feminism
Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, V&A review - appearances aren't everythingTuesday, 03 July 2018
When in 2004 Frida Kahlo’s bedroom – sealed on the command of her husband Diego Rivera for 50 years from her death – was opened, a trove of clothes and personal items was discovered. They shed new light on the life of this iconic Mexican... Read more... |
The Town Hall Affair, The Wooster Group, Barbican review - electric anarchyFriday, 22 June 2018
Iconoclasm, orgasms, and rampant rhetoric are all on irrepressible display in The Wooster Group’s recreation of the 1971 Manhattan debate that pitted Norman Mailer against some of the leading feminists of the day. The evening proved almost as... Read more... |
Ocean's 8 review – half-cocked caperMonday, 18 June 2018
Perfectly timed, in theory, for the advent of #MeToo and Hollywood’s post-Weinstein era, this girl-power redesign of the Ocean franchise has lined up a turbo-charged cast and then not given them anything very interesting to do. Director and co-... Read more... |
CD: Lily Allen - No ShameThursday, 07 June 2018
Lily Allen has long been an unlikely inhabitant of the tabloid sphere. She was born into it and her pop career sealed the deal, rendering her a recalcitrant victim of paparazzi fishbowl idiocy, ugly magazines and online sidebars. She is, however,... Read more... |
Courtney Barnett, Albert Hall, Manchester review - mesmerising indie-rock setWednesday, 06 June 2018
Although once famous for her Australian drawl and hazy jams, on her most recent album Tell Me How You Really Feel, Courtney Barnett has transformed herself into an all-singing indie star, resulting in something more assured, vulnerable, and intense... Read more... |
Meg Wolitzer: The Female Persuasion review - the many faces of feminismSunday, 03 June 2018
Meg Wolitzer’s 10th novel has been hailed as a breakthrough, a feminist blockbuster, an embodiment of the zeitgeist. (Nicole Kidman has bought the film rights, which goes to show.) But in all her fiction, she deftly explores motherhood, career,... Read more... |
DVD: Here to Be Heard - The Story of the SlitsSaturday, 02 June 2018
Here to be Heard, made by US film-maker and punk rocker William E Badgley, has such a juicy, pertinent story to tell that it never palls. Over 84 minutes, contemporary interviews and old footage build a two act drama that reveals The Slits to be one... Read more... |
Sophie Mackintosh: The Water Cure review - on the discipline of survivalSunday, 27 May 2018
A body can be pushed to the brink, to the point where thoughts flatten to a line of light, and come back from death, but the heart is complex and the damage it wreaks barely controllable. For Grace, Lia and Sky, the three sisters of Sophie... Read more... |
Female Parts: Shorts, Hoxton Hall review - women speak outSaturday, 17 March 2018
Hot on the heels of International Women’s Day come three monologues written, directed and produced by women showing at Hoxton Hall. It’s kind of a treat, and kind of not.The current laser focus on gender risks the unwanted side-effect of alienating... Read more... |
Ursula K Le Guin - Dreams Must Explain Themselves review - enraging and enlighteningSunday, 25 February 2018
Essay collections are happily mainstream now, from Zadie Smith to Oliver Sacks, with more and more bits and bobs coming from unexpected quarters. These patchwork quilts from remarkable writers can be significant, nowhere more so than with those from... Read more... |
The B*easts, Bush Theatre review - Monica Dolan is almost flawlessTuesday, 20 February 2018
Lila had breast implants at the age of eight. Karen, her mother, is required to take psychotherapy sessions on account of the fact that she arranged for the operation. Tessa (played by Monica Dolan, pictured top and below) is a psychotherapist who... Read more... |
Collective Rage, Southwark Playhouse review - a rollicking riotWednesday, 07 February 2018
“Pussy is pussy” and “bitches are bitches” but Jen Silverman’s Collective Rage at Southwark Playhouse smashes tautologies with roguish comedy in a tight five-hander smartly directed by Charlie Parham.The play is set in New York and follows the ad... Read more... |
