The Regina Monologues looks at strong royal women through history and the obstacles they faced … and continue to endure. Most of those featured are no longer with us, but the trials and quandaries they encountered are laid bare. They were often held back because they were women, or of colour, or of particular faith. Impediments were…
TC Boyle, the author of Outside Looking In and The Terranauts continues to zig and zag when other authors just stay in their comfort zones. Talk to Me is his 18th novel, and while some of its themes and character types are familiar from Boyle’s earlier works, the subject matter is new and the depth…
Long merely the sidekick or annoyance to Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki finally gets some clear air and deserved screen time. This third series in the Disney / Marvel franchise on Disney + sees the Asgardian trickster thrust into a mind-bending journey. While the series once more uses time-travel as its central device, it’s…
To state the bleedin’ obvious, COVID-19 has had a massive impact on the world … and comedian and songstress Tash York throws many well-chosen barbs regarding coronavirus into a powerhouse show. She’s sassy and saucy and altogether supreme as she and her two flaming red-haired drag artist sidekicks Matthew Hadgraft and Vivian Fonteyn – one on piano and the…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 25 June 2021. The first volume of Inbal Segev’s “20 for 2020” commissioning project is out now featuring works by five of today’s most compelling composers. Galvanized by the unprecedented worldwide crises that characterized 2020 and encouraging creative recovery…
Nostalgia is very much alive and kicking … and Grant Busé has made a thoroughly entertaining, hour-long show about it. He sings, dances, plays instruments (guitar and piano) and chats up a storm. He is funny, clever, risqué and endearing. He pokes fun at the fact that the world seems to be all about remakes, reboots and remixes. He bemoans that “nostalgia just…
What an ordeal! If Iphigenia in Splott is tough to watch because of the material it covers, just imagine what it would be like for the lone actor on stage who gives one of the greatest performances I have seen. It is 90 minutes of dense verbiage, accented and delivered at a mighty healthy clip. Effie (Jessica…
The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017) was an over-the-top action comedy. Now comes more of the same in Patrick Hughes’ standalone follow-up, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. The film opens with Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) accepting the Bodyguard of the Year Award, except … actually, he hasn’t won the prestigious gong. He only dreams of winning it, until…
The bizarre meets the macabre and the maudlin in The Broken Mill. Through original song, storytelling and mime, six performers and four band members tell the tale of the manipulative and murderous Mama (Sarah Wall). She has taken in the destitute and disenfranchised and pulled together a cabaret involving misfits and mould breakers. Some are convinced she…
When Liz Phair’s debut album, Exile In Guyville, was released in 1993, she was a critic’s darling and an indie rock superhero for her gutsy lyrical bravado. While the album was a modest commercial success, it was named the number one album of that year by Spin Magazine and the Village Voice’s notorious Pazz &…
