Liam Rudden - Fringed Out: October 2008

Hallowe'en October 31: 11.45am

A LOVE FOR JAMIE... A WISH FOR JAMIE... THE WORLD OF JAMIE

Quick appeal. The three pantos named above were performed at The King's Theatre in Edinburgh during the 60s, and hosted a many of the regular variety stars of time.

I'm trying to track down copies of the programmes, photographs and scripts for these and all previous King's pantos. If anyone can help feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]

Thanks

Hallowe'en October 31: 11.15am

THE X MEN COMETH

It's the news Edinburgh X Men and Star Trek fans have dreamed of... Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are to be reunited in Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot at the King's Theatre next April.

The story follows two consecutive days in the lives of tramps, Vladimir (Patrick Stewart) and Estragon (Ian McKellen), who divert themselves by clowning around, joking and arguing, while waiting expectantly and unsuccessfully for the mysterious Godot.

While McKellen and Stewart are both renowned Shakespearean actors it for their roles in the X-Men films, as Magneto and Professor X, that mainstream audiences know them best. Well, those and the roles of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and as Star Trek's Jean-Luc Picard.

Looking forward to the week long run McKellan is quoted as saying: "Waiting for Godot is the perfect job for me. This production brings me back to stages throughout the country in a great play. It's nearly 20 years since I was in Edinburgh at the King's with the National Theatre's Richard III. Glad to be back."

He added, "I join up again with Sean Mathias a Director I admire and totally trust and will be working with the great Patrick Stewart – X-Men trilogy's Magneto and Professor X reunited onstage and disguised as a pair of wise-cracking tramps – fun in store."

And Stewart quipped, "Working in the theatre as opposed to film means days will be shorter, the dressing rooms more uncomfortable and with this play in particular there will be fewer beautiful women to chat up. I will also spend more time standing up."

Waiting For Godot runs at the King's Theatre – the production's only Scottish dates – from April 13-18, 2009. Tickets from 19.50 to 37.50 go on sale from today. Call 0131-529 6000

Thursday October 30: 12.15pm

DANIEL CRAIG, MARY POPPINS AND SHAMELESS STAR AMANDA RYAN

Another Thursday and another issue of The Guide is put to bed. Here's your weekly sneak preview.

Cover star is Bond, James Bond aka Daniel Craig – check out the interview and on the set of Quantum of Solace feature on the centre spread.

Music brings Alison Goldfrapp to the fore while Gary Flockhart waxes lyrical about John Peel in Music Matters, he also catches up with Katie Melua.

In My Edinburgh meet local actress Kim Gerard, currently starring in Mary Rose at the Royal Lyceum.

Stage interviews include Amanda Ryan aka Sgt Carrie Rogers in Shameless who tours to the King's next week.

Finally there's a chat with Lisa O'Hare, the new Mary Poppins, Birmingham Ballet, and a rant about Jonathan Ross from yours truly.

Oh, and you could win The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency on DVD.

Don't miss it.

Tuesday October 28: 10.37am

CALLING ALL CAVALCADERS...

Bad news for cartoon fans. Book-seller Waterstones have had to cancel Glen Michael's planned In Conversation event at The Cameo tomorrow evening due to unforeseen circumstances.

The good news is that his autobiography Life's A Cavalcade, which the event was to launch, is now available in shops, published by Birlinn.

Looking ahead, I hear on the grapevine that Waterstones have plans to bring Lord Attenborough and League of Gentlemen star Mark Gatiss to the Capital before Christmas. I'll keep you posted.

Monday October 27: 10.32am

SPOOKY GOINGS ON

Caught two shows this weekend. First up was Drew McAdam with his mind-bending feats at Bathgate's Regal Theatre, on Saturday.

Just how Drew can forecast what complete strangers (and his mother) have drawn, written or even think is beyond me.

He certainly left a few jaws on the floor as he randomly picked out members of his audience by throwing the campest stage prop ever into their midst - a cuddly kitten. Although it was funny to see just how many people tried to squirm out of its way as it hurtled towards them.

Eerie going's on of another kind at the Royal Lyceum on Saturday night, where JM Barrie's tale of the ghostly Mary Rose unfolded in a brand new production directed by Tony Cownie.

Spine-tingling and genuinely chilling, Kim Gerard as the title character was as ethereal as the mysterious island at the heart of the story.

Michael McKenzie, who will be remembered by audience members of a certain age as Tarot in the hit 70s series Ace of Wands, Anne Kidd and John Ramage meanwhile, gave a master class in stage timing whenever they appeared together as the distraught parents of Mary Rose and the local minister.

