The Man Who Killed Don Quixote review: Terry Gilliam goes balls-to-the-wall in this kaleidoscope of imagination January 24, 2020 Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote begins with a title card: “After 25 years in the making… And unmaking”. He’s not kidding – Gilliam started work on the film in 1989, it entered full production almost a decade later with Johnny Depp starring, only to see illness and floods destroy the work and [...]
Picasso and Paper at the Royal Academy review: A daft name adorns a roller-coaster of form and imagination January 24, 2020 With Picasso and Paper, the Royal Academy confirms what we have suspected all along: the diminutive Spaniard did, in fact, make use of the material we know as ‘paper’. Sometimes he drew on it, other times he cut it into funny shapes. You could never tell what he was going to do next, when it [...]
You Stupid Darkness! at Southwark Playhouse review: a quietly life-affirming apocalypse comedy January 24, 2020 You Stupid Darkness! is a harrowing comedy about four volunteers, crammed into a dank call centre, filling the midnight to 4am slot on Wednesday mornings at Brightline; a dial-in emotional support service helping callers come to terms with the apocalypse. Things have been getting worse for a while now. The world isn’t ending with a [...]
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie musical review: Major changes revive this popular musical January 24, 2020 Popular musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is switching it up for 2020, with some major cast changes, including a new Jamie. Based on the 2011 documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is an inspirational coming of age tale about a young man taking his first high-heeled steps into the fantastical world [...]
The Personal History of David Copperfield review: A gentle period comedy that lacks Armando Iannucci’s signature bite January 24, 2020 Armando Iannucci’s filmography is a roll-call of some of the best satire of modern times, from his early days on The Day Today and Alan Partridge, right up to 2017’s deliciously dark The Death of Stalin. The common thread binding them together is a gleeful hostility. Iannucci clearly thinks politicians, on the whole, are a [...]
The Welkin at the National Theatre review: Hilarious, tragic and utterly harrowing January 24, 2020 Lucy Kirkwood’s new play at the National Theatre is a revelation: hilarious, tragic, harrowing and utterly compelling. Set in the mid-18th century, it confronts contemporary issues with a ballerina’s lightness of touch, without compromising its place as a period drama. It follows the case of a young woman who’s been found guilty of a terrible, [...]
Saracens’ relegation from the Premiership is a sad moment for English rugby and salary cap rules must change as a result January 23, 2020 Saracens are being relegated and, putting the specifics aside for a moment, I think that is a sad state of affairs for English rugby. Former chairman Nigel Wray has apologised for his actions in failing to comply with the Premiership salary cap, but I have sympathy for him. In many ways what he did – [...]
South Africa v England fourth Test preview: Home captain Faf du Plessis under pressure both on and off the field as series reaches its climax January 23, 2020 How quickly things can change. After the first Test of the series against England in Centurion, South Africa were left to reflect on a first victory in six attempts in which Kagiso Rabada had taken seven wickets to settle their nerves and given the new coaching team a near-perfect start. Just under a month later [...]
England should not rush Ollie Pope up the batting order – let him develop his game at No6 January 22, 2020 England’s win over South Africa in the third Test in Port Elizabeth came by a margin of an innings and 53 runs and gave them a 2-1 lead in the series and yet some people still were not happy. I saw some criticism of England’s top-order batting, with people saying openers Dom Sibley and Zak [...]
Tokyo 2020 six months to go: How Japan is looking to Olympic and Paralympic Games as a catalyst for modernisation and regeneration January 22, 2020 The contorted face of the godfather of sumo wrestling, Nomino Sukune, glowers from a mosaic at Tokyo’s New National Stadium. A few metres to the right, a Greek goddess with a laurel wreath is depicted in a similar monochrome mural. Both artworks were salvaged from the previous national stadium, centrepiece of the 1964 Olympics, and [...]