Hairy Ape is a visually stunning revival of Eugene O’Neill classic November 5, 2015 How annoyed would you be if someone called you a hairy ape? Slightly peeved? Seriously irked? How about so apoplectic that you’d plot murder and then free a gorilla from the zoo? If – like me – you fall into the latter category, you’ll love the Old Vic’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s macho 1922 play, [...]
The weekend’s movies: The Vatican Tapes, Do I Sound Gay and Outcast October 30, 2015 The Vatican Tapes | ★★☆☆☆ There’s a dearth of horror movies to see you through this Halloween weekend, and The Vatican Tapes is a rather hollow token release. Californian twentysomething Angela (Olivia Tyler Dudley) is admitted to hospital with all the signs of a demonic possession, which your GP will be happy to talk you through. [...]
Husbands & Sons is a deeply evocative Welsh drama October 30, 2015 Dorfman Theatre | ★★★☆☆ Throughout his novels, poems and plays – though hardly in real life – DH Lawrence would return to the murky Midland mining village of his youth: a community of dour, drink-sodden colliers and their hard-nosed, long-suffering wives. The men flaunt their masculinity, but are unable to express much else about themselves; the [...]
Under Milk Wood is a raunchy, filthy, surreal take on Dylan Thomas’ epic radio play October 30, 2015 Cert: 15 | ★★★★☆ Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas’ masterful radio play, doesn’t easily lend itself to film. The twisting, languid structure of the poetry means the visuals inevitably feel tacked on, like a montage in a music video. In director Kevin Allen’s adaptation they bray for your attention, all saturated colours and vivid, nightmarish imagery. [...]
Pig Farm is good, dirty fun but fails to live up to Urinetown October 30, 2015 St James's Theatre | ★★★☆☆ It’s an apt time to pen a comedy about pigs and Greg Kotis – writer of last year’s musical hit Urinetown – does so with some style, if little substance. The action takes place on the eve of a federal government visit to an intensive pig farm. A wayward young [...]
The Last Witch Hunter movie review: Vin Diesel plays a sword-swinging sorcery slayer in this fantasy adventure October 22, 2015 Cert 12A | ★★☆☆☆ There’s a fun bit in The Last Witch Hunter, when the last witch hunter, having just hunted another witch, is surprised to learn that there’s an entire prison full of witches out there somewhere, just waiting to be hunted, by him, the hunter of witches. But what is this place called? [...]
Mississippi Grind, Paper Planes, Listen To Me Marlon movie review round-up – Films in brief October 2015 October 22, 2015 Mississippi Grind | ★★★★☆ This road trip starring Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn follows Jerry, a gambler with serious debts who encounters Curtis (Ryan Reynolds), a drifter who seems to bring good luck to all around him. Jerry convinces his new friend to go on a tour of America’s gambling spots in the hope of winning enough [...]
Spectre film review: a hollow ghost of a Bond movie October 22, 2015 Cert 12A | ★★☆☆☆ There’s an old episode of The Simpsons where a Bond parody escapes death using an improbable device. It’s funny because we recognise its ridiculousness, having seen it played out countless times in the classic pre-scowly Daniel Craig days. It’s less funny when it happens in director Sam Mendes’ Spectre; one scene [...]
Jean-Etienne Liotard art review: Has the Royal Academy managed to revive interest in the Swiss-French painter? October 22, 2015 ★★☆☆☆ | Royal Academy Jean-Etienne Liotard was an eccentric chap, by all accounts. The great aristocratic families of Europe thought he was a right laugh, with his eye-catching oriental robes and waist-length beard. They flocked in their hundreds to ask the Swiss-French painter to paint them and Liotard, who was a dab hand at pastel [...]
Plaques and Tangles, Royal Court theatre review: Alzheimer’s play’s intimacy and exceptional acting hit the hardest October 22, 2015 ★★★★☆ | Royal Court Plaques and Tangles, a play about three generations of a family blighted by Alzheimer’s, wears its weighty subject remarkably lightly. It circles with the grace of a featherweight boxer, throwing occasional jabs, ducking and weaving, waiting until your guard is down before hitting home its crushing, terrifically sad finishing blow. It [...]