If you are not familiar with piece, think Peter Pan for girls – where Peter lives in Neverland, Mary Rose's abode is Never Island.

Five star stuff from Cownie if you ask me – and I loved the twist at the end.

Read reviews of both in today's Evening News to discover just what Drew told me during his show, and what Thom Dibdin thought of Mary Rose.

Friday October 24: 6.15pm

OASIS SUPERGIG BREAKS BOX OFFICE RECORDS

... And while on the subject of stadiums, across the city, Oasis sold out their Murrayfield gig this morning in a flurry for tickets that has seen their forthcoming tour decribed as "one of the fastest selling ever."

The stadium tour broke all box office records when it went on sale, selling a staggering 500,000 tickets by 3pm, which forced organisers add extra dates in London and Manchester.

A very happy Oasis co-promoter, Chris York of SJM Concerts, said "..this has to be the most tickets ever sold by an artist in the UK in one day".

Oasis play the Capital on June 17, 2009 – wonder if any tickets have made it onto eBay yet?

Friday October 24: 6.15pm

FIREWORKS

Singer Leon Jackson is appear at this year's annual Meadowbank fireworks display on November 5 – the city's biggest public fireworks show.

While the fireworks start at 7.30pm, the pre-show entertainment starts an hour earlier with Big Al of local radio fame once again providing the entertainment.

Real Radio's Breakfast presenters Robin Galloway and Cat Harvey will also be on hand to introduce Jackson.

Tickets are on sale now – 4.50 each or a family ticket (2 adults & 2 children) 16 – call 0131 661 5351, or you could win yours by listening to Real Radio.

Friday October 24: 3.15pm

THE MARTIANS GO SOUTH

They started of performing around Edinburgh's pubs but now they are the toast of London – The Martians.

The wacky three-piece (think the Banana Splits without the costumes) have come a long way since performing War of The Worlds (and a repertoire of cult TV themes) live in the Royal Lyceum bar just a few years back.

On Sunday, the off-the-wall troupe play at the Theatre Management Awards at the Hampstead Theatre, London, before giving a one-off performance of their Award winning Fringe show, Greyfriars Twisted Tales, at the Etcetera Theatre Club the following night, at 9.30pm.

Just to ensure that would-be attendees don't get lost on the way, Martian John Kielty has even provided directions... so, should you be tempted to catch them, here goes...

"Driving directions to Etcetera Theatre Club

401 mi – about 7 hours 5 mins

Greyfriars Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, UK

1: Head east on Candlemaker Row toward George IV Bridge

39 ft

2. Slight right at George IV Bridge

141 ft

3. Slight left at Bristo Pl

331 ft

4. Turn right at Potterrow

371 ft

5. Continue on Lauriston Pl

0.5 mi

6. Continue on Home St

0.1 mi

7. Continue on A702/Leven St

Continue to follow A702

Go through 4 roundabouts

38.5 mi

8. At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto the A74(M) ramp to Carlisle

0.3 mi

9. Merge onto A74(M)

48.4 mi

10. Continue on M6

Entering England

233 mi

11. Merge onto M1

72.9 mi

12. At junction 2, exit toward Holloway/N Circular/A406 East/C. London (The City)/A1

0.2 mi

13. Merge onto Great North Way (Barnet Bypass)

0.9 mi

14. Continue on A1/Great N Way

Continue to follow A1

0.8 mi

15. Slight left at A406/N Circular Rd

0.3 mi

16. Slight right at A1/Falloden Way

Continue to follow A1

3.5 mi

17. Continue on A400/Jct Rd

Continue to follow A400

1.7 mi

18. Turn right at Hawley Crescent

377 ft

19. Turn left at Stucley Pl

266 ft

20. Turn right at Buck St

128 ft

Etcetera Theatre Club

265 Camden High Street

London, NW1 7BU"

Tuesday October 22: 5.30pm

TREE TIME

Oh, the excitement down at the Royal Lyceum this afternoon, when a low-loader carrying a gnarled old tree pulled up at the Box Office.

Deliveries, of course, should have been dropped off at the loading bay.

Had the theatre's Christmas tree arrived early? No!

The explanation? Well, the curiosity of the cast members of Mary Rose who pressed their faces up against the rehearsal room window to get a glimpse of said tree should have been a clue.

Artistic director Mark Thomson – I was there to interview him, and not aimlessly hanging around outside the Grindlay Street theatre – explained the tree is an integral part of the set for JM Barrie's Edwardian ghost story which opens on Saturday.

Read a full interview with Mark in Friday's issue of The Guide.

