“Spreads a feel-good buzz!” – The Star (Malaysia), ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Best Director, Best Lead Performer @ Malaysian National Arts Awards
Soho Theatre Young Company
Malaysian-British theatre company brings their award-winning cabaret to Edinburgh
Award winning Malaysian theatre company Liver & Lung are bringing their critically acclaimed cabaret, Clinic, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Underbelly Cowgate this summer.
Imagine if Prince and Mae West were best friends. Now throw in some glitter, filth, a dash of camp and you’re nearly there … After traveling the globe seeking the reaffirmation their lovers never gave them, Ganesh and Cydney have landed in Edinburgh, on a mission to rid the city of lovesickness.
Clinic is a new cabaret experience, that’s cliché and unconventional in equal measure. With the help of a little audience participation, some outrageously intimate anecdotes and original songs, patients are taken on a euphoric and enlightening journey towards sexual discovery and self-love.
Clinic is directed, produced and composed by Malaysian-born performer Shafeeq Shajahan (@shafeeqshajahan). He is a recent recipient of the National Malaysian Arts Award for Best Director in Musical Theatre. While he plays the role of ‘Ganesh The Great’, Natalie Durkin makes her Fringe debut as ‘Cydney Debonaire’ (@nataliedurkincomedy).
About Liver & Lung: Liver&Lung is a critically acclaimed and award-winning international theatre company. Stylistic and spectacular, its plays, musicals and events in London, Edinburgh, and Malaysia have reached a wide audience.
Liver & Lung has won four Malaysian BOH Cameronian Arts Awards, including Best Direction for Sepet The Musical and Innovation in Musical Theatre for Mahsuri (& Other Peculiar Tales).
The company launched Asia’s first integrated digital arts festival, in conjunction with KLDiversity, in 2021.
Do you ever experience the feeling of missing out? Maybe the Fringe makes you confused – where to go, what to choose with so many options? You could only do the last week of Fringe but you maybe missed better things before?
Or you need to leave and you are worried you will be missing out on the final weekend fun? Worry not!
Dr King of More is here to help!
Come to our #FOMO Clinic* – a fun, immersive, theatre solo show and quasi-workshop where you will learn about the magical concept of #JOLIF through knowledge sharing, dance, audience participation and individual tips. With #FOMO Clinic you will realise you are always in the right place and your party is where you’re at.
*What does Dolly Parton have to do with FOMO? Come and find out.
#FOMO Clinic is a piece that explores the concept of fear of missing out through a fun and feel good combination of immersive theatre, workshop, quasi-lecture and audience participation, while learning how to deal with the fear of missing out (using a running theme of Dolly Parton). The main performer is a Dr King of More who launches into an academic presentation of the aspects of fear of missing out, its reasons as well as audience confessions/diagnostics.
But the presentation quickly proves to be more than what it seems as the performer introduces the alternative concept of the ‘joy of letting it flourish’ #JOLIF through music and dance. The audience gets to ask questions or take part in individual on stage clinics.
The piece is rooted both in actual research on the phenomenon of FOMO and humour, where the boundaries between academic input, comedy and audience interaction are blurred. The piece for performed in the Tramshed Found Arts Festival, London in 2022 and in the Palace Residency, Poland in 2021, as well as several time as an online event.
Audience feedback:
‘I feel like I am a happier person after this show’
‘That was so precious. Thank you Doctor!’
#FOMO Clinic is performed by King of More and it is his Edinburg Fringe solo show debut.
King of More is a queer immersive performer, actor, dancer and all around jester, originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, based in London.
His focus is people’s growth, love and connection through humour and energy filled immersive performances. King of More’s philosophy is that life is short and each moment could be appreciated and lived at least 5% more.
He discovered the talent and gift of making people smile and live/dance their fuller self so he is on a quest of spreading love through his art and expert improvisation work.
King of More performs in immersive theatre shows, festivals, movement art pieces, parties, hosts and comperes cabaret nights and adds an explosion of life to your cobwebbed Zoom event.
Some highlights of King of More’s work include being selected as one of representatives for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016 for the British House arts programme, performing on the FatboySllim 2019 UK tour and being the lead performer for Elrow in UK.
He performed within Morning Gloryville, Gypsy Disco, Boomtown, Secret Garden Party, Pete the Monkey Festival, the Provibers, Pinky Promise, Tramshed, Goblin King’s Ball, Third Mind Productions, Edinburgh Fringe, Prangsta and more.
trials in 11 areas across England to help people’s mental and physical health
GPs will issue social prescriptions such as walking, wheeling and cycling, backed by £12.7 million
schemes will include cycling and walking groups, cycle training and free bike loans
Social prescriptions, including walking, wheeling and cycling, will be offered by GPs as part of a new trial to improve mental and physical health and reduce disparities across England, the government has announced today (22 August 2022).
