Learn to sword-fight with Adrian Paul, star of TV show The Highlander June 21, 2016 The idea: Adrian Paul, star of the ‘90s fantasy TV spin-off Highlander: The Series, now travels the globe training fans in the art of stage combat. I expected the gathering to be attended exclusively by middle-aged men called Gareth. In reality, it was far more varied, with a more or less even split of men and [...]
Range Rover Evoque car review: Are you convinced by the daring of this big topless release from Land Rover? June 20, 2016 The Range Rover Evoque has been around since 2011 and is in danger of becoming last year’s must-have. With an ever-increasing number of upmarket SUVs on the market (including competition from within JLR – Jaguar has recently launched the larger F-Pace SUV), how could Land Rover make a statement by offering something a bit… daring? [...]
Long Weekend review: Discover a cave of historical paintings, open air theatres and a taste for sweet wine in the Dordogne June 17, 2016 The weekend: Get away from the crowds of Bordeaux in south-west France’s rural, second-home paradise. The Dordogne is the perfect summer escape; you can either wile away lazy afternoons sipping wine in the shade or, experience the region’s three Cs – countryside, culture and, most importantly, cuisine, a weekend tour of medieval market towns and [...]
The six best boutique and art hotels in Tel Aviv, Israel, from the eye-popping Artplus to The Montefiore June 17, 2016 Until about 2008, if you wanted to stay in Tel Aviv without slumming it, your options were limited to the hulking, ageing concrete corporate hotels lining the beach. Embarrassing, really, for a city so flush with style in art, design, food, and fashion. But in the last eight or so years, Israel’s biggest city has [...]
Richard III at Almeida Theatre: Ralph Fiennes puts the bunch-backed toad and the bottled spider into Shakespeare’s villain June 17, 2016 Richard III | Almeida | ★★★★★ Richard III is the ideal play for these post-facts times, where rhetoric is no longer anchored to reality and fear is the prevailing political currency. We approach a referendum whose result will be decided by whichever apocalyptic vision of the future the public chooses to believe. Across the pond a [...]
Tale of Tales film review: Salma Hayek is brilliant in this gory fairytale June 17, 2016 Tale of Tales | Dir. Matteo Garrone | ★★★★☆ Italian film maker Matteo Garrone, best known for his realist Mafia drama Gomorrah, makes a surprising choice for his English language debut in this 17th century fairytale. We follow the interweaving stories of three monarchs – an ageing ruler (Toby Jones) who acquires a strange [...]
Soul at Hackney Empire review: This play about the life of Marvin Gaye fails to hit any high notes June 17, 2016 Soul | Hackney Empire | ★☆☆☆☆ On April Fools Day, 1984, Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father in the house they shared. Gaye’s was a life ripe for drama, and Roy Williams’ new play explores it, seeking to answer the questions essential to understanding the man. Who was Marvin Gaye? Why [...]
Where You’re Meant to Be Film review: Arab Strap singer Aiden Moffat meditates on life, death, rivalry and the cultural importance of music June 17, 2016 Where You're Meant To Be | Dir. Paul Fegan | ★★★★☆ This wistful documentary about a folk-music tour by former Arab Strap singer Aiden Moffat starts out as a road trip but becomes a meditation on life, death, rivalry and the cultural importance of music. The voice-over, delivered in Moffat’s distinctive dry prose, is [...]
Long Way North film review: Beautiful animation hides an age-old story June 17, 2016 Long Way North | Dir. Rémi Chayé | ★★☆☆☆ Long Way North is at its best when nothing’s happening. The French-Danish animation, set in St Petersburg and voiced in English, unfurls languidly, idling over shots of the sun setting over the Winter Palace, or seagulls slowly circling a ship adrift in a blue ocean. The [...]
Late Night at the Barbican review: a surreal mesh of dance, sorrow and economic woe June 17, 2016 Late Night | Barbican | ★★★★☆ Three couples sit in the wreckage of a music hall. A song comes on and they start to dance, expressionless, waltzing in neat circles around each other. Every so often one breaks ranks to stand before a microphone and deliver opaque lines of dialogue. Europe has fallen. War and [...]
