SCOTS actor and Herald Angel winner Shirley Henderson and former Glasgow Citizens Theatre company stalwart Ciaran Hinds play couple Elizabeth and Nick Laine in a new play by the writer of the acclaimed and often staged The Weir, Conor McPherson. Girl From The North Country opens at the Old Vic in London next month in a production designed by Rae Smith.
As its title will suggest to aficionados, the play is inspired by the songs of Bob Dylan, and the Nobel Laureate has give permission for his words and music to be used in the show.
Set in Dylan's hometown of Duluth, Minnesota in 1934, the production is also directed by McPherson, and has a company of 20 actors and musicians, with the Dylan songbook woven into the fabric of the script. It opens on July 8 and runs to October 7.
oldvictheatre.com
CENTRAL Scotland post-punk quartet The Media Whores have been nominated for the Hyundai Mercury Prize for their third album, Dangerous Minds, which is available through Brian Guthrie's TSB label. Song subject matter on the set includes big business greed, welfare cuts, fracking and body-shaming, and the album has won praise on both sides of the Atlantic with New York music journalist Fred Nader calling it "probably the most politically significant album by a UK band in decades."
The band are one of the busiest on the circuit with recent support slots on tours with Big Country, Spear of Destiny and The Damned. They played Glasgow's Nice'n'Sleazy last night. The shortlist for this year's prize will be revealed on July 27.
mercuryprize.com
WINE merchant Corney & Barrow, which is already associated with the Musical Theatre department at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, has announced a new partnership with Scottish Ballet. The company, which can trace its history back 250 years, has its motto that "Life Rewards the Curious" and while conceding that ballet may not be the first pairing to come to mind with wine, the dedication, art and science involved in the creation of both, it says, "suggest parallels worth exploring".
Scottish Ballet audiences are promised access to a specially curated selection of Corney & Barrow wines, chosen to reflect the stories and ideas the dance company presents on stage.
Corney & Barrow supplied the refreshments at Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Andrew Panton's Professorial address at the Conservatoire, and sponsored the recent production of the Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Tim Rice musical, Chess.
corneyandbarrow.com
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