http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/index.html http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 Fri, 03 Feb 12 17:15:02 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 Thanks for always making me laugh! Love ya!]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 Fri, 03 Feb 12 12:21:04 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012
much love and many years more of happiness

your favourite one xxx]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6653/The_Hothouse Thu, 02 Feb 12 11:42:00 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6653/The_Hothouse
A black comedy set in a "rest room" for patients in an unspecified institution, The Hothouse deals with serious issues, such as the death of a patient, and the impregnation of another female resident by a member of staff (the identity of whom remains a bit of a mystery). Written in 1958, the work stands the test of time, still captivating and moving the audience all these years later. The actors use old style proper English received pronunciation in their dialogue, which adds to the wit.

The majority of the most amusing and clever scenes take place in the office of Roote, the institution's manager (whose sanity is at times questionable), between himself, Gibbs and Lush. Gibbs, played by Ziad Samaha, really captures the essence of this power-hungry and ambitious character, while Matt Gavan plays the erratic and slightly insane ex-colonel Roote. Gavan gives an entertaining performance and is at the centre of most of the comedy moments. Everything from the way he carries himself on stage, to the quick-witted exchanges with others has clearly been thought about by Gavan. Jordan Waller plays the alcoholic Lush, involved in one of the most memorable scenes, in which he and Roote engage in some serious drinking whilst mostly discussing the weather. The repetition of their conversation and the sheer absurdity of it provides the audience with some great laughs.

The acting wasn’t the only impressive element of this play; the set also surpassed expectations. The stage was divided into two main rooms, laid out on a split level, with most scenes either taking place in Roote’s office or in the staffroom. There were also screens at the back of the stage, as though it were a control room containing CCTV cameras. These were used throughout as characters disappeared off stage to enter another room, or to show their arrival on stage. Director Jamie Macdonagh deserves a credit.

This was a tremendously funny performance of The Hothouse, with the audience in stitches throughout. Well worth a watch!]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 Thu, 02 Feb 12 12:03:37 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012
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Hope you have a lovely Valentines day here during our first year in Oxford.

Love you lots!]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 Wed, 01 Feb 12 13:40:37 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6664/Thirsty Wed, 01 Feb 12 10:59:21 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6664/Thirsty Thirsty left me disappointed, and actually, furious.

Thirsty is the story of an anonymous everygirl who goes out drinking to blot out the middle class misery of going to university. This is interwoven with the actually very touching story of how the two actresses’ relationship had developed over the last ten years, partially through their shared love of going out together. This strand was, however, left mainly unexplored, focussing instead on the vulnerability of young women out getting pissed. There was an extremely annoying claim of “not wanting to tell this story” running throughout the narrative. We’re told this again and again, that they want to tell a measured tale of the positives that people take from their social lives, the various ways in which they use alcohol to enhance their lives in a safe way, but they keep getting seduced by the story of a young woman drinking to blot out the pain. And all I kept thinking was, “Well, you are telling that story. You have chosen to put a young woman, on a stage, as a victim of, not the social forces and individuals around her, but her own decisions. So own it.”

The thing is, this is dangerous stuff. By showing, as I felt was clearly the implication, that unhappiness in young women will lead to drinking, which will lead to dangerous, unpleasant situations, you are saying that young women are the only ones who can arrest this behaviour pattern, and that, by implication, the consequences are “their fault”. Despite the fact it’s two young women telling us this, the implication of blame is stark. So where are the stories of alternative ways of coping? Where are the stories of the culture that has led us here? The only aggressor shown in the show is alcohol itself, but this is a myopic presentation. Getting hammered once in a while in the company of trusted friends is not risky behaviour - so why weren’t we shown the people who pose these risks? Why are the only people shown, taking these decisions and getting damaged by them, the young women themselves?

