Eddie Jones’s future a key part of England’s next four-year cycle for 2023 Rugby World Cup in France November 3, 2019 After a Rugby World Cup comes a period of flux. Win or lose, success or failure, a new cycle begins now for the teams who competed in Japan, with planning for France 2023 under way already in the back rooms of the country’s governing bodies. For the likes of Australia, New Zealand and France that [...]
Crystal Palace 0-2 Leicester City: Foxes show why a return to the Champions League looks increasingly likely November 3, 2019 They couldn’t do it again, could they? In the era of these Liverpool and Manchester City teams, probably not, but with every passing week Leicester demand to be taken more seriously. On Sunday they kept the bandwagon rolling at Selhurst Park, beating Crystal Palace in tidy and clinical fashion to make it three Premier League [...]
Doctor Sleep film review: Returning to the Overlook Hotel is a joy in this mid-tier horror November 1, 2019 Stephen King hated Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining. He didn’t like the way Kubrick’s film existed purely in the realms of psychological metaphor, and he didn’t care for the unsympathetic portrayal of the Torrance family (I suspect Kubrick’s brusque treatment of King, refusing to even read his original screenplay, had something to do with [...]
RSC’s As You Like it at the Barbican: Fresh and flirtatious but too self-conscious November 1, 2019 The Royal Shakespeare Company’s first offering from its ensemble season at the Barbican takes us on a journey from the royal court, deep into the Forest of Arden. It’s a playful, mad, physical comedy, with a number of laugh-out-loud moments and some strong performances. Speech and tone are casual and the production feels modern, fresh [...]
Botticelli in the Fire at Hampstead Theatre review: A giddy nihilistic romp November 1, 2019 Botticelli in the Fire is a giddy nihilistic romp. A pyrotechnic period drama that vigorously thrusts its way into a position of contemporary cultural relevance, somewhere between Brexit and RuPaul’s Drag Race. Jordan Tannahill’s script is Shakespearean in its regard for historical fact and Brechtian in its regard for the fourth wall, a mish-mash of [...]
The Antipodes at the National Theatre: An excruciating look at the creative process November 1, 2019 Writing stories is hard. This seems to be the message behind Annie Baker’s new play The Antipodes, an excrutiating, self-indulgent insight into the misery of the creative process. The entire play takes place in a nondescript conference room, in which a bunch of writers fawn over an aging director reminiscent of George Lucas. His methods [...]
24/7 at Somerset House review: The story of a world in flux November 1, 2019 For an exhibition about how fragmented and confusing modern life can be, 24/7 at Somerset House has an appropriately short attention span. The flashing, clattering, often overwhelming show bounces from subject to subject, medium to medium, tackling issues as diverse as screen addiction, mass surveillance, light pollution and sleep disturbance. It tells the story of [...]
Sorry We Missed You film review: Ken Loach’s attack on the gig economy feels important to watch November 1, 2019 Sorry We Missed You is the latest offering from director-slash-social-critic Ken Loach; a polemic against the false promises of the gig economy and the brutal reality of life on a zero-hours contract. Its protagonist is Ricky (Kris Hitchen), who gets a new job as a delivery driver because he wants to buy a house for [...]
Manchester City v Southampton: Ralph Hasenhuttl faces real challenge to turn around sinning Saints October 31, 2019 When Ralph Hasenhuttl joined Southampton as their new manager on 5 December last year his first task was to fight fires. Saints were 18th in the Premier League and floundering, having become a listless identikit team under his predecessor Mark Hughes. They needed to be motivated, coached and saved from relegation. The Austrian achieved those [...]
If Arsenal have to sack Unai Emery, at least they are finally well placed to manage the change October 31, 2019 However bad the team’s current malaise may seem for Arsenal supporters – and how much the Unai Emery-orchestrated on-field disarray might escalate – there is one element of the club’s recent evolution that offers some succour. Where once the Gunners looked rudderless at the very top, a club drifting under the distracted eye of an [...]