New releases from The Orb, Meredith Monk, and Marconi Union
In search of Greta things
STEF LYONS is stirred by a new opera that toys with ecological themes, but doesn’t get properly polemical
SIMPLISTIC: Ellie Slorach conducts Ffion Edwards (Lola) and the RSNO in Uprising
[Katie Kean]
RITA DI SANTO draws attention to a new film that features Ken Loach and Jeremy Corbyn, and their personal experience of media misrepresentation
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson
KEN COCKBURN guides us through a survey of Chekov’s early short fiction, and the groundwork it laid for his later masterpieces
ANDY HEDGECOCK revels in a hugely enjoyable but deadly serious examination of the 1930s, that is an indictment of our own era
The bard distills our hellish times into fiery words
Uprising,
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
ONE of the saddest things about my Friday night watching the opera Uprising at the Usher Hall with the RSNO, was that the auditorium was barely half full. It was fitting considering the theme that the planet is dying and not enough people are listening.
Uprising is the work of composer Jonathan Dove. It is the story of a young teen, Lola (Ffion Edwards), who, like many young people today, is disturbed by the climate disaster we are facing. She stops wanting to go to school. What is the point if there is no future?
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