Derren Brown interview: ‘Magic is childish, you’re just trying to impress people’ October 6, 2023 “There are people who can naturally command a room. I’m not one of them…” These are surprising words from the magician who once shot himself in the head live on TV in a game of Russian roulette. Backstage at the Criterion Theatre ahead of his new show, Unbelievable, the magician Derren Brown is telling me [...]
Blackberry the movie: A gripping real-life corporate tragedy October 6, 2023 Another week, another product biopic. Films about Air Jordan shoes, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos crisps, Beanie Babies, and Tetris have all been released this year to varying success. While the merit of some of those stories may be questionable, BlackBerry has arguably the most intriguing subject. Before everyone stared at their own black mirrors, BlackBerry phones [...]
Picture A Day Like This at ROH review: Beautiful ad memorable October 6, 2023 What does it mean to look for a miracle? Hope, as a uniquely human impulse, is the focus of composer George Benjamin and writer Martin Crimp’s latest operatic endeavour, Picture a day like this. This eagerly anticipated fourth collaboration between Benjamin and Crimp marks a departure from their grander operatic triumphs. Picture a day like [...]
Just Stop Oil protesters disrupt West End performance of Les Miserables October 5, 2023 Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted a performance of Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre in London’s West End on Wednesday night. The protesters entered the stage during a performance of Do You Hear The People Sing? Just Stop Oil said that four protesters then locked themselves to the stage using flexible bicycle locks at around [...]
Trompe L’Oeil review: Trump is the butt of the joke again October 5, 2023 How many fringe theatre and cabaret shows have made Donald Trump the butt of their jokes? Surely it’s in the thousands. It must hard to offer fresh material, so kudos to Trompe L’Oeil for finding new life in him yet. In this musical cabaret the former president is played by Emer Dineen, who portrays a [...]
Old Friends review: Sondheim honoured in show bursting with love October 4, 2023 Old Friends review and star rating: ★★★★★ What drew Bernadette Peters, living legend of Broadway, aged 75, after a half-century-long career in New York, to finally make her West End debut? Especially given she’ll make a considerably worse salary here compared to financially flush Broadway? A knees-up to celebrate musical impresario, Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim passed [...]
Picture a Day Like This at the Royal Opera House: A beautiful ode to hope October 3, 2023 What does it mean to look for a miracle? Hope, as a uniquely human impulse, is the focus of composer George Benjamin and writer Martin Crimp’s latest operatic endeavour, Picture a day like this. This eagerly anticipated fourth collaboration between Benjamin and Crimp marks a departure from their grander operatic triumphs. Picture a day like [...]
Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play: A tough slog at the Young Vic September 28, 2023 Kimber Lee’s Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play had me right up until the moment when it didn’t. It’s a work filled with righteous indignation about the portrayal of Asian people in popular fiction, from Madam Butterfly to Miss Saigon to a thousand other white, colonial fantasies about mystical “orientals”. The same story is essentially acted [...]
Harry Potter star Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore, dies September 28, 2023 Michael Gambon, the actor who played Dumbledore in most of the Harry Potter films, has died. The 82-year-old passed away after a short bout of pneumonia in hospital, his family has said in an announcement. Gambon played the Hogwarts school headmaster Professor Dumbledore in six of the eight Harry Potter films. Sir Michael Gambon was [...]
The Creator review: why this slick new action film is well worth your time September 28, 2023 Hollywood loves a bogeyman. In the 80s, films like Red Dawn and Rocky IV had antagonists in the Soviet Union. The internet, climate change, and terrorism are also drawn upon to provide villains. In the 2020s, AI has taken up that mantle. We’ve already seen Tom Cruise chase The Entity in the latest Mission: Impossible [...]