Theatrical hell-raisers and the art world's enfants terribles take centre stage in our roundup of the biggest risk-takers of 2014
Theatre
Oh! What a Lovely War
Theatre-maker Joan Littlewood was a visionary, an iconoclast and a subversive. Her 1963 "documentary collage" about the bitter ironies of the first world war was way ahead of its time, using popular period song and hard-hitting testimony. Lyn Gardner Theatre Royal Stratford East, London E15 (020-8534 0310), 1 February to 15 May.
Macbeth
Shakespeare's dark tale as you've never seen it before, taking place in a secret location from dawn to dusk. Party with Duncan, bed down in Macbeth's castle on the 27th floor of a tower block, glimpse the witches in an underground car park, and join the feast at which Banquo will be an uninvited guest. The spectres will be bloody – but the food will be vegetarian. LG Secret location, London, 4 April to 31 May.
Grit
This...
Theatre
Oh! What a Lovely War
Theatre-maker Joan Littlewood was a visionary, an iconoclast and a subversive. Her 1963 "documentary collage" about the bitter ironies of the first world war was way ahead of its time, using popular period song and hard-hitting testimony. Lyn Gardner Theatre Royal Stratford East, London E15 (020-8534 0310), 1 February to 15 May.
Macbeth
Shakespeare's dark tale as you've never seen it before, taking place in a secret location from dawn to dusk. Party with Duncan, bed down in Macbeth's castle on the 27th floor of a tower block, glimpse the witches in an underground car park, and join the feast at which Banquo will be an uninvited guest. The spectres will be bloody – but the food will be vegetarian. LG Secret location, London, 4 April to 31 May.
Grit
This...
- 1/1/2014
- by Lyn Gardner, Andrew Dickson, Jonathan Jones, Adrian Searle, Imogen Tilden, Andrew Clements, Tom Service, Mark Lawson, Tim Jonze, Brian Logan, Oliver Wainwright, Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Henry Barnes, Judith Mackrell
- The Guardian - Film News
From Johnny Cash to Angela Lansbury, expect to see some familiar faces in the coming year
Pop
The lost Johnny Cash gets released
According to Cash's son John, the country legend was a prolific hoarder, hanging on to everything from original audio tapes for The Johnny Cash Show to "a camel saddle gift from the prince of Saudi Arabia". That explains why it's taken several years since his death in 2003 for anyone to find Out Among the Stars, an album he recorded in the early 1980s. Columbia dismissed the album as not worth releasing, but John Cash describes the 12 tracks – which include a duet with Johnny's wife, June Carter – as "beautiful". 24 March.
Theatre
Hairspray
Barely has the set for a blistering revival of Chicago been cleared away than director Paul Kerryson sets about reinventing this joyous musical, inspired by John Waters's cult movie. It's a show that mixes the heart-rending and the hair-curling,...
Pop
The lost Johnny Cash gets released
According to Cash's son John, the country legend was a prolific hoarder, hanging on to everything from original audio tapes for The Johnny Cash Show to "a camel saddle gift from the prince of Saudi Arabia". That explains why it's taken several years since his death in 2003 for anyone to find Out Among the Stars, an album he recorded in the early 1980s. Columbia dismissed the album as not worth releasing, but John Cash describes the 12 tracks – which include a duet with Johnny's wife, June Carter – as "beautiful". 24 March.
Theatre
Hairspray
Barely has the set for a blistering revival of Chicago been cleared away than director Paul Kerryson sets about reinventing this joyous musical, inspired by John Waters's cult movie. It's a show that mixes the heart-rending and the hair-curling,...
- 1/1/2014
- by Mark Lawson, Lyn Gardner, Peter Bradshaw, Stuart Heritage, Andrew Dickson, Brian Logan, Jonathan Jones, Judith Mackrell
- The Guardian - Film News
They might not mean much to you now, but meet the men, women and children set to dominate the headlines in the coming cultural year
Graphic novels
A new Superman
2014 looks set to be a big year for comics, and a great year for Grant Morrison, with the long awaited Multiversity due to strike in the second half of the year. The nine-issue miniseries will feature seven stories set on parallel Earths in the DC multiverse, including Earth-23, a world where the majority of the heroes are black, including Superman who is also, secretly, President of the United States. Laura Sneddon
Film
Jack O'Connell
With his trapezoid chin, O'Connell could easily make a tween pinup, but for a tinge of unpredictability – which he gets to exercise to full effect in Starred Up, a prison drama that could be this generation's Scum. Already tabloid-friendly following his relationship with Tulisa, O'Connell is...
