uses these restrictions to scintillating effect. Smiley has no words for the duration of his retirement, instead there are glimpses of vanity and isolation played out through bus-shelter reflections and lukewarm cups of tea.

This Tinker, Tailor is a period piece, far removed from Alec Guinness’ Smiley of the BBC adaptation. That was a contemporary drama, this is the Cold War re-imagined and endowed with hindsight. It hints at smoking rooms and bacolite rather than action or gadgets, and one can’t help but feel transported into the surrounding darkness.

Keep an eye out for some excellent supporting roles from the legendary Kathy Burke and the magnificently versatile Stephen Graham.

This article was published in its original form on Geekoverture.com

Alhimself @ The Traverse: New Season, New Writing

As you may know, we here at Alhimself are big fans of The Traverse, and with October seeing the release of The Traverse theatre’s winter season, I thought I’d look back at some of the best shows they had on offer in the Autumn and look forward to some top shows from Scotland’s new writing theatre (which also happens to be one of the best bars in town).

Coming up this October, the return of A Play, A Pie and A Pint .  The fourth season of the successful program, has five world premieres by the UK’s hottest new playwrights. The performances take place at 1pm from Tuesday to Saturday, which gives you the chance to spend your lunchtime watching a brilliant 45 minute play – with a pie and a pint – simple as that. To whet your appetite check out Katie Douglas’ Dig, a tale of economic hardship and the struggle between pride and providing. Also highly recommended is Leo Butler’s Eternal Source of Light, which promises to explore birth, life, death, and the prospect of an afterlife in just forty-five minutes.

Some of Autumn’s best from The Trav included I, Malvolio & the award-winning The Wheel, for interviews with Zinnie Harris and Tim Crouch, check out The Traverse’ podcasts here.

The Right Way to Spend A Pony

or Why I want £22 of your money. Right now.

In October last year Edinburgh University Settlement, who owned the building that The Forest occupied at 3 Bristo Place, were declared bankrupt and forced into administration. The administrators put the property on the market and are currently trying to sell it. As part of that process, they terminated the Forest’s lease, giving them six months notice. Their last day was Wednesday 31 August. It’s been empty now for twenty days, but that isn’t the end.

The Forest is a big part of this city, it’s a free arts space in Edinburgh and it’s always been good to me. Sure, it’s full of vegetarians and people with dreadlocks (some people don’t like steak and combs, who knew?) but it’s a publisher, a disco and after the closure of the Roxy Art House it’s all we’ve got to stem the tide of faceless corporate pubs and expensive empty conference centres dominating the future of music, literature and community spirit.

They don’t want to leave their home of eight years in a listed historic building, so they’ve launched an appeal and they have managed to raise well over £30,000 so far.

Maybe you’re a Forest fan that is directly affected or maybe you’re an ex-pat who loves Edinburgh, whatever the reason you should help buy the Forest because right here, in 2011, with all the s**t that’s going on is an opportunity to make a difference to the arts scene.

Ryan Van Winkle, who’s one of the brains behind the campaign (and literary pistolero to some, Spanish language Bruce Campbell to others) had this to say:

“We are in a pretty amazing time right now — a decade ago no one would ever have thought it possible to raise £70k in one month but thanks to the wide reach of the Forest, the massive tentacles of the internet, and thanks to sites like ‘WeFund’ where you pledge and don’t pay unless the campaign is successful — I actually think we have a shot.”

The pledge system will only take your money if they reach the target, so in essence it won’t cost you anything unless the Forest hit their target, and if they do then you will have taken part in an amazing venture! If you need any more encouragement, take a look here.

But what if they fail? What if I only donated a tenner? I thought you wanted twenty quid?

Good question(s), and the answer is simple. I want you to put your hand in your pocket for The West Port Book Festival as well. They run an awesome free book festival for the last three years and they are doing it again, come hell or high water, and you can make the difference to this adventure too. They want it to stay free, and when you consider the line-up of year’ past and that a ticket for one event for the Edinburgh International Book Festival costs £10 by itself, a tenner for a whole festival of delights is a total bargain!

