Brian Cox brings one-man show to Edinburgh Playhouse
Tickets go on sale at 10am on Wednesday, June 25, and are available from BrianCoxOnTour.com.
(Image: Supplied) Mr Cox said: "I am looking forward to this tour as it marks something a little different for me - sharing the stage with myself.
"As the title indicates, the show will focus more than ever on my life and career.
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"In the second half, the tables are turned and the audience will have the chance to put their questions to me. It should be a lot of fun."
The show will trace Mr Cox's journey from the streets of Dundee to international fame in Hollywood.
The second half will see Mr Cox joined on stage by producer Clive Tulloh, who will present questions from the audience.
The actor is widely recognised for his role as Logan Roy in the hit television series Succession, a performance that earned him a Golden Globe.
His career spans more than 65 years and includes a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and two Olivier Awards.
The tour will visit cities including Bristol, Ipswich, Dublin, Belfast, Dundee, Brighton, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Southend, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, York, and London.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘I have a lot of sympathy for Elon Musk': Succession creator Jesse Armstrong on his tech bros AI satire Mountainhead
When he gets to his London office on the morning this piece is published, Jesse Armstrong will read it in print, or not at all. Though the building has wifi, he doesn't use it. 'If you're a procrastinator, which most writers are, it's just a killer.' Online rabbit holes swallow whole days. 'In the end, it's better to be left with the inadequacies of your thoughts.' He gives himself a mock pep talk. ''It's just you and me now, brain.'' Today, the showrunner of Succession and co-creator of Peep Show is back at home, in walking distance of his workspace. He could be any London dad: 54, salt-and-pepper beard, summer striped T-shirt. But staying offline could feel like a statement too, given Armstrong is also the writer-director of Mountainhead, a film about tech bros. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Open AI's Sam Altman, guru financiers Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen: all these and more are mixed up in the movie's characters, sharing a comic hang in a ski mansion. Outside, an AI launched by one of the group has sparked global chaos. Inside, there is snippy friction about the intra-billionaire pecking order. Mountainhead feels like a pulled-back curtain. But Armstrong also resisted another rabbit hole: spending time in Silicon Valley for research. He tried that kind of thing before. Contrary to rumour, Succession never did involve backdoor chats with the children of Rupert Murdoch. Once the show became a phenomenon, though, he did meet with masters of finance and corporate media, picking their brains for insights at luxe New York restaurants. 'And they'd be charismatic, and namedrop the 20 most famous people in the world, and I'd feel this buzz of excitement by association. Then later I'd look at my notes, and what they'd actually said read like complete inane bullshit. 'Make the move!' 'Be the balls!'' So Armstrong returned to his office and, more generally, his kind. 'I'm a writer,' he says, 'and a writer type. And I'm happy with other writer types.' In America, when Succession exploded, you could sense an assumption the mind behind it must be an English Aaron Sorkin: a slick character as glamorous as the world he wrote about. Instead, here was the dry figure who compares making Mountainhead to an early job at budget supermarket Kwik Save. (Both, he says, boiled down to managing workload.) Rather than stalk Sam Altman, he read biographies and hoovered up podcasts. Amid the oligarchs' tales of favourite Roman emperors, he kept finding a common thread: a wilful positivity about their own effect on the world. 'And it must be delightful to really believe, 'You know what? It's going to be fine. AI's going to cure cancer, and don't worry about burning up the planet powering the AI to do it, because we'll just fix that too.'' Part of the trick, he says, is perspective. At a certain level, money and power give life the feel of an eternal view from a private plane. 