A short, sharp Pinterian shock at The Print Room November 7, 2013 THEATRE THE DUMB WAITER The Print Room Theatre | Five stars THIS faultless adaptation of one of Harold Pinter’s shortest plays begins with Ben (Clive Wood) and Gus (Joe Armstrong) sitting in an airless paint-stripped basement. Both are nervous but each manages his anxiety differently. Ben tries to lose himself in the tawdry stories of [...]
Bits and bobs and not much else November 7, 2013 ART BILL WOODROW The Royal Academy | Two stars BILL Woodrow was part of the group of British sculptors that dominated the art scene before the YBAs ran riot in the nineties, but he never reached the stratospheric heights of some of his contemporaries. Three decades after their heyday, Tony Cragg, Anish Kapoor, Richard Deacon [...]
A Marvel-ous second outing October 31, 2013 FILM THOR: THE DARK WORLD Cert 12a | Four stars ONCE every five thousand years the nine realms align, and the dark elves use the opportunity to plunge the universe into darkness. To do this, they need the Aether, an ancient force of evil which – for inexplicable plot reasons – has possessed the body [...]
A real indie gem October 31, 2013 FILM SHORT TERM 12 Cert 15 | Four stars SHORT Term 12 has already won both the Grand Jury and Audience prize at this year’s South By South West festival: that’s some billing to live up to. It draws you into the tortured world of a temporary foster home for troubled teens. The various trials [...]
Modern drawing room farce disappoints, despite strong cast October 31, 2013 THEATRE RAVING Hampstead Theatre | Two stars I THOUGHT you didn’t agree with stereotypes?” says Keith to his wife Briony. “You’ve restored my faith in them,” she fires back, stingingly. Actor and playwright Simon Paisley Day obviously has plenty of faith in them, too – the whole of Raving is built on them. Keith (Barnaby [...]
Musical hits the right notes October 31, 2013 THEATRE THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS The Young Vic | Four stars THE Scottsboro Boys tells the story of a real-life miscarriage of justice that caught the imagination of pre-Civil Rights America. In 1931, nine black teenagers – some as young as 13 – were frogmarched off a boxcar they were riding and accused of raping two [...]
A moving and funny acting master-class October 31, 2013 FILM PHILOMENA Cert 12a | By Daniel O’Mahony Four stars PHILOMENA is inspired by true events, though there are moments so heart-rending you wish the source material were fictional. It tells the story of Philomena Lee (Judi Dench), a working-class Irish woman who became pregnant as a teenager in the 1950s. Sent away to a [...]
Where to Drink: Feeling the chill? Warm the cockles with a delicious sperm whale cocktail… October 31, 2013 IT’S THE time of the year to retreat to a cosy, warm bolthole to stave off the cold. Good thing, then, that there are plenty of places that fit the bill, such as Drakes Tabanco, new to Fitzrovia. Get a taste of Iberian sunshine from the peasant-y design, nodding to the well-worn and wooden bodegas [...]
A sci-fi treat with plenty of brains October 24, 2013 FILM ENDER’S GAME Cert 12a | By Simon Thomson Four Stars ENDER’S Game is a science fiction adventure about a special boy, sent to a special school, where he is trained to be a ruthless war commander. Basically, it’s Harry Potter. If he’d been sent to a military academy. In space. The internet has been [...]
The best performance from Tom Hanks in over a decade October 17, 2013 FILM CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Cert 12a | By Ben Butcher Four Stars FIRST time collaborators Tom Hanks and Paul Greengrass combine to forge a nerve-shredding film that will surely be among the main contenders in awards season. Captain Phillips is based on the true story of the 2009 hijacking of American freight ship Maersk Alabama by [...]