The Spoils at Trafalgar Studios review: Jesse Eisenberg’s twitchy performance papers over dramatic cracks June 8, 2016 The Spoils | Trafalgar Studios | ★★★☆☆ You can see why Jesse Eisenberg attracts comparisons with Woody Allen: both excel in playing (and writing) self-obsessed men whose acerbic wit fails to mask their social ineptitude. Eisenberg’s third play as writer-actor – the first to transfer to London – feels like the apotheosis of this: his [...]
Fashion photographer Miles Aldridge took these amazing Polaroids of his raunchy shoots June 6, 2016 British fashion photographer Miles Aldridge is famed for his vivid, highly stylised photographs, saturated in colour but drained of emotion. His models stare blankly at nightmarish explosions of ketchup or broken crockery in recurring pastiches of 1950s domesticity. His photographs are meticulously crafted, his frames arranged and composed with all the precision of a painter [...]
Bhupen Khakhar at the Tate Modern review: LS Lowry meets Henri Rousseau in this touching chronicle of life in India June 6, 2016 Bhupen Khakhar | Tate Modern | ★★☆☆☆ This impressive collection of Bhupen Khakhar’s work is a deeply personal journey through the life of India’s most revered pop artist. It flits from his wide-eyed early paintings of life on the subcontinent to his darker, more blurred work that grapples with his homosexuality (much of which was made [...]
This boozed-up and Giamatti-less theatre production of Sideways fails to live up to its big screen cousin June 3, 2016 St James Theatre | ★★☆☆☆ If you could forget about Sideways, the Oscar-winning film starring Paul Giamatti, this play (by the author of the original novel but based on the movie) would be a passable if unremarkable comedy. But the film does exist: it’s a brilliant, poignant exploration of obsession. This production is a poor cousin [...]
Sunset at the Villa Thalia tackles 1960s Greek politics from a deckchair June 3, 2016 Dorfman Theatre | ★★★★☆ Alexi Kaye Campbell’s new play is a deeply personal effort. Born and raised in Greece, he was a baby at the time of the 1967 military coup, which is his play’s organising event; the two acts are set during its occurrence and aftermath, formulated around two holidays at the eponymous villa. Theo [...]
Race review: A moving and uplifting biopic that sadly fails to fully address America’s own historic hurdles June 2, 2016 Dir. Stephen Hopkins | ★★★☆☆ It’s disappointing but not surprising, given Hollywood's unfortunate record with diversity, that it's taken 80 years for the fascinating story of Jesse Owens to get a biopic. After all, it's only a couple of years since both Martin Luther King (Selma) and Jackie Robinson (42) were given the big screen treatment. [...]
Threepenny Opera at the National Theatre review: An explosively raucous show June 2, 2016 Olivier Theatre | ★★★★★ The National Theatre’s production of The Threepenny Opera is stagy, artificial, vulgar, nihilistic, hilarious, and brilliant. This is opera for people who don’t like opera. Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill’s Weimar Republic-era adaptation of John Gay’s 18th century ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera, is returned to its London roots in [...]
Obsidian Tear/An Invitation/Within the Golden Hour at the Royal Ballet review: A joyous, moving and brilliantly danced production June 2, 2016 Royal Opera House | ★★★★☆ It’s a brave man who opens an eagerly anticipated night at the Royal Ballet in silence, and an even braver one who picks a fight with a ballet dancer. In Wayne McGregor’s latest contemporary piece, Obsidian Tear, the stage is practically bare save for two men, eyeing each other up menacingly, [...]
Cuttin’ It at the Young Vic review: A powerful 21st century take on an age-old tragedy June 2, 2016 Young Vic | ★★★☆☆ At just over an hour long, Cuttin’ It is a compact yet ambitious play that takes on the complex issue of female genital mutilation. Our guides through this painful subject are two 15-year-old girls, Muna (Adelayo Adedayo) and Iqra (played by newcomer Tsion Habte), Somali-British schoolgirls who seem to hail from different [...]
Superforecasting: How seemingly ordinary people can predict everything from world events to election results May 27, 2016 The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was having a stressful time in 2013. A rebel militia had just taken control of Goma, a large province with a population of about a million people, and regional powers were putting pressure on him to wrest it back by force. Little did he know that [...]