Reviews

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Little Wars ★★★★

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Little Wars ★★★★

As we wake to a war of words transatlantic style at a possibly pivotal moment in history, Steven Carl McCasland’s war of witty women provides a timely, telling antidote. It’s June 1940, the eve of the fall of France to the Nazis. Hunkered down in the French Alps, devoted couple Alice B Toklas…

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The Mock Appeal with Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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The Mock Appeal with Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Four years ago I was privileged to be a spectator in a very unique courtroom. The setting? Venice Ghetto. The case? Shylock v Antonio. The Mock Appeal – held as part of the ghetto's 500th anniversary celebrations, during which…

The Painted Bird ★★★

The Painted Bird ★★★

At the 2019 Venice Film Festival, 12 members of the audience attempted to escape The Painted Bird screening, lashing out and falling up the stairs in the process. Why? Because this horrifying drama exposes the absolute worst of mankind, as collected from survivor testimony, shown…

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Leopoldstadt ★★★★

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Leopoldstadt ★★★★

My Stoppard journey began more than 40 years ago with the heady cocktail of verbal fireworks, erudition and wit that is his 1966 play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Now it seems it is to end, with what the great playwright suggests is his last play, as he navigates his own…