Jean-Etienne Liotard art review: Has the Royal Academy managed to revive interest in the Swiss-French painter? October 22, 2015 ★★☆☆☆ | Royal Academy Jean-Etienne Liotard was an eccentric chap, by all accounts. The great aristocratic families of Europe thought he was a right laugh, with his eye-catching oriental robes and waist-length beard. They flocked in their hundreds to ask the Swiss-French painter to paint them and Liotard, who was a dab hand at pastel [...]
Plaques and Tangles, Royal Court theatre review: Alzheimer’s play’s intimacy and exceptional acting hit the hardest October 22, 2015 ★★★★☆ | Royal Court Plaques and Tangles, a play about three generations of a family blighted by Alzheimer’s, wears its weighty subject remarkably lightly. It circles with the grace of a featherweight boxer, throwing occasional jabs, ducking and weaving, waiting until your guard is down before hitting home its crushing, terrifically sad finishing blow. It [...]
The 12-week total body transformation workout and exercise plan: week 2 October 19, 2015 What were your goals? I’m like a lot of people: I played sports throughout my early 20s, then I got a proper job in the City and started working late nights and going for after-work drinks. I’d just let myself go, basically. I was eating loads of take away, had got myself a beer belly. [...]
Audi A4 motoring review: From worst car in the class to a class act October 19, 2015 Audi, in recent years, has been in the rather unfortunate position of selling the worst car in its class. It’s long been unable to topple the BMW 3 Series as the best compact premium saloon, of course, but an honourable runner-up slot used to suffice. Then Mercedes-Benz came along with the new C-Class and, one [...]
Azerbaijan’s majestic scenery is refreshingly untouched by global tourism October 19, 2015 ‘Azerbaijan border – Good luck,” read the sign at the Georgian frontier town. I gulped, hoisted my backpack and reached for my passport. Ominous cautions from its neighbours notwithstanding, Azerbaijan is trying to court people like me. It’s not, on the face of it, an easy sell. Human Rights Watch recently noted “Azerbaijan’s government has [...]
Tate Modern exhibition: Turbine Hall’s Empty Lot is too timid for this imposing space October 15, 2015 Tate Modern | ★★☆☆☆ The Turbine hall has its first new installation since Damien Hirst filled the biggest gallery space in the country with a human skull. Abraham Cruzvillegas piece, Empty Lot, is more thoughtful, less immediate and, at least for now, a whole lot uglier. It’s a giant wooden terrace raised on salvaged scaffolding, [...]
Theatre review: Measure For Measure October 15, 2015 Young Vic | ★★★★☆ The Duke wades through a pile of blow up sex dolls, kicking plastic bodies out of his way. He pauses and says, “I love the people.” These inflatable citizens are no lewder than those who inhabit the city of Vienna in Shakespeare’s barmiest play. Often referred to as a “problem play”, [...]
Pan movie review: Director Joe Wright’s origin story employs all the tired cliches October 15, 2015 Cert PG | ★☆☆☆☆ When you were a child watching the Disney version of Peter Pan and you saw him fly through the window of the Darling household, all chilly in his tights and green tunic, did you ever think, “Who ARE you, Peter? Where do you COME from?” Me neither. No one cares. But for some [...]
Crimson Peak movie review: Guillermo del Toro’s gruesome gothic fairytale brings the art of darkness to the screen October 15, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★☆ Guillermo del Toro set out to create a haunted house drama to rival the very best in the genre – the Exorcists and the Shinings of the world. He succeeds with the haunted house part, but not so much the drama. Part gothic horror story, part ethereal fairytale, Crimson Peak follows Edith Cushing [...]
Teddy Ferrara review: a tangled play exploring homophobia, bullying and hate in the wake of tragedy October 15, 2015 Teddy Ferrara is a play that manages to say a very small amount about a great many things. It’s set around an American campus on which a dizzyingly comprehensive catalogue of LGBT issues are being tackled in the wake of a student suicide. To unpack, Christopher Shinn’s play explores homophobia in both its standard and [...]