The UK’s 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been awarded to a novel that imagines the life and death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet and rounds out the character of his wife Anne Hathaway: Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet. O’Farrell had been fascinated by young Hamnet since her school English teacher mentioned his name when she was … Continue reading “Shakespeare’s Son and Anne Hathaway”
Despite the coronavirus, the Musée Jacquemart-André has a great retrospective of the work of JMW Turner (1775-1851), with the “Turner, peintures et aquarelles de la Tate” exhibition. Running to January 11, 2021. The Musée Jacquemart-André is paying tribute to one of the best-known English artists and the greatest representative of the golden age of English … Continue reading “Private Turner: Watercolours and Paintings”
The Fondation Louis Vuitton reopened its doors to the public on September 23 with a special show featuring the work of American photographer Cindy Sherman. Sherman’s thematic self-portraits are a reflection on the portrayal of women in modern society. This is the first solo show dedicated to the artist since her 2006 exhibition at the … Continue reading “Cindy Sherman Self-Portraits: Hiding in Plain Sight”
In the Netflix adaptation of the Young Adult mystery-adventure by Nancy Springer, Millie Bobby Brown is playing Enola Holmes, the sister of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes! Over 130 years after the world’s most famous detective made his 1887 debut in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, comes a new mystery-adventure about another … Continue reading “Enola Holmes: Not Elementary My Dear Sherlock!”
A couple of years ago, Sheffield-based Forced Entertainment brought the complete works of Shakespeare to the Festival d’automne in Paris: all 36 plays, each summarised by a single actor, using household objects. This autumn, the videos of the performances will be available in turn online. You can find the full schedule on Forced Entertainment’s site. … Continue reading “Table-top Shakespeare Free Streaming”
The autumn is approaching, and with it two traditional cinematic highlights: the Deauville American and Dinard British film festivals. Like everything else, they will be a little less traditional this year but not necessarily in a bad way. (Deauville will include films from the cancelled Cannes and Annecy festivals, even if it features fewer Hollywood … Continue reading “Film Festival Time”
Watch this short document about the film Respect.
Irish author Eoin Colfer imagined Artemis Fowl as a 12-year-old James Bond villain in a battle with the fairy underworld. The eight books starring the teen criminal mastermind have millions of fans, and there is now a film version directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film release was delayed by lockdown and was finally released directly … Continue reading “My Name is Artemis, Artemis Fowl”
Jon Stewart honed the art of satire on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. Now he’s left the presenting to Trevor Noah, he has turned his satire on the U.S. political system and its finances in a new film, Irresistible. It stars Steve Carrell as a political strategist for the Democratic Party who persuades an ex-Marine … Continue reading “The “Irresistible” Election Machine”
The June 22 edition of The New Yorker has been released, and the illustrated cover is devoted to the history of violence inflicted on black people in the United States. Entitled ‘Say Their Names’, the powerful illustration features George Floyd, the US citizen recently killed by a police officer in Minneapolis. It shows his body … Continue reading “The latest New Yorker cover pays tribute to black lives lost”