When Punch magazine first printed its cartoon about a curate’s egg, the joke was very clear. Fearful of offending his superior, the bishop, the curate describes the egg he has been served for breakfast as having “excellent” parts. For reasons that...
Resist the urge to bolt the door and close the curtains when you spot the words “Jehovah’s Witness” in the promotional blurb for Brook Tate’s confessional show, “Birthmarked.” If anything, think of this as your opportunity to turn the tables; to...
Full disclosure: I haven’t read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. An international bestseller with a panoramic vision taking in the 20th century history of Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion to the rise of the Taliban, the book charts the...
Slapstick comedy has never gone out of fashion; as a genre, it transcends both time and language. It’s why the work of Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin continues to attract new converts. It’s also why the various incarnations of...
Does the world need another version of ‘Frankenstein’? Director James Whale drew up the movie blueprint with his original 1930’s film (and its sequel), a vision so distinctive that few have come close to surpassing it in the decades since. The...
Everyone loves a court room drama – at the moment on TV you can watch televised trials in Scottish courts and listen in on juries in a mocked murder trial. Tie this in with our current obsession with true crime and you can see why resurrecting 12...
Sex, Sorcery, and Suckers… The tagline promises exactly what ‘Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the sea witch’ delivers. The production offers crude jokes, amateur charm, and a proper parody that pokes fun at all those clichés in your typical...
In 1991, the artist, Cornelia Parker enlisted the help of the British army to blow up a garden shed. She and her team then collected the scorched and twisted fragments of the shed and its contents (purposefully curated to echo the horticultural and...
In the Convent of the Three F’s, Mother Superior (Katy Owen) runs a tight ship of fun activities and a safe, if uneasy space. She tells a tail of Bluebeard (Tristan Sturrock), a dark and alluring magician who holds terrible secrets. Three characters...
Reunions rarely work, whether school reunions, band reunions or – this case – resurrection of a much-loved comedy classic. For many people the iconic series Drop the Dead Donkey was synonymous with associated with alternative programming Channel 4...
Martin Thomasson
Dave Porter
Steve Timms
Olivia Howlett
Cathy Crabb