Film Fest Listings
Tom McGrath and more at the EIFF 2017
The Edinburgh International Film Festival opens on Wednesday 21 June, with a particularly strong theatrical element, including three script readings at the Traverse.
The core of the theatre offering is Electric Contact: The Visionary Worlds of Tom McGrath as detailed in our EIFF Features McGrath preview, containing plays, films and music around visionary Scottish playwright, poet and jazz musician, Tom McGrath, as part of the Scotland of this year’s retrospective programme The Future Is History.
Tom McGrath. Image: EIFF
The whole Future is History programme is augmented by an 84 page booklet written by its curator Niall Greig Fulton which can be accessed in pdf form on the EIFF website here: www.edfilmfest.org.uk/future-history.
Electric Contact: The Visionary Worlds of Tom McGrath is a cross-arts journey into the worlds McGrath, whose extraordinary writing in and around the era in focus dared to explore both the harsh realities of the present, and the extraordinary possibilities of the future.
This diverse part of the programme has been designed to highlight EIFF’s Scottish roots, whilst also celebrating the glorious 70th anniversary of Edinburgh’s world famous festivals.
The programme also includes a script reading of John Hopkins’ This Story of Yours – a harrowing three act examination of Johnson, a policeman accused of murdering a suspected paedophile during questioning – directed by Gerard Johnson.
Theatre Listings at EIFF 2017
Thursday 22 June
This Story of Yours (1968)
Script Reading directed by Gerard Johnson.
8.15pm Traverse 1: Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED.
Originally staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1968 with the help of Harold Pinter, John Hopkins’ This Story of Yours is a harrowing three act examination of a policeman accused of murdering a suspected paedophile during questioning.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
Friday 23 June
Electric Contact – A Jazz Tribute to Tom McGrath featuring Tam Dean Burn
McGrath in Music
7.30pm Queens Hall: 85 Clerk St, EH8 9JG.
Tommy Smith leads the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in a musical tribute to McGrath, featuring the music of Davis, Ellington and other jazz greats, with readings of McGrath’s poetry by Tam Dean Burn.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
Saturday 24 June
The Hard Man: Script Reading directed by Tam Dean Burn
McGrath on Stage
8.15pm Traverse 1: Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED.
Kate Dickie is… The Hard Man. Charting the rise and fall of a Glaswegian gangster, McGrath’s play is based on the notorious life of Jimmy Boyle, with whom he collaborated on the script.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
The Connection (Shirley Clarke, 1961)
McGrath on Screen
8.55pm Filmhouse 2: Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, EH3 9BZ.
Shirley Clarke’s astonishing debut feature, a favourite of Tom Mcgrath’s.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
Sunday 25 June
Tom McGrath: On Screen
3.40pm Filmhouse 2: Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, EH3 9BZ
This biographical screening will be introduced by McGrath himself, via STV’s In Verse (Michael Grieve, 1988). Includes Scotland 2000: Wealth or Wasteland (Adrian Herring, 1987) and a rare opportunity to see Off the Page: Tom McGrath (Erina Rayner, 1990), an STV interview with McGrath in which he addresses subjects ranging from his early counterculture experiences to his important contributions to Scottish theatre. Wholly Communion (Peter Whitehead, 1965) captures the famous ‘International Poetry Incarnation’ staged at The Albert Hall in 1965. McGrath performed at this event alongside talents such as Allen Ginsberg and Scot Alexander Trocchi.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
Monday 26 June
The Android Circuit (1978): Script Reading directed by Tam Dean Burn
McGrath on Stage
8.15pm: Traverse 1: Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED.
Inspired by the work of Isaac Asimov, Phillip K. Dick and Edwin Morgan, and breaking free of the trend for realism and masculinity in Scottish theatre at the time, McGrath stepped into the science fiction arena with The Android Circuit.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
Tuesday 27
Exploring the Explorer – Tom McGrath in the Sixties and Seventies
5.50pm Filmhouse 3: Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, EH3 9BZ
McGrath Lecture Programme.
A talk exploring some of Tom McGraths’s early influences and experiences, both in Scotland and during his time in the London-based counter-culture.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
Play for Tomorrow: The Nuclear Family (John Glenister, 1982)
8.50 Filmhouse 2: Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, EH3 9BZ
McGrath on Screen
Tom McGrath’s wry look at the trials and tribulations of the household of the future.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
Saturday 1 July
A Sense of Freedom (18)
3.35pm Filmhouse 1: Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, EH3 9BZ.
The original Scottish version of John Mackenzie’s classic, staring David Hayman as Jimmy Boyle.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
What Else Can It Become? – Tom McGrath and Language
6.30 Filmhouse 3: Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, EH3 9BZ.
McGrath Lecture Programme.
Dr Scott Hames discusses Tom McGrath’s poetry and drama.
Tickets and details: www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
EIFF runs Wednesday 21 June – Sunday 2 July 2017.
Full details on www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
ENDS
