Congratulations to our pals at 404 INK, who won the Saltire Society’s Emerging Publishers of the Year for 2017 last night. We’re sure you’ll all agree that it’s hugely well deserved.
Countdown to the National Trust for Scotland plaque starts here…
And congratulations to us for having the opportunity to host the launch of 404 Ink Issue 2: POWER in Edinburgh this coming Friday, 8 December. The mag includes work by Interrobang veterans, pals, and known associates Andrew Blair, Ever Dundas, Rebecca Raeburn, Ross McCleary, and Stuart Kenny, so we can’t wait to encourage people to get it in their hands.
Thanks to Flint & Pitch’s Cameron Foster, it looks great, too.
Even better, the launch event features performances from Ross, the incomparable Kaite Welsh, Siobhan Shields, and the fabulous Helen McClory – author of Mayhem & Death, coming March 2018 from 404.
We’re also promised wonderful music and more shenanigans, so get your tickets now, follow 404 INK on Twitter @404Ink, and STAY TUNED!!!
The launch party for 404 INK’s Issue 3: POWER takes place this Friday, 8 December from 7pm at Summerhall. Get your tix here while you can.
It’s less than a week till the most exquisitely tasteful event of the festive season – THE AMBASSADOR’S RECEPTION!
But how does one put together such a function? Today, we’re going all Lifestyles of the Rich Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous as The Butler of the great event talks with Andrew Blair.
He was very happy to take a few minutes away from the preparations
‽: The Ambassador’s Receptions are noted for their host’s exquisite taste. How do you spoil the guests at one of these famed functions?
TB: Care and affection. Creating a calming and welcoming environment, where all guests can flourish.
Then we play The Resistance and yell ‘SPY!’ at each other until someone falls over.
The game of secret identities, deduction, and deception
‽: If you were a chocolate confection, what chocolate confection would you be?
TB: Right, so first you need a baguette. You cut the end off and put it to one side. Get a big one and cut both ends off if you’re cooking for two. With the middle bit, make whatever savoury sandwiches you want with the big bit, and once you’ve enjoyed that, you tear out the bread from inside the baguette end, then get a packet of Lindt and take out one of every kind, put them inside the baguette end, stuff the bread back in, then microwave it for 20 seconds (800W). Congratulations. You’ve now had a delightful savoury sandwich and finished off the meal with a bespoke, handmade pain au chocolat.
I’m aware this doesn’t technically answer the question.
‽: The holiday season approaches. Can you give us an example of a seasonal advert that makes you want to rush out and conspicuously consume/throw up*? (*Delete as applicable)
TB: The Coke advert. It’s like a fucking Judas Goat.
Don’t get in the truck, kid. It’s bad for your teeth.
‽: From James Last to Demis Roussos to Rene and Renata, continental Europe is famed for its contribution to popular music. What’s your favourite Europop?
TB: I just heard this in a film called My Life as a Courgette, which you should watch if you like heartwarming animations about overcoming trauma.
‽: We’re beginning to get the impression that modern butling isn’t what we expected at all.
Finally, The Ambassador’s Reception will be filled with luminaries from the worlds of politics, diplomacy, and art. Who are you hoping will turn up?
TB: The person who is reading this..
That’s YOU. Come toTHE AMBASSADOR’S RECEPTION and find out what it is to be lavished with care and affection in a calming and welcoming environment absolutely free of death and murder. There certainly won’t be any intriguing murders to solve as part of an immersive theatrical whodunnit. ____________________
THE AMBASSADOR’S RECEPTION will take place in one°below at six°north on 24 November at 7:30pm. Space for this exclusive event is limited and tickets are going fast, so book your place now.
The nights are drawing in, and that can mean only one thing.
Don’t go down to six°north’s cellar!
Yep. INTERROBANG‽ have recovered from our first birthday celebrations and we’re back with brand new show! We’re teaming up with Poetry AF to create something a bit different. And it’ll be like nothing you’ve ever seen before… Continue reading “We’re Ba-ack!”
Is it just us, or does that asteroid look bigger? Better get some more INTERROBANG?! Interrogations out before the End of the World!
Ricky Interrobang is still confused about how to feel about the sweet, sweet release of the apocalypse. So we’re subjecting another guest to the anglepoise treatment. ANDREW BLAIR writes things. Sometimes he says them too. He says it’s going alright, actually. Thanks for asking.
