David Hare can’t bear too much reality – UnHerd
A Western democracy clashes with a Middle Eastern despotism in a war whose outcome will shape a new world order. Just a few years later, a writer presumes to turn … Continue reading
Alfre Woodard: ‘We want all those with a stake in the death row business to see this film’ | Film | The Guardian
The focus of Black Lives Matter protests has inevitably fallen on the most visible injustice – instances of police brutality. More systemic racial disparities in the American penal system are … Continue reading
Enemy at the Gates
Every now and then a film stands out from the crowd. One, in particular, is the 2001 production of Enemy at the Gates, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud… Source: Enemy at … Continue reading
Archive Theatre Review • PURE GOLD • Talawa @ Soho Theatre • 2007
Director Indhu Rubasingham is much in the news at present for taking over the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, London, and changing its name to the Kiln. Most of us are up … Continue reading
Film Review: The Zookeeper’s Wife – Rearview Mirror
Some of my favourite films are about my fascination with the Second World War. It is not from a morbid fascination with the horrors of war, but from my humanist … Continue reading
![Hampstead Theatre [Wikimedia]](https://roguesandvagabonds.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/hampstead_theatre_-_geograph-org-uk_-_485799.jpg?w=155&h=110&crop=1)
Archive Review • STOCKHOLM • Frantic Assembly @ Hampstead Theatre • 2008
Frantic Assembly have a come a long way. Actually, they were always ahead of the game, into the mingling of extended physical movement and text long before it became today’s … Continue reading
Lady Windermere’s Fan, Vaudeville Theatre, London 2018 | reviewdonkey
This is the second play in Dominic Drumgoole’s Oscar Wilde season in the West End and it is directed by Kathy Burke. I attended this production with some trepidation because, … Continue reading
The Cherry Orchard (Bristol Old Vic) – WhatsOnStage.com
There’s an art to restoration, and Bristol Old Vic embodies it. Its refurbished gold-gilt Georgian auditorium is, at once, old and new. Its shape showcases its original form. There’s an … Continue reading
Returning to Haifa review – disturbing drama is a plea for peace | Stage | The Guardian
Finborough, London A Palestinian couple return to their former home to be confronted by its new Israeli owner in this unsentimental, gently political family drama… via Returning to Haifa review … Continue reading
King Lear starring Ian McKellen review at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester – ‘intensely moving’ | Review | Carousel, Theatre | The Stage
King Lear transfers to the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, in the summer, running from 11th July to 3rd November 2018. A stunning studio version of Shakespeare’s play has an … Continue reading
Archive Review • SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER • Richmond Theatre [tour] • 2008
If ever a production showed just how important it is to get the set and costumes right, this touring version of She Stoops to Conquer from Birmingham Rep and The Touring Consortium, … Continue reading
Archive Review • BASHMENT • Theatre Royal Stratford East, London • 2005
In Britain, our multi-ethnic society may pay lip service to celebrating difference and we are even giving legal recognition to gay partnerships but there is a continuing pattern of racial … Continue reading
The war has not yet started | Carole Woddis
Well, here’s a thing now, a season of plays up from Plymouth – but no ordinary season when steered by Simon Stokes and Jenny Topper. It was Stokes and Topper … Continue reading
Musty or momentous? Three forgotten hits are back on stage in London
One of the hoariest critical cliches is that if a play is neglected, it is usually with good reason. In fact, many plays gather dust simply because of the wilful … Continue reading
Book Review: Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell. | Adventures In Historyland
When a writer chooses as their lead protagonist an actor and his main theme the theatre, possibilities abound. At first looking at Bernard Cornwell’s new novel “Fools and Mortals”… Source: … Continue reading
The March on Russia, Orange Tree Theatre review – vividly funny amid the bleakness
The late David Storey spoke movingly, elsewhere on The Arts Desk, of his sense of overwhelming powerlessness at the challenge of accepting his father’s death. “I was quite racked by his … Continue reading
Archive Review • THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY • Rose Theatre, Kingston [tour] • 2008
Peter Hall’s production of The Portrait of a Lady has arrived at The Rose Theatre Kingston, heralding a season of Hall-directed productions all set to transfer from the Theatre Royal Bath. This … Continue reading
King Lear, Shakespeare’s Globe, London, review: A naked emotional spontaneity in Kevin McNally’s fine performance | The Independent
Nancy Meckler makes her debut at Shakespeare’s Globe with this intelligent, uneven, heartfelt account of King Lear. The theme of homelessness is central to the tragedy and the production heightens our sense … Continue reading
Archive Theatre Review • THE ENTERTAINER • Liverpool Playhouse • 2004
From the Archive 25-06-2014 Liverpool Playhouse has opened its doors under the new directorship of Gemma Bodinetz with an adventurous, some would say dangerous first choice of production, John Osborne’s darkly political… … Continue reading
The Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten Melee in Niagara – Silver Screenings
As it turns out, Niagara Falls is a perfect place for murder. The 1953 Technicolor thriller, Niagara, shows us what a perilous place it is: craggy shorelines, thundering water, a … Continue reading
Victim (dir. Basil Dearden) 1961 | reviewdonkey
Victim is a classic movie in so many different ways. It is a great representative of the black and white, crime thriller, genre of the early 1960s. The storyline is … Continue reading
![Actor Jimmy Akingbola on a photo shoot (London, 2010)[Wikimedia]](https://roguesandvagabonds.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/320px-ja-01.jpg?w=155&h=110&crop=1)
Archive Review • THE CHRIST OF COLDHARBOUR LANE • Soho Theatre • 2007
The impressively titled The Christ of Coldharbour Lane portrays curiously eclectic Brixton, where social groups are divided by age, religion and addiction. Brixton’s recent gentrification is signalled from the outset, but writer … Continue reading
Churchill (2017) | CineMuseFilms
While historians debate facts audiences judge movies on expressive qualities, human insight and entertainment value. The beautifully produced Churchill (2017) is being criticised for its interpretation of history, leaving the … Continue reading
Georgian Theatre Criticism | Pen and Pension
The theatre critic is a fixture in today’s newspapers and it turns out that such people have a long history behind them. Even in Georgian times, people turned to their … Continue reading
Archive Review • HOLDING FIRE! • Shakespeare’s Globe • 2007
Jack Shepherd’s new play, commissioned by the Globe for this Renaissance and Revolution Season, begins with co-founder William Lovett (Peter Hamilton Dyer) addressing a meeting of the London Working Men’s … Continue reading
The Country Doctor (2016) | CineMuseFilms
To urban eyes, the rural doctor stereotype is a walking museum of what village medicine used to look like in bygone days. French filmmakers excel in portraying this endangered species … Continue reading
Favorite Horror Films of the 1920s Continued: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari – charles french words reading and writing
In this post, I will continue my series on favorite horror films, specifically of the 1920s. Another brilliant horror movie of the 1920s is Robert Weine’s The Cabinet of Dr. … Continue reading
The Zookeeper’s Wife (2016) | CineMuseFilms
The diversity of Holocaust-themed movies has increased over recent years as filmmakers try different storytelling approaches to keep alive our collective memory of what happened. One film that has divided … Continue reading
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975): The Darkest of Comedies
MovieBabble’s attempt to watch and review every movie on the IMDb Top 250 list starts with a classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest! Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s … Continue reading
Consent, National Theatre, South Bank, London | reviewdonkey
The reviews for this show had been so good, but it was sold out. I know that NT have a few restricted view seats that they sell at 9.30 on … Continue reading
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