Reviews
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Review: Lower Decks Season 3, Episode 6: Hear All, Trust Nothing
Much post-modern Trek has left me cold. This isn’t really Star Trek’s fault, as such. Though known as being more erudite than most franchises, it has inevitably surrendered to the endless reboots, prequels, and ironic regurgitations of classic source material that defines and sustains today’s pop-culture industry. Franco Berardi wrote about the “slow cancellation of… Read more
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Review: Howlin’ Fling 2023, Isle of Eigg
Hello! I had a lovely time on Eigg, thanks to everyone there, punters and artists alike. This review originally appeared in the Morning Star newspaper. I’ve added some photos; some of the festival, and some of the various fun walks I was able to do while on the island. From the ferry, Eigg comes into… Read more
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Renationalising Dolly Parton
A review of 9-5 – The Musical. This first appeared in The Morning Star. 9-5: The Musical The Polish Theatre, London, 4/7/2023 A lingering life regret: passing up the opportunity to go to Dollywood, the Dolly Parton themed attraction in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains. Driving past the gates, thinking: what madness lies within there? Plastic… Read more
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Return to Seoul
I went to the cinema on a whim. I noticed it cycling by, and it was too perfect to ignore. I passed at 4:29, and there was a film showing at 4:30: Return to Seoul, a film I had heard about without learning anything about, in my usual, hyper-obsessive, hyper-avoidant, spoiler-avoiding way. Sat a few… Read more
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Trashfuture (live podcast recording in London)
This review first appeared in the Morning Star newspaper I am in the only room left in Britain where the mention of Matt Hancock gets a cheer. I’m not at a masochistic Tory fringe event, or at the disastrous former minister’s birthday party. Instead, I’m at a sold out live recording of a left wing… Read more
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I’ve started writing regularly about comedy for the Morning Star. Back in the day I had a culture column for them, writing about everything from books to video games. I seem to remember having a very earnest byline photo and a pun-based column title – “Culture Matters”, I believe. I remember being super pleased when… Read more
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Christian Brighty: Playboy, Brighton Fringe
I first saw Brighty as 1/3 of clown collective Privates, which is an unusual number of balls. Here, he plays a very different kind of testicle in the shape of eighteenth century heartbreaker Lord Christian Brighty – an ancestor, perhaps – in this very enjoyable hour of caddery, invisible ballroom partners, and ships struggling with… Read more
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The Producers: a Mel Brooks musical, Bridewell Theatre, London
London has myriad nooks and crannies. Tucked away on an old alley off Fleet Street is the Bridewell theatre, where has-been Broadway producer Max Bialystok is resigned to a life of first-night flops and exploring certain other nooks and crannies in order to finance them. The Producers, a musical of a film about a musical,… Read more
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