Eurofile

PETER TRUDGILL divides up the continent according to word different languages use to describe the smelly stuff The distribution of words meaning ‘cheese’ in different European languages has an interesting geographical pattern. These words fall into four rather clearly separate zones. In the northern zone, the North Germanic languages have a word for cheese which […]

Does the modern game make it even more difficult than ever for players to come out? Jason Solomons writes about a timely film that puts a sport on the spot Of the 736 players registered as team members in Russia for the recent World Cup, how many were gay? Statistically, the likelihood is quite a […]

TIM WALKER on the plays that show nothing ever changes in politics. Gielgud Theatre, London, until September 7 If there’s one political speech that’s stood the test of time – and I always wonder at how brilliantly manipulative it is every time I hear it – it’s the ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’ eulogy that Mark Antony […]

The Doors’ frontman was supposed to go to the French capital to find inspiration, but found only disintegration. Sophia Deboick pieces together his final weeks. For three days after his death in an apartment at Number 17 Rue Beautreillis, Jim Morrison’s body remained at the property. Wrapped in plastic and packed in dry ice, it […]

TIM WALKER gives five stars to The Lieutenant of Irishmore at London’s Noël Coward Theatre The Lieutenant of Irishmore Noël Coward Theatre, London, until September 8 ***** (Five stars) Over the years, Daniel Radcliffe, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Ben Whishaw have all been only too happy to tread the boards for the director Michael […]

Stage review of Monogamy, at Park Theatre, London by TIM WALKER Sometimes, not often, a great ensemble cast can take a mediocre play and turn it into something special by a real collective act of will. I’ve seen it happen only a few times before – I think, for instance, of what wonders Roger Allam […]

TIM WALKER gives Killer Joe at London’s Trafalgar Studios one star Killer Joe Trafalgar Studios, London, until August 18 * (One star) The programme notes for Killer Joe state that Orlando Bloom is ‘best known’ for his roles in the Lord of the Rings and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchises. It would appear that […]

TIM WALKER gives The Chalk Garden at the Chichester Festival Theatre four stars The Chalk Garden Chichester, until June 16 **** (Four stars) When Penelope Keith was awarded a DBE, she was quick to point out that the honour was for her charitable work, rather than her acting. The star of To the Manor Born […]

​With the football match day programme facing an uncertain future, Charlie Connelly suggests how they could return to their glory days. The Manchester United review. Picture: Archant – Credit: Archant Towards the end of last month I could be found rummaging in boxes and tutting a lot. Afflicted by a sudden bout of nostalgia I’d […]

Charlie Connelly on a book that brings a new level of analysis to the divisive issue on which Ireland is about to decide. Amid the intense national debate surrounding Ireland’s imminent referendum on whether to reform the country’s near-total ban on abortion, one book has emerged to help truly humanise the argument and, perhaps, sway […]

TIM WALKER gives four stars to 3Women at London’s Trafalgar Studios 2 3Women Trafalgar Studios 2, London, until June 9 **** (Four stars) The playwright Alan Bennett once noted that every family has a secret – and the secret is it isn’t like any other family. Katy Brand’s new comedy drama 3 Women certainly doesn’t […]

TIM WALKER gives five stars to Red at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre Red Wyndham’s Theatre, London, until July 28 ***** (FIVE STARS) A great play talks to you because it talks to you about your own life. Red is such a play. It tells the story of how the brilliant, unconventional artist Mark Rothko took a […]

An ideal cast overcomes a flawed play ‘It takes great courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still to love it,’ observes Viscount Goring in An Ideal Husband. In so many of Oscar Wilde’s works, the wit is the master of the plot, whereas in this one it’s very much the […]

Three decades after the death of Kim Philby, perhaps Britain’s most notorious spy, CHARLIE CONNELLY ponders the changing nature of espionage British spy John Cairncross. Photo: UGC. – Credit: UGC Thirty years ago this week a solemn procession made its way slowly through Moscow’s Kuntsevo cemetery on the banks of the Setun river. An open […]

A show to give London a happy Face When I was starting out on local newspapers, I remember heading off with a sense of morbid fascination to cover the re-enactment of the Battle of Britain by a small Townswomen’s Guild in a village hall. The question that occurred to me as I sat watching this […]

Tim Walker writes that ‘Faceless’ raises some interesting questions about diversity, but shouldn’t a court room drama end with a verdict? In the run-up to the opening of The Book of Mormon, I well remember how its publicists did a great job of putting about the idea this was a show that went beyond the […]