Tuesday October 22: 1.05pm

RAVING ABOUT CASCADA

Love it. A dance track with bagpipes. Check out Scooter - I'm Raving at www.youtube.com

And talking of dance acts, don't miss Friday's issue of The Guide featuring interviews with Natalie Horler of Cascada, one of the biggest dance acts in the world.

Also this week catch up with Snow Patrol, James Alexandrou aka EastEnders Martin Fowler, Drew McAdam, the human lie detector from The Trisha Show and Scottish TV legend Glen Michael.

Tuesday October 22: 10.50am

CAN'T SMILE... UNLESS FRANCESCA, SIOBAHN or HOWARD IS ON STAGE

I take it all back. Everything derogatory I have ever said about reality TV musical theatre stars I rescind. Why? Well, last night I went to see Can't Smile Without You, at the Festival Theatre.

You might think that a musical based around the songs of Barry Manilow with Chesney Hawkes in the lead role is a winning combination. Think again.

It's not that the one and only can't act. Or for that matter hit a high note with a frisson of excitement rippling through the audience... Will he reach this one? No, his voice has cracked again.

Or that the 37-year-old father of three is playing a young up and coming singer in a boyband – he really doesn't look his age.

But that the story and script are so weak that even the fantastic Francesca Jackson (I'd Do Anything), Siobahn Dillon (How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria) and the comic genius of Howard Samuels, who steals every scene he is in, can't raise the production above mediocre.

Jackson is a revelation as the ballsy Lucy, while Dillon captivates as New Yorker Mandy.

That said the Chesney Hawkes fans in the audience would no doubt beg to differ – but I wonder why they didn't complete the set and put on of the Joseph's from Any Dream Will Do into Hawkes' role?

Read Thom Dibdin's review in today's Evening News.

Monday October 20: 3.30pm

AMARILLO NO MORE

News just in. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Tony Christie has had to cancel his forthcoming Edinburgh concert. The show at the Queens Hall on November 17 is cancelled but a new date will be arranged for a Glasgow or Edinburgh show next year – details to be released soon.

Friday October 17:4.45pm

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

Children and theatre - never the twain should meet, except at Christmas.

Catherine Wheels production of Ray Bradbury's classic, and creepy, coming of age tale Something Wicked This Way Comes, at the Lyceum, was one of the most inventive pieces of theatre I have seen for a while.

But while it was great to see the theatre packed with a new generation of theatre-goers, it was distracting too.

Audience members fiddling with mobile phone, wrestling with bags of sweets and happily chatting during the action drove me to despair.

Perhaps Catherine Wheels could do an adults only performance?

Having said all that, I spent all day yesterday in pre-production meetings for this year's Brunton Theatre panto - Sleeping Beauty. Another kids' favourite - only this time, one I write and direct.

Oh yes I do...

The morning started at the National Museum of Flight, where some of the cast got the chance to board one of the most iconic aeroplanes in aviation history - Concorde.

Check out tomorrow's Evening News to discover what Daft Jamie, Ruby, Count Alucard and Grizzlebone, the wicked witch, got up to.

As for me, well I got to sit in seat A1 - the seat reserved for HM the Queen... still trying to work out where the Duke of Edinburgh sat.

Thanks to Susan Gray and Claire Riddoch for making it happen.

Tuesday October 14: 12.25pm

CALENDAR GIRLS

There's a difference between being naked and nude. Or so the Calendar Girls, played by a collection of TV's veterans at The King's all this week, would have you believe.

Edinburgh's very own Likely Lass, Brigit Forsyth, plays Marie, the straight laced leader of a Yorkshire WI whose members decide to disrobe for a charity calendar, after the death of one of their husbands from leukaemia.

Touching and hilarious in turn, this production gives Elaine C Smith all the best lines as Cora, the vicar's daughter, while Lynda Bellingham shows no shame as Chris, the group's motivational leader. Patricia Hodge is suitably understated as the bereaved Annie, while the elder stateswoman of the cast Sin Phillips (once wife of Peter O'Toole), Gaynor Faye and Julia Hills complete the sextet.

Together they are the Golden Girls of the noughties.

Of course, I reckon we have reality TV to thank for bringing together such an experienced cast. Even five years ago it would have been hard to believe that a company of this calibre would have had so few filming commitments as to be able to undertake a national tour. They would all have been hard at work in one drama or another.

TV's loss is live theatre's gain. Make sure you make a date with the Calendar Girls if you can, although a theatre insider tells me that the show is completely sold out for the entire run, so you might have to queue for returns.

Read Thom Dibdin's four star review in today's Evening News.