I might be reading this all wrong. The audience were so into it. I could see all of them, and they were all crying by the end. Really, everybody. They loved it. Perhaps it’s because the experiences that Thirsty discussed were so much my own that I couldn’t get caught up. Because they were so explicitly describing young women just like me, only a couple of years younger. This is my life, and my truth, that they were presenting on stage. And it’s just so lazy to point out the ends of the bad nights, when everything goes wrong, and only nod to the sheer joy of going out with friends in your early 20’s, and taking on the world. The bonding, and the learning, that come with the experiences described, are tantalisingly hinted at, but never explored. At so many points, the play felt that it could become a rousing hymn to female friendship, but it never got past the first chord. The denouement, which, in fairness, obviously stunned and moved the majority of the audience, felt like it was unearned and, actually, very judgemental. I was left feeling angry and frustrated by the show.

And so, to talk through my feelings of anger, and discuss the broader issues around the subject matter, I went out for a drink with my friend. And nothing. Bad. Happened. At all. ]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6582/Haywire Wed, 01 Feb 12 10:49:22 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6582/Haywire The Bourne Ultimatum (with a dash of Our Man Flint) comes to mind, but with realistic action from the heroine, entertaining, with a few half decent twists... watch out for the deer..

But it does have that feel of an upmarket B-movie; sometimes I'm not sure whether it's making fun or just plodding along; and watch out for Fassbender's display, tell me he isn't a shoe-in for at least 1 Bond movie, the man has everything, class, humour, looks and he can act...

Oh and this movie may be better than the rest, but look at the competition, yawn!]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6652/The_Curse_of_the_Oxford_Revue Wed, 01 Feb 12 10:46:59 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6652/The_Curse_of_the_Oxford_Revue The Curse of the Oxford Revue is the story of a small town, Blight-upon-Cripple, and a journalist, assigned to write about the town’s celebrity vole, who discovers a mystery: the town is cursed, but none of the townspeople will talk about it. Yet the audience also finds itself watching a Viking funeral, Brazilian politicians, and an Australian talk show. If you haven’t already guessed, this is no ordinary horror-mystery story. This is the Oxford Revue.

Founded by Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame), the renowned Revue lives up to its reputation—The Curse of the Oxford Revue is an hour of comic genius, and the rapid-fire jokes flow into each other so quickly and so smoothly that I’m sure half of them slipped past me while I was busy chuckling at the others. And even so, I never stopped being entertained. There are jokes to please everyone: pop culture references, bad puns, high-brow allusions, raunchy slapstick, and of course plenty of surreal and dark humour. I can’t reveal too much here without ruining the punchlines in the show, but suffice it to say that they encompassed everything from voles to Helvetica to exorcism. To quote them here would be to ruin the humour, anyway, since so much depends on the comic timing of these gifted young performers.

Not only were the writing and the delivery of the jokes outstanding, but the staging also added to the humour of the show by playing around with the conventions of more traditional drama. The opening scene mocked the melodrama of modern theatre, and music and lighting created suspense where there wasn’t really any in the plot, leading to some funny moments when the characters abruptly broke the tension, for example by turning an ominous phone conversation into a pizza order. This tongue-in-cheek self-mockery was some of the most intelligently funny material in the play, and it was a nice counterbalance to the (equally funny) moments when actors stripped down to their underwear or fell over backwards in their chairs.

The plot was not very suspenseful, and the play was more a succession of loosely linked scenes than the horror-mystery it was (jokingly) advertised to be, since the writers’ priority was clearly to fit as much comedy as possible into the show. But does it really matter? The Revue are very, very good at what they do, and when the jokes are this funny, who needs anything more?]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 Wed, 01 Feb 12 10:32:46 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/390/Gino%B4s Wed, 01 Feb 12 10:33:49 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/390/Gino%B4s
I hadn't been in about 6 years or something, and still found my old favourite of veal in white wine, cream and mushroom sauce, accompanied by parmentier potatoes and winter veg, right there in its usual spot on the menu! Gino is a character in himself - insisting on being in charge of where everyone gets to sit, greeting his guests personally, with a kiss on each cheek for the regulars, barking orders at his minions as king of his domain...

