Arthur Smith wandered into my show drunk one night and made requests from my list Audiences from other shows wandered in I had lies printed about me, and bad reviews. Oh, and I met Steven Berkoff.Assembly Rooms, Fri-3 Sept (not 15 Aug, 1 Sept).OWEN O’NEILL, COMEDIAN1985 was my first Edinburgh and it was chaos really, completely disorganised. We had bad reviews from everybody, saying we were the worst show to have ever hit Edinburgh and that we were very unprofessional. And yet we packed the venue out every night.The high moment for me was when Andy, Cliff and I were on stage, completely pissed, singing ‘Underneath the Arches’.-(Photographs omitted).
ROBERT Llewellyn has stuck his head firmly over the parapet with his play Blue Helmet, a spoof of the Bosnian war, and a somewhat surprising offering from the man who is best known for his part as the electronic doormat Kryten in Red Dwarf. It’s a send-up of the no-win situation of a United Nations peacekeeping force in the fictional war-torn region of Selovnia where bad conditions, plus the small problem of not being able to shoot at the enemy, play havoc with the camaraderie – and there isn’t even the chance of a bit of sexual healing from the icy Dr Helena Smutts to boost the spirits. Mark Arden, the skinny one from the Carling Black Label ads, should be hilarious as one of the long-suffering soldiers. And Jack Klaff as all the war-lords will certainly be worth watching. Audrey Cooke, director of An Evening With Gary Lineker and Gone With Noakes, doesn’t back losers. (Assembly Rooms, 031-226 2428, 15 Aug-3 Sept.)
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To Live (Filmhouse 1, 031-229 2550, 14 Aug). Zhang Yimou’s latest is about stoicism and revolution, one man’s resilience in the turmoil of China between the 1940s and the present day. With another luminous performance from Gong Li, Zhang’s leading lady from Ju Dou onwards
The Hudsucker Proxy (Filmhouse 1, 031-229 2550, 14 Aug). The new Coen brothers’ comedy draws heavily on the old, pastiching Forties’ social comedies. Tim Robbins, Paul Newman and Jennifer Jason Leigh star.
Faust (Filmhouse 1, 031-229 2550, 15 Aug).
The great animator Jan Svankmajer’s first feature since Alice (1988) uses a variety of sources – Goethe, Marlowe, Gounod, Czech puppet theatre – to bring the Faust story up to date.Tavernier Masterclass (Cameo 2, 031- 221 9898, 18 Aug). Bertrand Tavernier, one of the more cerebral of today’s directors, holds court. He is in Edinburgh to introduce a retrospective of his hero Andre de Toth who, along with Shohei Imamura, is this year’s featured director.It’s All True and Don Quixote (Filmhouse 1, 031-229 2550, 19 Aug). Two fascinating unfinished Orson Welles films: his portmanteau South American documentary of the Forties (with interviews on its troubled history) and the Cervantes adaptation he spent his latter years chasing.Shallow Grave (MGM1, 031-229 2550, 19 Aug). A Scottish black comedy, about Edinburgh yuppies and their dead flat-mate, which has created a good buzz. It’s directed by Danny Boyle (who did Mr Wroe’s Virgins for the BBC) and produced by Andrew MacDonald, grandson and biographer of Emeric Pressburger.The Hairy Hand (Filmhouse 2, 031-229 2550, and Cameo 3, 031-221 9898, 21 Aug).
A themed day of screenings and talks devoted to Robert Louis Stevenson, Jekyll and Hyde, and duality. Including a lecture by Karl Miller, author of Doubles.Dear Diary (Filmhouse 1, 031-229 2550, 21 Aug). The movie as video diary in Nanni Moretti’s whimsical comedy, highly acclaimed at Cannes.Dazed and Confused (Filmhouse 1, 031-229 2550, 24 Aug). Richard Linklater’s follow-up to Slacker, a nostalgic take on drugs and drifting in America in the Seventies.Three Colours: Red (Filmhouse 1, 031-229 2550, 25 Aug). The friendship between a judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and a younger woman (Irene Jacob) in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s conclusion to his trilogy.Speed (Cameo 1, 031-221 9898, 27 Aug).