Late defeat leaves Saracens facing a first play-off absence since 2009 May 10, 2015 SARACENS boss Mark McCall blasted his team’s defensive fragility after yesterday’s home defeat to Exeter pushed them to the brink of missing the Premiership play-offs for the first time in six years. A late try from No8 Thomas Waldrom gave the Chiefs a 24-20 win and lifted them above Sarries into fourth place. The result [...]
David Price: Dreamland May 8, 2015 Art First, Soho | ★★★★☆ Dreamland is the name of the abandoned amusement park in Margate where painter David Price moved his studio three years ago. It’s also the name of his latest exhibition, in which he reimagines Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s etchings of ancient Rome as a corrupted theme park. For Price, the [...]
Harry Cory Wright: Anglia – art review May 8, 2015 Eleven Gallery | ★★★★☆ East Anglia isn’t known for its magisterial landscape – endless flat, wild land is hardly the stuff of picture post-cards. What it does have is space: space for light to meld and dance. Space to explore. And as the work of Harry Cory Wright shows, there are rich pickings for [...]
Film review: Girlhood May 8, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★★☆ Girlhood’s title has been changed for the English release – perhaps to cash in on the popularity of Boyhood – but the original French name, which translates as “gang of girls”, is more appropriate. For this is a film about the adolescent need to belong, and it’s one of the [...]
Theatre review: The Audience May 8, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★☆☆ The Queen must be a hard act to follow. Not the monarch: the 2006 film about the Royal Family’s identity crisis following the death of Princess Diana. That film’s success was down to two people: writer Peter Morgan and Helen Mirren, who picked up a Best Actress Oscar for [...]
The Vote is a funny, touching love letter to the British democratic system May 7, 2015 Donmar Warehouse | ★★★☆☆ ”I only just wrote some of this… I hope it works out.” These aren’t the words you expect to hear from a playwright seconds before his latest work is performed, but The Vote is no ordinary play. It was broadcast in real-time on More4 last night as the final [...]
Something for the weekend May 7, 2015 SEW! REFASHION EAST A weekend of events promoting fashion upcycling in east London. Learn sewing skills and explore the area’s rich textile heritage with an east London walking tour beginning at the Whitechapel Gallery. Visit hubbub.org.uk. MUNCH! DUKE ON THE GREEN The well-loved gastro pub on the King’s Road is open again after a smart [...]
Forgotten man Launchbury itching to make comeback May 7, 2015 FORGOTTEN England and Wasps second row Joe Launchbury admits he is desperate to issue a reminder of his talents after an injury nightmare which threatened to leave his World Cup aspirations in tatters. The 24-year-old is set for a place on the Wasps’ bench for their crunch clash against play-off rivals Leicester tomorrow, in front [...]
Van Gaal entices Depay to snub Liverpool for £25m United move May 7, 2015 MANCHESTER United’s newest signing Memphis Depay admits he rejected offers from several of Europe’s top clubs in favour of agreeing a £25m summer transfer to Old Trafford. Depay is poised to join from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven in June, subject to a medical next week, in a deal set to take United’s spending since last [...]
Roberts receives Wales assurance over Quins deal May 7, 2015 WALES head coach Warren Gatland has given centre Jamie Roberts the green light to join Harlequins by confirming that he will not freeze out players who sign for clubs outside of their homeland. England boss Stuart Lancaster has stuck rigidly to a policy of excluding foreign-based stars, resisting the temptation to pick successive European players [...]