Theatre review: As You Like It, National Theatre November 6, 2015 Cert: 15 | ★★★☆☆ With its rambunctious female lead and sketch-show skits, As You Like It must be one of the easiest Shakespeare plays to modernise. Which makes it all the more surprising that this is the first time in 36 years the National Theatre has staged the lovestruck comedy. And what a surprise it [...]
Lessons in wine: Why Piedmont is a unique and wonderful region November 6, 2015 Piedmont translates as “foot of the mountains”, with the Alps to the North and West of the region. Along with Tuscany it is Italy’s most important winemaking region. In this region south of Turin we find the famous Barolo and Barbaresco wines. These are made from the same grape, Nebbiolo, which gets its name from [...]
Kill Your Friends is a shallow imitation of American Psycho November 5, 2015 “To make money sometimes we have to make art,” muses Nicholas Hoult’s oily A&R man Steven Stelfox. There’s an irony to be found here, given that Kill Your Friends, which rides shamelessly on the coat-tails of The Wolf of Wall Street and American Psycho, appears to have been made by people who share that exact [...]
Hairy Ape is a visually stunning revival of Eugene O’Neill classic November 5, 2015 How annoyed would you be if someone called you a hairy ape? Slightly peeved? Seriously irked? How about so apoplectic that you’d plot murder and then free a gorilla from the zoo? If – like me – you fall into the latter category, you’ll love the Old Vic’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s macho 1922 play, [...]
Smith & Wollensky is the latest of the upmarket American steakhouses to cross the Atlantic November 4, 2015 WHAT? Renowned for its USDA Prime slabs of cow, Smith & Wollensky is the latest of the upmarket steakhouses to find its way across the Atlantic. WHERE? A ground floor and basement inside the historic Adelphi building, this spot looks for all the world as if a small chunk of 1930s New York has been [...]
Hoppers, Gymkhana’s casual sibling, lives up to the family name November 4, 2015 Sometimes I want to sit down in a restaurant, eat and be gone. Sometimes I want to move in, stay for a while, invite friends, meet the restaurant’s parents, marry the place and have a baby. If I were to marry a restaurant, though, a more sensible betrothal would be to one of Hoppers’ siblings [...]
The No.1 Fitness 12-week challenge: health myths busted November 3, 2015 As our fitness guinea-pig Sam Pridham begins to bulk up after four weeks with No.1 Fitness, we ask his trainer Ben Camara to point out some common health misconceptions: That running will get you toned: People think that if they drag themselves out of bed in the morning and run round the park a few times they’ll get [...]
The Long Weekend: Woburn, Bedfordshire November 2, 2015 Our new series on the perfect places in the UK to take a long, relaxing weekend break. First up, a foodie trip to Paris house in nearby Woburn. THE PITCH: A molecular gastronomy masterclass by a Michelin-starred chef surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK. You will rustle up a feast before [...]
Mix it up: How Spectre has us all bonding over cocktails October 30, 2015 Everything in this world has a price. And for an undisclosed, but no doubt princely sum, Belvedere vodka has become the official of the drink new James Bond film Spectre. (Next time, I’d like to see him knocking back a bottle of Lambrini, please.) Last year, Bond courted controversy by drinking a Heineken in bed. [...]
The weekend’s movies: The Vatican Tapes, Do I Sound Gay and Outcast October 30, 2015 The Vatican Tapes | ★★☆☆☆ There’s a dearth of horror movies to see you through this Halloween weekend, and The Vatican Tapes is a rather hollow token release. Californian twentysomething Angela (Olivia Tyler Dudley) is admitted to hospital with all the signs of a demonic possession, which your GP will be happy to talk you through. [...]
