23www.inverness-courier.co.ukFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2017

artsandentertainmentin association with www.whatson-north.co.uk What’s On North

Noted director to give sneak peak of latest releaseCELEBRATED director Ben Wheatley

will give Inverness fans a sneak peak of his latest flick when he previews it at Eden Court next week.

The top filmmaker’s impressive CV includes the Tom Hiddleston-starring High-Rise, A Field in England, classic black comedy Sightseers and Peter Capaldi’s feature-length debut in Doctor Who – which itself got a cinematic simulcast screening.

His latest effort, 70s-set black comedy Free Fire, features a dream cast – including Oscar-winner Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer and Noah Taylor.

The black comedy about an arms deal in a shabby warehouse that turns into a “no holds-barred shoot-out”, has yet to hit cinemas, but will get an early screening in the Highland capital on Monday.

And the reason for his trip to Inverness? He loves to get out and see the cinemas his films will screen in, the director revealed.

“It’s a big treat for me,” he said. “I make out like it’s work or something, but it’s actually a total indulgence. But it gets me out to audiences and I chat to them.

“And there are so many beautiful cinemas out there and great audiences, it’s good.

Wheatley’s A Field In England pioneered a different film release strategy, being available simultaneously in cinemas, on DVD and shown on TV as well as opening in cinemas.

The psychedelic black and white historical thriller, set in the English Civil War, was shot in 12 days and helped Ben win a famous fan.

And now director Martin Scorsese has executive produced Free Fire.

Ben said: “I still can’t quite believe it. I’m a big film fan and massive fan of his.”

He talked about why A Field In England was released simultaneously in cinemas, on TV and on DVD.

“We had made Sightseers which had been pretty popular,” he said ““But then we made Field which was really weird and difficult and I didn’t want to take that audience from Sightseers and have a load

of posters around, they see Sightseers and then they turn up and see this weird black and white film about the Civil War.

“There will always be people who would pay to see that film in a cinema – which is where it should be seen.

“But then there is another audience that will take a chance on it and what they are risking is their time only. If they like it, then they will tell more people – and they might also go to the cinema to watch it.

“So it was trying to tap into that vibe.“If we hadn’t have done it in that type of

release it would possibly only been shown on 10 screens and probably never would

have made it up to Scotland at all, that’s for sure.

“It would have appeared at the ICA in London, might have played Manchester and then it would have been gone.”

And getting the Free Fire tour to come as far north as Inverness gives Wheatley the chance to relive childhood memories.

“We would come up to Scotland for our holidays – we have loads of family in Edinburgh and then we would come up to Inverness. So it will be good to be back.”n Free Fire is at Eden Court Cinema on Monday at 8pm with director Ben Wheatley present for a Q&A afterwards.

Comedic capers will enthral Eden CourtFANS of Arthur Conan Doyle’s most iconic creations will be given a comedic twist when they enchant theatre-goers in Inverness during Holmes and Watson: The Farewell Tour this evening.

Following a sold out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the comedy caper sees Sherlock Holmes – who intends to hang up the cape and deerstalker for good and retire to Sussex – gear up for one last adventure.

Brought along for the ride are trusted companion Dr Watson, housekeeper Mrs. Hudson and Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard.

The four of them attempt to re-enact one of Holmes’s most bizarre and baffling unsolved cases for the benefit of the audience, a tale that includes a recreation of one of the most iconic scenes in Arthur Conan Doyle’s lore – the deadly struggle at the Reichenbach Falls between Holmes and Moriarty.

Written by Stuary Fortey and directed by Tristan Pate, the play

stars Adrian Banks as Sherlock Holmes, and Liam Nooney as Dr Watson.

The show comes to Eden Court on Friday, February 24. Tickets

cost £12 (with reduced and under-18 rates available) and the performance starts at 7.30pm.

For more information go to www.eden-court.co.uk

Catch up withall the arts and entertainment news at

www.whatson-north.co.uk

There are so many beautiful cinemas out there and great audiences

Ben Wheatley

Free Fire is Ben Wheatley’s latest film, and features a top cast –including Oscar-winner Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer and Noah Taylor.

Special screening

Theatre

Stars of the show Adrian Banks (left) and Liam Nooney.

