Writer and Director:  Keith Behrman Reviewer:  Richard Maguire There’s no shortage of coming-out films, but they are still necessary, especially when there’s a revival of right-wing thinking across the world. However, Giant Little Ones, a Canadian film showing at BFI Flare, London’s LGBTQ+ film festival, is not a straightforward coming-out film. It could be argued that it’s not a coming-out ...

 Writer and Director: Doug Spearman Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Just before his film was shown at BFI Flare, London’s LGBTQ+ film festival, Doug Spearman confessed that he was surprised that the programmers had labelled it as a comedy. He thought he’d made a love story. But, ultimately, From Zero to I Love You is a combination of both these genres. In short, ...

Writer and Director:  Vincente Alves do Ó Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Portuguese film Sunburn really split the critics at its press screening this week at the BFI Flare Festival, London’s biggest LGBTQ+ film festival. Some walked out while others kept glancing at their watches. After the film, those who had stayed were trying to extol Sunburn’s virtues to those who had threatened ...

Music: Philip Feeney Choreographer and Director: Cathy Marston Reviewer: Maryam Philpott 2019 marks the bicentenary of Queen Victoria’s birth, a monarch who, along with both Elizabeths, secured her place in history by reining unchallenged for decades and presiding over a golden age of technical, societal and cultural innovation. Yet for modern storytellers, it is her personal grief that fascinates, living ...

Writer: David Isaac, Jason Wingard Director: Jason Wingard Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Representations of inter-racial families on screen are still few and far between, and while this was much more common in the 1980s, the last 30-years has felt like a step backwards in terms of the image of the Britain we all really know. And where those experiences do exist, ...

Writer: Bertolt Brecht Director: Yury Butusov Reviewer: Gus Mitchell The Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre is certainly not short on ambition. In just one week at the Barbican they have been performing three of their most acclaimed productions: Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan, and Mother’s Field, a wordless adaptation of a Russian novella. Sadly, it was ...

Writer: Katrin Lange Translator: Purni Morell Director: Cressida Brown Reviewer: Mike Wells We all know of the boy who flew too close to the sun, but this incarnation of Icarus is about much more than just the exuberance of youth. The production follows Icarus’ journey from his family home to the island of Crete, to find his father and bring him ...

the boys have produced something engaging, entertaining and created a valuable piece of theatre and spoken word.