Immersive theatre giants Punchdrunk: ‘We want audiences to feel a sense of danger’ April 12, 2022 I’m feeling my way down a dark alleyway just wide enough to fit through. An expansive theatre set towers metres above me. Three u-turns later I’ve lost my bearings as we stop in front of a harness, rocking gently in the air. “One audience member will get taken here and come face-to-face with a God,” [...]
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy review: Vital, frenetic storytelling April 12, 2022 Ryan Calais Cameron’s urgent new play is a worthy bedfellow to the seminal theatre show which inspired its name, 1970s breakthrough piece For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. It features seven men on stage in a set up that’s something like a group therapy session, with the men [...]
Daddy review: Queer ecstasy and vulnerability in ambitious play with uneven script  April 8, 2022 Wearing Versace as he greets ticket holders outside the Almeida theatre, Jeremy O’Harris looks and acts like the star playwright he’s fast becoming. He has the cultural cache to boot: He’s the burgeoning writer who consulted on the script for Euphoria and broke onto Broadway with the controversial Slave Play, nominated for Best Play at [...]
Live music and flamenco dancers to transform the City into Waste Land April 6, 2022 Flamenco dancers and DJs playing hip-hop aren’t the first things you think of when picturing the centuries-old churches in the City of London. Nor is Killing Eve actor Fiona Shaw, but this weekend all three contribute to a kaleidoscopic arts and culture festival. The three-day Fragments event is a celebration of the centenary year of [...]
Music festivals are going bigger and better than ever for 2022 April 1, 2022 Roaring from the campsite to the main stage, you take a swig from a friend’s hip flask before the two of you notice that – uh oh – that group over there have the same fancy dress on. Briefly stop, have a chat, compare outfits – then form a lifelong friendship or two. And then [...]
Will Smith should get the sack – his violence wouldn’t be tolerated in an office March 29, 2022 It’s bizarre to think of Will Smith getting the sack. He probably doesn’t ‘need’ work in financial terms, so being let go has a lesser value for him than others, but nevertheless he should be booted out. Yesterday at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Smith physically assaulted Oscars host Chris Rock live on stage [...]
BFI Flare festival: The best LGBTQ films from the festival to watch at home March 28, 2022 BFI Flare LGBTQ film festival has rolled to a close for another year. Returning to premiere more queer short films and feature-lengths in 2023, here’s a remedy if you’ve got withdrawal already: a selection of some of the best films from across this year’s festival. First up, read our feature on the festival, where we [...]
Clybourne Park review: Satire on race lacks emotional depth March 25, 2022 Bruce Norris’ clever play about the way racism lurks in the suburbs was a knock-out when it premiered twelve years ago. It bagged Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Play, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. So it should have: its script points out the systemic prejudices that are in many ways as pervasive today [...]
Phantom of the Open review: Mark Rylance scores hole-in-one with hilarious underdog tale March 22, 2022 This Mark Rylance comedy-drama is perhaps the most twee film you’ll see this decade, but it’s genuinely heart-warming too, with endless hits of proper comedy. It’s not the year’s first joyous tale of a working class British underdog. The Duke, starring Jim Broadbent as an elderly campaigner against BBC television licensing, was in a similar [...]
Cock review: Bridgerton’s new leading man has a sexy existential crisis March 17, 2022 This stylish new version of 2009’s queer breakthrough play Cock asks why we define ourselves by the people we have sex with. The high-budget production is a million miles away from the play’s humble roots Upstairs at the Royal Court, where it premiered to 80 people, and director Marianne Elliott takes full advantage of the [...]