Monday October 13: 5.25pm

DARE YOU FACE THE INTERROGATOR?

As he warns the guests on The Trisha Goddard Show who think they have his measure, Drew McAdam knows what they are thinking before even they do.

Well he isn't called the human lie detector for nothing, you know.

A week on Friday you can see Scotland's top Mind Master live on stage at the Bathgate Regal, where his trademark mind-reading will only make up part of the evening.

Yes, there's more to The Interrogator than working out who cheated on whom with whom, he even bends spoons, amongst other things.

Drew's new stage show, An Evening of Mindplay, is your only chance to be mesmerised by his 'other-worldly' skills in a live show environment, so don't miss it.

For a taste of what to expect go to www.youtube.com and search for Mind Master: Drew McAdam Showreel and Drew McAdam Mind Reading under test conditions.

Tickets are selling fast for the show, although Drew assure's me he already knows whether it will sell out or not. Okay, he didn't say that, but I'm sure he does know, even if he's not admitting it.

An Evening of Mindplay is on for one night only on October 24. Tickets priced 10 are available from 01506 433 634 or (time to take a big breath) online via West Lothian Council's website. Open www.westlothian.gov.uk and click What's On on the left hand navigation list, enter the name of the show in search or the date of the show on calendar. Click on the event and then the green button and follow the instructions.

To learn more about Drew McAdam, check out his website www.drewmcadam.co.uk and prepare to be amazed.

And if you have some dark secret beware. Drew might just work it out.

Friday October 10: 10.01am

BRIGIT FORSYTH - EDINBURGH'S LIKELY LASS

FROM Cannon Mills to London's West End via Trinity, and from donning nipple caps to becoming Mrs Frosty-Knickers via the Likely Lads, Edinburgh actress Brigit Forsyth plays her home city next week for the first time in almost 40 years.

In the five decades since the bubbly 68-year-old left the Capital to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, she has become one of the UK's best loved actresses and, as she speaks, it's obvious that her return is going to be something special for the veteran of stage and screen.

"It's so funny, nobody seems to know that this is a homecoming for me. Because of the television I've done, and because I have lived Manchester-way for a while now, everybody thinks I'm northern in 'that' way, when actually I'm northern in a Scots way," she laughs, revealing that it was here in Edinburgh that legendary panto dame Stanley Baxter and a convent full of nuns set her on the path to a life in show-business.

"I owe everything to Stanley Baxter and I am thrilled to be playing in The King's where I used to watch him as a child. Nobody was a better dame. He was so funny. He did the best cooking routine I ever saw, with sausages coming out from all sorts of places that they shouldn't... he was just exceptional. Even when I was tiny I adored him and remember thinking at the time, 'I'd like to do that'.

If Baxter planted the seed, it was the nuns of Craiglockhart Convent school who provided the first outlet for Forsyth's fledgling talents.

"The nuns put on things like Hiawatha and did it in style. I got a bit of a taste for acting there. In Hiawatha I was an Indian, obviously, everyone was an Indian in Hiawatha. I loved that," giggles the actress who today is best remembered as Thelma in Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads?, a series which debuted 35 years ago and to which we shall return later, even though she good humouredly cautions that it is a topic she has "said everything there is to say about".

One of five children, Forsyth, was brought up in Cannon Mills, before the family moved to Trinity Road. And despite those early school plays, it wasn't until the age of 18, when she landed the lead role in an amateur production, that she realised her childhood dreams could become a reality.

"I did the play Bonaventure with a very good amateur society called The Makars," she recalls. "I was lucky to land Sarat Carn, the lead role, and for me, that was it. I thought, 'This is great, this is what I want to do'."

While encouraging their daughter, her mother, an artist, and father, a town planner, did insist that first she must do "a year at Miss Dugdale's", where she trained to be a secretary.

"Dad had obviously told some friends about my ambitions and they had said, 'Well she'll never earn a living'. So he said, 'You must learn a trade'. I trained as a secretary and absolutely loathed it. I actually had a couple of jobs as a secretary which were a joke."

Laughing, she confesses, "I just wanted to throw things out the window. Whenever they asked me to do something I just thought, 'What's the matter? Why can't you do it yourself?' I was not a good secretary."

Back in the present, it's been a long time since anyone has asked her to 'take a letter'. It's the stage version of Tim Firth's 2003 hit movie Calendar Girls that brings Forsyth to the Leven Street stage on Monday.

Based a the real-life tale of a group of Yorkshire WI members, the play charts what happens when the women decide to disrobe for a charity calendar, puzzling their husbands and mortifying their children in the process.

