Lorna Simes

Global Heartbeat turns one on NCPR tonight — and ten years old overall.
A decade of rhythm, story, and song, and a year of Sunday nights together.
Join me at 9 PM ET on NCPR or stream at ncpr.org.

Episode one of The Hack (ITV) is theatre by other means: razor-sharp writing, performances that crackle, and David Tennant as Nick Davies slyly stepping through the fourth wall. Journalism meets drama — and it’s electric.

Legendary Bassist Danny Thompson Has Died | News | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews Legendary bass player Danny Thompson has died. The musician's passing was confirmed officially by his team a few moments ago; Danny Thompson passed away

Hail and farewell to a giant of the British music scene.

www.clashmusic.com/news/legenda...

Just out of Creditors at the Orange Tree — Farrell quietly devastating as Adolph, Dance coolly menacing, James gloriously elusive. Cruelty, wit and regret tangled tight; laughter that catches in your throat. Intimate, unsettling, unforgettable. #theatre

Juniper Blood at the Donmar — Bartlett at his most merciless: a brutal, beautiful reckoning between family and planet, colliding in a final image that left the theatre in stunned silence.

Makes you smell of the laboratory instead of a fan of the band…🤣

Never underestimate the power and the joy of a jumpy, sweaty, singing ‘til your throat gives out gig from your favorite rock and roll band to cure what ails you.
What a gig in Glasgow last night. #HMHB

Tonight on Global Heartbeat we travel from Sweden to Spain, Australia to Mali, and finally home to Scotland. And to finish, a storming live track from Skerryvore’s 20th anniversary Live at Floors Castle album!
Join me, 9 pm ET, only on @ncpr www.ncpr.org

And for two hours last night, all was right in this world.
A beautiful show from legendary Canadian singer/songwriter Garnet Rogers, celebrating the start of the 43rd season of the inimitable Homegrown Coffee House in Needham, MA.

Heading to print, my next poetry collection: Questions After Dark! 🌙
From judgmental sofas + missing socks to werewolves with imposter syndrome — a funny, surreal, and sometimes absurd book written about and for “those nights” as a reminder that you’re not alone when night’s questions creep in…

It’s Global Heartbeat day!
Fresh sounds from The Gothard Sisters, a classic from from Llan de Cubel, and a world of music in between.
9pm ET on @ncpr → www.ncpr.org

It’s Sunday, which means it's time for Global Heartbeat! 🌍
Join me at 9pm ET on NCPR for an hour of music from all over the earth — songs that travel, connect, and inspire.
Listen live: www.ncpr.org

Dick Gaughan has been one of the defining voices of my life — fierce, tender, unflinching. I can’t wait to hear the results of the R/evolution Kickstarter project, and I hope others will discover his music through it, too.

Very sad to hear of the passing of Giles Havergal.
Especially poignant given the reopening of The Citz this weekend.

citz.co.uk/news-and-sto...

So the curtain falls on this year’s Fringe. I’m tired but happy — 50+ shows later, I’ve been reminded once again of the magic that happens when stories, music, and laughter meet in this extraordinary city.
Now I sleep my way across the Atlantic.
Until next time, Edinburgh…

Bill Bailey at #EdFringe — a masterclass. Astonishing virtuosity: EDM on an ancient Turkish instrument, Pachelbel’s Canon on laser harp, brilliant stories & playful audience interaction. Ended with a moving tribute to Sean Lock. A perfect Fringe finale.

Drunk Women Solving Crime (Live) at #EdFringe — a hoot! Crime-solving with a twist of a champagne cork, chaotic brilliance and infectious energy. Smart, silly and sparkling!

Kicked off my final #EdFringe day with Skye: A Thriller — shape-shifting theatre full of ghosts, lies & generational patterns. Dense, unsettling, and another echo of what seems to be my Fringe’s recurring theme: shifting perspectives & fractured truths.

Her husband!

At #edfringe, The Forum is theatre as trial — frenetic, perspective-shifting, physically extraordinary. Desmond Devenish delivers a gut-punching solo performance that cries out for a longer run.

Just emerged from Mariupol at #edfringe — astonishing, intense, deeply moving. A fragile love story turned act of remembrance. This one deserves to be seen far beyond Edinburgh.
Presented in support of the David Nott Foundation. Donate here: davidnottfoundation.com

Oh Hillary! – self-indulgent navel-gazing nonsense with no plot, no structure, and endless giggling. Fourth wall smashed for in-jokes with pals. Ghastly. #EdFringe2025

Six comics, one stage, and a reminder that laughter really can save lives. Raw, heartfelt, and funny — Laugh for Life Comedy shows how humour disarms stigma and speaks truth. #EdFringe2025 #LaughForLife

Tom at the Farm (EICC) – An unflinching study of grief, secrecy & denial. Stark staging, jagged choreography & a final twist exposing a family’s pact of lies. Claustrophobic, unsettling, unforgettable. #EdFringe

A Small Northern Town Tale -
Raw, funny & physically electric. Explores class, race & belonging with 90s beats driving it all. Only 350 Black working-class productions at #EdFringe — this one is vital.

Surreal, fourth-wall-shattering & utterly alive: Jeremy Stockwell’s Allan Watts is Alive and Well…Dead leaps from California calm to a German hospital bed, from Watts’ philosophy to Jeremy’s own confessions. A mind-bending meditation on life, art & survival. #EdFringe

A Pound of Flesh – Space
Intriguing premise, but Foreman’s reimagining of Merchant of Venice strips away too much, leaving fine performances stranded in a gutted text. Gabriel Bird, Ollie Hiemann, & Danielle Farrow shine, but the play lacks the heart and logic to land. #EdFringe

Kate Skinner’s Help! I’m Trapped in a One Woman Show is hilarious, heartbreaking & brave — late-life dating disasters threaded with enduring love for her husband, Ron. She takes the lead, but he’ll always be in the wings. #EdFringe

A Writer’s Mind begins in an armchair but spins into a frenetic, out-of-control surrender to imagination — a blur of whimsy, unease, and the porous border between fact and fiction. #EdFringe