And here’s how Andrew answered our questions…
A guy who looks this messianic MUST have some answers. Right?!
‽: So, it’s the end of the world. If you weren’t at Interrobang’s apocalyptic party, where would you be and what would you be doing? (Don’t be afraid to give us the juicy details).
AB: I’d probably be at home, not really doing anything. If the world was going to end I’d probably put the heating on.
One’s got the two-bar fire on. Andrew will be here in a minute.
‽: That should move things along. Without giving too much away, could you tell us a little about the inspiration behind the pieces you’ll be sharing with us at Interrobang?
AB: You guys came up with a theme and fortunately I already had a lot of poems about futility and disappointment.
“Here’s one I wrote earlier.”
‽: Picture it – all around the world, books are being taken and destroyed, except literature that upholds our new President’s literary sensibilities. You have the chance to save three books from this Reign of Terror; what would they be?
AB: The Handmaid’s Tale, The Crow Road, and Robert Pattinson (The A-Z)
‽: Pick a song or piece of music that you would have played as your personal soundtrack as the world crumbles around you.
AB: Halcyon (Beautiful Days) by Mono. Or if time is an issue, Girl From Mars by Ash.
We have all the time in the world (8m 09s)
‽: Describe, in three words if possible, your feelings on Trump’s Presidency?
AB: I am terrified.
Thanks a lot to Andrew for making us think that the end of the world might be a good thing, on balance. Come along and hear more from him at Interrobang’s End of the World Party at Woodland Creatures at 7pm on 21st January.
We’re only a week away from Inauguration Day! Unless you’re really keen, and it’s still the evening of Thursday, 12th January.
“Seven more sleeps. Joke’s on you, nasty Edinburgh people!”
And that means we’re only a week and one day away from INTERROBANG?!’s End of the World Party!!! – 7pm, Saturday 21 January at Woodland Creatures.
We were planning to take INTERROBANG?! on a wee hiatus for the first quarter of 2017. Take a moment to absorb the lessons of our first mini-season.
Bored now…
But while we were preparing for The War on Christmas?! Heather and Laura of the endlessly awesome 404 Ink (and Nasty Women, our favourite kind) asked if we were planning a show to mark the anointment of The Donald. Well, wehadn’t been…
So. Are you ready for the New World Order, President Donald J. Trump Style? We’re not. 21 January is Post-Trump-Inauguration Day and we’d like to commiserate with you. Come along to INTERROBANG?!‘s fourth night of frivolity and fun, listen to some post-apocalyptic poetry and story-telling, and get inordinately drunk with us.
Arrive promptly and do Dr Pepper Bombs with your hosts? G’WAN!!!
Performing on this confusingly sad yet fragilely optimistic night, we have:
The wonderful RYAN VAN WINKLE, KATHARINE MACFARLANE, ANDREW BLAIR, and LAURA WADDELL?!
Edinburgh’s greatest living writer of the humorous, volunteer-performed, two-handed playlet, JACQUES TSIANTAR’s latest Big Two-Hander, specially themed with hopelessness and despair?!?!
Harpies, Fechters and Quines 2016 Slam Champion KATHARINE MACFARLANE travelling through to Edinburgh with a set themed on the President-elect’s mother’s island home?!?!?!
Stopped by to have a word with Dòmhnall Iain Trump. Wasnt too impressed when I told him he was less popular than Mac an t-Sronaich back home pic.twitter.com/gPoC9TQ8XV
Your INTERROBANG?! hosts, RICKY MONAHAN BROWN and BETH COCHRANE will also offer some words of condolence on the night.
And since y’all make INTERROBANG?!, a couple of Interrobangers will be joining our performers on stage with (it says here) 5-7 minutes of apocalyptic work. It’s a ton of fun, we promise!
Come mourn, laugh and drink with us, for a charmingly small door charge of £5 – a fee which goes into paying our performers and funding INTERROBANG?!’s future endeavours. And we’ve got some YUGE, format-bending fun coming up in 2017.
Who knows what 2017 will bring, so enjoy it while you can!
DISCLAIMER: The INTERROBANG?! End of the World Party does not guarantee the survival of the world 20-21 January.
