10. The Handmaiden Dir. Park Chan-wook Adapted from Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, Park Chan-wook’s erotic thriller moves the action from Victorian Britain to Korea under Japanese colonial rule, to magnificent effect. The labyrinthine narrative sees Sook-hee, a maid, embroiled in a plot to steal the inheritance of a Japanese heiress named Lady Hideko, who lives […]
In 2008, Liverpool was bestowed the title of European Capital of Culture, resulting in 9.7 million visitors to the city that year, an increase of 34 per cent from the year before. It has been estimated, based on a five-year research programme, that £753.8 million was generated as a direct consequence of the award. Having […]
This odd little book tells the story of Charlotte Salomon, a Jewish artist living in Berlin at a time when Nazism was gaining traction in Germany. The story commences with Charlotte’s rather grave upbringing, following a series of suicides within her family. As she grows up, we witness the construction of her naïve, dreamy personality […]
In her second book, Maria Konnikova takes on the mesmerising, elusive topic of the con artist. The Confidence Game, a social psychology book broken down into the classical elements of the strategem from the “put-up” to the “blow-off” attempts to articulate the nuances of the con, explaining how it functions and manages to trick even […]
For 14 years, Inua Ellams has been searching for a place to belong. Once enjoying an idyllic upbringing in middle-class Nigeria, the Ellams family found themselves victims of extremism, and following their escape to the UK, were then subjected to racism and unjust immigration laws with their lives drastically changed overnight. In An Evening With an Immigrant, Ellams transforms this traumatic tale into a night of evocative storytelling through a blend of beautiful […]
A stylish and thought-provoking production, Thomas Eccleshare’s Heather explores the importance we find in storytelling, and how we judge the people who tell them. This two-person play tells the story of a children’s writer, Heather Eems, whose private life is dragged into the gaze of the public eye when her book becomes a sensational best-seller. […]
Blazingly intense, Mies Julie is a visceral and superbly executed play about race, sexuality, and power. Yael Farber’s script adapts August Strindberg’s classic piece of naturalistic theatre, Miss Julie, by relocating the story from 19th century Sweden to contemporary South Africa. John (Bongile Mantsai) and Julie (Hilda Cronje) have grown up side-by-side: Julie as the […]
In recent years, we have found ourselves talking more often about the importance of improving mental health and removing the unfair stigma associated with conditions like depression. Yet there are still some subjects that we struggle to discuss; one of them being the rising number of male suicides. In Fragile Man, David Martin and Richard […]