Royal Court writer on staging a play about mobile phone addiction July 13, 2023 We caught up with the creator of this new play, a dark comedy about mobile phone addiction and three generations of women in one family WHERE DID THE INSPIRATION FOR CUCKOO COME FROM? It started with being interested in things you’re allowed to say and talk about, about having opinions and people disagreeing. I also [...]
See Hugh Jackman before he was famous in 1990s musical now in cinemas July 13, 2023 A West End musical may be the furthest thing imaginable from a Hollywood superhero blockbuster, but the 1998 National Theatre revival of Oklahoma! has a special place in superhero history. It’s the production that gave star Hugh Jackman recognition outside of his native Australia, with the actor auditioning for Wolverine during the show’s run. The [...]
Squaring the Circle: the story behind iconic Pink Floyd and Wings album artwork July 13, 2023 An album cover may have a different context in the era of endless streaming, but the designs on the front of LPs could make you a legend in the 1960s, as this documentary from Anton Corbijn (Control) illustrates by documenting the story of design studio Hipgnosis. Squaring The Circle documents the rise and fall of [...]
City Pages: The 10 books that should be on your list this summer July 10, 2023 From classic to contemporary, thriller or Booker prize winner, the City A.M. team picks the 10 top books that should be on your list this summer. 1. Victory City by Salman Rushdie It’s Rushdie, so you know it’s gonna be good, but this is really good. Framed as a translation of a 15th Century Sanskrit [...]
Writer and businesswoman Hannah Rothschild on family, crypto, and not being a silly novelist July 10, 2023 “The name walks into the room long before you. So it brings baggage, for want of a better word,” Hannah Rothschild tells me. A businesswoman, philanthropist and writer, I am meeting with Hannah to talk about her latest novel High Time, but I can’t help but also ask about her extraordinary upbringing. A primogeniture-led family, [...]
Exclusive: City of London Corporation will ‘explain and retain’ two slave owner statues with plaques July 7, 2023 Links to slavery in the Square Mile will be tackled plaques on two statues of controversial historic figures, following a planning application lodged this week. City A.M. can exclusively reveal the City of London Corporation is looking to affix explainers on statues for two-time Lord Mayor William Beckford and former MP and philanthropist Sir John [...]
A Strange Loop writer Michael R. Jackson on creating the buzziest musical since Hamilton July 6, 2023 A surprise hit in the US, A Strange Loop has now landed a huge London run. Adam Bloodworth speaks to the man who dreamed it up while working as an usher on Broadway Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, becoming the second ever musical to win the accolade. The [...]
Pixar’s Elemental shows how the animation studio needs to work harder July 6, 2023 Elemental arrives on these shores with the unwanted title of worst performing Pixar movie. Struggling to compete with Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse, can the family comedy drawaudiences here? It imagines a world in which the elements – earth, fire, water, and air – are people living happily in separate communities, avoiding contact with each other. [...]
Mission Impossible: Tom Cruise is back but this franchise is showing its age July 5, 2023 Barbie vs Oppenheimer may be the summer showdown everyone’s talking about, but one movie legend would like to remind you that he’s back. Despite some occasional headline-grabbing bouts of odd behaviour, Tom Cruise is one of the last true movie stars, someone who can get crowds to turn up based on his name alone. But [...]
The Super-8 Years: A compact and worthwhile film July 4, 2023 Annie Ernaux ascended to the top of the literary world following her 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature, and is best known to film fans as screenwriter of 2021 award winner Happening, an adaptation of her novel. These accolades come after decades of success as a writer, the beginnings of which are examined in this short [...]