TIM WALKER reviews a ‘stylish and highly intelligent’ Hampstead Theatre production ‘Glyndebourne is quintessentially English,’ opines Nancy Carroll as Capt John Christie’s wife Audrey in The Moderate Soprano. ‘Fritz, Carl and Rudy made sure of that.’ The playwright Sir David Hare clearly sees in the story of how the eccentric captain set about creating an […]

TIM WALKER gives The Way of the World at the Donmar Theatre, London, four stars The Way of the World Donmar Theatre, London, May 26 * * * * (Four stars) William Congreve’s The Way of the World is one of those big, sprawling and very, very long Restoration comedies that most theatre directors – […]

The Daily Mail’s theatre critic has been accused of racism in his review of a play, says BONNIE GREER. He certainly doesn’t understand theatre Twitter has just experienced a first: a theatre critic set it ablaze. That milestone belongs to the Daily Mail’s parliamentary sketch-writer by day and theatre reviewer by night, Quentin Letts. He […]

With chilling talk of a new Cold War, CHARLIE CONNELLY remembers one upside from the last one – gripping fiction Salisbury was, on the face of it, an unlikely setting for a chill blast of stale air from the Cold War to blow through the streets but the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter […]

Although overlooked at the Oscars, 120 BPM is, JASON SOLOMONS argues, one of the best films of the year Some things are hard to explain. Quite why extraordinary French drama 120 Battements par minute (120 BPM beats per minute) wasn’t even on the long-list for an Oscar nomination for Foreign Language Film is a question […]

If there’s one playwright in this country that I think we’ve ridiculously over-indulged it’s Alan Bennett. What honestly can be said about our much-vaunted national treasure’s best-known work The History Boys, except that it’s an apologia for paedophilia? So many of Bennett’s plays – I think especially of Afternoon Off, with its hideous undertones of […]

MARIKA TAYLOR studied at Cambridge University under Stephen Hawking. She remembers his inspirational teaching style. Like many students of my generation, Stephen Hawking had already had enormous influence on me long before we ever met. When I was hesitating about my A-level choices, it was his book A Brief History of Time that convinced me […]

A first class sentimental journey says TIM WALKER Old black and white films had their own subtle ways of conveying messages that were deemed to be awkward at the time they were made. The sight of a character seated with a blanket over his or her legs tended, for instance, to be a portent of […]

It takes some arrogance to rewrite Shakespeare, says TIM WALKER. The sheer size of the National Theatre’s Olivier stage seems to have thrown everyone involved in this production of Macbeth into a state of utter panic. Set designer Rae Smith tries to make it feel more manageable by throwing down several vast curtains of cheap […]

TIM WALKER says Martin Shaw has his vote in this Gore Vidal stage drama Ronald Reagan used to say that politicians shouldn’t merely represent the people, but they should represent them at their best. I look at Donald Trump – and, on this side of the Atlantic, Boris Johnson – and I’ll admit that I […]

Why the West End show starring Suranne Jones is certainly not one for the faint-hearted. It never ceases to amaze me what little due diligence some people are willing to put in before they commit the best part of a couple of hundred quid – not to mention a couple of hours of their lives […]

In his latest stage review, TIM WALKER watches Girls and Boys at Royal Court Theatre, London. Girls and Boys Royal Court Theatre, London, until March 17 FOUR STARS It’s rather an annoying thing watching a play you’ve decided isn’t any good – and, in my case, have a rather nasty two-star review already composed in […]

In his latest stage review, TIM WALKER watches Mad as Hell at Jermyn Street Theatre, London. Mad as Hell Jermyn Street Theatre, London, until February 24 FOUR STARS More than 40 years on, Peter Finch’s anguished cry in the Oscar-winning film Network – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it […]

TV critic KEVIN O’SULLIVAN on what our viewing habits say about us as a troubled nation Karren Brady, Lord Sugar, and Claude Littner on The Apprentice. Photo: Jim Marks/BBC – Credit: BBC/Jim Marks Amid the moronic inferno of a ludicrously polarised mass debate there is perhaps one thing we can all agree on about Brexit: […]

The savaging that Milo Yiannopoulos’ awful book received at the hands of its editor provided joy for many. But CHARLIE CONNELLY had a very personal, and pressing, reason not to join in the ridicule Just before the turn of the year there was much merriment on social media concerning the manuscript of Milo Yiannopoulos’s memoir […]

A sterile-sounding genre is revived by an injection of illicit creativity. SOPHIA DEBOICK on the musicians who put the soul into rural America’s music At the mid-point of the 1970s rock was in its pomp. The Who set a record for the biggest indoor concert (78,000 at Pontiac, Michigan in December). Led Zeppelin sold out […]