BU21 play review: London terror drama justifies transfer to Trafalgar Studios January 12, 2017 A plane explodes over West London. It’s been shot, we are told, by a handheld missile launched somewhere in Vauxhall. The wreckage kills hundreds, injures hundreds more, and reduces most of Fulham to rubble. Part of the force of Stuart Slade’s courageous, bitterly funny play comes from its plausibility – there is a sense, morbid [...]
Manchester by the Sea starring Casey Affleck deserves its Oscar buzz January 12, 2017 Regular Scorsese collaborator Kenneth Lonergan’s first film in five years has become an Oscar front runner, with rapturous receptions on the film festival circuit and a win at last weekend’s Golden Globes. Set in the titular Massachusetts town, a restrained, quiet handy man (Casey Affleck) returns to his former home in the aftermath of his [...]
Laurence King, founder of the eponymous publisher, talks adult colouring books, soviets, Ezra Pound and anti-digital January 9, 2017 "We caused a shortage of felt pens in Brazil,” says Laurence King, founder of Laurence King Publishing, the creator of the original adult colouring book that sparked the recent craze. In 2013, the firm published the Secret Garden, illustrated by Johanna Basford. In the first two years, it sold 250,000 copies. “It was then we became [...]
Here’s our pick of 2017’s best upcoming films January 5, 2017 Blade Runner 2049 Dir. Denis Villeneuve, out late 2017 Set thirty years after the events of Ridley Scott’s seminal science-fiction classic, Blade Runner 2049 stars Ryan Gosling as the wet-behind-the-ears replicant hunter tasked with tracking down a missing Rick Deckard, played by the unknowable force of nature that keeps Harrison Ford’s seemingly immortal body in [...]
Here are the most highly-anticipated art exhibitions coming up in London in 2017 January 5, 2017 Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! Serpentine Gallery: 8 June to 10 September The uncharacteristically modest Grayson Perry returns to the Serpentine Gallery this summer to present The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!, a new collection that explores classic themes of masculinity, contemporary culture and art galleries themselves. The Turner Prize winning artist [...]
Here are the most highly-anticipated theatre shows hitting the West End in 2017 January 5, 2017 Hamilton Victoria Palace Theatre: November 2017 Theatrical events don’t come much bigger than Hamilton’s highly-anticipated arrival in London. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece charting the life of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States of America who died in a duel (historical spoiler!), racked up 11 Tony Awards and won the Pulitzer Prize [...]
The 9 most anticipated videogames of 2017 January 4, 2017 Red Dead Redemption 2 Release: Late 2017 Platforms: PS4, XBO (PC unconfirmed) Not much is known about Rockstar’s horse-bothering sequel, but the announcement of a follow up to 2010’s open world cowboy simulator was enough to inspire frenzied excitement among fans. You can expect a huge multiplayer world, pistols at dawn, horses and a scene [...]
Art at the Old Vic is a breezy dissection of male friendships December 21, 2016 Perhaps it takes a woman to really grasp the nuances of the modern man. French playwright Yasmina Reza’s comedy about male friendship is so on the nose you can take any three of your man-friends and fit them neatly into the three archetypes so proficiently and entertainingly represented here. Rufus Sewell plays Serge, a posturing [...]
Saint Joan at the Donmar is a stylish but forgettable modern retelling of the Bernard Shaw classic December 21, 2016 Gemma Arterton is the star attraction in this stylish but ultimately forgettable production of Bernard Shaw’s dense and unusual play. The action is positively shoehorned into the present day, with the court of the future King Charles becoming a trading house called Dauphin Holdings. This unexpected twist provides the backdrop for some excellent early jokes, [...]
Time to kill over the holidays? Here are the best games of 2016 December 21, 2016 Superhot A first-person shooter in which time only moves when you move, Superhot strips down gunfights to the fundamentals. Each level is a short Jon Woo-style action film vignette – a bar brawl, a heist – in which you plan your moves precisely, dodging gunfire and grabbing weapons in mid-air as they fly from the [...]