A conversation about Matilda: the Musical, and how I bullied my friends into ditching dinner plans and working with me. Also this review is full of spoilers – you’ve been warned! Clara: W…
“A Star Is Born”: A Tale of Two Artists
A Star is Born’s fourth incarnation brings revelations from both Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in his directorial debut. A Star is a worthy successor to La La Land, both as an awards-favourite and as a…
King Lear for the Theatrically Illiterate: Thoughts on Ian McKellen, Dementia and Special Effects
Walking into the Duke of York Theatre, I knew exactly two things about Shakespeare’s famous tragedy: that the plot was about a king’s slow descent into madness, and that the main actor, Sir Ian McKell…
Explore The London Film Festival, At Your Own Risk
My relationship with The London Film Festival so far has been complicated by the fact that some films have impressed me, but many have others have bored, angered or frustrated. Whilst such a diverse …
The Bizarre Bill Murray Sightings
“And no-one will ever believe you,” Bill Murray might quip after unexpectedly dropping into your life to create an everlasting memory. Tommy Avallone’s uplifting documentary recounts some of the bizar…
Don’t Tell Me “Black Doesn’t Sell”
Hollywood has often associated placing black talent at the forefront of major studio releases with an apparent risk of hampering the film’s box office performance, especially abroad. Recent commercial…
“Joy”: Misery Is An Inescapable Cycle
Writer-director Sudabeh Mortezai’s exploration of Nigerian sex workers in Vienna is an inevitably tough watch, bereft almost entirely of what the title suggests. Although her handling of such sensitiv…
JHS Lit: Bulgakov and Marquez – making magic out of history
Exploring the Representation of History in `One Hundred Years of Solitude` and `The Master and Margarita` The Late Modern Era was a period of monumental transition, with technological, cultural and po…
JHS Lit: Machiavelli the soldier, schemer or dreamer?
Was Machiavelli sincere when writing ‘The Prince’ and does this matter? Machiavelli was being sincere when writing ‘The Prince’. This matters. In assessing Machiavelli’s sincerity we must evaluate whe…
JHS Lit: Shakespeare, Ondaatje, Brontë – setting the story
Comparing the use of settings in The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and Anthony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare Each writer uses setting to explore the str…