As screen-to-stage adaptations go, taking on Stanley Kubrick and one of the most acclaimed comedies of all time is bold. But Dr Strangelove, which just opened at the Noël Coward Theatre in London’s West End, sounds like a tempting proposition rather than a sacrilegious one: adapted by Armando Iannucci, starring Steven Coogan, it’s a union between comedy screen royalty of our own time.
Continue reading “When did theatre become so reliant on film?”Category: Film & TV
Heather Agyepong: ‘A black love story that doesn’t centre trauma? Refreshing’
“Love is messy, right?” Heather Agyepong asks, from deep within the run of rehearsals for Shifters, a new show in which she plays one half in a tender, funny, and, yes, pretty messy romantic relationship.
Continue reading “Heather Agyepong: ‘A black love story that doesn’t centre trauma? Refreshing’”Review: Strictly Come Dancing Live, Birmingham Utilita Arena
After a particularly fine 20th season – with a blisteringly high standard of dancing that drew almost 10 million viewers for the final – Strictly heads out on the road, with many of the season’s most impressive talents signed up. And Krishnan Guru-Murthy is there too.
Continue reading “Review: Strictly Come Dancing Live, Birmingham Utilita Arena”Is Millennial nostalgia ruining musicals?
“This isn’t your mother’s Mean Girls” went the trailer tagline for the new movie version of the stage musical adaptation of Tina Fey’s adored 2004 film. Aside from seeming precision-tooled to enrage aging millennials, this tagline was also, it turns out, misleading: the new film, out this week, is a re-tread of the old, with added smartphones and songs.
Continue reading “Is Millennial nostalgia ruining musicals?”Review: Pageboy, Elliot Page
Elliot Page is probably the most famous trans man in the world. His memoir may have a cute title and thirst-inducing cover shot – but within, there’s a world of pain, revealing just how unhappy being in the spotlight has made the star of Juno, Whip It, and The Umbrella Academy.
Continue reading “Review: Pageboy, Elliot Page”Inês De Castro: The macabre tale of the ‘skeleton queen’
It’s a tale as old as time – two lovers unjustly torn apart. But while the story of King Pedro I and his queen Inês De Castro has shades of Romeo and Juliet in its set up, it ends up somewhere altogether more macabre – imagine if Shakespeare’s tale swerved into horror movie territory in the final act.
Continue reading “Inês De Castro: The macabre tale of the ‘skeleton queen’”Why Alice is the ultimate icon of children’s books
Published in BBC Culture May 12, 2021
For books that are all about surprising transformations, it should perhaps be no real surprise that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are among the most frequently adapted and reinterpreted stories ever written.
Continue reading “Why Alice is the ultimate icon of children’s books”Review: Antkind by Charlie Kaufman
Published in The Observer August 2, 2020
Antkind is the debut novel of Charlie Kaufman, the Being John Malkovich and Synecdoche, New York film-maker, and its premise is incredibly, well, Kaufmanesque.
Continue reading “Review: Antkind by Charlie Kaufman”Review: Pretty Woman: The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre
Published in The Mail on Sunday March 7, 2020
If you’ve ever wondered how the 1990 movie Pretty Woman, which made a fairytale romcom out of a rich-man-meets-prostitute premise, would fare in the age of #MeToo – well, this production won’t help.
Continue reading “Review: Pretty Woman: The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre”Rocks stars: meet the teenage cast of the hot new British film
Published in The Observer March 8, 2020
Seven teenage girls are falling over themselves with laughter. They’re meant to be posing for a picture, but it’s a bit like photographing a box of puppies – they can’t keep still, pawing and hugging and joking, and bursting into coordinated dance moves.
Continue reading “Rocks stars: meet the teenage cast of the hot new British film”