The government has awarded £12.7 million in multi-year funding to 11 local authority areas in England. The funding will go towards several pilot projects in each location, including:
adult cycle training
free bike loans
walking groups
Other schemes include all-ability cycling taster days where people who may not have cycled before can try to in a friendly environment, or walking and cycling mental health groups where people can connect with their communities as they get active.
The pilots must be delivered alongside improved infrastructure so people feel safe to cycle and walk.
The 11 local authority areas that will trial social prescriptions are:
Bath and North East Somerset
Bradford
Cornwall
Cumbria
Doncaster
Gateshead
Leeds
Nottingham
Plymouth
Suffolk
Staffordshire
The pilots, a commitment in the government’s Gear Change plan published in 2020, aim to evaluate the impact of cycling and walking on an individual’s health, such as reduced GP appointments and reliance on medication due to more physical activity. For the first time, transport, active travel and health officials will work together towards a whole systems approach to health improvement and tackling health disparities.
Walking and Cycling Minister, Trudy Harrison, said: ”Walking and cycling has so many benefits – from improving air quality in our communities to reducing congestion on our busiest streets.
“It also has an enormous positive impact on physical and mental health, which is why we have funded these projects which will get people across the country moving and ease the burden on our NHS.”
National Active Travel Commissioner, Chris Boardman, said: “As a nation we need healthier, cheaper and more pleasant ways to get around for everyday trips. Active Travel England’s mission is to ensure millions of people nationwide can do just that – so it’s easier to leave the car at home and to enjoy the benefits that come with it.
“Moving more will lead to a healthier nation, a reduced burden on the NHS, less cancer, heart disease and diabetes, as well as huge cost savings. This trial aims to build on existing evidence to show how bringing transport, active travel and health together can make a positive impact on communities across England.”
The pilots will be delivered between 2022 and 2025 with on-going monitoring and evaluation to support continued learning.
The project is bringing together a range of government departments and agencies including:
Hypothetically speaking, if you were in a boardroom with a ticking clock, the survival of humanity on your shoulders and a growing sense of a darker reality, would you succeed… no matter what?
A group of corporate consultants’ battle morality and mystery with logic in this hilariously dark play. Do hypothetical actions have very real consequences? Is everything just as it seems and how do you know that? Can we trust you to let the paranoia sink in, as comedy and thriller distort the truth of this hypothetically real Ideation!
Aaron Loeb’s sinister comedy will leave you questioning all things you ever thought to be real. Ideation, first performed in 2014, scarily resonates with prominent affairs today. Set in real time, Ideation is a fast-paced analytical response to the society we live in today. With a directorial debut, Chlöe Hallsworth has brought to life (and to Edinburgh) a play that will leave you wanting more.
Exeter University Theatre Company, fondly known as EUTCo, is one of the largest and longest running theatre societies at the university. Our goal is to get students involved in directing, producing, stage management, technical management, and performing professional quality drama.
The society provides a platform to produce innovative and high-quality student theatre, in an effort to entertain and inspire the rest of the student body and the larger community in Exeter.
EUTCo also offers a number of industry led workshops for members and non-members to further provide theatrical opportunities for students.
‘Ideation makes the mundane amusing and the average extraordinary’ Exeposé
Napier Knights giving young players a head start in American football
Edinburgh Napier Knights, the university’s American football team, is celebrating the achievement of breakthrough quarterback Cameron Dunn – one of several young players who are making moves towards playing the sport professionally.
The 20-year-old, who took up the sport with the Knights youth teams in Sighthill, is embarking on a scholarship with St John Fisher University in New York state, which is due to formally start next month.
After arriving in the USA, he said: “The move over has gone well so far. We are just settling into the pre-season camp schedule now. With practices underway, every day is busy, but exciting.
“The Knights have really helped me prepare to compete at this level with the quarterback coaching I received last year.
“Being able to compete against Americans who have played all their life is really special.”
Edinburgh Napier Knights Head Coach and Club Chairman Pete Laird said: “Cameron started with us as a youth, ended up choosing to come to university, then broke all sorts of records with the team.
“He’s so dedicated, such an earnest kid, his parents have kept him on the steady level. He is a wonderful example to others at the club.”
