I recreated all my favourite TV tropes, from crawling through pipes to being two kids in a trenchcoat
Firebrand review: Alicia Vikander and Jude Law in royal flop September 7, 2024 At the beginning of historical drama Firebrand, a title explains how history often tells only of “men and war”, leaving the rest to our imagination. Adapted from Elizabeth Freemantle’s novel The Queen’s Gambit, Firebrand offers an alternative history of Catherine Parr (Alicia Vikander), the last wife of Henry VIII (Jude Law). Taking a hands-on role [...]
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice review: Tim Burton back to his best September 7, 2024 In the last few years, almost every icon from 80s cinema has been revived. Top Gun, Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop and others have been brought back to varying levels of success. Now, one of the most beloved 80s hits, Beetlejuice, is getting a sequel 36 years in the making. It’s the movie that propelled both [...]
Fiddler On The Roof at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre review September 7, 2024 When is a musical not “just a musical”? How do you review a piece of theatre like Fiddler On the Roof which currents affairs have turned into a lightning rod? Do you avoid the show for fear of offending either side? Or dissect the dancing but ignore the elephant in the room? Fiddler on the Roof is a [...]
The Real Thing play review: Wonderfully, expertly pointless September 4, 2024 The Real Thing | The Old Vic | ★★★★☆ | The term “staginess” is usually meant as an insult but there’s a wonderful staginess to Tom Stoppard’s play of ideas The Real Thing. It’s a twisty, unabashedly academic drawing room drama in which it’s never quite clear whether the room in question is a real place [...]
The Waterloo Wetherspoons is utterly miserable: Of course it is September 3, 2024 In accordance with tradition, I am in the grips of a savage and well deserved hangover as I enter The Lion & The Unicorn, the massive new Wetherspoons that opened yesterday at Waterloo Station. It takes its name from the Lion and Unicorn Pavilion that was constructed for the 1951 Festival of Britain, a celebration [...]
Hollywood’s slow transition: Transgender representation is slowly, slowly improving September 3, 2024 The work of Elliot Page shows that transgender inclusion is about adding more voices rather than anything being taken away, says Victoria Luxford. This week sees the release of Close To You, Elliot Page’s first film role since coming out as a transgender man in 2020. The story of Sam, a trans man who returns [...]
Check these amazing photos of surviving Victorian London pubs September 2, 2024 London has many great things going for it, but among the very best are its great pubs. Many of the traditional “gin palace” style Victorian pubs are functioning relics of a bygone era, listed buildings that stand defiantly against the march of town-planning progress. Photographer Nahidul, who goes by the handle @LondonPubFacades, has made a [...]
Strange dreams: Lessons from the life of Paul Simon August 29, 2024 An essay on what I have absorbed over a lifetime listening to Paul Simon What do you need to make a musical career? I’d say it comes down to one thing: a talent for immediacy. If you don’t have it, the chances are you’ll lose out to someone who does. I remember when I first [...]
Mandoob (Night Courier) film: Drama shows another side to Saudi August 29, 2024 The changing face of Saudi Arabia provides the setting for Ali Kalthami’s debut feature. Mandoob (Night Courier in English) is a thriller about Fahad (Mohammad Aldokhei), a man working in Riyadh who is struggling to make ends meet with an ailing father to support. Things get worse when he dramatically loses his job at a [...]
Definitely Not: Why I won’t be queuing for Oasis tickets on Saturday August 27, 2024 Appropriately for a column about a pair of Catholic lads, I am what you might call a lapsed Oasis fan. As a teenager I had a full collection of their singles, which came in those tiny little half-width jewel cases I haven’t seen out in the wild for at least two decades. My friends and [...]