All Our Children review – a shameful historical period horrifies anew
How do you tell a story as complex as the eugenics movement, which is pursued afresh in writer-director Stephen Unwin’s new play All Our Children? Its idealistic origins lie in … Continue reading
Why the Armenian-Genocide Film ‘The Promise’ Is Crucial Cinema – CURNBLOG
Terry George’s ‘The Promise’, set during the Armenian-Genocide, is a great movie. The talents of Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale are… Source: Why the Armenian-Genocide Film ‘The Promise’ Is Crucial … Continue reading
“Papillon”: A flawed but fascinating film with a tangled real-life history. – SeanMunger.com
Although a well-made and interesting film, Schaffner’s “Papillon” suffers from the identity crisis of its source material: is it fact or fiction? Source: “Papillon”: A flawed but fascinating film with … Continue reading
Jack Lemmon Rages Against The China Syndrome – Silver Screenings
The China Syndrome (1979) was, for a time, more famous for issues surrounding it than the movie itself. When this thriller was first released, it received mixed reviews. Newsweek called the film… … Continue reading
Don Juan in Soho, Wyndham’s Theatre, London, 2017 | reviewdonkey
The 17th Century version of this play closed, after only one performance, because of its repulsive and offensive nature. It was not shown in an uncensored form again for almost 150 … Continue reading
Film Review – Viceroy’s House: Photocopying Downton Abbey | Enough of this Tomfoolery!
With 2017 marking the 70th anniversary of Indian independence (and the creation of Pakistan as well), the release of Viceroy’s House is perfectly timed, a narration of the road to … Continue reading
How Bette Davis Turned 18 Minutes into a Whole Movie – Silver Screenings
*Spoiler Alert* We found a Bette Davis film that made us cry. Now, as much as we adore Ms Davis, we never cry at her films, not even if she’s dying of … Continue reading
Archive Review • LUNCH WITH MARLENE • New End Theatre • 2008
Whenever I visit the V&A I always, and I do mean always, have to walk round my favourite section of the Museum. It is the part that houses the wayward … Continue reading
![Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the original Broadway production [Wikipedia]](https://roguesandvagabonds.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/playbill.png?w=155&h=110&crop=1)
Archive Review • THE PRODUCERS • Theatre Royal, Drury Lane • 2004
The producers of all this year’s West End flops should be ordered to sit in the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and watch a masterpiece in action. The Producers, starring Nathan … Continue reading
Archive Review • THE CRUCIBLE • Birmingham Rep @ New Wimbledon Theatre [tour] • 2004
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which is appearing on tour at the New Wimbledon Theatre, is regarded by many as a modern classic. First performed in New York just over fifty … Continue reading
Jasper Jones (2017) | CineMuseFilms
A coming-of-age, thriller and rom-com mashup that looks at dysfunctional lives in an Aussie country town. Source: Jasper Jones (2017) | CineMuseFilms
Archive Review • THE LARAMIE PROJECT • KIT Productions @ Sound Theatre, London • 2005
In 1998 two local men met Matthew Shepard, a 21-year old, five foot two inches tall, gay student in a bar in Laramie, Wyoming. They took him in their wagon … Continue reading
Mel Gibson’s Epic “Hacksaw Ridge” Reviewed by Jack Hawkins
Hacksaw Ridge spins a crowd-pleasing yarn about a simple man who possessed extraordinary mettle and bravery. Desmond Doss, a ‘conscientious cooperator’ fro Source: Mel Gibson’s Epic “Hacksaw Ridge” Reviewed by … Continue reading
Archive Book Review • SHAKESPEARE’S WIFE by Germaine Greer • pub. Bloomsbury Publishing • 2007
You know you are in for a good read when an intellectual and academic, who also happens to be the adopted mother of Austral-British feminism, gets to grips with the … Continue reading
On 75th of ‘Casablanca,’ the ‘Delightful’ New History ‘We’ll Always Have Casablanca’ Tells All – Tablet Magazine
One day on the set of Casablanca, Peter Lorre persuaded a few soundmen to rig up a wire in the room where director Michael Curtiz, much like Claude Rains’ Capt. … Continue reading