Edinburgh is the home of artistic endeavour in Scotland, let’s help keep it that way. All I’m asking is for £20, you’d spend that in the pub in one night. If you spend it today on these worthwhile projects you will be making an impact that will last for a very, very long time.

Now that you’ve waded through all of that, if you’re still with me, I shall reward you with news of a poetry competition worth £2,500 – the Fifth Annual Troubadour International Poetry Prize – which costs £5 to enter. If you do win, I’ve some ideas about where you could invest the money…

The West Port Book Festival will run from the 13th-16th October 2011 and full details of the programme will be available here tomorrow.

Best of the Fest: EdFringe 2011 Comedy

Here are some of the finest comedy shows that Edinburgh offered up this year.

Josie Long: The Future Is Another Place (Fosters Comedy Award Nominee 2011)

Josie Long has been bringing quality stand-up to the Fringe for the last three or four years, winning the if.comedy award for Best Newcomer for her 2006 show, ‘Kindness and Exuberance’. Her performances are generally marked by these gentler attributes, making her stand out from the usual vitriolic comedians that marks a lot of the newcomers to the Fringe comedy circuit. This year, however, Long has continued the trend she flirted with last year and brings us into her innermost political thoughts. Having embraced the work of anti-cuts activists, UK Uncut, Long described how she has come to get to grips with the politics of the day. The programme for the show is a photocopied zine which includes a “Tories’ Fun Page” and Long directs much of her ire at the new coalition government.

She charts a year in which she made contact with Kenny Zulu Whitmore, a member of the Black Panther Party who is still in prison, performed a gig in a branch of Barclay’s and found herself flying into a greenhouse in Wales. Not all of it is directed at the Tories, there is a brief interlude featuring the Bronte Sisters, but The Future Is Another Place is undeniably a foray into serious political comedy. Good news then, that Long’s character still comes through all the material and the experience remains as much of a treat as always. I suspect she would do well to commit to some of the ideas she is raising with a bit more determination but I’m sure that will come in time. As a manifesto for a new wave of left-wing comedy, Long has made a fair bash and it’s worth an hour of your time.

Richard Herring: What is Love Anyway?

From Ferrero Roche to sexual excrement, Richard Herring tries to answer the ultimate dilemma (according to him) of 1981: what is love? This is a much softer show than those who have seen Herring before will perhaps be used to, but it is no less polished.

He charts a virginal youth, replete with dreadful poetry and pent-up feelings of chivalry, while explaining to us the various dimensions of life as a forty-four year old finding love. His journey includes a mortifying anecdoteabout Julia Sawalha, his then girlfriend, and a Fist of Fun episode involving a creepy shrine to the actress whom he had yet to meet.

Stewart Lee is not Richard Herring

At its heart this is a love story to Herring’s current girlfriend, wrapped in a smartly-paced package it never fails to impress. If you are looking for something as acerbic as Stewart Lee (whom Herring does a spot-on impersonation of) then this might fall slightly short.

If you want to take your significant other out for some quality comedy though, Herring has put together a considered and charming little show that would certainly suit.

Michael Winslow: The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects

Familiar to anyone who has ever seen the Police Academy movies, Michael Winslow’s run at this year’s Fringe proved to be a huge success.

It was the first time the stand-up had brought a show to Edinburgh and his dexterous vocal talents seem to have fit in rather well.

Winslow, who voiced one of The Gremlins and made an appearance in Spaceballs, is a man who comes across as deliriously happy to be doing what he does.

That enthusiasm is infectious, and whether he is explaining the mechanics of AM radio or taking us through the TIE fighter dogfight from Star Wars: A New Hope, he does it with such a sense of mischievous pride that you can’t help applaud the sketches.

Some of the observational comedy which ties the ‘funny noises’ together is under-cooked and often hampered the pacing of the show. So too the attempts to engage with the ‘British’ sense of humour. It seems rather unnecessary to include it, but kudos to Winslow for trying to give shape to what otherwise would be a rather manic sixty minutes.

At the end of the day the sound effects speak for themselves and that’s what people have come to hear.