Joining Forsyth in the high jinks are Elaine C Smith, Lynda Bellingham, Patricia Hodge, Sin Phillips, Gaynor Faye and Julia Hills – all of who are ready to strip for their art... tastefully, of course. Forsyth doesn't.

"I'm a little bit sad that I'm not one of the girls," she confesses with a cheeky smile. "In my heart that is where I'd like to be, but somebody has got to be the protagonist – and that's me. I'm Mrs Frosty-Knickers, the one who doesn't approve of it all."

Back in 1965 however, when she appeared as one of the witches in Michael Jeliot's Festival production of Macbeth in the Assembly Hall on the Mound, it was a very different story.

"That show caused an absolute uproar because they wanted the witches to have the bodies of young girls and the faces of old women, and they wanted us to have our top half naked. But the Earl of Harwood who was running the EIF at the time, said, 'No'. So they put nipple caps on us which looked absolutely disgusting... and they used to drop off each night. It was absolutely hysterical."

Forsyth's professional debut in Edinburgh however, came a few years earlier when, straight out of RADA she won a three month contact with the Gateway Theatre on Leith Walk.

"That was absolutely wonderful. I was in My Three Angels, Listen to the Wind and The Country Boy with people like Leonard McGuire and Tom Fleming. It was a lovely intimate theatre to play."

In the late 60's, the actress worked in the Capital for a third time when she became a member of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, under the leadership of Clive Perry.

"I'm hoping that lots of my school pals are going to come to see Calendar Girls because this is the first time I've played Edinburgh since I was at the Lyceum, when I did Trumpets and Plums, The Crucible, and She Stoops to Conquer with Clive – in all I did six productions there."

It was just after her stint at the Lyceum that Forsyth underwent what she calls "a big life change" that not only allowed her to break into the lucrative world of television, but during which she cropped her hair – discovering the iconic look which has since become her trademark.

"Early in my career I had a terrible time with nerves. I had become very tense," she explains.

"I remember I had been put up for the role of the eldest daughter in the film Fiddler on the Roof, which I think I would have got if I hadn't been the way I was at the time.

"On the way to the interview the taxi did an emergency stop and I fell on the floor and just went berserk, cursing and swearing.

The taxi driver said, 'Calm down dear, what is the matter with you?' Anyway, I was so tense that I blew the interview.

"I remember thinking, 'I've got to change', so I cut my hair off and suddenly I seemed to know who I was a bit more, and started to get a lot of fantastic work on TV.

It was just amazing. It was one of those career changing things. I had long black hair before that, and I used to hide behind it."

Around the same time, her singing teacher recommended she try the Alexander Technique, a system of relaxation and focussing the mind, Forsyth found her stress levels also diminished.

"I just didn't realise how tense I had become and I went along rather reluctantly, but it completely changed my life. I just didn't take things as seriously anymore, but in a good way.

"I suddenly realised that when you go for an interview, the person doing the interview is a human being – they go to the loo like you do. They are not the director/producer, they are a person. It was that and the realisation you don't have to please everybody that changed me. I used to try be sexy when I went for interviews but I realised that if they want you, they want you. It's your quality they want, and nobody else has that same quality."

That realisation came at the age of 30, which brings us back to Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? which came along a short time later.

"I didn't know what effect it was going to have actually," she says, "although I remember thinking it was rather a good part, and being pleased I'd got it. Up until then I had done a lot of drama on telly. If I wasn't being murdered, I was murdering somebody. Or I was a disturbed art teacher or something. I was playing quite a lot of deranged people, so comedy was a nice change.

"I was contracted for nine episodes and the writers liked me so in the second series they wrote me up. I married Bob at the end of the first series and then there were another 13 episodes, a Christmas special and a film."

Famously, the stars of the show James Bolam and Rodney Bewes had a stormy relationship, something Forsyth can see with hindsight when asked about the atmosphere on the set.

"It wasn't great, I was piggy in the middle. But because it was a new thing for me, filming in front of an audience, I didn't notice so much. Looking back on it I think, 'Ah...'"

While Thelma may be the viewers' favourite, it's not the role of which Forsyth is most proud. "God knows I've had some wonderful parts over the years but Francine Pratt in Playing The Field, has to be my favourite part of all. It was wonderful."

The BBC drama ran from 1998 to 2002 and followed the off-the-field lives of women's soccer team, the Castlefield Blues.

It co-starred Gaynor Faye with whom Forsyth is reunited in Calendar Girls.

So is the veteran actress a football fan? "Goodness no, I'm a rugby girl. My dad used to take me to Murrayfield, I don't know anything about football," she laughs.

