Reviews
Edinburgh Fringe: Flap!, The Famous SpiegeltentTuesday, 14 August 2012
Towards the end of a ridiculously easy and enjoyable hour spent in their company, Flap!’s singer and ukulele player Jess Guille described “Rock in Space” as “jazz-folk-disco” – and, you know, it kind of was. A bawdy, slap-happy five-piece from... Read more... |
The Bourne LegacyTuesday, 14 August 2012
We haven't had a Bourne movie since 2007's Bourne Ultimatum, so Hollywood naturally felt it was high time to reheat the much-loved franchise. Back comes Tony Gilroy, screenwriter for the first three Bournes and now writer/director on this one. In... Read more... |
Ruth Rendell's Thirteen Steps Down, ITV1Tuesday, 14 August 2012
The red and black opening titles, in which a creepy house looms large, immediately tells the viewer we are in Hitchcock territory. However, Thirteen Steps Down, knowingly adapted for the small screen in two parts by Adrian Hodges, is based on... Read more... |
The Hitchcock Players: George Sanders, RebeccaTuesday, 14 August 2012
Many an English actor has found himself playing a suave and supercilious Hollywood villain, but none has done it with the exquisite finesse of George Sanders. His performance as Jack Favell in Rebecca only brought him a handful of scenes in a movie... Read more... |
Hal Willner's Freedom Rides, Royal Festival HallMonday, 13 August 2012
This was an odd duck of a concert for the final night of the Olympics. Elsewhere in London were the reformed Spice Girls and Blur and general partying, whereas this was at times a sombre show, curated by Hal Willner as part of Antony’s Meltdown... Read more... |
Blur, Hyde ParkMonday, 13 August 2012
Even as London partied, the talk was already about legacy. And as Blur took the stage on a Best of British bill that impressively included New Order and The Specials, the open secret that this may have been their last ever gig – “certainly in this... Read more... |
BBC Proms: National Youth Wind Orchestra and Brass Band/BBCSO, SarasteMonday, 13 August 2012
Shamefully, the Albert Hall was just over half full for this impeccably programmed celebration of that most "youth" of ensemble types, the Wind Orchestra and Brass Band. The air of a glorified school concert was blessedly absent throughout (except... Read more... |
The Olympic Games, BBCMonday, 13 August 2012
“It was almost undescribable but I’ll give it a go.” Anyone from the group of athletes we have come to know as Team GB might have given voice to the thought, but the words happened to belong to Ed McKeever, one of the less charismatic of the freshly... Read more... |
BraveMonday, 13 August 2012
Animated 11th-century Scotland is a great place to live for a girl with a bow and arrow, until your mum decides to marry you off to any young numpty who wins a clan tournament. No wonder the female audience comes predisposed to love Merida, the star... Read more... |
The York Mystery Plays, Museum Gardens, YorkMonday, 13 August 2012
Is it the greatest story ever told, or the most indulgent nativity ever staged? The return of the York Mystery Plays – this summer’s blue-ribbon theatrical spectacular in the North – begins by beguiling, ends up bemusing, while in between is a... Read more... |
BBC Proms: BBC National Orchestra of Wales, FischerSunday, 12 August 2012
On the one hand, having a massed brass and percussion section (I counted 16 timpani) in front of three massed choirs lent this evening an air of fantastic anticipation. Boom and crash and honk: that’s what we wanted. On the other hand, it was... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Hodges, Bickley, Daniel, Britten Sinfonia, RundellSunday, 12 August 2012
A motley crowd at Cadogan Hall on Saturday afternoon: new music aficionados and interested parties; general music lovers; some passing trade; tourists; one dad with a young boy of six or seven. Heaven knows what the latter made of the dissonances,... Read more... |
