UR TV CAST

Reading Truth, I was reminded of those school sports-days in which there are no winners or losers. William Boyd deals with the challenge of turning short stories into films, and Rose Tremain reads from her new collection. The crime writer Ian Rankin talks about his short-story writing, and Simon Callow gives dramatised readings of two Charles Dickens stories.15 to 18 September (01273 709709; www.charleston .uk/smallwonder). “It was the era of the big blockbusters; doorstoppers attracted more attention.”Zadie Smith launches The Slam – a storytelling competition on the theme of revenge – by reading one of her stories for the new Pocket Penguin collection. Contestants prepare a five-minute story and are judged by the audience.The Irish author John McGahern, who has written the novels Amongst Women and That They May Face the Rising Sun as well as four collections of short stories and a memoir, makes the case for the Irish as storytellers. “The status of the short story languished for 30 years or so in UK publishing, perhaps because there weren’t enough well-known writers producing work that attracted attention to the genre,” she says. But this is all changing now, and the short story is finally coming back into fashion.”
It was Reich, also the director of the Charleston Literature Festival, who wanted to give the story its own event.

The festival, started last year, is intended to re-establish the British short story after years of neglect. Diana Reich, the artistic director, says: “Some established writers have told me that publishers have groaned and wrung their hands in despair at the mention of short stories. Small Wonder, the annual short-story festival, will see leading writers such as Ian Rankin, Zadie Smith, William Boyd, John McGahern and Rose Tremain gather in barns to celebrate the short story’s revival with readings, discussions and workshops at Charleston, the former home of the artist Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf’s sister. Troupe members provide banal commentary, local and topical references peppering the gags. Jam sandwiches are dispensed, and as the players finally depart, the audience is asked to turn out the lights.
A number had already walked out, however, perhaps bemused at having handed over more than £20 for what might have been a fun rag on the Fringe.To Saturday (0131-473 2000).

A human chain is formed from game members of the audience to get the props to the van, and dusty drops are handed out to be folded. But this “Getting to Know our Colonial Theatre” is only a warm-up to the real “show”, which is the departure of the Follies for their next gig. Amid bickering, bitching and backbiting, scaffolding is dismantled, curtains covering brick walls ripped down, and the set is put to bed for the journey south. Were those coconut boobs on one drag artist’s chest really two bouncing haggises?

It’s all a huge joke, with the public harassed into seats and cajoled for being late. The show is practically over by the time the audience rolls up for Jordi Milan’s Nuts Coconuts. And just as well, too, judging by the fairly excruciating turns on stage by members of the “Gibraltar Follies” variety theatre company.

With flouncy skirts, sequins, feathers and clich?acts presented in the worst possible taste, this once sought-after company on the Costa del Sol is clearly on its last legs. Cheesy international tributes end with a nod in the direction of Brazil.. where the nuts come from. Though I didn’t respond to the sketch show as much as to Jupp’s uneven solo effort, there are nice moments here too, including the theory that if Dolly Parton were in a fight with Celine Dion, Dolly would win because “if anyone was fighting Celine Dion, passers-by would help”.To 3 September (0131-226 2428). He talks of being late for a gallery opening due to being “seriously misunderstood in a cafe” and later he explains his aversion to public transport: “I was last on a bus in 1989 and, to be honest with you, it was dirty.”
Jupp is joined by Humphrey Ker and Stuart Murphy for his sketch show The Lost and Lonely Rebels. It’s extremely slick in its execution and quite old-fashioned, reminiscent of Beyond the Fringe, although – let’s face it – if a sketch show isn’t Python, then BTF is usually the father. The subtlety with which Jupp has imbued his repressed young aristocrat has given his character echoes of Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier.

While Gentleman Prefer Brogues was a no-nonsense, bullish stand-up set delivered in character, Young Man in a Huff comes complete with props and meandering anecdotes and an altogether mellower approach. This was the highest music-making, refined, unbuttoned, beyond words.. In 2003, Miles Jupp’s show, Gentlemen Prefer Brogues, was nominated for Perrier Best Newcomer. Two years on he is back to throw disdain on the misguided nature of modern living. Meanwhile the two violinists concertised freely, fluttering off into inspired absurdity.Maybe spontaneity is the ultimate musical achievement. Passages of sonorous, lyric euphony leapt suddenly into life, the dancers of Venice pointing their toes and swinging their heavy brocade skirts, the impeccable Latin rattling forth in a florid patter.