Buster Keaton and the Important Things in Life – Silver Screenings
There is a scene in the 1928 comedy, Steamboat Bill, Jr., that beautifully showcases the genius of its star, Buster Keaton. It’s not the scene where he clings to a flying … Continue reading
Archive Review • TESTING THE ECHO • OjO @ Tricycle Theatre [tour] • 2008
David Edgar’s docudrama about immigration in the UK has been compared to Alan Bennett’s The History Boys. Discounting the fact that both plays employ a kind of ‘collage’ effect, and … Continue reading
James and the giant talent | Chris Neville-Smith’s blog on theatre
Never satisfied with just another undemanding Christmas show for children, Northern Stage’s James and the Giant Peach is up there with the West End shows for its production value – … Continue reading
Archive Theatre Review • THE HISTORY OF THE TROUBLES (accordin’ to My Da) • Tricycle Theatre • 2003 #Repost
First posted here on 26-04-13 Sometimes new plays have a knack of coming along at just the right time. This new play from Belfast is a real shot in the … Continue reading
Two Thumbs Up for Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: The World as Stage | GALLIVANCE
We, and much of the rest of the world, were introduced to Bill Bryson’s work in his hilarious Notes From a Small Island. We were living in London at the time, … Continue reading
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Archive Review • IN THE CLUB • Hampstead Theatre • 2007
You know exactly what you are in for when the self-professed ‘political sex farce’ In the Club provides a hotel suite crammed with pink latex dildos, fluffy handcuffs, a masturbatory … Continue reading
Carole Lombard takes on the High-Profile Illness – Silver Screenings
Spoiler Alert You have to hand it to 1930s screwball comedies. They are, in part, a response to the Production Code (c.a. 1930-67), a set of rules about What Was Allowed in … Continue reading
Review: Patriots Day (2016) – MovieBabble
The next Peter Berg-Mark Wahlberg team up movie has finally hit wide in theaters. Patriots Day, like many of my other reviews recently, has been widely acclaimed as one of … Continue reading
Review: Shakespeare in London by Hannah Crawforth, Sarah Dustagheer and Jennifer Young – Mathew Lyons
This review first appeared in the August 2015 issue of History Today. The world might be forgiven for rolling its eyes at the prospect of another book on Shakespeare. Does … Continue reading
Archive Review • AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE • Arcola Theatre • 2008
Act 4 of the Arcola Theatre production of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, a play brilliantly adapted and skilfully reinterpreted by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, includes a fleeting moment when the … Continue reading
Archive Review • PETER PAN • Oxford Playhouse • 2004
The last time I reviewed a John Doyle/Sarah Travis collaboration, I hated it and slated it. So it was with some trepidation that I approached their take on Peter Pan … Continue reading
Archive Review • CINDERELLA • Lyric Hammersmith • 2003
Vintage Cinderella Christmas Montage Card by FirstNightDesign The story of Cinderella had been told for hundreds of years before Charles Perrault wrote the version we know the best today, and … Continue reading
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Archive Review • THE UNCONQUERED • Stellar Quines @ Byre Theatre [tour] • 2007
Kicking off in St Andrews before embarking on tour to venues in Scotland and England, Stellar Quines’ latest offering is The Unconquered, an hour-and-a-half piece about the futility of revolution. … Continue reading
Archive Exhibition Review • LAURA KNIGHT AT THE THEATRE • The Lowry Galleries • 2008
Although these two exhibitions must be appreciated independently (and indeed I think, frankly, there would seem to be no advantage in being considered together), there is a little fun to … Continue reading
Archive Book Review • ONE NIGHT STANDS pub. Nick Hern Books • Michael Billington • 2008
There are two great pleasures to be had from reading Michael Billington’s first collection of theatre criticism, One Night Stands 1971-1991. The first, assuming you are old enough to have … Continue reading
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