Cameron isn’t the only young Knights player to have been offered a chance at a higher level. The Knights’ youth teams, which were founded by Edinburgh Napier University students in 2017 as a way of getting children from the Sighthill and Broomhouse community into sport and education, have also drawn more attention from across the country.
Just weeks after the club fielded an under 19s outfit for the first time, it will provide 25 players for the Scotland under 19 squad for an upcoming fixture on 24 September.
Some of those players – AJ Danso, Charlie Torrance-Hay and Steven Malan – have been recruited on athletic scholarship degrees by English universities, while under 16s Luca Clement and Charlie Rattray were invited to try out for a place at the new NFL Academy in Loughborough.
Their development stems from the club’s determination to give young people opportunities in sport in an area of Edinburgh which has suffered from anti-social behaviour and vandalism.
Pete Laird explained: “American football has gone from being a novelty to a participation sport. That is the big difference for us.
“We had 85 kids last year and we’re now starting to see scouts come from elsewhere coming to watch our players. We get kids that have never played before and we teach them the game. We have a resource in our students who can do that – they have such a love and a passion for it.
“For us the main thing about trying to engage with the local kids and offer them an alternative. The university was always seen as an alien external building to them, but we try to show them it’s part of the community. We tell them ‘students at Napier are just like you’.
“That’s what we’re in it for, if they use it as a platform to stay in studies then we’ve done our job. I always say we could be teaching tiddlywinks. It is about giving them an outlet.”
The club is open to anyone aged 8-19 and is always on the lookout for new players.
A consultation has launched seeking the views of residents on the plan for Inch Park and what improvements people would like to see.
The City of Edinburgh Council’s Thriving Green Spaces Project is producing a vision masterplan for regenerating Inch Park, which aims to set out what could happen at the park in the future.
The proposals are now on display during an eight-week public consultation to gain feedback from the local community and park users.
Since last summer, work on a draft masterplan has been underway with a working group of interested parties involved in coming up with proposals on how Inch Park can better serve the community and capitalise on its potential and popularity.
The group includes Council staff, representatives from the local community councils, Inch Community Association and community sports clubs who have all worked together to come up with a plan that would make improvements in the area.
Participants will be asked about the overall concept plan, the wider park improvement ideas, opportunities to make the park better for nature and wildlife and proposed new visitor facilities and new café.
They will be asked for their views on the following objectives:
Celebration of Inch’s history – including things such as restoration of the historic Inch House and outbuildings
Activities for all – such as a new all-weather 11-a side sports pitch and facilities and new visitor centre
Accessibility – other improvements to the park including new paths, lighting, entrances and furniture
Play – such as a new play area and facilities for children
Sustainability – creating habitats for wildlife and connecting them to other city areas and using sustainable low/zero carbon heating and power generation.
The masterplan also formed the basis of a Levelling Fund bid that the Thriving Green Spaces team have submitted to the UK Government. A result on the bid is expected this autumn and if successful it will enable the project to proceed immediately to the next stage, detailed design followed by a planning application.
Culture and Communities Convener, Councillor Val Walker, said: “Inch Park is a popular park in the capital and has lots of potential. The proposed masterplan suggests some very exciting ideas and I very much look forward to hearing the feedback.
“Of course, masterplans give us a vision – but what will actually be possible depends on local support and on funding. Which is why we want to make sure it has everything users and visitors to the park need and we have an accurate account of what residents want to see there.
“The responses we receive will help further develop our masterplan, which funding and resource permitting will form the basis for improvements to Inch Park. I’d urge as many local residents as possible to have their say in this consultation so we can develop a truly community-based proposal.”
Master planning gives an overall broad plan for an area and is an aspiration. Whether or not it is delivered in full depends on many things, including funding and resource and checking if the ideas are feasible.
Thriving Green Spaces Project has been made possible thanks to funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund and National Trust ‘Future Parks Accelerator’ programme.
Find out more about Inch Park Masterplan consultation and take part on the Council website. The consultation will close 28 September.
POLICE Officers from our Prevention, Intervention and Partnerships Dept will be holding a bike marking event at our mobile police station at East Princes Street Gardens on Thursday (25/08/22) between 10-2pm.
Hospitality Industry Trust (HIT) Scotland has announced that the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship is again seeking applications from aspiring chefs working in Scotland. Eligible applicants can find out more information by visiting https://hitscotland.co.uk/scholarships
Positioned as the ultimate scholarship that any aspiring chef in Scotland could receive, the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship is a fantastic opportunity for any chef looking to grow their knowledge and gain experience within renowned establishments.
