101 Dalmatians musical at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre review July 24, 2022 One of the last-remaining Covid-hit productions, new musical 101 Dalmatians has finally opened, two years late, at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. So was it worth the wait? Well… Let’s start with the good bits. The dalmatians themselves – or at least the two main ones, the rest are bodiless heads – are brought to [...]
Patriots at the Almeida is a gripping drama about the rise of Putin July 22, 2022 The story of the rise of Putin and the oligarchs has been told through various lenses in recent years. Author Peter Pomerantsev places shadowy “Kremlin demiurge” Vladislav Surkov at the heart of his gripping memoir-cum-investigation Nothing is True and Everything is Possible. Lucy Prebble’s all-singing, all-dancing play A Very Expensive Poison put Alexander Litvenenko front [...]
Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher review: far from a knockout July 22, 2022 Just when you thought every boxing story imaginable had been committed to film, Prizefighter unearths the intriguing real-life tale of Jem Belcher. Embodied by Welsh actor Matt Hookings, who also wrote and produced the film, Belcher became the youngest ever World Champion towards the turn of the 19th Century, a record that stands to this [...]
Fashion Freak Show review: This thrillscape of wild costumes will delight die-hards July 21, 2022 Men gyrating in neon yellow tutus, dancers proudly sporting red tubing as the only cover to their modesty, others teasing the crowd wearing Shakespearean ruffs extending the length of the body. And how could we forget the conical bras? French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier’s vivid imagination is what helped him push past the crowd [...]
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time review: A fascinating portrait of genius July 21, 2022 Fascination with the life and work of Kurt Vonnegut, the celebrated author of science-fiction novel Slaughterhouse-Five, lives on well past his death fifteen years ago. And duly, new documentary Unstuck In Time feels like it was conceived through adulation. A culmination of decades of work, filmmaker Robert B Weide was initially approached by Vonnegut to [...]
Exclusive with Jean Paul Gaultier: ‘Straight actors should be able to play gay roles’ July 21, 2022 It’s 9.30am and Jean Paul Gaultier is relentlessly turning over last night’s performance of ABBA Voyage. It’s far too hot for coffee so we’re sitting with a pair of orange juices and Gaultier is encouraging me to get stuck into the breakfast buffet. I politely decline because there are more important things at hand: discussing [...]
British passport sixth most powerful in the world while EU states dominate top ranks July 20, 2022 The British passport is the world’s sixth most powerful with visa-free or visa on-arrival access to 187 countries. The UK passport was one place ahead of the US at 186 countries, while EU states dominated much of the top rankings, data from Henley & Partners’ 2022 Henley Passport Index showed. Germany and Spain were joint third, [...]
Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre, review: Pop Shakespeare at its finest July 19, 2022 Much Ado About Nothing is Shakespeare for people who don’t like Shakespeare. Alongside A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it’s one of the Bard’s funniest and least demanding offerings, which has given rise to a degree of snobbishness about it. Kenneth Branagh’s 90s version, in which he plays a brilliant Benedict, is a landmark modern edition of [...]
McEnroe film review: Reveals fragility beneath tennis star’s bravado July 16, 2022 Wimbledon may have finished, but here’s an opportunity to get into the mind of one of its most famous champions. This documentary by Barney Douglas (2019 cricket documentary The Edge) features the American legend as well as family, friends, and rivals talking about his unique rise to stardom, his famous temperament, and what drove his [...]
Explorer film review: Honest, revealing portrait of Sir Ranulph Fiennes July 16, 2022 Sir Ranulph Fiennes has devoted his life to travelling the world’s most inhospitable climates. Among his credits are being the first person to visit the North and South Pole by surface, the first to cross Antarctica by foot, and he climbed Everest at the age of 65. Using archives, interviews, and footage following the great [...]