Welcome to your midweek edition of The Inquirer.
For today’s edition, David Forsyth has been to the United States. Not literally, you understand - our budget doesn’t stretch that far! - but he has been talking to people in Calistoga, California, about Robert Louis Stevenson.
He wanted to know why the Edinburgh author holds such a special place in their heart. The answer lies partly at the bottom of a glass of wine and partly in affairs of the heart.
More on that below, but first your regular midweek news roundup and your cultural highlights for the week ahead.
Your Edinburgh Briefing
MEADOWS FESTIVAL BREAK: The organisers of the Meadows Festival have announced plans to take a year off in 2027 due to “rising costs and fewer volunteers”. They hope the festival which has been running for 52 years will be able to return “stronger” in June, 2028.
SCHOOLS BOMB HOAX: Schools across the capital have been evacuated due a hoax bomb threat for the second time in just over three weeks. Similar threats were sent to thousands of schools across Scotland, Northern Ireland and Italy. Pupils were sent home from some Edinburgh schools yesterday morning, while students at others were allowed to return later in the day after police confirmed the threatening messages to be a hoax. The city council said pupil and staff safety has been its priority in responding to the incidents.
WINTER WARNING: Scotland’s Health Secretary Angela Constance has urged people to visit A&E “only when necessary” after admitting emergency departments are facing “significant pressures” heading into winter. The warning comes as the proportion of patients dealt with inside the government’s four-hour target time fell nationally to 58%, its second-lowest level on record.
£378K NHS PAY-OFF: The chief executive of an NHS board received a redundancy pay-off of £378,000 after retiring in May, the BBC reports. Mary Morgan retired as chief executive of NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), based at The Gyle, following its merger into a new quango, Public Services Delivery (PSD) Scotland. PSD Scotland said the payment was in line with her terms and conditions of her employment. The move comes after the Scottish Government announced plans to merge more health boards across Scotland.
BARS OPENING: Two bars are set to open in the historic Oddfellows Hall in Forrest Road. The Edinburgh-based hospitality group Signature Group will operate Ember as a traditional pub with high-end food and drink and Fellows as a sports bar. The hall has been empty since the closure of Scotland’s biggest cocktail bar, Baillie Ballerson, two years ago.
PARK CAFE CLOSING: The Four Square Cafe in Saughton Park is to close after the homeless charity which runs it said the venue has been operating at a loss since opening three years ago. The cafe was built as part of an £8.7 million regeneration which has made the park one of the most acclaimed in the UK (Welcome to Britain’s greenest park).
FIRST MUSLIM SCHOOL: Edinburgh’s first Muslim faith school has announced it will welcome its first pupils next August. The fee-paying Eden School, which will be based in the former prion governor’s house at Saughton, will teach the standard school curriculum alongside Islamic studies.
Your Pick of the (Cultural) Pops
Greetings, Pop Pickers!
Well, that’s me back. The cases are unpacked, the thermals have been excavated from the back of the wardrobe, and only a fading tan remains to remind me of a week when even wearing a T-shirt felt like overkill. Before I jetted off, it seemed as though autumn was stubbornly on hold; I have returned to denuded trees and golden piles of leaves carpeting the pavements. Stepping back into the biting winds of an Edinburgh November (however beautiful) is a brutal sensory shock, but the sheer heat radiating from the capital’s stages this week more than makes up for the plunging mercury, writes Will Quinn.
The coming days offer a massive spread of brilliance, from A-list classical virtuosos and buzzy Irish piano sensations to the very cutting edge of poetry and animation. As ever, compiling this chart has been an absolute bloodbath. Yes, indeed!
Right then, pop pickers - let’s count them down!
Honourable Mentions: Anime, Solitude, and Spittle-Flecked Chaos
Before we dive into the Top 5, this week’s bubbler list is stacked to the rafters with new arrivals and fierce holdovers demanding your attention. For cinematic thrills, Scotland Loves Anime takes over the Filmhouse and The Cameo (November 16th – 22nd), securing massive UK and European premieres alongside a stunning 4K restoration of the blood-spattered cult classic Ninja Scroll. For those still labouring under the wildly outdated delusion that animation is strictly for children, go watch it on the big screen and prepare to be corrected. Musically, you can catch wildly hyped Pittsburgh indie-rock quartet feeble little horse bringing their glitchy Gen-Z noise-pop to La Belle Angèle (November 21st) before they inevitably start selling out arenas.
Comedy fans are equally spoiled. Over at Monkey Barrel Comedy, I am delighted to see Harriet Kemsley: Floozy (tonight). I caught Harriet entertaining a packed Voodoo Rooms speakeasy years ago before TV fame finally caught up with her; her breathless, confessional chaos is an absolute delight for anyone failing at being a grown-up. Meanwhile, veteran comic Ian Stone brings his incredibly incisive observations to The Stand (November 21st).