It still has the hilarious corner painted with murals to make you think you're in Italy on a summer's day and the massive Italian map on the ceiling. It's just lovely, and was exactly what we needed to bring a bit of sunshine into a very cold day. Very good value and big portions too.]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 Wed, 01 Feb 12 10:32:56 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/370/Aziz Thu, 02 Feb 12 12:05:51 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/370/Aziz
We hadn't booked but, after being offered a drink at the bar, we were quickly shown to a very nice table for two within 5mins. Throughout the meal, the staff were attentive but not in the way. They spotted what we needed before we even had to ask, such as more drinks, or an extra table to put all the gorgeous dishes on. The staff were friendly, efficient and polite at all times. In fact, it was the best service I've received from an Oxford restaurant in some time! I was so impressed and so surprised that I felt I had to write a review to correct the bad reviews.

Maybe it was bad before and they are now trying hard to raise their game. Certainly for us (in mid-January 2012) the food was gorgeous, the service was unusually good, and we had a wonderful experience. And oh the black pepper chicken - how I have missed you! Well done Aziz.]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 Tue, 31 Jan 12 15:37:13 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6639/Carnage Tue, 31 Jan 12 14:15:28 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6639/Carnage Carnage, Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s black comedy. Set in one room of a Brooklyn flat it’s a claustrophobic piece and intentionally so. But as a film it’s entirely uncinematic, betraying at every point its origins as a stage play. Consequently, it’s almost entirely pointless and fluffs the vitality that no doubt existed on stage.

Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster and John C Reilly) are visited by another couple, the Cowans (Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet) aggrieved that the Longstreets’ son has injured their own in a fight. Out of this innocuous if awkward set-up, all sorts of emotional carnage ensues. Soon the bohemian Longstreets are not only clashing with the morals and mores of the city-smart Cowans – both couples are in meltdown and knocking the emotional hell out of each other.

Anyone who’s seen Reza’s stage play The God of Carnage will know what to expect. Or her more popular production, Art. Relationships explode with pent up differences. On stage the emotional fireworks are reflected in every actor’s face and you can choose which one you watch. But here Polanski’s camera defines its own point of view – and yours, immediately sapping the sassiness of the set-up.

Foibles take on demonic proportions in the hot-house atmosphere. Waltz’s irritating habit of taking mobile phone calls, Winslet’s projectile vomiting, Foster’s screechy-preachy moralist… these folk are dislikeable, on purpose. So spending 80 minutes with them – usually too short when you’ve paid nearly a tenner for a ticket – here seems far too long.

Contrivances pile up to keep the protagonists together. A reverse Waiting for Godot - where someone never arrives – here the visitors never leave. Reaching the door and even the corridor, the conversation then continues luring the foursome back into the flat for another round of humiliation.

If this sounds like fun, then check it out. All four performances are on-the-note - particularly the firecracker turns from Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet. Otherwise, this is a redundant swiz of a film.

Then it ends. Mercifully you might say. But it just ends. A symbolic reference to the never-ending spiral of man’s self-destructiveness? Perhaps. Or just a big fat cop-out true to the pointlessness of the film. ]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6611/J_Edgar Tue, 31 Jan 12 10:24:42 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6611/J_Edgar J Edgar is a disappointing film. For every firebrand movie like Gran Torino or Changeling, Clint Eastwood turns out a worthy but leaden one like Invictus…and J Edgar.

J Edgar Hoover (DiCaprio) is an agent on the rise. But his forthright and opportunistic manoeuvres to get to the top – as creator of the FBI – are at the expense of an inner emotional life and the friends and family that come with it. At the end of his career, Hoover dictates a memoir to a series of office gophers. But for a man whose job’s about uncovering the truth, can we really believe the tales he tells?

