Poetry review – FAREWELL PERFORMANCE: Paul McDonald looks back with pleasure on the collected later poems of Vernon Scannell
Poetry review – CENTRAL AIR: Neil Elder commends the wide appeal of George Bilgere’s poetry
Poetry review – EARTHWORKS: Mat Riches finds Stewart Carswell’s poetry both attractive and instructive
Anyone Can Whistle. Southwark Playhouse. Review by Barbara Lewis. Anyone Can Whistle opened on Broadway in April 1964 to mixed reviews and closed shortly afterwards. Nearly 60 years on, this Southwark revival deserves to run and run as Georgie Rankcom’s inspired direction does justice to Sondheim’s genius, even when in its early phase, to make musicals from the most unlikely material.
Poetry review – PHOTOVOLTAIC: Alwyn Marriage welcomes the mix of poetry and science in Sarah Watkinson’s new collection
Surrealism Beyond Borders. Review by Barbara Lewis. Surrealism has never respected borders of any kind. As a movement, it crystallised in 1924 in Paris, and, even then, some artists questioned whether they could belong to something that by definition defied easy categorisation.
Forbidden Paradise (Lubitsch) 1924. Review by Alan Price. The plot of Forbidden Paradise is a bit of fluff and the politics are a silly adventure. Yet its comedic mise – en – scene is wonderful. It’s executed by Ernst Lubitsch, one of Hollywood’s greatest directors. Billy Wilder so admired Lubitsch that he had a sign on his office wall that said “How would he have done it?”
Poetry review – VINEGAR HILL: John Forth considers Colm Tóibín’s move from prose to poetry
Coach to Vienna / The Ear (Blu Ray) Second Run 2020 /2022. Review by Alan Price. The creative partnership of director Karel Kachyna and screenwriter Jan Prochazka was one of the most remarkable to have been allowed to operate in communist Czech cinema of the 1960’s.
Poetry Review – THE WINDMILL PROOF: Adele Ward enjoys the beauty of mathematics in this polished collection by Stephen Payne
Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman) 50th anniversary re-release. Review by Alan Price. Whenever people mention Cries and Whispers (1972) they cannot escape talking about its use of the colour red. Sven Nykvist’s Oscar winning photography saturates, without recourse to red colour filters and employing lighting from one source only, the red interiors, of a period manor house, to create a place with as much soulful character as its three female inhabitants.
Poetry review – HIDING TO NOTHING: Emma Lee admires the boldness and sensitivity with which Anita Pati deals with difficult issues
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, society, year 2022 • Tags: books, Emma Lee, poetry, society