The play’s director, Ned Caderni, writes in a note to the audience, ‘Ian McKellen once said that young people shouldn’t ever play Vanya… oops’! But despite ignoring the words of the actor who brings Gandalf’s wisdom alive, Inkwell’s adaption of an over-100-years-old Russian play thrives in this youthful cast and energy. Credit must be given…
Film
Love, Simon is a triumph “at a time when we need it more than ever”
It would be fair to say there’s a lot of pressure on Love, Simon to succeed; it has to portray a positive, yet truthful, depiction of life as a gay man, it has to win over cinemagoers, do credit to the LGBTQ community, get those all-important Rotten Tomatoes on their side, and be a successful…
Arts
The Kite Runner: reviewed
Upon entering the beautiful Norwich Theatre Royal, the sound of drums can be heard which transports the audience to slap bang in the middle of 1970s Afghanistan. The Kite Runner is set predominately here with flashforwards to 21st century San Francisco which our narrator, Amir (Raj Ghatak), steers us through as if he were the…
Arts
UEA Literary Festival: Stephen Fry
As Stephen Fry descends the stairs of Lecture Theatre 1, a strange awed hush falls over the crowd. Fry notices this effect he has, a reaction he must be used to by now, and responds with a gentle jab at the audience “thank you for the enormous round of applause” which of course is greeted…
TV
In my unpopular opinion: unrealistic sex on TV is more damaging than porn
Has there ever been a realistic portrayal of sex on TV? Rack your brains and try and think of an example which doesn’t involve two perfect human beings making love to mutual satisfaction with no perspiration at all. It’s hard to think of any examples of a TV series that shatters this image of sex…
Arts
Bad Sex in Fiction Awards: Venue’s favourites
The annual Bad Sex in Fiction Awards seeks to “draw attention to poorly written or redundant passages of sexual description in otherwise decent novels.” In all honesty, though, it appears to just want to poke fun at some outrageously bad sex writing. However, terribly written books like Fifty Shades of Grey or nonfiction books like…
TV
The editor’s Netflix picks
Fargo season 3 (22nd Jan) For those who have doubt over Ewan McGregor’s range as an actor (as I did), I would advise watching the third season of Fargo to witness his (now Golden Globe winning) performance as both twin brothers: Emmit and Ray Stussy. The acting is phenomenal, with Carrie Coon (pictured) giving a…
TV
Elsewhere on TV…
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (17 Jan) By the same team who brought us The People vs O.J. Simpson comes this second instalment (under the very vague anthology title ‘American Crime Story’) focussing on the murder of Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace. While season one focused on O.J. Simpson, it also made…
Comment
Board of Christmas cheaters
The unstoppable steam train of Christmas hurtles forward, as does the usual drill: mingling with relatives you only see once a year, consuming more in one month than you thought humanly possible, and working your way through the usual slew of board games. Board games that are always accompanied by that kind of person who…
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