Sponsored by HIT Scotland and The Gleneagles Hotel, and supported by Restaurant Andrew Fairlie and Perth College UHI, the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship is now in its 3rd year. The scholarship launched in 2019, with the late Andrew Fairlie spearheading the initiative in partnership with HIT Scotland – an industry charity he was closely associated with.
The recipient will gain industry-wide recognition as an Andrew Fairlie Scholar and experience once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to continue their culinary education, such as a practical stage at 2 Michelin star Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, and 3-star restaurant Core by Clare Smyth in London.
Last year, two scholarships were awarded to Josh Wilkinson and Amy Stephenson.
The judges include some of the country’s finest chefs, who all knew Andrew Fairlie well. Joining Stephen McLaughlin, Head Chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, is fellow 2 Michelin starred chef Tom Kerridge, Masterchef winner and National Chef of Scotland, Gary McLean, Lorna McNee, 1 star Head Chef at Cail Bruich, and Andrew’s former mentor Keith Podmore.
Stephen McLaughlin, Head Chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, said: “I’m delighted that we are starting the search for another Andrew Fairlie scholar, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Scotland’s future stars have to offer this year.
“I’m excited to see what the applicants design as their dish to be cooked if they make the Final skills test. We’ve put some conditions on what that should include, but we want the chefs to use their knowledge and creativity to come up with something to showcase their personality, and impress us.
“The Andrew Fairlie Scholarship is a fantastic opportunity for chefs that want to push themselves to be the best they can be, to learn from and be inspired by other talented chefs, and to continue their personal development in this industry that we love.”
To apply, potential candidates will complete an online application exploring their thoughts on why they’d like to win this scholarship, their hopes for their future career as a chef, and who in the industry has recently inspired them.
They will have to show their knowledge and creativity by creating a dish to be cooked and served on Finals Day in November, using their choice of wild furred Scottish game in season, with 2 garnishes (1 must include fruit), accompanied by a poivrade sauce. From this, up to 6 chefs will be chosen to take part in the Grand Final in November.
The finalists will take part in a skills test at Perth College UHI which will focus on their skills, knowledge, and creativity, with the winner showing the right mix of personality and professionalism to be named an Andrew Fairlie Scholar.
Eligible applicants can find out more information by visiting:
✓ Increase in the rate reflects the low annual comparison point in June 2021
✓ 19 Local Authorities have price growth in excess of 10.0%
✓ Transactions are lower than in June 2021 – but that was a bumper month
✓ Argyll and Bute has highest growth rate at 25.5%
• The Walker Fraser Steele Acadata House Price Index (Scotland). Please refer to the Notes at the end for information on content and methodology.
• Walker Fraser Steele is the trading name of e.surv Chartered Surveyors in Scotland.
Scott Jack, Regional Development Director at Walker Fraser Steele, comments: “June is the mid-point in the calendar year, the summer solstice marking when the sun is at its most northerly point – but will this June also herald a change in temperature for the housing market in Scotland? Possibly.
“Average house prices continued to rise in June, but only by 0.4% (£950) to £221,900 accompanied by a slight downturn in the total number of transactions – compared admittedly to an unusually high number in June last year.
“Added to this, four of the bottom five local authorities by value saw prices fall in June, suggesting that the lower end of the market is running out of steam. However, looking in the round, whilst the number of transactions may be cooling, continued lack of supply and strong demand, particularly for higher value, spacious properties, is fuelling individual prices.
“There were 70 sales in excess of £750,000 in June alone, the highest annual increase in average house prices recorded in Argyle & Bute, up 25.5% over the year, with June seeing three high value houses go for well over the asking price. In fact, for the year to date there have been 453 sales in excess of £750,000 in Scotland, over half (228) in Edinburgh, driving the underlying rise in average house prices which have increased by 10.5% (£21,000) on an annual basis.
“As we move into the second half of the year it will be interesting to see the impact of reduced competition at the lower end of the market on properties higher up the value chain. However, to date, the sun continues to shine almost unabated as restricted supply remains the dominant factor for house prices across Scotland.”
Commentary: John Tindale, Acadata Senior Housing Analyst
The June housing market
The average price paid for a house in Scotland in June 2022 is £221,900, establishing yet another record price for the country – the twelfth occasion that this has happened in the last twelve months.
This price is some £21,000 higher than that seen in June 2021, indicating that prices have risen by 10.5% on an annual basis. This annual growth rate is the highest recorded to date in 2022, but it has been elevated by a near £3,000 fall in prices that occurred twelve months earlier in June 2021, meaning that the base point for measuring the annual growth rate started from a particularly low level.
In fact, the average house price only rose by some £950, or +0.4%, in June 2022 – the lowest monthly increase of this calendar year.
