The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Crail Festival
July 22-August 1
Every summer in Crail, the annual festival offers almost two weeks of fun, entertainment and culture for all the family – and 2015 is no different!
This year, a huge range of live music underpins the event with big names and names to watch for the future.
To start at the end, Fife’s own Barbara Dickson is the headline attraction in a sold-out evening devoted to acoustic performance of her huge and hugely varied back catalogue, accompanied by pianist Nick Holland.
Another talented Fifer, Grace Black, serves up a lunchtime Jazz Picnic with her trio, presenting swinging standards you’ll know and love. Christine Bovill offers individual vocal interpretations of her own and other classic American and European stylings, while Mike Whellans follows his standing ovation at Crail folk club with a oneman blues performance.
Other musical styles cover the classics with an organ recital by Henry Fairs of St Andrews University and Birmingham Conservatoire, while Fife Opera’s soloists, many of them graduates of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, present arias and duets accompanied by Susan Gormley. There is Virtuoso Violin with young Scot Charlotte Rowan returning to play Saint Saens and Sarasate. BBC Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician Robyn Stapleton performs traditional Scottish and Irish songs with her trio and if you’re in the mood for a pop-tastic night out, you can’t do better than Abba sound-alikes Swede Dreamz!
A first this year is a literary lunch with crime writers Shirley McKay and TF “Frank” Muir. Shirley lives with her family in Crail and has just produced her fifth historic Hew Cullan mystery, set in 16th-Century St Andrews. Muir sets his stories in the St Andrews of today, with his hero DCI Andy Gilchrist about to make his sixth appearance in print.
If you’re into drama, Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is presented by the five-strong touring troop Illyria, just the way the Bard’s own strolling players might have done and for comedy lovers, there’s a exclusive preview of Vladimir McTavish’s Edinburgh Fringe Show taking a wry look at what shaped modern Scotland.
There’s also dance, Fife’s mobile museum’s stories of Fife’s Great War, the return of the Crail Festival quiz, stalls and an art exhibition featuring work by amateurs, professional and local school pupils.
In fact, according to the Festival’s Ronald Sandford, what sets Crail apart from other festivals is the splendid range of activities for children.
“There’s a fossil hunt, a sand castle competition and rock pool guddling, a putting green plus junior golf skills and a hole-in-one competition and ceramics. Alongside a family ceilidh, there’s also a sing-along showing of Frozen, Funbox Fancy Dress (which has evolved from The Singing Kettle) and Animal Alphabet with Nicky Kemp.
“Something for all ages, in fact!”