England
Lynne Murphy: The Prodigal Tongue review - two nations divided by a common language?Sunday, 25 March 2018
For as long as I can remember, and long before I set foot in America for the first time at age 24, I have been intrigued by America – the “idea” of it, conjured up through music, and, as it turned out, the reality – and the common language which (... Read more... |
Another Kind of Life, Barbican review - intense encounters with marginal livesFriday, 02 March 2018
“I start out as an outsider, usually photographing other outsiders, and then at some point I step over a line and become an insider,” wrote American photographer Bruce Davidson. “I don’t do detached observation.” A large number of the images in... Read more... |
Dark River review - haunted rural realismFriday, 23 February 2018
Country darkness falls quickly when Alice (Ruth Wilson) goes back to the farm. She stops before entering to gratefully absorb the Yorkshire countryside’s sunny beauty. But after that, Clio Barnard’s third film deals mostly in mud, rain, silence and... Read more... |
CD: Stick in the Wheel - Follow Them TrueFriday, 09 February 2018
The spiky, angular traditional songs that made up Stick in the Wheel's first album From Here were stripped of any varnish and any trappings of nostalgia to become direct, upfront, yanked from the parlour into the street, and out of the past into the... Read more... |
Phantom Thread review - Daniel Day-Lewis bows out in styleFriday, 02 February 2018
A perfectionist says goodbye to an art form he has done so much to nourish by playing – you guessed it – a perfectionist. From the minute Daniel Day-Lewis first appears in Phantom Thread, looking sartorially splendid and more aquiline than... Read more... |
Mary Stuart, Duke of York's Theatre review - superb teamwork from Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams in Schiller's thrillerFriday, 26 January 2018
Casting decisions do not usually make gripping theatre. But in Robert Icke’s version of Friedrich Schiller’s 1800 political thriller, newly transferred from the Almeida to the West End, settling the question of which of two actresses will play the... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: When the Wind BlowsTuesday, 23 January 2018
Adapted by Raymond Briggs from his best-selling graphic novel, When the Wind Blows was released in 1986 and stands up so well that you’re inclined to forgive its flaws: namely David Bowie’s leaden theme song and an abundance of fairly flat black... Read more... |
Lumiere London review - London in a different lightSaturday, 20 January 2018
It seems they’re having trouble with the lights. Thirty-five past five and they’re not yet on. “Typical,” laughs a woman, surveying the huddle of hi-vis chaperones. Palm fronds wave in the wind, suits leave work. St James’s Square slowly fills with... Read more... |
Art UK, Art of the Nation review - public art in a private spaceWednesday, 17 January 2018
Art fairs are vaguely promiscuous. So much art, so many galleries, so very many curators. They’re a glut for the eye yet curiously anodyne — the ranks of white cubicles could belong to a jobs fair, except there’s a Miró round the corner. And it’s... Read more... |
Rita, Sue and Bob Too, Royal Court review - iconic 1980s title makes a welcome returnSaturday, 13 January 2018
The revival that almost didn't make it into town has got the Royal Court's 2018 mainstage offerings off to a rousing start. For a while, it looked as if this fresh appraisal of a benchmark 1982 Court title would close on the road, a casualty of the... Read more... |
Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees, BBC One review - an arboreal delightThursday, 21 December 2017
“I am going to find out how much my trees live, breath, and even communicate. I am Judi Dench, and I have been an actor for 60 years – but I have had another passion ever since I was a little girl: I have adored trees. My six acres are a secret... Read more... |
The Tunnel: Vengeance, Sky Atlantic review - entente not-so-cordialeFriday, 15 December 2017
For the third and allegedly final time, we hasten back to the Kent coast for another outbreak of cross-Channel crime. Not all that surprisingly, this new series of the Franglais cop show focuses on a people-smuggling racket bringing bedraggled... Read more... |