Folk award nominees over the moon at making listHIGHLAND musicians Charlie Grey and Joseph Peach are among the finalists in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Entertainment news reporter Margaret Chrystall caught up with the duo as they prepare for the final in the Royal Albert Hall this spring.

You brought out your debut album last year Waves Rise From Quiet Water. How has that gone?

JOE: The album was an idea we had on the A9 one Sunday morning on the way back down after a ceilidh dance in Inverness.

I’ve got a small home studio set up, so when the idea came up the reaction was “Why not?”. The recording was done on a shoestring!

Once the recording was done we took it to Mattie Foulds at Caribou Recording who did the most amazing job of mixing and mastering it.

CHARLIE: Most of the music on the album is our own. We’ve been playing together in various outfits since we were in music school [in Plockton] together.

Over this time we’ve written a whole rake of music – getting this down was one of the main motivations for recording the album. The reception the CD has had has been unbelievable, and it’s really started our career as a duo.

Why do you think the two of you work well together as a duo?

CHARLIE: We’ve been thinking about this question of why the duo works so well for quite a while. It’s difficult to pin down.

On a musical level I think it’s a combination of having played together for a long time in lots of different of settings – music school, Feis Rois, loads of sessions, ceilidh dances, background music gigs and such like.

The fact that we did all this for years, before we formally became a duo means that we know each other musically very well – there’s a level of understanding of how the other plays, and what sort of sound we’re trying to create together – it all happens pretty naturally really!

What has been the best thing about the Radio 2 Folk Awards so far? Would you say you are more excited or nervous about being chosen among this year’s finalists?JOE: There wasn’t a great deal of nerves before the semi-finals gig to be honest.

The only slight hiccup was when Charlie trapped a nerve in his back about an hour before we went on [for the semi-final], other than that it was lovely!

I still don’t think it’s really sunk in that we’re in the final!

It’s so exciting to be able to look at the nominee list and see us on it alongside some of our biggest folky heroes, particularly The Gloaming – we’re massive fans!

What other things will you be doing this year?

JOE: We’ve got a really exciting few months coming up.

It starts with a couple of gigs in Scotland: Comrie on Saturday, March 4 in a double bill with Sharon King, then Glasgow with Eddie and Luc on March 29.

We are heading up to Breakish folk club on Skye on April 3, a couple of days later we fly down to London for the folk awards ceremony in the Albert Hall, then the following day we’re flying out to the Netherlands to tour for a week.

On all of the gigs in April we’re joined by Mabel Duncan.

She is a singer from Perthshire who also studied at Plockton and who has done

loads of gigs with us over the past few months.

As I mentioned we’ll be launching a new EP on our Scottish tour at the start of July.

For this we’ll be joined by a couple of very special guests.

Details of this will be announced over the next couple of months.

As well as this there’s some very exciting festival and further summer gig news still to be announced.

Stay tuned via our website or Facebook page!n You can follow Charlie and Joseph online at www.cgjpmusic.com or on social media via www.facebook.com/cgjpmusic

Interview

Seventh heaven for Twin Atlantic

FORMER Bella headliners Twin Atlantic are set to make their long-awaited return to the Ironworks – for the seventh time.

The four-piece come to the Ironworks on Friday, May 19 on the back of the release of latest album GLA towards the end of last year.

Over the years, Twin Atlantic have scored two national top 10 albums – GLA and The Great Divide. They also secured a top 20 single, Heart and Soul, in 2014.

A band known for their energetic live shows, over the years they performed a headline show at the SSE Hydro in 2015, went on a sold-out three night run at the Barrowlands in December 2016,

as well as headlining the Friday night at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival 2013.

Tickets cost £20, and go on sale Friday. For full details, go to www.ironworksvenue.com

Concert

Monro show is ‘a tribute to dad’TOP crooner Matt Monro won legions of fans with his golden voice – belting out such beloved tracks as From Russia With Love and Born Free.

And now those hits and others will find a new audience in Inverness, courtesy of his son Matt Monro Jr and the great man himself.

Matt Jnr was 13 when he was invited by his father to join him on stage to perform a duet. It only happened once, but now you can hear it at Eden Court on Tuesday (Feb 28) by the magic of technology in Matt’s tribute to his late father’s life and music.

