- Dance Review: Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London
Posted on 04 Jan 2013 in Dance
Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty is an astonishing work. Witty, trashy, sexy and unsettling, it rewrites the classic narrative to produce a ballet which asks questions about our attitudes to gender, to our own past, and to the way we consume art.
- Theatre Review: John Lithgow Stars in The Magistrate, The National Theatre, London
Posted on 02 Jan 2013 in Theatre
Except of course Cis isn’t advanced for his age: when his mother married Posket, she eased five years from her age, thus putting her nineteen-year-old son back into the velvet suit and sailor collar of a fourteen-year-old boy. Confusion understandably reigns, not least amongst the music mistress and maidservant who find themselves curiously drawn to the charming little fellow.
- Game of the Week: Stanford vs. Oregon — The View from England
Posted on 18 Nov 2012 in Movies & TV, Sports
So that was a touch unexpected. The Ducks, used to clocking up around 55 points per game, managed 14 against a stalwart Cardinal which kept them to a round number of points in the first quarter. Round like the O in Oregon.
- Game of the Week: LSU vs. Mississippi State — The View from England
Posted on 11 Nov 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
After last week’s loss to the Crimson Tide, LSU’s Tigers might have felt they had something to prove. If only to themselves, since a significant portion of the commentariat took the view that they had only been beaten if you took the final score as the most relevant criterion.
- Game of the Week: Oklahoma vs. Notre Dame — The View from England
Posted on 28 Oct 2012 in Movies & TV, Sports, Television
But seeing the mascot of the “Fighting Irish” always makes me blench slightly, I think because it packages Irish identity as such a quaint, jabbering, leprechauny affair. When the commentators keep saying “the Irish are doing this…” and “the Irish feel that…” I rather want to put my hand up politely and suggest that what a bunch of sports fans in another country are doing has nothing to do with what the Irish are doing and feeling.
- The Thick of It Recap – Series 4, Episode 7
Posted on 28 Oct 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
A high-speed mincing Malcolm and a Malcolm collapsing back onto the cushions of a taxi marked two images of him we’d never seen before, and the character ended The Thick Of It unprotected by the reputation and charisma he’s exerted inside and outside the show.
- The Thick of It Recap – Series 4, Episode 6
Posted on 21 Oct 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
The scenario is a brilliant way of watching each figure respond in almost laboratory conditions, offering them the same stimuli and noting their responses.
- Game of the Week: Tennessee vs Alabama — The View from England
Posted on 21 Oct 2012 in Movies & TV, Sports
His whole appearance is so overpoweringly wholesome and plucky, he so powerfully exudes the air of someone who carries their own soundtrack around with them, that one cannot see him onscreen without picturing him in a montage.
- Game of the Week: Texas vs Oklahoma — The View from England
Posted on 14 Oct 2012 in Movies & TV, Sports
I mean, they might blush a little when contemplating the way their run defense allowed Williams and Clay to wander around their territory as if preparing a geological survey map. But playing up to the whistle like that has got to garner some sort of admiration.
- The Thick of It Recap – Series 4, Episode 5
Posted on 14 Oct 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Back at the plot, the death of Tickel is becoming even more of an issue than it looked. Mannion is past the point where he can resign with grace or dignity, and now has to fight dirty until he reaches a point where he’s clean enough to exit with honour.
- Game of the Week: Penn State vs Illinois — The View from England
Posted on 30 Sep 2012 in Movies & TV, Sports, Television
Sanctions are appropriate because there is a potential worry that the culture of Penn State football may be toxic in some sense. In other words, that the way the game is regarded, coached and played at a particular institution may have indirectly contributed to the years which elapsed before the abuse was stopped.
- The Thick of It Recap – Series 4, Episode 4
Posted on 30 Sep 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
This is a special day for Malcolm, a sort of homecoming. He’s preparing a coup against Nicola Murray, leader of the Opposition.
- The Thick of It Recap – Series 4, Episode 3
Posted on 23 Sep 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
The Thick of It neatly sidesteps the continual temptation to set off squibs about thought-space and getting in touch with one’s inner child, and concentrates on suggesting how much aggression and bullying lies behind the hang-loose, blue-sky ethos.
- Game of the Week: Florida State vs Clemson — The View from England
Posted on 23 Sep 2012 in Movies & TV, Sports, Television
The structure of the college game provides terrific narratives because it squashes the entire career of a virtuoso into a handful of years. They pass from their fresh unproven hopes, to their doughty veteran mid-career, to their sepia-tinted last-game late style, within a matter of seasons.
- The Thick of It Recap – Series 4, Episode 1
Posted on 09 Sep 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
The next time a BBC arts show wants to talk about works which explore the British character, they could do with ignoring Brideshead Revisited and having a think about what The Thick Of It accidentally revealed.
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