Punchdrunk Theatre founder: These video games changed my life April 23, 2026 Punchdrunk is the company that put immersive theatre on the map. Since it was founded more than a quarter of a century ago, it has built a reputation for creating vast, intricate, freeflowing productions in which masked audience-members are allowed to roam freely through its spaces. Hits include The Drowned Man (2013), Sleep No More [...]
Can an AI make art? And would it be worth looking at? April 23, 2026 The last year has seen artificial intelligence disrupt almost every industry – but can it really create art? Chris Dorrell speaks to artists working with AI and meets a robot painter In a darkened room in Camden, I kneel at an altar, pressing buttons on an illuminated red keyboard. Embossed with the shapes of human [...]
The Crime Lord: Peter Capaldi on the manosphere, London and rocking out with his band as he approaches 70 April 21, 2026 From Malcolm Tucker to Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi is one of the finest actors of his generation. Steve Dinneen speaks to him about masculinity, being a punk and why he can’t get enough of London Peter Capaldi has just finished a two-week tour with his band and he says he’s “knackered”. He does look a bit [...]
The mysterious media moguls behind London’s pink slime propaganda machine April 21, 2026 Private jets, council estates and links to the Kremlin: Steve Dinneen goes looking for the owners of a pink slime propaganda machine Standing outside a squat, residential tower block on the outskirts of Harlow on a grey winter afternoon, it seems hard to believe this is the headquarters of a media organisation with links to [...]
The cult of cute: The strange drama of corporate mascots April 21, 2026 While they remind us of our childhoods, mascots are as much a part of corporate culture as ever. Simon Coates asks why Last winter the language learning app Duolingo announced the death of its cartoon mascot, Duo the Owl. Duo had died, they said, after being hit by a car while he was waiting for [...]
The watch podcast disrupting the ‘pale, male and stale’ image April 17, 2026 Rashawn Smith and Perri Dash are hoping to change your mind about the watch industry, one podcast at a time, says Laura McCreddie-DoakUnless you’re investigating a cold case, finding a following in the world of podcasting can be difficult. But the Wrist Check Pod seemed to enter the world fully formed when it launched in [...]
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Old Vic: A blistering revival April 17, 2026 From his searing take on Othello at the National Theatre to his superlative Death of England cycle, Clint Dyer is one of the most distinctive voices in British theatre, deftly exploring and unpacking contemporary black culture. So it is perhaps unsurprising that the patients in his version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are [...]
Avenue Q is wonderfully lawless chaos (with very rude puppets) April 17, 2026 Avenue Q review and star rating: ★★★★ Could brainrot actually be good? Well, no: but if it were to take an IRL form, in many ways it would be Avenue Q. The puppet musical has no significant overarching narrative. Instead, its main goal is to stitch together as many very silly jokes about willies and [...]
The golden boy: What we can learn from the late Henry Kelly April 16, 2026 If you’re of a certain age – by which I mean at least in your 40s – you may have memories of wasting afternoons watching the extraordinary Reg Grundy-produced Euroquiz Going for Gold. Its genius loci was an affable Irishman called Henry Kelly, a man whom you suspected of having a different brass-buttoned blazer for [...]
Toast the City Awards return bigger and better for 2026! April 16, 2026 We’re back! Our Toast the City Awards return for a second year, bigger, better and more ambitious than ever. The awards will once again shine a light on the restaurants, bars, green spaces and cultural hotspots that make the Square Mile one of London’s most exciting places to work and play. Last year, you told [...]