Graphic novels
A new Superman
2014 looks set to be a big year for comics, and a great year for Grant Morrison, with the long awaited Multiversity due to strike in the second half of the year. The nine-issue miniseries will feature seven stories set on parallel Earths in the DC multiverse, including Earth-23, a world where the majority of the heroes are black, including Superman who is also, secretly, President of the United States. Laura Sneddon
Film
Jack O'Connell
With his trapezoid chin, O'Connell could easily make a tween pinup, but for a tinge of unpredictability – which he gets to exercise to full effect in Starred Up, a prison drama that could be this generation's Scum. Already tabloid-friendly following his relationship with Tulisa, O'Connell is...
- 1/1/2014
- by Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Stuart Heritage, Andrew Dickson, Judith Mackrell, Brian Logan, Tim Jonze, Michael Hann, John Fordham
- The Guardian - Film News
From the Nutcracker to American Psycho, from Mary Poppins to Kurt Vile, our critics pick their must-sees of the festive season
If you wish it could be Christmas every day
Nutcrackers, various
You know it's Christmas in the ballet world by the number of Nutcrackers touring the world's stages. In the UK alone, there are close to a dozen doing the rounds, but the top three remain the Royal Ballet's exquisitely traditional version, the sparky family friendly production by Birmingham Royal Ballet, and English National Ballet's – with the best snow scene of them all. Royal Opera House, London (020-7304 4000), 4 December to 16 January; Birmingham Hippodrome (0844 338 5000), to 12 December; London Coliseum (020-7845 9300), 11 December to 5 January.
Father Christmas
Does Father Christmas use the loo? Does he secretly long for summer? Does he have strong views on the size of chimneys? You bet he does. Raymond Briggs's gorgeous picture book gets a heartwarming makeover for under-sixes.
If you wish it could be Christmas every day
Nutcrackers, various
You know it's Christmas in the ballet world by the number of Nutcrackers touring the world's stages. In the UK alone, there are close to a dozen doing the rounds, but the top three remain the Royal Ballet's exquisitely traditional version, the sparky family friendly production by Birmingham Royal Ballet, and English National Ballet's – with the best snow scene of them all. Royal Opera House, London (020-7304 4000), 4 December to 16 January; Birmingham Hippodrome (0844 338 5000), to 12 December; London Coliseum (020-7845 9300), 11 December to 5 January.
Father Christmas
Does Father Christmas use the loo? Does he secretly long for summer? Does he have strong views on the size of chimneys? You bet he does. Raymond Briggs's gorgeous picture book gets a heartwarming makeover for under-sixes.
- 11/25/2013
- by Lyn Gardner, Michael Billington, Andrew Clements, Alexis Petridis, Judith Mackrell, John Fordham, Brian Logan, Stuart Heritage, Mark Lawson, Jonathan Jones
- The Guardian - Film News
Feature Jake Laverde 17 Jun 2013 - 07:25
As BBC Three airs The Best of Limmy's Show tonight, find out why Scotland's comic champion is well worth your time...
The name Brian Limond will probably have the majority of those reading this scratching thier heads. But under his nickname Limmy, he's been quietly producing the finest pitch-black, and most importantly, funny comedy of the past decade. Until now, his excellent series has only been broadcast in Scotland. But it's been enough to earn him cameos in Charlie Brooker's 2011 Wipe and The It Crowd. Plus he counts comedy luminaries Graham Linehan, Matt Lucas and Stewart Lee as fans.
Released daily for three months in 2006, podcast Limmy's World Of Glasgow established Limond's unique world view. Though his website, www.limmy.com had been online since 2000, this was the first time he made his voice heard. The podcast explored several deeply flawed and nuanced...
As BBC Three airs The Best of Limmy's Show tonight, find out why Scotland's comic champion is well worth your time...
The name Brian Limond will probably have the majority of those reading this scratching thier heads. But under his nickname Limmy, he's been quietly producing the finest pitch-black, and most importantly, funny comedy of the past decade. Until now, his excellent series has only been broadcast in Scotland. But it's been enough to earn him cameos in Charlie Brooker's 2011 Wipe and The It Crowd. Plus he counts comedy luminaries Graham Linehan, Matt Lucas and Stewart Lee as fans.
Released daily for three months in 2006, podcast Limmy's World Of Glasgow established Limond's unique world view. Though his website, www.limmy.com had been online since 2000, this was the first time he made his voice heard. The podcast explored several deeply flawed and nuanced...
- 6/17/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Can the raucous experience of a live comedy club survive when it's shown at the cinema? Brian Logan investigates a new experiment
Friday night at Cineworld Wandsworth, south London, and people are filing in to see the nail-biting psych-thriller Trance and the carnival of pulchritudinous teen flesh that is Spring Breakers.