After five years with the Castlefield Blues, a likely story.

Calendar Girls, King's Theatre, Leven Street, Monday-Saturday, 7.30pm (Wednesday/Saturday matinees 2.30pm), 12.50-21, 0131-529 6000

Thursday October 8: 5.55pm

BEING BORING

Memories are flooding back. Just listened to Being Boring (Live for War Child) on the Pet Shop Boys website.

Memories of the 80s, memories of parties, clubbing and of friends who are no longer here. Oh and memories of finally meeting Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe last year when they dropped in to see Seriously, The Pet Shop Boys Musical on the Fringe, and discovering that despite his onscreen persona, Chris is as chatty as Neil.

Being Boring has to be one of the most beautiful songs ever written. The lyrics are simply phenomenal.

Useless information time: Dr Who David Tennant's real name is David John McDonald – there was already a David McDonald in Equity when he turned professional so he took the name Tennant as he was a fan of the PSBs.

Wonder if there was already a David Lowe too? Or if we'll ever have a PSB remix of the Dr Who theme?

Anyway, the Boys latest collaboration is I'm In Love With A German Film Star by Sam Taylor-Wood. The Boys produced the track which is released on CD and vinyl (remember that) on October 27, with digital release on October 29.

Go to www.petshopboys.co.uk for a sneak preview.

Thursday October 8: 12.15pm

JULIE WALTERS

I always liked Julie Walters. Ever since I discovered her playing the mum in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4. That was in 1985.

Then I watched the video of Educating Rita – mainly because Michael Caine was in it – and there she was again. By the time she'd done Personal Services and Prick Up Your Ears I was a fan.

Over the years, Walters has carved a niche for herself playing older women – Mrs Overall in Acorn Antiques, Petula Gordino in Dinnerladies, Mrs Wilkinson the ballet teacher in Billy Elliot and, of course, Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter films.

More recently she appeared as one of the stripping WI women in Calendar Girls (see the stage version at the King's next week) and played the title role in Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story on TV.

Earlier this year audiences discovered her dancing her way through the blockbuster Abba movie Mamma Mia!

Last night, in Julie Walters in Conversation at the Royal Lyceum, I discovered where her love of playing 'old dames' comes from as she promoted her new autobiography, That's Another Story (published by Orion in hardback, priced 18.99).

Radio Scotland's Janice Forsyth took to the stage first as Walters' warm up... and to ensure there was a 'spontaneous' round of applause on the star's entrance.

The predominantly female audience (ten women, of an age to be eligible for the WI, to every one man) duly obliged as the Black Country actress toddled onto the set of Macbeth – the Lyceum's current production, which ends on Saturday.

It proved an incongruous setting for the event. Spotting that the stage was covered in bark shavings Walters quipped, "It's like being in the biggest litter tray in the world."

That was the first of many laughs as she recalled her 'drama queen mother' and an incontinent grand-mother who would go for night strolls dressed only in her "pink surgical bloomers and zip-up slippers".

She then revealed how, in her own secret childhood world, she had married Wagon Train scout Flint McCulloch – together they would ride across the plains on the back of the family settee.

She also played at being Mrs Waller, the lady who owned the corner shop at the end of Bishoptown Road, where she was brought up. And she married her son too, after changing his name from Trevor to Tony (far sexier) – "It wasn't bigamy, Flint McCulloch existed in an entirely different universe".

With such a vivid imagination was there ever any doubt that the young Walters would be an actress? Well, her mum wanted her to be a nurse.

Tales of her audition for Manchester Poly (she unwittingly read a male speech), her decision to give up nursing, performing Dick Whittington in a pub with Matthew Kelly (the vice squad raided it) and swapping tights with Liza Minelli in London's Tramp nightclub followed – all crammed into an hour which included three readings from her book and an audience Q&A.

Thoroughly entertaining and thanks to Radio Scotland, an evening that you can relive if you were there, or enjoy for the first time if you weren't. The event will be broadcast as part of Radio Cafe on Wednesday, October 27. Don't miss it.

I also have a copy of That's Another Story (thanks to the good people at Orion) to give away. If you fancy it, just e-mail your name and address to [email protected] to be entered into the draw to win. Entries to be received by midnight tomorrow.

You can also read Martin Lennon's review of Julie Walters in Conversation in today's Evening News.

Wednesday October 8: 11.23am

SHE FLIES THROUGH THE AIR WITH THE GREATEST OF EASE

James Haworth, general manager of the Edinburgh Playhouse, was a happy man last night as he raised a glass of bubbly to Mary Poppins and Bert – alias actors Caroline Sheen and Daniel Crossley – after the opening night of the smash hit musical last night.

