Reviews
Marianka Swain
Cats is, declares composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, a show that doesn’t really have a story, but was beloved on stage because it’s “the ultimate theatrical experience”. That’s the point which Tom Hooper’s grotesque, nightmarish movie adaptation so profoundly missed, with its computer-generated monstrosities and ham-fisted attempts at miring this fanciful material in leaden reality – albeit one in which relative size warps every second, and Judi Dench wears the carcass of another cat.A great relief, then, to revisit Cats as it was meant to be seen – still inarguably eccentric, but with a clear Read more ...
Nick Hasted
The Frankenstein-style, electrical storm-sparked resurrection of a dead baby in a hospital morgue, and her theft by its creepy attendant, is followed by a homage to Stephen King’s supernaturally potent teenagers, from Carrie to Firestarter, in a threadbare horror with consistent, curious ideas about its own B-movie realm.British director Julian Richards’ debut was the similarly meta and mediocre serial killer flick The Last Horror Movie. Here, as grown-up, corpse-grey, lightning-powered Tess discovers mum is a B-movie actress, Lena O’Neal (Barbara Crampton, pictured below), who’s shakily Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
After C19 delays theartsdesk on Vinyl is back. My initial policy, reckoning that new vinyl would dry up under COVID conditions, was to do regular lockdown mini-editions with the material already set aside here, until it ran out. That didn’t work out. The vinyl, to my surprise, kept on coming. Global crisis be damned! A backlog grew! Thus, theartsdesk on Vinyl 57 is a catch-up on the past couple of months. Due to these factors, a few more records I’d like to have covered were missed and a couple I should have covered this time are held back until June. Also, morose and sombre sounds didn’t Read more ...
Rachel Halliburton
Barber shops – as we are all starting to appreciate in this time of lockdown – fulfil an emotional as much as a cosmetic role: having a haircut can represent a new beginning, a moment for reflection, or even an informal confessional. As the hugely successful Barber Shop Chronicles becomes the latest high-profile National Theatre production to be streamed online, audiences are invited to listen to the dreams, confessions and arguments of black men for whom the barber is also a sanctuary.It’s the playwright himself, Inua Ellams, who describes the barber shop as a “safe, sacred space Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Ask any great sportsman or woman about greatness and they'll tell you it's as much achieved as made; natal talent isn't worth much if you don't practise, or are unfit, or don't have a hunger to win. But much of modern sport has become obsessed with statistics, performance levels and the crunching of numbers – many with dollar or pound signs in front.Gabe Polsky's film suggests that that approach is taking all the joy and individuality out of sport, and not just at the professional level because it has filtered down to schools. Polsky (who made Red Army) is helped to make his case by three Read more ...
David Nice
If you're catering for wish fulfilment, you might as well go the whole hog. Some say that Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, in their latest peachy extravaganza, aim no higher than the cheesier fantasies of the late 1940s Hollywood they take into neverland. But there are two key aspects to consider, beyond the always tasteful cinematography, the fashions and the ever-present pastichey music. One is a true ensemble of 10 fine characterisations, roles for four oldies plus six young to youngish and decidedly glamorous aspirants. The other is that so much of Hollywood then created escapism in the Read more ...
aleks.sierz
During lockdown, some of the best online theatre has been shows that are specially created for this digital format. Much better than dull records of dramas that might have worked well on stage, but now seem sadly moribund and exceedingly slow on the laptop screen. So it’s good to welcome Midnight Your Time, which is remotely directed for streaming by Michael Longhurst, much lauded artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, after being reconceived by award-winning playwright Adam Brace, who wrote the original version of this one-woman show about a decade ago. Best of all, it features actor Read more ...
Joseph Walsh
It’s fair to say that humanity’s relationship with nuclear energy over the last 50 years has had more highs and lows than a Spanish soap opera. From the Manhattan Project to Hinkley Point, it’s been a controversial technology that has promised both humanity’s salvation and damnation.Now, first-time director Vicki Lesley’s easy-going documentary explores the post-war history of nuclear power. Captured with an odd degree of lightness, she makes an otherwise heavy subject accessible. Lesley tells the history of the atom as if it were a romcom. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are swiftly brushed Read more ...
Florence Hallett
Museums and galleries have found innovative and varied ways to keep their collections within reach, and to bring us the many temporary exhibitions forced to close by the virus. But even the most dedicated gallery-goer may by now be tiring of online talks and tours, which so often make unreasonable demands on both guide and viewer and increasingly feel like a very poor substitute for the real thing.For a breath of fresh air, try the Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village in the Surrey village of Compton, whose immersive online offering is as close to a day in the country as we might reasonably Read more ...
Adam Sweeting
Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s hit comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) ended its fourth series in January last year, but this belated interactive special suggested there could be new life in it yet. Summarising Unbreakable… is possible but almost meaningless – “after 15 years imprisoned in an Indiana doomsday cult, Kimmy moves to New York, makes some very eccentric friends and becomes an inspirational children’s author” – but the infinite elasticity of the concept means that anything can happen.And so it proved here, as we rejoined Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) as she prepared to marry Prince Read more ...
Adam Sweeting
Adapted by writer-director Derek Cianfrance from Wally Lamb’s 1998 novel, this HBO production (on Sky Atlantic) presents a huge canvas for Mark Ruffalo, who plays the twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey. He had a particular interest in I Know This Much Is True, since his own brother was murdered in Los Angeles in 2008. If nothing else he deserves accolades for sheer fortitude. Thomas is a paranoid schizophrenic who suffers increasingly traumatic episodes, while Dominick’s life is lived in the shadow of his brother’s illness and what it costs him to try to protect him.The depths of Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Jerry Seinfeld said in a recent interview that this Netflix special – 23 Hours to Kill – may be his last stand-up show. That's a shame, as there's much to enjoy here, even if he is retreading some old ground.Much of this material he performed during UK dates last year (and some of it he had also performed when he previously visited the UK, in 2011), but that's OK as far as it goes – he's still a very funny man, and his grouchy, world-weary shtick can bear some repetition.The show starts with – unusually for Seinfeld – a surprisingly showbizzy sequence, a filmed skit in which he dives out of a Read more ...