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Arts Ahead: 2/8/2014

Star critics cherry-pick some of the best on offer in the weeks to come

EDINBURGH THEATRE

Blood Orange

The Electric Theatre Workshop

Summerhall

Until August 21

Graham Main’s Blood Orange was written in response to a march and attempted mobilisation by a far right group in Dumfries last year. The play is set in the drug-fuelled, sexualised and sometimes vicious contemporary club scene and exposes attempts to radicalise a vulnerable young man and turn him into a racist killer. Main says: “Political theatre has a proud tradition in Scottish culture. The arts are ideally placed to reach out to communities and individuals and to push back against extremism.”

www.festival14.summerhall.co.uk

 

LONDON, BRISTOL, GLASGOW, SHEFFIELD, CARDIFF, BELFAST CINEMA

A Century of Chinese Cinema

BFI Southbank

Belvedere Road, South Bank, 

London SE1

Until October 

The New Waves programme in August showcases films made from 1980 to 1994 when Chinese cinema dominated the international arthouse scene. The New Directions programme from September to October 7 celebrates the  provocative and daring work made by Wong Kar-wai, Jia Zhangke, Wang Xiaoshuai and Tsai Ming-liangwho. Part four looks at how a new generation of arthouse masters from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan emerged from the shadows of the Cultural Revolution. The fifth and final part showcases a series of exciting and daring films made from 1993 to 2006. 

www.bfi.org.uk/china

 

BRISTOL EXHIBITION

The Promise: A dialogue between the city and its people 

Arnolfini 

6 Narrow Quay

Bristol BS1 

Until November 9

The new exhibition explores the potential futures of cities, and the role of architecture, design and the arts within these potentials. Besides the design of physical spaces in the city, the project engages with the role of the imagination, and how we construct for ourselves an image of the city that we can share and with which we can identify. Fascinating items will give an overview of the diverse ways in which Bristol has been imagined, but not always realised. 

www.arnolfini.org.uk

 

MANCHESTER MUSIC

Sun Ra Centennial Arkestra

Band on the wall

25 Swan Street,

Manchester M4 

August 17 2014

It is one hundred years ago this year that the legendary Sun Ra was born. As a musician he was inspired by modern dance, Egyptian cosmology, surrealism, raw blues and African rhythms, to name just a few sources. He stretched out swing orchestrations with screeching organs and synthesizers. The Arkestra is today led by 90-year-young alto saxophonist and long-time Ra collaborator Marshall Allen, pictured. The well-organised chaos that sees their legendary three hour sets promises to be one of the highlights of the summer.

www.bandonthewall.org

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