America
The Royale, The Tabernacle (Bush)Wednesday, 09 November 2016![]() With the Bush Theatre’s main building undergoing renovations, this company’s shows are being staged in a selection of temporary spaces in West London. So, on this dark and freezing evening, I make my way to The Tabernacle, a Grade II-listed building... Read more... |
All My Sons, Rose Theatre, KingstonMonday, 07 November 2016![]() What would a Trump follower make of a successful businessman who grew his company on the proceeds of a negligent decision, and then topped himself because of a belated sense of responsibility? What a dumbass! He wouldn’t be about to become President... Read more... |
Nocturnal AnimalsFriday, 04 November 2016![]() Tom Ford steps up to the celluloid big leagues with Nocturnal Animals, a deeply disquieting film that resists classification – even precise meaning – up until the final frame. A failed-relationship drama that enfolds elements of mystery and horror... Read more... |
The AccountantThursday, 03 November 2016![]() You could begin to wonder if The Accountant is part of a game of one-upmanship between Ben Affleck and his old buddy Matt Damon. If Matt can strike it big with Jason Bourne, the amnesiac super-lethal assassin, Ben can go one better – Christian Wolff... Read more... |
Fool for Love, Found111Wednesday, 02 November 2016![]() Who is the fool in Sam Shepard’s 1983 chamber play Fool for Love? Is it Eddie, the rodeo stuntman who repeatedly cheats on his girl? Is it May, the girl who keeps taking him back? Or is it the Old Man, whose philosophy of rolling-stone fatherhood... Read more... |
Side Show, Southwark PlayhouseTuesday, 01 November 2016![]() Composer Henry Krieger’s highly anticipated Dreamgirls arrives later this month, but first up is the UK premiere of his less well-known but thoroughly likeable Side Show, based on the real story of a pair of conjoined twins who became 1930s American... Read more... |
'We should take a 1:1 ratio of male to female talent as the norm'Sunday, 30 October 2016![]() This year is the sixth London Festival of American Music, and I could not be more excited about it. From the first festival in 2006 – 10 years ago now – I had a very specific idea about what I wanted the London Festival of American Music to be like... Read more... |
Nicky and Wynton: The Making of a Concerto, BBC FourSaturday, 29 October 2016![]() Two personable musicians, who win on all fronts: at the pinnacle of their highly competitive and skilled professions, highly articulate, and perhaps unlikely partners in their art. In one corner, ladies and gentlemen, the composer, world-leading... Read more... |
The Young Pope, Sky AtlanticFriday, 28 October 2016![]() Having survived what you might call his boy-band years, Jude Law has emerged as a truly substantial actor, and his role here as Lenny Belardo, the newly-elected Pope Pius XIII, may prove to be a defining moment. Created by a multinational consortium... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: Pioneers of African-American CinemaTuesday, 25 October 2016![]() The parallel universe of what was known as “race” cinema gets five packed DVDs here. Instead of cringing with sympathy at small, racistly conceived black roles in a classic Hollywood era which coincided with an American Apartheid, these are indie... Read more... |
CD: Lady Gaga - JoanneSaturday, 22 October 2016![]() Where’s the beef? In exchanging the raw meat couture Lady Gaga wore to the 2010 MTV Awards for the leathery country sounds of her latest, fifth album, fans will be wondering if she’s lost her cutting edge. For a New Yorker of Italian descent, a... Read more... |
Jack Reacher: Never Go BackWednesday, 19 October 2016![]() Four years on from Tom Cruise's debut as Jack Reacher in Jack Reacher, here he is doing it again. Not a lot has changed. Cruise eerily continues not to age (does the Scientology robotics division know something we don't?), Jack Reacher is still the... Read more... |