Like The Iron Lady, Eastwood’s study of J Edgar Hoover moves about in time, at the whims of the protagonist’s memory. In the former it’s a device that weaves a poetic spell; here it’s a strait jacket. Rigidly followed, it’s a join-the-dots affair.

The surprises come elsewhere: like Judi Dench as DiCaprio’s domineering mother. Or DiCaprio himself dressing in women’s clothing – as, we’re led to believe, Hoover did from time to time.

But the film’s take-off moment is the introduction of Armie Hammer as Hoover’s aide Clyde Tolson. With a sensitive and restrained performance, Hammer conveys the loyalty and love Tolson feels for Hoover. And thereby throws into relief J Edgar’s own latent, bottled-up homosexuality.

And Eastwood’s emphasis throughout is on the man, the woman who tried to love him, his friend who did the same and the cost to them all of J Edgar’s single-mindedness and inability to be himself. This is no FBI Story, no Untouchables. The crime fighting is sketchily drawn. More to the point is Hoover’s ego. If Eastwood had been fleeter of foot, this might have worked. But the script is pedestrian and the sheeny production values can’t replace the depth that’s lacking elsewhere.

Not unlike DiCaprio’s portrayal of J Edgar the man, Eastwood’s J Edgar is sturdy and characterful but hard to like or love]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 Tue, 31 Jan 12 10:25:08 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6621/Valentines_Day_2012 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/370/Aziz Tue, 31 Jan 12 16:31:42 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/370/Aziz http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6636/Mixed_Doubles Mon, 30 Jan 12 11:08:47 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6636/Mixed_Doubles Roman Fever, Crossing Over and Hamster’s Revenge. Each play was short with intervals in between to split up the performances nicely.

The three plays each consisted of two actors, and the storyline was driven by character conflicts and relationships. The stage set-up was minimalist, containing a simple table and chairs, reflecting that the main focus was to be entirely on the actors and nothing else. Lighting, and sound effects were limited, so the actors had a great responsibility to hold the stage entirely with their performance, which they pulled off effortlessly.

Roman Fever told the tale of two elderly friends, now enjoying their twilight years in Rome. Seemingly close at the beginning of the story, it’s soon revealed there are secrets and hidden feelings of jealously and conflict between the pair. The characters reveal insights to their thoughts and feelings as they speak directly to the audience, a nice technique to engage and include the viewers.

Gosia Brudlo portrayed the vulnerable and helpless Petra in the second play of the evening, Crossing Over. In an unlikely pairing, Petra, a down and out prostitute, amongst other jobs, develops a close bond with her case worker. Emotions run high in this simple drama as Petra is trying to seek asylum for a better life with the aid of her cynical case worker, who despite her better judgement is softened by Petra, and finds herself wanting to cross the line of professionalism to help her.

Hamster’s Revenge is a witty drama exposing the relationship between siblings, Leonora and Charles. At first glance Charles appears to have a genuine interest in his sister’s life, but as they broach the subject of her enormous lottery win, Charles’ motives for his long awaited visit seems a sham. Touching on real emotions and subjects, Hamster’s Revenge is a soft and delicate portrayal of human issues related to greed and wealth at the expense of true happiness and family bonds.

Mixed Doubles is a true celebration of fine local acting which Oxford has to offer. This showcase of talent is not to be missed. ]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6637/Michael_Penningtons_Sweet_William Mon, 30 Jan 12 11:01:23 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6637/Michael_Penningtons_Sweet_William Sweet William he has spent ‘Twenty Thousand Hours with Shakespeare’. If nothing else, it makes him an excellent companion on a whistle-stop tour of Shakespeare’s life and works.

A show such as this could have been very dry - an hour and a half lecture repeating for the thousandth time that we know surprisingly little about the facts of Shakespeare’s actual life, punctuated with the occasional ‘to be or not to be’ and rounded with a sleep. Instead, Pennington gives us his own personal experience of Shakespeare. How he first encountered him on a family outing to see Macbeth when he was a young boy, then linking into Shakespeare’s portrayal of children. How he believes that Shakespeare joined a travelling theatre company in those lost years between Stratford and London, then linking into his own experience of being in a touring Shakespeare company and the difficulty of transporting stage weapons in Hong Kong (a universal problem, surely).

