Category : Focus

The Duchess of Malfi review – revenge tragedy goes hard on the humour

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonToxic masculinity rears its head in Rachel Bagshaw’s Globe debut which proves less interested in horror effects than the characters’ emotional journeysJohn Webster wrote The Duchess of Malfi to be performed in a candlel...

Martin Boyce meditates, Angelica Kauffman returns and Enninful celebrates Mapplethorpe – the week in art

Everyday objects are imbued with beauty by the Glasgow artist, while France celebrates the 150th birthday of impressionism – all in your weekly dispatchMartin Boyce: Before Behind Between Above BelowThe Turner prize winner continues his meditations o...

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo audiobook review – an agile coming-of-age debut

Maya Saroya narrates the Booker-shortlisted story of how a family channels its grief on the squash court and produces a potential championAfter 11-year-old Gopi’s mother dies unexpectedly, she and her older sisters Mona and Khush channel their grief...

Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four movie is notoriously terrible – do we really want it resuscitated?

Calls are growing for the 1994 film to be freed from YouTube hell – but is it there because evil Hollywood execs tried to kill it, or is it just a really bad film?Why exactly are we so fascinated with bad movies? Perhaps it is simple schadenfreude, t...

Check tickets, play a dragon, feed the cat: the volunteers who go all out to keep theatres going

Offering up their time and energy, unpaid staff have become a crucial support for an embattled industry. They explain what’s in it for themWander into Leicester’s Curve theatre and you might think gravity is playing tricks on you. “You’ll just be wal...

Hollie McNish: ‘Being a writer didn’t enter my mind – I wanted a job that involved roller-skating’

The poet on discovering Seamus Heaney, revisiting Alice Walker and the joy of Allan AhlbergMy earliest reading& memoryBeing taken to the local library to choose, being able to browse through so many books, and the rush of& excitement as the ones you’...

Humpback whales photographed having sex for first time – and both were male

Photographers have captured images of humpback whales engaging in sexual activity for the first time – and the mammals being intimate were both males.

House prices see first annual rise in over a year

Prices in February were up 1.2% from a year earlier but are still lower than their peak, Nationwide says.

Instagram is vital to art and museum culture, say gallery founders

Owners of Moco, which is opening a space in London, say platform can help bring in younger audiencesInstagram is now vital to art gallery and museum culture and can be used to bring in younger audiences, according to the founders of a Dutch contempor...

Ruth Goller: Skyllumina review – jazz bassist enters beatific and slightly terrifying new sonic world

(International Anthem)In this solo project the stalwart of London’s jazz and improv scene is joined by a rolling cast of percussionists to create hypnotic, haunting patterns and demented nursery rhymesOver the past two decades you might have seen Ita...

Ben Frost: Scope Neglect review – grim grandeur with gnarly tongue-out riffs

(Mute)The avant garde musician’s first album in seven years features cinematic ambience, pummelling sound design and whinnying metal guitarIceland-based Australian composer Ben Frost has the portfolio career of most avant garde musicians, dividing hi...

Rihanna among celebrities in India for Ambani gala

Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates are among guests at a pre-wedding party for billionaire Mukesh Ambani's son.

‘I’m a big believer in pain being an adhesive’: Jon Bernthal on ‘walking through fire’ for Ava DuVernay

The actor’s new film Origin sees him star as the husband of Pulitzer-winner Isabel Wilkerson. He reflects on the fight for social justice and avoiding the new film seeming like a ‘woke agenda’As Jon Bernthal’s face pings on to the screen from his Cal...

Dead Hot review – it’s Skins meets Queer As Folk … but way weirder

Charlotte Coben’s zany thriller about a missing man who left a severed finger behind has plenty of whiplash-inducing twists. She’s clearly cut from the same cloth as her dad HarlanDead Hot comes pre-loaded with charisma. Its leads, Vivian Oparah from...

Why Killers of the Flower Moon should win the best picture Oscar

Martin Scorsese has made the ultimate western, showing the racism, greed and corruption on which America was really founded. It’s a world-changing workOscars 2024: best picture nominees – reviews, awards and where to watchEver since he started making...