By: Steve Dinneen

Life&Style Editor I'm the editor of City A.M. The Magazine, and editor of the daily newspaper's Life&Style section. We cover food, going out, art, technology and travel.

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Good Grief, Charlie Brown! at Somerset House review: A fantasyland for Peanuts fans

October 26, 2018

Until March 2019 If you didn’t grow up reading Charles M Schulz’ cartoon strips, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Isn’t it just a cartoon strip about an anthropomorphised dog designed to sell pencil cases? But despite the Schulz estate’s willingness to cash in on the Snoopy IP, Peanuts is something entirely [...]
The Wild Duck at the Almeida: Ibsen’s classic play has been carved up for this deconstructivist test of endurance

October 26, 2018

Until 1 December There have been a spate of productions recently that take a classic play, lift up the hood, and have a real rummage around with the nuts and bolts. There was othellomacbeth at the Lyric, which spliced together the titular plays, casting the female victims of the former as the witches in the [...]
Edward Burne-Jones at the Tate Britain review: A load of daft paintings but some first-class curation

October 26, 2018

Until Feb 2019 It’s easy to be sniffy about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a bunch of bohemian Victorians obsessed with mythology and romanticism, who spent their days painting big, silly pictures of King Arthur and sleeping with each other’s wives. They claim their highly decorative works harked back to the days before art became formalist and [...]
The Inheritance at the Noel Coward Theatre: A virtuoso piece of theatre that ranks among the modern greats

October 23, 2018

Until 19 Jan The Inheritance, set in New York’s gay community a generation on from the Aids epidemic, draws natural, inevitable comparisons to Angels in America. And while Matthew Lopez’s two-part, seven-hour epic is certainly worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as that superlative play, to think of it as merely a kind-of [...]
I’m Not Running at the National Theatre: David Hare’s political drama misses the mark

October 11, 2018

With 17 original plays debuting at the National Theatre, screenwriting credits that include The Hours and The Reader, a steady stream of writer/director gigs for the BBC, and a knighthood, we may have to start referring to David Hare by that most patronising of titles: the national treasure. His latest play, I’m Not Running, centres [...]
Pinter at the Pinter: Stagings of the great playwright’s short plays and poems offers a rare chance to see these unmissable works

October 5, 2018

Harold Pinter was prolific, with more than 30 stage plays, almost as many screenplays and dozens of works of prose and poetry to his name. But while revered masterpieces such as The Birthday Party, No Man’s Land and Betrayal are regularly staged, there are fewer opportunities to see his equally brilliant shorter works. Director Jamie [...]
Tania Bruguera in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall continues a downward trend for the once great exhibition space

October 5, 2018

The Turbine Hall is the toughest gig in contemporary art. While it must feel like a dream commission, it often proves to be a poisoned chalice. Filling the largest public exhibition space in the world requires massive art and super-massive ideas. It needs to be engaging, without descending into a crowd-pleasing fairground attraction. And while [...]
iPhone XS Max review: An undeniably brilliant handset – but is it worth up to £1,449?

October 5, 2018

XS Max may sound like the kind of energy drink beloved of east European builders, but it is in fact the most powerful, expensive mainstream phone ever released. With a 6.5 inch display and a price-tag of between £1,099 and £1,449, it’s a bull-elephant of a handset, a magnificent, powerful beast that could toss you [...]
Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier is a wonderfully acted epic that outstays its welcome

September 28, 2018

National Theatre's Olivier, until 19 Jan RECOMMENDED Shakespeare’s plays tend to be reviewed on the strength of the production rather than the quality of the text, which is taken as a given. But the problems with this otherwise brilliant National Theatre show are all of the bard’s making. There’s a reason, after all, why Antony [...]
Francis Upritchard: Wetwang Slack at the Barbican is a a wry commentary on our fetishisation of historical objects

September 28, 2018

Barbican Curve Gallery, until 6 Jan RECOMMENDED Bringing together dozens of multi-disciplinary works by New Zealander Francis Upritchard, Wetwang Slack is a wry commentary on our curation – and fetishisation – of historical objects. His delicate, slightly grotesque sculptures are presented as if they were museum pieces, perched upon plinths or lining glass cabinets. There’s a [...]

Sydney Sweeney Novig ad backlash shows how much women’s sport has changed

Sydney Sweeney Novig ad backlash shows how much women’s sport has changed

XPeng G6: The Electric SUV with Business Appeal

By: Steve Dinneen

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