26 January 2017 Raising Martha The Park Theatre by Adam McCormack This laugh-out-loud black comedy from writer David Spicer is another hit for the Park Theatre. At times surreal and ultimately frenetic, this is an engaging production that never lapses and benefits from highly talented actors whose feats of coordination and physicality demonstrate British… Continue reading Issue 89: 2017 01 26:Raising Martha (Adam McCormack)
Category: Review
Issue 88: 2017 01 19:La La Land (Adam McCormack)
19 January 2017 La La Land A film by Damien Chazelle reviewed by Adam McCormack The musical is back. Don’t despair, we are not seeing Hollywood revert to the saccharine-saturated schmaltz of the past, where 2-dimensional characters spontaneously launch into songs that develop the plot not one iota. The opening scenes of La La Land,… Continue reading Issue 88: 2017 01 19:La La Land (Adam McCormack)
Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Book Review “The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy” by James Anderson (Tim Marshall)
22 December 2016 The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy by James Anderson (not the cricketer). Review by Tim Marshall The book is published by Allison and Busby Ltd and has all the elements one would expect from an old-fashioned detective yarn. The events take place in Alderly, a country house (possibly a minor stately… Continue reading Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Book Review “The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy” by James Anderson (Tim Marshall)
Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Theatre review, Pinocchio at the King’s Head (Adam McCormack)
22 December 2016 Theatre Review: Pinocchio at the King’s Head Theatre by Adam McCormack My love affair with panto has been rekindled. The prospect of going to yet another interminably long, hackneyed vehicle for fading soap stars filled me with dread, and was to be avoided other than for the contractual obligations of fatherhood. Charles… Continue reading Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Theatre review, Pinocchio at the King’s Head (Adam McCormack)
Issue 85: 2012 12 22: Book Review – Toby’s Room, Pat Barker (Neil Dunlop)
22 December 2016 Toby’s Room by Pat Barker reviewed by Neil Dunlop One hundred years ago they did not know that they were only half way through the ghastly war that was engulfing Europe. Pat Barker takes you to the heightened emotions and rapid changes in the social atmosphere that the Great War created, drawing… Continue reading Issue 85: 2012 12 22: Book Review – Toby’s Room, Pat Barker (Neil Dunlop)
Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Book Review – Doing good better – Creative Altruism Alan MacAskill, (Frank O’Nomics)
22 December 2016 Doing Good Better – Creative Altruism by William MacAskill reviewed by Frank O’Nomics As a sixth former I was encouraged to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M Pirsig, a book that was supposed to change the way I thought and felt about my life. Sadly, it was… Continue reading Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Book Review – Doing good better – Creative Altruism Alan MacAskill, (Frank O’Nomics)
Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Book Review, The Peacock Spring by Rumer Godden (William Morton)
22 December 2016 The Peacock Spring by Rumer Godden Reviewed by William Morton I have been reading a lot of Henry James this year and have been struck by his work but the Peacock Spring is by a lesser- known author, who lived in India as a child and for some years as an adult.… Continue reading Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Book Review, The Peacock Spring by Rumer Godden (William Morton)
Issue 85: Book Review, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Lynda Goetz)
22 December 2016 The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Reviewed by Lynda Goetz This is a book I originally read over ten years ago. It was first published in 1998 and has been a bestseller ever since on both sides of the Atlantic. Set in the 1960s, it tells the story of an American missionary… Continue reading Issue 85: Book Review, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Lynda Goetz)
Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Book Review “The Light of Day” by Eric Ambler (Neil Tidmarsh)
22 December 2016 The Light Of Day by Eric Ambler Reviewed by Neil Tidmarsh Tired of trekking through the bleak landscape of Scandi’s Crimeland, with its flat and colourless prose, its grim narratives and its sudden, random peaks of over-the-top violence? Depressed by yet another girl-in-a-thriller who’s consumed with self-loathing and self-pity because she’s overweight/… Continue reading Issue 85: 2016 12 22: Book Review “The Light of Day” by Eric Ambler (Neil Tidmarsh)
Issue84;2016 12 15:The Tempest (Adam McCormack)
15 December 2016 The Tempest The Donmar, King’s Cross by Adam McCormack The Tempest completes the Donmar’s trilogy of Shakespeare plays set in a women’s prison with an all female cast, following their versions of Henry IV in 2012 and Julius Caesar in 2014. Yet again this production, as with the others directed by Phyllida… Continue reading Issue84;2016 12 15:The Tempest (Adam McCormack)
issue 82:2016 12 01: Lazarus (Adam McCormack)
1 December 3016 Lazarus The King’s Cross Theatre reviewed by Adam McCormack It is always good to start with the positives. If you are a fan of David Bowie’s music, Lazarus offers a great deal. The play features some of his most recent work together with a collection of great songs from his back catalogue,… Continue reading issue 82:2016 12 01: Lazarus (Adam McCormack)
Issue 80:2016 11 17:Nice Fish (Adam McCormack)
17 November 2016 Nice Fish Harold Pinter Theatre by Adam McCormack Mark Rylance’s recent acting successes on stage in Farinelli and the King and Jerusalem, on the big screen in Bridge of Spies, and on TV in Wolf Hall make the opening in London of a play that he co-wrote and in which he also acts, a… Continue reading Issue 80:2016 11 17:Nice Fish (Adam McCormack)
Issue79: 2016 11 10: Deny, deny, deny (Adam McCormack)
10 November 2016 Deny, Deny, Deny The Park Theatre reviewed by Adam McCormack Just what does it take to be the best athlete in the world? If you start with a basic flair for running, apply Gladwell’s 10,000 hours rule (the amount of training needed to become an expert in any discipline), together with the… Continue reading Issue79: 2016 11 10: Deny, deny, deny (Adam McCormack)