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Now I have to write it.'' By March, the film was being shot in a 21,000 sq ft mansion in Deer Valley, Utah, then on the market for $65m. Carell aside, the cast included Cory Michael Smith, Ramy Youssef and Jason Schwartzman. For Armstrong, directing his first feature on a berserk turnaround was made easier by a deep fondness for actors. Standing in front of a camera, he says, paralyses him with self-consciousness. 'So I honestly find what they do magical.' His own lack of talent as a performer proved important to the younger Armstrong. Between 1995 and 1997, he worked as an assistant to Labour MP Doug Henderson. It was an interesting time to have the job, with Tony Blair about to enter Downing Street. Is there a Sliding Doors world where a rising star assistant becomes an MP himself? One where, by now, Jesse Armstrong is home secretary? He shakes his head for several seconds. 'I just wasn't good at the job. Fundamentally, I didn't understand politics.' He knows it sounds odd, having later written for insidery Westminster comedy The Thick of It. 'But I couldn't do the acting. I didn't get it. I always thought like a writer, so in meetings where I should have been building my career, I'd just be thinking, 'That's weird. That's funny. Why did you say that?'' (Armstrong once wrote for the Guardian about a meeting with then Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe, in which she sat under two posters: one a lurid anti-abortion message, the other Garfield.) Instead, he segued into comedy, and soon after Peep Show, the beloved squirm of a sitcom co-written with Sam Bain. At first glance, Succession is the obvious prequel to Mountainhead, a former newspaper empire giving way to tech superpower. But Armstrong sees a closer link between his new film and Peep Show: 'Because it's about men, and male hierarchies, and the pathos of men trying to connect.' He is tickled by the thought of his own story world, in which characters from different projects collide. 'You can see Super Hans arriving at Mountainhead on a scooter, delivering the ketamine.' Then he pauses, suddenly anxious. Could he make sure I'll mention Bain if I talk about Peep Show? 'Because it was always Sam's show as well.' And Hans owed so much to actor Matt King too, he says, 'and then, of course, there's David Mitchell and Robert Webb.' Should Armstrong ever make an Oscar acceptance speech, we will be there a while. Making sure due credit is given is of a piece with his near-pathological modesty. (He is a keen footballer. Which position? 'Terrible.') Being fair-minded matters too. He adds a postscript to his memory of leaving Westminster. 'I'd also say I don't in any way feel superior to people who do make a career in politics. I still believe we need good, professional politicians.' Turning back to Mountainhead, his even-handedness reaches a kind of event horizon. Armstrong , it transpires, feels sorry for Elon Musk. 'Musk has done huge damage in the world, particularly with Doge, but I have a lot of sympathy for him.' The owner of X was brutally bullied as a schoolboy and according to a 2023 biography, had a difficult relationship with his father. 'This is a traumatised human being,' says Armstrong. Still, not every bullied child ends up making apparent Nazi salutes onstage. 'Yeah. That wasn't great.' But there are other sides to Armstrong. For all the hints of bumble and awkwardness, he has also had the discipline to build a stellar career. And the more measured he is in person, the more Mountainhead feels like the work of a grinning Id, rising up to take a scalpel to his subjects, with their pretensions to philosophy, and dark indifference to life. ('I'm so excited about these atrocities,' a character beams as the world goes violently awry.) But his sympathy has its limits. 'I do think the cocoon they're in makes it hard for them to remember other people are actually real. But they've also been quick to give up trying. And some definitely feel the superior person shouldn't have to try anyway.' More to the point, though, Armstrong finds the tech moguls funny. Much of the grimness of a Musk or Thiel is also brilliantly ridiculous: the epic lack of self-knowledge, the thinness of skin. Having studied them as he has, would he expect his real-life models to be enraged by the film? 'Oh no. They'd instantly dismantle it in a way that would be 50% completely fair, and 50% totally facile. But they wouldn't see any truth to it.' Still, Mountainhead is something very rare: a movie that feels as contemporary as TikTok. For Armstrong, after Succession and now this, you might think stories about the moment had become addictive. He frowns. Is a period piece next, in fact? Victorian bonnets? 'Maybe. Genuinely maybe. 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Daily Mail
