Teatro Antica di Taormina. Review by Barbara Lewis. For more than two millennia, Taormina on Sicily’s eastern coast has laid claim to what you could say is the world’s most dramatic theatre in terms of its natural setting between Mount Etna and the sparkling Ionian Sea.
Knights of the Teutonic Order 1960. Review by Alan Price. The 1960 Knights of the Teutonic Order was a vividly patriotic and optimistic statement for the Poles who, a decade before, had sat through some bleak screen depictions of their struggles during the Second World War. The cruel knights can be seen as proto-Nazis against which Polish nationalism triumphs. And in 2000 it was the most popular film ever screened in Poland and abroad.
Poetry review – THE HUM HEARERS: Chris Konrad finds Shey Marque’s new collection to be a search for the irreducible essence at the centre of what we call life
Strongroom. Review by Alan Price. With the BFI’s Strongroom and its extra film The Man in the Back Seat we have two powerful examples of terrifically tight story telling. Three crooks rob the strongroom of an airtight vault and lock the manager and his secretary inside. But it’s a bank holiday weekend and being there for three days means they will suffocate.
Poetry review – CHANGE YOUR LIFE: Alwyn Marriage considers a new selection of Rilke’s poetry translated by Martyn Crucefix
Poetry review – AT A TANGENT: Neil Elder admires a well put together New and Selected from John Weston
Poetry review – ANXIOUS BRICOLAGE: Jennifer Johnson is intrigued and impressed by an unusual long poem from Richard Leigh
Poetry review – TRY TO FIND ME: Sue Wallace-Shaddad discovers that Tessa Foley’s poetry takes her to unfamiliar places
ENDLESS PRESENT: Kate Noakes reviews a generous selection of articles and reviews by Rory Waterman
Poetry review – LANDSCAPE WITH MINES: Peter Ualrig Kennedy is moved by the strength and immediacy of Anna Bowles’ poetry in this impressive pamphlet.
Poetry review –of an octopus: an archite|x|tural awareness of words: Charles Rammelkamp reviews an intriguing new collection by Diane Sahms
Poetry review – AGAINST THE STREAM: Andrew Keanie takes a long look at a major collection of Gary Allen’s poetry
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2025