On the theatrical front, the UK Premiere of Róisín Stack’s acclaimed solo show No Woman Is An Island arrives at the Traverse Theatre (Saturday and Sunday) - a fiercely intelligent meditation on female solitude and the perfect night out to attend entirely by yourself. And let’s not forget our brilliant holdovers: the Edinburgh Short Film Festival continues its perfect tasting menu of international cinema across the Filmhouse and Summerhall (closes November 21st), and you have only a few days left to endure the masterful psychological dread of The Haunting of Hill House at the Royal Lyceum (closes Saturday).
Falling to Number 5 is... Allegro presents The Little Mermaid (Church Hill Theatre, closes Saturday)
Slipping down the chart purely because it is packing up its fins this weekend, this ambitious staging of the Disney classic from Edinburgh’s premier amateur musical theatre society is on its final laps. As we noted last week, Allegro has a knack for punching well above their weight—bringing an animated, anthropomorphised oceanic kingdom to a dry stage is no mean feat without a Hollywood CGI budget. If you are looking for a massive dose of wholesome, sequin-drenched joy to counter the encroaching winter gloom, grab a ticket and dive in before the curtain falls for good on Saturday.
New in at Number 4 is... Jamie Duffy (Pleasance Theatre, Nov 19th)
Sweeping into fourth place is a genuine digital phenomenon making his mark in the real world. The 22-year-old Irish pianist and composer who became a viral sensation is bringing his cinematic, neo-classical sound to Edinburgh. His track “Solas” became a massive streaming juggernaut, making him the most-streamed debut artist in Ireland by blending traditional Celtic folk warmth with classical piano in a way that feels incredibly fresh. This is the buzziest neo-classical gig of the month. Catching him in a 300-capacity room like The Pleasance right now is a golden opportunity to see a rising star before he inevitably scales up to the Usher Hall on his next tour.
New in at Number 3 is... SCO: Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays Haydn (Usher Hall, tonight)
Claiming the bronze medal is an absolute A-list classical coup. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is teaming up with arguably the most famous and in-demand cellist on the planet right now. Since becoming the first Black musician to win BBC Young Musician of the Year (and subsequently playing to a global audience of nearly two billion at the 2018 Royal Wedding), Sheku Kanneh-Mason has become a platinum-selling global phenomenon. Here, he brings his singular grace to Haydn’s elegant Cello Concerto in D major. Watching a generational talent effortlessly command a cello beats whatever you had planned for a Thursday night by a country mile.
New in at Number 2 is... Push the Boat Out (The Pleasance, Nov 12th – 15th)
Taking the silver medal is a fiercely inventive weekend that flagrantly dismantles the stuffy, academic reputation of poetry readings. Scotland’s newest poetry and multi-arts festival takes over The Pleasance for an eclectic, boundary-pushing celebration. This isn’t just people standing at a lectern reading from dusty anthologies - the festival fuses spoken word with electronica, hip-hop, and visual arts, featuring a vibrant mix of talent including Aurora Engine, JL Williams, and Dean Atta. It is absolute proof that the spoken word thrives best when it’s allowed a bit of rhythm (and a late-night bar).
Staying at Number 1 is... Scottish Opera: Turandot (Festival Theatre, Closes Nov 22nd)
Holding fast at the summit for a second consecutive week, Scottish Opera’s mammoth new production simply refuses to be budged. Sir David McVicar’s visually opulent, gothic take on Puccini’s swansong is the genuine article. With Trine Møller and Victor Starsky providing the serious vocal fireworks, backed by an enormous chorus, it is a masterclass in scale and theatrical ambition. Put simply, if you want the unadulterated thrill of hearing Nessun Dorma blast through a packed auditorium, this is the only ticket in town. Dust off your finest evening wear, grab an expensive drink at the interval, and let the orchestra blow the cobwebs away. A completely unassailable chart-topper!
And that’s your Top 5!
Whether you are nursing a plastic cup of wine while letting Puccini rattle your ribs, marvelling at Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s generational talent, or surrendering to the chaotic joy of Harriet Kemsley, your diary ought to be groaning. And don’t forget, my team at The QR and I will be out in force this week - you will find our full reviews of The Little Mermaid, Sheku, Push the Boat Out, and Turandot over at theQR.co.uk just as soon as we catch them!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and dig out my Christmas jumpers, whilst dreaming of palm trees and sun-illuminated cocktails. What’s taking the top spot on your own cultural dance card this week? Think my chart needs a thorough shake-up? Head down to the comments and make your case - right after securing those tickets, of course!
Until next week: Stay bright!
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‘Bottled poetry’: New statue celebrates two of Robert Louis Stevenson’s trans-Atlantic loves
Edinburgh’s “Man of Letters” and his wife and collaborator Fanny celebrated with California memorial
by David Forsyth
It would be lovely to think that Robert Louis Stevenson will, in spirit, raise a glass of fine wine from California’s eminent Napa Valley tomorrow to mark his 176th birthday – and enjoy the unexpected gift of a new bronze sculpture of himself, his artist and writer wife Fanny and their faithful dog Chuchu.