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Daily Record
3 days ago
- Daily Record
Pride of Scotland's top ten magical moments
We reveal our People's Oscar's most memorable moments as the nation's unsung heroes are honoured It was a night that had everything - even two dogs wearing tuxedos. The Daily Record Pride of Scotland Awards with P&O Cruises saw a host of stars turn out to recognise the courage and selfless determination shown by the nation's unsung heroes. Hosted by Elaine C Smith and Sanjeev Kohli, the glittering event at Glasgow's Hilton was an uplifting showcase of everything that is good about Scotland. Celebrities including Succession star Brian Cox, Gladiator Sheli McCoy and footballers Billy Gilmour and Jack Butland were queuing up to sing the praises of the inspirational winners at our 'People's Oscars.' Here are ten of the most magical and memorable moments from the night. BGT finalist raising the roof Vinnie McKee opened the show with the rousing version of Proclaimers' hit 'I'm Gonna Be (500 miles) which earned him Simon Cowell's golden buzzer in the Britain's Got Talent auditions. 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The trio, who are off on a 14 night cruise around the Caribbean in November, can't wait to catch some winter son on the other side of the world. Caroline said: 'As if winning a Pride of Scotland Special Recognition award wasn't enough already… Duncan nearly had to pick me off the floor I was that shocked and overwhelmed.' Dogs in tuxes Last year there was a little pony in a kilt but on Monday night it was two dogs in tuxedos that were the talk of the red carpet. Troy the fox red golden retriever looked dapper in his dickie bow as he accompanied owner Stewart Miller, winner of the Outstanding Bravery award. Troy was presented with a special dog tag after aiding Stewart in the rescue of a woman who was drowning in the River Tay during a storm. Trainee assistance dog Blu, who belongs to King's Trust Young Achiever Ashleigh, was also sporting a jazzy tux and became a fan favourite with the guests. Gladiator Sabre hailing Young Fundraiser Sheli McCoy told seven-year-old Theo Hardie he was a real life Gladiator after running 100 miles to raise money for his little brother's wheelchair. The weightlifting champion said she had even come up with a name for him - 'Centurion' - as a nod to him completing his incredible fundraising challenge. Sheli said: 'Theo is a real life Gladiator - his strength, determination and empathy for others makes him a champion in my eyes. The bond he has with his gorgeous little brother is very special. He has the heart of a warrior and he is only seven.' First Minister honours Sir Chris Hoy Scotland's First Minister John Swinney hailing cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy as Scotland's Champion had everyone reaching for the tissues. The FM said the six time Olympic gold medallist, who is refusing to let his terminal cancer diagnosis get him down, is a legend both in and out of the saddle. Swinney said: 'Sir Chris is an absolute sporting legend who has achieved so much but then in the face of adversity has demonstrated the strength and resolve which is of course so characteristic of all of the Pride of Scotland winners.' Red carpet malfunction Love Island's Paige Turley stayed calm despite suffering from a wardrobe mishap in the taxi on the way to the event. The singer, who was hosting this year's Red Carpet Live alongside Stevie Jukes of Saint Phnx, gasped after discovering her long sequin gown had split at the bum. But Paige took it all in her stride and kept on talking while a member of the crew sewed her back into her dress. She said: 'It was my boyfriend who spotted the split. Thank goodness we got it fixed before folk started to arrive. Pride of Scotland is my favourite event of the year.' Grand Finale The inspirational show was rounded off with hosts Elaine C Smith and Sanjeev Kohli inviting all the winners to return to the stage. There was a cocophony of cheers and a ten minute standing ovation for the incredible unsung heroes, who continued to party with the stars into the wee small hours. Elaine C Smith said: 'These awards are a reminder to everyone that there is still so much good in the world with folk looking out for their neighbours and going above and beyond to help others in their communities. 'The room was filled to the rafters with 'angels' who are quietly making a massive difference to the world. Seeing them all together on the the stage at the end lifted my soul and warmed my heart.'
