Media reviews

 This is a piece of art that has really impressed me. It takes a number of existing shibboleths in modern society and turns them on its head. The story follows an oil company lobbyist who travels round the world finding ways to undermine climate change agreements before they are agreed to buy time for the oil companies to continue their work without binding international legal frameworks obstructing them. The play sets out upfront the point that securing global agreement and consensus was difficult in the halcyon days of the 1990s, let alone now, and that finding ways past our differences is extremely difficult. It is extremely fair to the arguments set out by the fossil fuel industry - the dependence of civilsation on cheap energy, and the ridiculous position of only rich (in 1990) countries controlling emissions and poor countries not needing to is really well set out. With a few twists this could easily have been a drama setting out the fossil fuel industry's whole position on c...

Timothee Chalamet's top lip doesn't move throughout the whole movie. I'm sure there's more to the movie, but that was the most impressive bit of physical acting I've seen in years and it deserves top place in this review.  The film is fine, it's about Bob Dylan's early years, relationships, and emergence before he turns his back on the old folk system to take on the (horror) new music style. The film fails to really set up why folk music people are so horrified by the new up-and-coming music, and the reaction of the purists at various festivals to new types of music is rather difficult to emphasise with. The film would have benefited greatly from a brief explanation somewhere as to why the new music is hated & feared, rather than just reiterating that the old guard hate the new stuff.  Great music, great acting, good singing. Probably wouldn't see again. Watched on Wednesday 29th January at London Tottenham Court Road Odeon

OK I'm cheating a bit here; I first saw Wicked before Christmas 2024. But it was showing and I fancied a second viewing; especially as I can't see some of the best scenes on Youtube yet.  I am so torn on this film. It's absolutely beautiful, the opening song (No One Mourns The Wicked) is colourful and great fun. The camera angles are great. The opening shot, where we follow the flying monkeys as they break out of the castle and fly over Oz is shot to capture the movement so it feels like you are flying with them in a way that feels like you're in one of Disney World's new rides. The singing is epic; Cynthia Erivo gives a rendition of "The Wizard and I" that makes me actually enjoy the song (I've never liked the Idina Menzel version) and Jonathan Bailey did the same with "Dancing Through life). The choreography is also wonderful. On second viewing, I noticed the movement of the characters during the musical numbers. Every move is solid, precise, an...

Sigourney Weaver plays Prospero in this production of Shakespeare's Tempest. There are so many wonderful things to say about this production. The lighting was the best I've ever seen in live theatre (and probably any art media I've seen). The pitch black lighting at the beginning created an eerie atmosphere, with flashes of light to create an amazing concept of a nautical tempest without resorting to traditional requirements of the sound of rain or thunder to imitate a storm. The set was also wonderful; the use of an extremely light curtain to simulate waves was phenomenal, and the implicit mountain (a steep-looking rise in the background where actors bravely rushed up and down the steep hills) created an impression of a stormy windswept island without resorting to sound. Full kudos to the Director.  The actors were also excellent. Sigourney Weaver was great - dramatic and expressive at all times. The spirit Ariel was a standout star, and I particularly loved the sound effe...

 We live in time is a modern rom-com between two people (Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh) with a few twists. It's fine, but it's not the most engaging film I've ever seen.  The film is split across three timelines and we cut across them over the course of the film. In one section, the couple are pregnant and waiting to give birth, in another the couple have their young daughter and are dealing with Almut's recurring cancer, and in another Tobias is leaving his failed marriage and is meeting and romancing Almut. The technique works quite well, and keep the film engaging.  The plot is OK I guess. There are some great bits of comedy with Tobias the Weetabix man (as he's known to Almut's friend), and the birth scene in a petrol station bathroom is very good. But the plot is a bit thin. It boils down to Almut not being sure if she wants children, having cancer, winning, having a child, having cancer again, taking part in a cooking competition, then death. The main ...

I first read Merchant of Venice in my first year of secondary school. The main thing I remembered about it was that it included a venture gone wrong for the hero, who had made a deal with a financier (Shylock) who wanted his pound of flesh in return for the loss of the loan he had made, and that it was pretty anti-Semitic.  It's interesting what one remembers about a play. This version (with Tracey-Ann Oberman) is the first time I've seen it live and there are clearly some adjustments to the text with the inclusion of the 1936 Battle of Cable Street into the narrative, but otherwise I think it was quite faithful. I was surprised about how much of the plot I'd forgotten. In particular, the clear anti-semitism of Antonio, the close relationship between Antonio and Bessanio, and how Portia dominates the legal trial (while pretending to be a man - which I'd completely forgotten).  These aren't particularly nuanced pieces in the play. Antonio clearly despises Shylock, lo...