The Scotsman 27 October 2023

Scene one. The lights go up on a narrow Victorian townhouse near London’s King’s Road. We are greeted at the front door by James Gordon, a tall man in his 80s, who welcomes us in. He wastes no time launching into a tour of the property. There is a lot to take in.

Every inch of wall space is taken up by framed prints, sketches and paintings. It is the same downstairs in the basement bedroom, here on the ground floor and upstairs in the living room, which is decorated in an audacious red. “This door is the only place I haven’t hung pictures,” he says, moving into the next room.

The pictures are varied. Some are swathes of abstract colour, others are detailed architectural views, others still show figures in flowing robes or period dress, variously impressionistic and precise. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).