FILM REVIEW: The Wife starring Glenn Close & Jonathan Pryce

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

RUN TIME: 1 hour 40 minutes

WHEN?: released 28/9/18 (UK)

It’s very early days to be talking about the 2019 Oscars but the bookmakers have Glenn Close in the  runner-up slot for this film behind Lady Gaga in the stellar A Star Is Born.

  • Read on for reasons including where to see Close on stage in New York now

Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: The Distance You Have Come starring Dean-John Wilson at the Cockpit Theatre

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE? Cockpit Theatre RUN TIME: 1 hour and 45 minutes (including 15 minute interval)

WHEN?: 21/10 (matinee) runs to 28/10/18

We last saw Dean John-Wilson (pictured above far right) as the lead in Aladdin in the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End.

  • Read on for reasons including how this outstanding cast perform the socks off this material

Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Eugenius at the Other Palace

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE? Other Palace RUN TIME: 2 hours and 20 minutes (including interval)

WHEN?: 20/10 (matinee) runs to 21/10 and doesn’t, now, transfer to the Ambassadors from 27/10

One of the themes of this new musical co-written by A1’s Ben Adams is striving for the best and it’s a message those involved with the show would do well to bear in mind.

  • Read on for reasons including what we think should happen next for Eugenius

Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: A Very, Very, Very Dark Matter starring Jim Broadbent at the Bridge Theatre

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE? Bridge Theatre RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)

WHEN?: 13/10, press night 24/10, runs to 6/1/19

To say Martin McDonagh’s new work is eagerly awaited would be to seriously underplay how hot he is is right now.

  • Read on for reasons including what to expect from its stars Jim Broadbent and Phil Daniels

Read More

GIG REVIEW: Suede at the Eventim Apollo

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE?: Eventim Apollo

WHEN?: 12/10, tour runs until 14/10/18 (more dates likely, see link below)

SETLIST: As One; Wastelands; Outsiders; We Are The Pigs; So Young; Heroine; The Drowners; He Is Dead; Tides; Roadkill; Sabotage; Dolly; It Starts And Ends With You; Filmstar; Metal Mickey; Trash; Animal Nitrate; Pantomime Horse; The 2 Of Us; The Invisibles; Flytipping; Beautiful Ones; Life Is Golden

Ask us what our favourite ever gig is and we’d probably say Suede at Portsmouth Pyramids in 1993 because it was the 1st time we felt we had ever found our tribe.

  • Read on for reasons including which song Suede played for the 1st time in 26 years

Read More

FILM REVIEW: A Star Is Born starring Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

RUN TIME: 2 hours and 16 minutes

WHEN?: UK release 3/10/18

We’re big fans of Lady Gaga and listened to the soundtrack of this before seeing the film which convinced us that we just had to make a trip to the cinema for it.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is a film very much deserving its Oscar buzz

Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: The Height Of The Storm starring Dame Eileen Atkins & Jonathan Pryce

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE?: Wyndhams Theatre RUN TIME: 80 minutes (no interval)

WHEN?: 6/10, press night 9/10, runs to 1/12/18

French playwright Florian Zeller is interviewed in the programme and declares: ‘For me, theatre is above all the place for questions and not answers – for doubt more than certainty and conviction.’

  • Read on for reasons including how Dame Eileen Atkins is terrific in the role of the protective wife

Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Twelfth Night at the Young Vic

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE?: Young Vic RUNTIME: 105 minutes (no interval)

WHEN?: 5/10, press night 8/10, runs to 17/11/18

Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah arrives at the Young Vic with a modern-day musical re-imagining of Twelfth Night that he co-directed and was a hit this summer in New York’s Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park program.

  • Read on for reasons including why this production is like a breath of fresh theatrical air

Read More

GIG REVIEW: Sophie Ellis-Bextor at the Royal Festival Hall

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE?: Royal Festival Hall

WHEN?: 3/10, tour next year

SETLIST: Groovejet; Wild Forever; Catch You; Me & My Imagination; Youngblood; Love Is A Camera; Not Giving Up; The Sun’s On Us; Music Gets The Best Of Me; Bittersweet; Take Me Home; Young Hearts Run Free; Love Is You; Groovejet; Don’t Leave Me This Way; Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer; Murder On The Dancefloor; A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed

Perhaps it’s having a former Blue Peter presenter as a mother but Sophie Ellis-Bextor has always been refreshingly down-to-earth. So, when she describes tonight’s orchestral pop extravaganza as a ‘dream come true’, the qualification that: ‘All I had to do was pay for it’ comes as little surprise.

  • Read on for reasons including how you can see Sophie on this tour next summer

Read More

GIG REVIEW: Soft Cell: One Final Time at The O2

By Carron Stacey

WHERE?: The O2

WHEN?: 30/9

When writing a gig review, I like to explain what sort of fan I am. I was 10 when Tainted Love came out. Of course I loved it. I loved all their 80s hits, loved the naughtiness of their debut Non Stop Erotic Cabaret album of the same year and liked a few of Marc’s solo ballads.

  • Read on for reasons including why Dave Ball’s synth’s Tainted Love “doink doink” was the memorable sound of the night

Read More