Moments after Sheen had soared high above the heads of the 3,000 capacity audience, no mean feat for someone who is not too keen on heights, the trio gathered to toast the show's success.

Read Thom Dibdin's five star review in today's Evening News.

Tuesday October 7: 10.20am

FIRST NIGHT MADNESS: ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR

There are more first nights in Edinburgh this week than there are TV celebrities in the current King's season...

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but last night alone there were two: Carousel at the Festival Theatre, starring Lesley Garrett – read Martin Lennon's five star review in today's Evening News - and Absurd Person Singular at the King's, which I caught.

Perhaps the darkest of Alan Ayckbourn's plays, Absurd Person Singular is set in three different kitchens, on three consecutive Christmas Eves.

It charts the success of the Hopcrofts as they attempt to rise up the social ladder, eventually overtaking the friends who once patronised them.

Sara Crowe, who appears to have aged little since making those 'lovely' cream cheese ads of the 90s, and Matthew Cottle provide the back-bone of the piece, although fans of Game On, the cult BBC flat share sitcom that thrust Cottle into the limelight, might be shocked to see how middle-age has treated the once fresh-faced foil to Ben Chaplin, Cottle's agoraphobic landlord in the sitcom.

Crowe and Cottle demonstrate an easy onstage chemistry as do Deborah Grant and David Griffin, who both appear to be able to do this style of comedy with their eyes shut.

Honeysuckle Weeks of Foyle's War and ex-EastEnder Marc Bannerman are slightly less comfortable in their roles, although Weeks' physicality is breath-taking, if at times a little scary.

Well worth a look if you're a fan of seventies fast-paced farce with just the right amount of pathos.

The first nights continue this evening with the Scottish premiere of Mary Poppins, in association with the Evening News (have to point that out) at the Edinburgh Playhouse.

Tomorrow Julie Walters makes a one off appearance at the Royal Lyceum (a first and only night) and on Thursday, Home To Neverland: A Window On JM Barrie opens at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

Enjoy

Monday, October 6: 1.32pm

ARCTIC MONKEYS COME TO A BIG SCREEN NEAR YOU

You can always tell when you're reading copy written by a publicist.

Try this: "Arctic Monkeys at The Apollo is a cinematic feast with impressive, intuitive, confidently held master shots – a film that invites the audience to immerse themselves in the style and force of the UK's most striking band as they deliver one of their most intense performances to date.

"It is an exceptionally high standard piece directed by Richard Ayoade, captured exquisitely on film by name directors of photography led by Danny Cohen, edited by BAFTA winning editor Nick Fenton and produced by BAFTA winning Diarmid Scrimshaw from acclaimed Warp Films, the production company behind Dead Man's Shoes and This Is England."

Strip away the superlatives and what Edinburgh fans of the Arctic Monkeys need to know is this: Arctic Monkeys At The Apollo is a 76 minute film of the last gig in the band's 2007 world tour, shot at – as the title suggests – the Manchester Apollo.

The film will be screened at Cameo, Home Street, for one night only on Tuesday, October 14. For ticket details go to www.arcticmonkeysattheapollo.com. The screening will also feature a personal introduction to the film by the band – Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Matt Helders and Nick O'Malley.

Don't worry if you can't make the screening however, as Arctic Monkeys At The Apollo will be released on DVD on November 3.

Friday October 3: 11.32am

AC/DC, ROCK THE CAFE

The Hard Rock Cafe on George Street will premiere AC/DC's highly anticipated Black Ice album on Thursday October, 16, with an exclusive listening party for the band's fans.

To apply for a ticket to attend the event, which will take place between 7pm and 9pm, register your details at www.acdccomp.co.uk/hardrock.

The prize draw is now open, and closes at midnight on October 10.

To those about to headbang... we salute you.

Friday October 3: 11.12am

SNOW PATROL PLAY FOUR CAPITAL CITIES IN TWO DAYS...

... And one of them is Edinburgh.

News just in. To launch their new album, A Hundred Million Suns, Snow Patrol's Take Back The Cities Tour sees them play a lunchtime gig at The Assembly Hall, the Mound, on Monday October, 27.

Limited tickets, priced 22.50, are available for Snow Patrol fans via the bands mailing list, and will be allocated to applicants via a lottery draw.

Each lucky ticket holder will also get an exclusive free Live CD containing highlights of the show they attend, picking up an artworked CD on the night, which will contain details of how to download music the next day.

