Cock review: Bridgerton’s new leading man has a sexy existential crisis March 17, 2022 This stylish new version of 2009’s queer breakthrough play Cock asks why we define ourselves by the people we have sex with. The high-budget production is a million miles away from the play’s humble roots Upstairs at the Royal Court, where it premiered to 80 people, and director Marianne Elliott takes full advantage of the [...]
Doctor Foster and Cock writer Mike Bartlett: ‘Solve problems in the theatre, not online’ March 17, 2022 You might not know his name but Mike Bartlett’s one of the most successful storytellers in Britain. His hit TV show Doctor Foster drew in almost 10 million viewers an episode in 2017, an unprecedented number given last year’s most-watched Christmas Day show attracted 7.4 million. He’s also prolific: since the millennium he’s penned 24 [...]
Can the world’s first climate change escape room really help us change the ways we act? March 11, 2022 I’m standing in what used to be a Paul Smith store in Covent Garden, but instead of browsing for snazzy striped shirts I’m on my hands and knees, poking my head through a hole in a table and blowing air at a model wind turbine. Can I simulate the process of making green energy all [...]
Red Rocket review: Majestic career high for former porn star who partied with Paris Hilton March 11, 2022 Red Rocket isn’t the first cinematic reminder we’ve had this year that penises make for hilarious viewing. Jackass Forever, the year’s most unlikely hit, was basically middle-aged men getting laughs from their appendages. This indie is going in for a slice of the same pie, although the silly jokes sit alongside a serious message about [...]
Small Island review at the NT: A fabulous play about racial injustice March 11, 2022 The small island is Jamaica but then again it is also Britain: this brilliant play explores the injustices faced by the people who arrived on our shores in the 1940s in search of a better life, only to be met with violence and hostility. One of the play’s great strengths is how it makes audiences [...]
A look towards this year’s BFI Flare LGBTQ film festival March 10, 2022 During the height of The Gateway club’s popularity in the 1960s, Mick Jagger turned up and begged for entry. He knew this was a space for women only but he wasn’t taking no for an answer. “He said ‘Go on Gina, I’ll wear a dress,’” recalls Jacquie Lawrence, director of a new documentary on the [...]