Celebration of Life Day – discover your family joy
Author, podcaster and coach, Susie Pearl lists how you can bring your family closer together through Celebration of Life Day.
Minds Behind The Music – do we care enough to save the planet?
Over eighty music stars, past and present, are quizzed on their opinions about religion, aliens, politics and of course, the issues of climate change.
Northern Ballet’s Dangerous Liaisons hits cinemas
Northern Ballet’s acclaimed Dangerous Liaisons captured for film in October 2020 at Leeds Playhouse gets big screen release for cinemas.
Physical – trailer
Rose Byrne rediscovers herself after growing tired of being a downtrodden suburban housewife.
Podcast: Water Gypsies, canalmania and Peter Sallis as Hitler
BAFTA-winning actor, comedian and impressionist Julian Dutton in conversation with Duncan Steer.
Rare Beasts trailer
Cinema and digital platform release date confirmed for Billie Piper’s Rare Beasts,
The Crown season 4 reviewed
The royal drama returns with a triumphant portrait of the 1980s with a perfectly wide-eyed Diana.
Review – On Blueberry Hill
Laurence Green reviews the claustrophobic and atmospheric On Blueberry Hill, a drama in which immaculate performances help lift this powerful two-hander so vividly to life.
Leopoldstadt
Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt is a measured and eloquent examination of the reality of history, its closeness and our shared humanity while illuminating urgent lessons from the past in the present with the recurrence of ancient prejudices. Laurence Green reviews.
Talking About Trees
A love of cinema and film-making meets religious and political resistance in Suhaib Gasmelbari’s affectionate documentary about the work of four veteran Sudanese directors trying to bring back cinema screenings to Sudan. By Laurence Green.
Long Day’s Journey Into Night
An enigmatic true original, Long Day’s Journey Into Night is a film that will dazzle and baffle in equal measure long after the final credits have rolled. Laurence Green reviews.
Teenage Dick
A flawed but interesting modern meditation on the lust for power that manages to blend Shakespearean rhetoric with everyday speech. Laurence Green reviews Teenage Dick.
Film review: So Long My Son
Laurence Green reviews Wang Xiaoshuai’s ambitious family chronicle of changing lives, set against the most turbulent events in recent Chinese history.
Dear Evan Hansen
A show that captures the dilemma of the alienated teen – but doesn’t succeed in getting the viewer to surrender to its emotional involvement.
The Antipodes
A journey to the centre of America’s dark heart is provided by Annie Baker in her latest play The Antipodes (Dorfman Theatre at the National) which is also directed by Baker, together with Chloe Lamford. Laurence Green reviews.
Master Harold … and the boys
Master Harold … and the boys is a salutary reminder of the evils of recent, officially sanctioned racism and retains an emotional power which is undimmed by age
Downton Abbey
The TV favourite gets a welcome big screen outing and delivers cinematic structure, impeccable period detail and a well-paced story that offers us the chance to step through history – and into the gorgeous grounds of Downton Abbey.
Edinburgh International Festival 2019
Laurence Green rounds up his pick of the best shows and performances at Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe 2019.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Bridge Theatre
Nicholas Hytner returns to the Bridge Theatre once again with another Shakespearn classic, this time venturing out of Rome and into the dream-forest outside of Athens in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Jesus Christ Superstar
The Rice/Lloyd Webber-penned classic still feels fresh and vibrant and provides an entertaining and thought-provoking experience for audiences of all ages, writes Laurence Green.
The Hunt
Adapted from the acclaimed 2012 film, The Hunt is a disturbing and powerful drama that you won’t forget in a hurry! Laurence Green reviews.
Present Laughter
Andrew Scott steals the show with a fascinatingly detailed interpretation of a character who is flirtatious, stroppy and sardonic, yet also drowning in melancholy in Noel Coward’s comedy. Laurence Green reviews.
The Starry Messenger
Laurence Green finds the eagerly awaited The Starry Messenger a play that fails to drum up much interest in or empathy with the characters and the situations they face.
Salt
Salt is a heartfelt production which takes the form of a brave, honest and unforgiving poetic meditation. But it suffers from repetition with the points made somewhat over-emphasised. Laurence Green reviews.
Rosmersholm
This timely revival of Ibsen’s Rosmersholm “is a piercingly relevant work of personal and political passion, ambitious, complex and dramatically compelling. It might now in our troubled, searching times have found its right moment.” Laurence Green reviews.
I Spy With My Little Eye Something Beginning With Why Have You Been Sleeping With My Wife: A Play by Christopher Bliss
With dad jokes flying left right and centre and some nice physical comedy, this is a show for those who have never truly grown up and long may they remain! Gabriel Wilding reviews.
Fiddler on the Roof
The resurgence in ant-Semitism ensures a timeless resonance to Trevor Nunn’s revival of Fiddler on the Roof at the Playhouse Theatre, writes Laurence Green.
At Eternity’s Gate
Willem Dafoe stars as Vincent van Gogh in Julian Schnable’s biopic but a sluggish, labouring script that labours not so much on the life of the painter or even his work but on the never ending question of “why”.
Berberian Sound Studios
Cult 2012 film Berberian Sound Studios, playing at the Donmar Warehouse, is an example of how what works on celluloid can fall flat in the theatre.
All About Eve
Ivo van Hove’s unsettling re-imagining of the Mankiewicz classic about jealousy and ambition, which asks why our fascination with celebrity, youth and identity never seems to get old. Laurence Green reviews.
If Beale Street Could Talk
Laurence Green reviews Barry Jenkins’ angry, assured and distinctive drama which asserts that even in a world of corruption and prejudice, love and dignity can prevail.
Out and about: Tabac
In need of post-festive pick me up or a treat to kick the January Blues, Kentish Town’s newest drinking nook – the charming and French bar Tabac – provides as the perfect winter hideaway.
The Cane
This moral examination of corporal punishment should have been insightful and thought-provoking but lacks the necessary depth and passion to make us really care. Writes Laurence Green.
Disobedience
Sebastian Lelio’s Disobedience starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams asks searching questions about religious transgression and individuality but ultimately disapppoints, writes Laurence Green.