Figure 1. The average house price in Scotland over the period June 2020 to June 2022 (Link to source Excel)
As discussed, there would appear to be a minor slowdown in the number of transactions that took place in June 2022, compared to the previous year – although June 2021 had set a new record level for the month, and was also the fourth-highest monthly total of the previous ten years, so the bar to clear had been set extremely high.
On page 5 we show that the number of high-value transactions are similarly seeing a minor slowdown, but again the June 2021 total was always going to be hard to exceed. However, the June 2022 total is the second month of this calendar year in which the total number of high-value sales is not the greatest for the month of the eight years shown.
Nevertheless, the desire to live in properties with plenty of space, generally meaning the purchase of high-value detached properties, continues. Frequently, the achieved selling price then exceeds that of the guide price, likely indicating that there has been competition for properties with the requisite characteristics.
New instructions to sell remain relatively thin on the ground, so maintaining the tight supply conditions, and hence supporting the monthly increase in house prices. The latest RICS UK Residential Survey does not anticipate that this pattern will change “for the time being”.
Annual change
The average house price in Scotland increased by some £21,000 – or 10.5% – over the last twelve months, to the end of June. This is a near £4,000 increase over the £17,000 growth in prices seen in the twelve months to the end of May 2022 – but prices in June 2021 fell by £3,000 from May 2021, so the base starting point for measuring annual changes in value was already at a relatively low level, making it more likely that prices would show an increase twelve months later.
In June 2022, 30 of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland saw their average prices rise over the levels seen twelve months earlier – the two exceptions being Na h-Eileanan Siar and Inverclyde, although the average property price in Na h-Eileanan Siar only fell by £5 over the year. These two areas are currently bottom of Table 3, meaning that they have the two lowest average property values of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland. As we suggested last month, this may indicate that the competition between buyers for homes is not so intense at the lower end of the price spectrum.
The area with the highest annual increase in average house prices in June 2022 was Argyll and Bute, where values have risen by 25.5% over the year. This is the third month in succession that Argyll and Bute has recorded the highest annual change in prices, having been assisted in this process by a number of high-value sales achieving prices above their guide levels. This again occurred in June, with a five-bedroom detached home on the Isle of Bute having an asking price of £700,000 but selling for £830,000. Three examples, in the same area, show the way in which competition for homes in attractive locations can result in a noticeable increase in average house prices.
On a weight-adjusted basis, which employs both the change in prices and the number of transactions involved, there are five local authority areas in June that account for 42% of the £21,000 increase in Scotland’s average house price over the year. The five areas in descending order of influence are: – Edinburgh (13%), Glasgow (11%); South Lanarkshire (7%); Fife (6%); and Perth and Kinross (5%).
Monthly change
In June 2022, Scotland’s average house price in the month rose by some £950, or 0.4%, continuing the pattern of minor upward oscillations in property values on a monthly basis. The average price in Scotland now stands at £221,900, which sets a record level for the nation for the twelfth month in succession.
In June 2022, 18 of the 32 Local Authority areas in Scotland experienced rising prices in the month, three fewer than in May. The largest increase in average prices in June, of 7.4%, was in Perth and Kinross, where the average price of detached homes increased from £350k in May to £380k in June. The average price for homes was elevated in the month by the sale of a four-bedroom local architect designed detached property near to the Bridge of Cully, which sold for its asking price of £1.3 million.
At the other end of the scale, the lowest increase in average prices in June, of -7.4%, was in Inverclyde. In Inverclyde the price of detached homes fell from an average £360k in May to £300k in June – however, only two detached homes were actually sold in the area in June – which explains why the movement in average prices was so exaggerated. Flats are the most frequently purchased property type in Inverclyde, and these increased in price from an average £78k in May to £82k in June – a far more reasonable movement in prices over the month.
It is interesting to note that four of the bottom five local authorities by value all saw prices fall in the month, which as we commented earlier suggests that the lower-priced sector of the market is not seeing the same level of competition as is being experienced at the higher end of the market, thus allowing prices to fall.
Peak Prices
Each month, we highlight the local authority areas which have reached a new record in their average house prices. In June, there are 13 such authorities, four less than in May. We can also add that Scotland itself has set a record average price in June 2022 – the sixth of this calendar year.
Heat Map
30 of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland have seen a rise in their average property values over the last year, the two exceptions being Na h-Eileanan Siar and Inverclyde.
The highest increase over the twelve months to June 2022 was in Argyll and Bute at 25.5%. 19 of the 32 local authority areas had price growth in excess of 10.0%.