If you're not signed up – get signed up now by clicking www.snowpatrol.com

Thursday October 2: 11.29am

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS NO MORE

Calling all Dirty Pretty Things fans. Sunday's gig at The Picture House could be your last chance to see Carl Barat and the boys live.

Today, NME.com has revealed that the band are splitting up after three years together, although they are committed to finishing their current tour.

In their farewell statement the band said: "It is with some sadness we announce the farewell of the Dirty Pretty Things. It's been a glorious three years which we all would gladly live out again, but it is time for us to try new things (not The Libertines).

"We are reluctant to give up touring but will give the last waltz everything. We have and are determined to go out as we came in, after which we all have other ventures to be getting on with and splendid future plans. Heartfelt thanks to all who made it what it was, much love and we'll see you on the road."

Read an exclusive interview with Carl Barat in tomorrow's issue of The Guide – free with your Evening News.

Wednesday October 1: 6.01pm

CHANCER'S BACK

Good news for Andy Gray fans, the one-time King's panto favourite and long-time cohort of Elaine C Smith, is to star in The Dogstone at the Traverse Theatre, this November.

The Dogstone, one of a season of four brand new plays by first time playwrights presented by The National Theatre of Scotland (NToS) and the Traverse Theatre, is written by Kenny Lindsay and directed by Dominic Hill, and looks into the darker side of Scottish families.

A father and son aren't seeing eye-to-eye in Oban. Teenager Lorn is trying to get his life started as his dad is throwing his away with last night's empties. He's a "heroic drinker" who loves to tell Lorn the local legends and stories of warriors, kings and the fabled Dogstone. Just how far can his fantasies take him?

As the other actor in the piece, Scott Fletcher, made his professional theatre debut in 365 (a play about homeless kids) I'm assuming Andy will be the pa...

The Dogstone opens November 6. Visit www.traverse.co.uk for more details.

Wednesday October 1: 5.45pm

JO JO JO JOSEPH

If you are a fan of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, head down to St Anne's Church of Scotland, Corstorphine, this week where the local congregation are set to entertain with their very own production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber's much loved masterpiece.

The performances – the culmination of weeks of work by the 60-strong cast and crew aged from eight to 86 – begin at 7pm tomorrow and run until Thursday.

Their amateur licence dictates that the players can't 'advertise' their show, however, it seems they haven't needed to, they are almost sold out.

Tickets, in aid of the church organ fund and the MS Society, are 5 each... only available on the door now, there are only a few left for each performance.

Prepare for the possibility that every door may be closed to you if you don't get there in time.

Wednesday October 1: 3.27pm

THERE'S BEEN 25 MURDERS...

... actually, I've lost track of the body count.

It's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since Mark McManus first growled the immortal line 'There's been a murder' but a quarter of a century has indeed flashed by, like a cop car whizzing along Princes Street – or should that be Sauchiehall Street – blues and twos blaring.

2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the UK's longest running crime drama and to celebrate Acorn Media UK is about to release an anniversary DVD box set – the five 60 minute episodes from the latest series, along with a 25th anniversary documentary, Taggart: 25 Years of Murder.

Featuring episodes 88-92, the box set opens with Judgement Day, in which DCI Matt Burke's elderly father is found dead in suspicious circumstances.

It continues with Island, which sees the detectives involved in a rare investigation away from Glasgow as a murder disturbs the peace of a beautiful Scottish island and Trust, which delves into the dangerous underworld of a city escort agency.

The final two investigations are A Study In Murder, which sees DC Fraser finally track down his birth mother, as the rest of the team focuses on the murder of a college principal who is found crushed to death in a lift shaft and Point of Light, which follows the investigation into the death of a private investigator whose body is found lying beneath a cliff.

To win a Taggart: 25 Years of Murder boxset simply e-mail your name, age and address here by midnight on Friday. For a further chance to win, see The Guide, free with your Evening News on Friday, October 24.

Taggart: 25 Years of Murder (15) is released on DVD (24.99) on October 20.

Wednesday October 1: 2.10pm

BANG

News just in: Hammering can currently be heard coming from the stage of the Edinburgh Playhouse as the crew of Mary Poppins prepare the venue for the arrival of the cast tomorrow.

Just to give you an idea of the scale of the task, the hammering is the culmination of a four day get in after the show's 373 costumes, 100+ moving lights, life-size doll's house set and one giant umbrella arrived in no less than 18 45-foot-long trucks.

Wednesday October 1: 1.55pm

GET CLICKING

Check out the bands battling for the Cabaret Voltaire support slot up for grabs in The Guide by clicking here.

Another six bands are about to be added - watch the lot before voting.