Not me. Oh no. I'm here to watch a film about other people watching middle-aged men tell jokes about how daft they look wearing Crocs.
Put like that, Comedy Store: Raw & Uncut sounds like a galaxy far, far away from anything you'd normally see at the movies – and not especially alluring. But that's what they said before Met Live, National Theatre Live and their numerous imitators trounced the doubters and proved that broadcasting theatre and opera to multiplexes worldwide was not only big business, it could also change the way we experience live performance.
Now the Comedy Store, Britain's best-known comedy venue,...
Friday night at Cineworld Wandsworth, south London, and people are filing in to see the nail-biting psych-thriller Trance and the carnival of pulchritudinous teen flesh that is Spring Breakers.
Not me. Oh no. I'm here to watch a film about other people watching middle-aged men tell jokes about how daft they look wearing Crocs.
Put like that, Comedy Store: Raw & Uncut sounds like a galaxy far, far away from anything you'd normally see at the movies – and not especially alluring. But that's what they said before Met Live, National Theatre Live and their numerous imitators trounced the doubters and proved that broadcasting theatre and opera to multiplexes worldwide was not only big business, it could also change the way we experience live performance.
Now the Comedy Store, Britain's best-known comedy venue,...
- 4/16/2013
- by Brian Logan
- The Guardian - Film News
Famed for his inspired nonsense, Ross Noble is now switching to 'real things'. The comic tells Brian Logan why
I've no sooner turned on my tape recorder than Geordie comic Ross Noble unleashes a routine about Jimmy Savile. "Funnily enough," it begins, "I told a joke about him at an awards ceremony years ago ..." On the story goes – it features necrophilia and an appearance by Paul Gambaccini – while Noble's publicist shifts uneasily in her seat. But what else should we expect? Noble's current tour marks 21 years in standup for the 36-year-old, during which he has rarely stuck to the script.
Noble is comedy's great free-associator. Give him a line and he'll show you a tangent. Give him a stage and he'll digress for hours. Yes, there are strands of scripted material – but they're launchpads for his loopy flights of fancy involving snooker-playing pirates, ballerinas blasted by giant fans, and Gerry Rafferty...
I've no sooner turned on my tape recorder than Geordie comic Ross Noble unleashes a routine about Jimmy Savile. "Funnily enough," it begins, "I told a joke about him at an awards ceremony years ago ..." On the story goes – it features necrophilia and an appearance by Paul Gambaccini – while Noble's publicist shifts uneasily in her seat. But what else should we expect? Noble's current tour marks 21 years in standup for the 36-year-old, during which he has rarely stuck to the script.
Noble is comedy's great free-associator. Give him a line and he'll show you a tangent. Give him a stage and he'll digress for hours. Yes, there are strands of scripted material – but they're launchpads for his loopy flights of fancy involving snooker-playing pirates, ballerinas blasted by giant fans, and Gerry Rafferty...
- 11/13/2012
- by Brian Logan
- The Guardian - Film News
People have been walking out of the RSC's risqué new production of Marat/Sade. Are critics ever tempted to follow them? Guardian reviewers reveal the times they just couldn't take any more
Although the play is nearly 50 years old, Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade still has the power to shock. Around 30 people per night have walked out of the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival in Stratford-upon-Avon, disgusted by scenes including stun-gun torture and simulated sodomy by a sex toy, with one theatregoer describing it as "utter filth and depravity". In response to the row, Katy Brand tweeted about a version she once starred in: "Production ended with me on stage masturbating. Seems tame by RSC standards."
Critics, of course, are required to sit through whatever is thrown at them, be it shocking, preposterous, dreadful or dull. But have there ever been times when they left early? Here, Guardian reviewers reveal the...
Although the play is nearly 50 years old, Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade still has the power to shock. Around 30 people per night have walked out of the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival in Stratford-upon-Avon, disgusted by scenes including stun-gun torture and simulated sodomy by a sex toy, with one theatregoer describing it as "utter filth and depravity". In response to the row, Katy Brand tweeted about a version she once starred in: "Production ended with me on stage masturbating. Seems tame by RSC standards."
Critics, of course, are required to sit through whatever is thrown at them, be it shocking, preposterous, dreadful or dull. But have there ever been times when they left early? Here, Guardian reviewers reveal the...
- 10/25/2011
- by Alexis Petridis, Tim Ashley, Michael Billington, Judith Mackrell, Peter Bradshaw, Brian Logan
- The Guardian - Film News
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