The Matt Monro Story: 30th Anniversary Tour packs in all the hits. And for Matt Monro Jr who says he never cries, this show is proving an emotional experience.

“Up until we trialled this show last year – I never cry really as I’ve got this mechanism that I can stop myself from doing that – everyone used to say to me ‘When you’re doing the duet, it must be so emotional’.

“But it’s more that I can’t express the happiness I feel because I’m singing with my dad again.

“I just sang once with my dad when I was 13-years-old.

“So it brings back such happy memories.

“But then when I did the trial run last year I cried every night onstage, I couldn’t stop myself.

“I felt so embarrassed, it got to me at the same point of the show every night.

“So I presume I’m going to be crying 36 times again on this tour!”

Matt Jr gave up a career in

professional golf to return to his first love, singing. Later this year he hopes to do an album, more in his own style.

“I’m more of a cross between a Michael Buble and a Sammy Davis Jr whereas my dad was more of a swing act, a crooner.”

Looking back over his father’s whole career has allowed Matt to create his own musical tribute.

He says: “The new album we did specially for this tour is called A Father’s Legacy and it includes the music my dad left me behind.

“But I literally went through about 500 recordings of his to pick out the 14 best – the tracks that I love, that mean something to me.

“So they are all songs he has recorded.

“But if you look at the album it just

says ‘Monro’ as the name, because that can relate to my dad and me.

“I had to have my business partner’s help with choosing the songs for it – that was hard, especially if it is your dad.

“When it’s that personal you can be sidetracked.”

It took Matt Jr a while to work out that his dad was famous when he was a youngster.

“I didn’t know till he did the TV programme This Is Your Life. I was 13.

“He and mum brought us up in a very down to earth and low-key way – treat people the way you want to be treated back, that sort of thing.

“I just thought he went and sang and that didn’t mean anything to me.

“But a couple of things intrigued me.

“When I was at school, everyone

seemed to know who my dad was. But I didn’t know who their dads were.

“And I couldn’t work that out for a very long while!

“We weren’t brought up like ‘Your father’s famous’.

“But after he appeared on This Is Your Life, I did start travelling a lot more with my dad – and I became his ‘gofer’.

“I loved that, just to be slightly involved.

“I remember when he first said ‘You don’t need to sit in the audience, you can sit in the wings, if you want?’.

“That was just an amazing thing for me – and then I realised he was not your normal nine to five, Monday to Friday person.”

And it’s the person behind the voice that Matt Jr wants to celebrate, as much as one of the great voices of the ’60s and ’70s.

“The album will be out for the very first show of this tour – we just finished recording it a few weeks ago.

I’ve waited 20 years – actually 25 years – to put this show on.

“I didn’t do it before on the basis that I thought the press would absolutely destroy me ‘trying to cash in on his father’s name’ etc.

“But dad died 32 years ago. I don’t think anyone could say that now.

“This is probably my farewell to my dad now.

“I’ve waited all these years to do it and I really want people to come out and remember him, but maybe more importantly to find out about him as a person – because he was an amazing man.”n The Matt Monro Story: 30th Anniversary Tour comes to Eden Court on Tuesday.

Music

Matt Monro Jnr: “It feels like I’m singing with my dad again.”

Twin Atlantic wow the crowd during at the Ironworks in 2014.

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Bath, The Cotswolds

& Oxford

Enjoy the best of the city and the country on this leisurely break. Together, Bath and Oxford offer a wonderful mix of history and heritage. Bath takes its name from the Roman Baths which lie in the heart of the city and are among the best preserved Roman remains in the world; it’s the only place in the UK where you can bathe in natural hot springs. Oxford is

recognised for its scholarly credentials, along with its spire-filled skyline which makes it a beautiful place to while away time. Within easy reach of these cities we find the Cotswolds, where you cannot help but to relax and unwind as we explore honey-coloured villages set in

glorious countryside.Departing 15th June 2017 from Elgin, Fochabers,

Aviemore, Forres, InvernessPrice includes:

Private coach travel from your local area•Four nights’ stay with three course evening meal & cooked breakfast•Full day in Bath•Full day in Oxford•Tour of the Cotswolds•Services of our Tour Manager•

5 days from

£309FREE DEPARTURE POINTS FROM YOUR LOCAL AREA