Steve TimmsLess of a drama and more an exercise in pop culture storytelling, Rick Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran is, in the words of writer/performer Javaad Alipoor, partly about ‘rich people acting like dicks.’ But these aren’t ordinary rich...
Moses KabungaNuclear Future is an austere call to arms. It takes as its base the insecurities of its lead (and only) actor Astrid, played adroitly by Leda Douglas. She stands solitary on stage flanked by two white panels exploding towards the audience, as if...
Martin ThomassonIn a 1994 article entitled, “Discussing the Undiscussable”, New Yorker critic, Arlene Croce, explained her refusal to review a piece by choreographer, Bill T. Jones by accusing him of presenting ‘victim art’. Jones’s show, Still/Here, employed...
Director William Friedkin is often portrayed as an erratic genius. He’s made some amazing films (The French Connection, To Live and Die in LA) and some outright turkeys (Jade, The Guardian). But the film which most people associate with his name is...
Carmel ThomasonDisney on Ice is back on tour with its biggest show yet, celebrating 100 Years of Magic. ‘I thought we’d have to go to Disneyland for this!’ says my 7-year-old theatre buddy, wide-eyed as Mouse-ter of Ceremonies Mickey Mouse and his sweetheart...
‘It’s True, It’s True, It’s True’ is a remarkable portrayal of Artemisia Gentileschi’s experiences during a trail in 17th century Italy. Born in Rome to Orazio Gentileschi and Prudentia Montone, Artemisia was a prodigious painter who, as it now...
Flo, the most junior of doctors, wearing her scrubs, already weary, stressed, overloaded with information and feeling out of her depth, excluded from case conferences by her white-coated seniors, is in need of a night’s rest, to take it all in, to...
Liz RatcliffeThe Lowry saw the transformation into the present day of a truly great female character in Cordelia Lynn’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler. This play asks what we inherit, what we endure and how we carry our history. Holly Race...
“I hope you have not become robots but humanised” (or in Cocteau’s native tongue “J’espère que vous n’êtes pas devenu des robots mais humanisé”) comes the call from the grave. This was Jean Cocteau’s message filmed in 1962 – a...
It has been called Shakespeare’s problematic comedy and, even if the only information you had about it was the title, it’s not hard to see why. The idea of calling a woman a shrew is bad enough, without adding the idea of taming her into the story...