As Hope Mill Theatre’s Executive Director William Whelton observes in his programme notes, the journey to bring their production of Rent to the stage has been a difficult one. Originally scheduled for performance in the summer, national lockdown and...
After seven months with no live theatre, it felt like a miracle to be part of the audience that gathered outside The Lowry on a dark October evening to watch Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show. Imitating the Dog’s new touring work – created with the...
A Scottish film with an opening scene featuring our hero (a working class lad called Davie) running down the street, hotly pursued by an irate adversary, might put you in mind of Danny Boyle’s adaptation of Irving Welsh’s Trainspotting. Trailer The...
When I was young, if someone exhibited a peculiar phobia or obsession, people used to say his mother must have been frightened by something associated with that obsession during pregnancy. I can only conclude that Christopher Nolan’s mum was...
“I was never any good at football.” So says 15-year-old Nico (Francesco Di Napoli), when ageing Camorra boss, Don Vittorio (Renato Carpentieri) asks him why he doesn’t try to get rich through the ‘beautiful game,’ rather than the very ugly game of...
A fish, newly baited, wriggles in front of the camera before being dropped into a red bucket held by a clearly apprehensive small girl. The opening shot of Disappearance at Clifton Hill, the third Indie feature film by Canadian Director Albert Shin...
I confess that, as a man well on the road to decrepitude, the thought that a charming, beautiful and much younger woman – say, Katie Holmes – might fall for me is an appealing fantasy. If ever I reach Sir Patrick Stewart’s age, even the...
To the Stars is an uplifting coming-of-age story from the producers of It Follows and Midnight Special. Martin Thomasson reviews: Small town Oklahoma at the dawn of the 1960s; no place for a wild child, no place for anybody with dreams they hope...
Set in a Leeds of the near future, “The Good Book’ directed by Brett Chapman with a script by James Phillips, tells the story of a community beset by fear and suspicion. A young woman called Bear, having had visions that society needed to return to...
“Stay at Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives” – this is the mantra writ large on a daily basis. Little did George Romero’s understated B-Movie offering or Animating the Dog’s stage adaptation know that the viral nightmare-ish events that are foretold...