Album of the Week – 19/04/24 It’s the battle we’ve all been waiting for Taylor Swift vs the Pillow Queens! There could be only one winner, right? Of course, it’s the Pillow Queens! Other albums worth checking out this week include Eliza Hardy Jones of The War on Drugs (Pickpocket), Chanel Beads (Your Day Will Come) and A Certain Ratio (It All Comes Down to This). Album of the Week – Pillow Queens – Name Your Sorrow Albums of Note: — Eliza Hardy Jones (of The War on Drugs) – Pickpocket — Local Natives – But I’ll Wait For You — Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department — A Certain Ratio ..read more

Abigail – Film Review by Fran Winston Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett Starring: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir, Giancarlo Esposito This is ostensibly a reboot of the 1936 Universal creature feature Dracula’s Daughter. I am a huge fan of those early monster movies and as such I am familiar with the original work but it is unlikely anyone outside of the horror buffs who love these flicks will have it on their radar. Hence the filmmakers had a lot of leeway to do what they wanted with the character. As such this ..read more

The Book of Clarence – Film Review by Frank L. Director – Jeymes Samuel Writer – Jeymes Samuel Stars – LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, Anna Diop “Struggling to find a better life, Clarence is captivated by the power of the rising Messiah and soon risks everything to carve a path to a divine existence.” Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) is the drug-dealing, twin brother of Doubting Thomas (who is also played by Stanfield). However, Thomas’s doubting has taken a more powerful hold on Clarence who is an atheist. The action takes place in Jerusalem in 33 AD. Clarence is in a fix as he owes money to the loc ..read more

Tuesdays With Morrie – Gaiety Theatre – Reviewby M. Quinn Dates: 16th Apr. – 27th Apr. This is the story of Mitch Albom (Stephen Jones). At the start of the play, he is a young man going to college. His favourite lecturer is Morrie Schwartz (Dan Butler), who teaches Sociology. The two became close friends but drifted apart after Mitch left college. Many years later, Mitch watches an episode of Nightline and sees his old professor talking about his recent diagnosis of ALS also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Mitch seeks out his old professor and the two rekindle their friendship in the last few ..read more

Lennox Mutual – Candle House Collective – Reviewby M. Quinn Candle House Collective have returned with their latest creation; Lennox Mutual. Candle House Collective are a “NYC/ Chicago-based experimental theatre company specializing in remote immersive experiences”. To put it bluntly, a performance via your mobile phone! You book a slot, and then wait alone in a room for your phone to ring at the specified time. During the performance, you’ll be one-to-one with an actor in a live, interactive performance that can go in any number of directions. Candle House Collective like to keep their audien ..read more

Bunny Bunny – Smock Alley – Review by Frank L. Bunny Bunny – Written and performed by Nora Kelly Lester Lester appears on the ramp of the Boys’ School Theatre. Elevated above the audience, she is attired in a leopard-skin bathing suit, an off-white bum-freezer jacket with frogging, and black high heels. The bum freezer jacket has allusions to a ringmaster in a circus and a red clown nose brings us firmly into the world of comedy and pathos that is the world of the clown. She sports on her head a large straw hat with an upturned brim. From her mouth, she emits loudly words that are not polite a ..read more

Slippery When Wet – Bewley’s Cafe Theatre – Review by Frank L. Dates: April 10th (preview 8th & 9th) to April 27th,  2024 Slippery When Wet – Written and performed by Leanne Devlin Armed with a mop, a young woman is cleaning the floor in an anonymous supermarket. She could be anywhere. She makes clear this is not her chosen career. She studied at drama school for three years, graduated, was gainfully employed for a while and then nothing. She has been forced to return home and live with her mother. She is now reduced to mopping floors but her romantic soul is still alive and throbbing ..read more

Suzy Storck – Smock Alley – Review by Frank L. 10 – 13 April – 8pm – Boys’ School It is 8.45 pm on “another unbearably hot evening”. Suzy Storck (Alexandra Conlon) is alone apart from her three children who are locked in their bedroom. Evidence of their existence is shown by odd toys littering the floor. Suzy Storck no longer works. She gave up her job in “poultry” when she married her husband Hans-Vasily Kreuz (Kristian Phillips). She is waiting for him to return – “Maybe he’s coming home. Maybe he’s not.”  She is trapped in a world that she never wanted. There are three empty bottles of ..read more

Album of the Week – 12/04/24 This week sees new releases from METZ (Up on Gravity Hill) and MELTS (Field Theory)! There are also new sounds from Clarissa Connelly (World of Work) and LYNKS (Abomination). You should listen to their single ‘(WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM) SEX WITH A STRANGER’ if nothing else. For our album of the week, we couldn’t resist the gentle sounds of Bridget Kearney with her album Comeback Kid. Album of the Week – Comeback Kid – Bridget Kearney Empires rise and fall every day in the human heart, and riding these cycles––stories with no beginning or end, only transformation ..read more

Back to Black – Film Review by Frank L Director – Sam Taylor-Johnson Writer – Matt Greenhalgh Stars – Marisa Abela, Eddie Marsan, Jack O’Connell Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) won 6 Grammys and a host of other awards during her short life. She was only twenty-seven old when she died of alcohol poisoning in 2011. This biopic of her life written by Matt Greenhalgh concentrates on the relationship she had with her grandmother Cynthia Winehouse (Lesley Manville), her father Mitch (Eddie Marsan) and her first husband Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell). Given her fame, it also deals with the brutish ..read more