Pennington’s passion is clear throughout the show, especially when he discusses Shakespeare’s language. As we the audience love to have Shakespeare’s words in our ears, Pennington the actor clearly loves to feel the words on his tongue, deftly launching into a number of lesser-known speeches from a variety of the plays and sonnets, becoming a young boy, an old man, a spurned lover, all the while managing not to come across as an arrogant luvvie showing off his range.

Near the end of his talk Pennington describes Shakespeare as a master ventriloquist who created a multitude of voices. Continuing with that metaphor, and not sounding like it but intended entirely as a compliment, Pennington is a master dummy. ]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6284/NONCE Mon, 30 Jan 12 09:40:21 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6284/NONCE
But here’s the thing: after watching N.O.N.C.E., I’m no longer sure. Suddenly, these people become more human. When someone says that all they have known since childhood is crime, you begin to think they might deserve a break. And, even if they don’t, the rest of society does, and the only successful way of reducing crime is to rehabilitate the offender. That’s where HMP Grendon steps in. It is the United Kingdom's only therapeutic prison community for the treatment of serious sex offenders and violent offenders. Inmates volunteer to go there and they can be voted out at any time by their peers. It is no coincidence that it has the lowest recidivism rate in the country.

Larkin opens his one-man show with some background information; he was there because he needed the money, the Arts Council would fund the course if he could recruit enough takers. He struggled to drum up interest and it seemed his efforts were in vain, but at the eleventh hour the men signed up and he got the green light.

On the first day prisoners were asked to name their artistic heroes then adopt their names as their own. Consequently, he found himself in a room full of the good and the great: Lennon, Mozart and Dali were there. So was Paul Weller, he turned out to be a great poet; Michelangelo was something of a philosopher. Larkin threw female students into the mix, it seemed to up the ante; the testosterone levels must have been off the scale. At the end of the year, all the “artists” put on a public performance. One of them described it as the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life, adding “…and I’ve killed people.”

Steve Larkin will always be Oxford’s Professor of Poetry in my mind. The man is a genius, master of the spoken word, a great performer, hugely talented. There was never a dull moment. The North Wall audience was captivated and the hour just flew by. ]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6635/Peter_Pan Mon, 30 Jan 12 13:23:05 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/6635/Peter_Pan Peter Pan flew into the West Oxford Community Centre - followed by Tinkerbell, Wendy, the lost boys and girls, pirates and pirettes, Indian maidens and a small but determined crocodile with a very loud tick! The witty and highly inventive script, by Helen Reid, gave the enthusiastic cast a sound base for all sorts of antics and jokes while keeping the story spinning along at a cracking pace. We were transported from the Darlings' London nursery to Neverland and back again through the magic of Lois Muddiman‘s atmospheric backdrops and a fine musical score coordinated by musical director Megan Hooper and arranged by composer Greg Hooper. In a very short time, director Aaron Hirtenstein had managed to coax star performances from his cast ably led by Alison Stibbe as an energetic and beguiling Peter Pan, Sophie Ruggiero as the swashbuckling villain, Captain Hook, Steve Jones as the comical Smee, David Molan as the simpering Tiger Lily and Frankie Cromby as the endearing yet streetwise Wendy. Congratulations to everyone who helped make this fun, sell-out show such a great success that another panto is already being planned for next year. I‘m looking forward to it already.]]> http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/405/Arbat Mon, 30 Jan 12 13:21:23 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/405/Arbat http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/1837/Ricks_Cafe Mon, 30 Jan 12 13:20:06 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/1837/Ricks_Cafe http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/1661/Verde_Pizzeria Tue, 31 Jan 12 12:12:31 +0000 http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/venue/1661/Verde_Pizzeria