Afghanistan
Edinburgh 2013: The Events/Morning and Afternoon/Live Love LaughWednesday, 07 August 2013
The Events, Traverse Theatre **** Writer David Greig has been at pains to make clear that The Events is not about Anders Breivik’s slaughter of 77 people in Oslo and Utoya in July 2011, even though he and director Ramin Gray researched... Read more... |
Casualties: the theatre of warTuesday, 18 June 2013
A few days ago I found myself sat in a Finsbury Park pub talking to a man who dismantled bombs for a living, who had completed two tours in Afghanistan fighting the unending war against Improvised Explosive Devices, and I will admit to being more... Read more... |
Afghan Army Girls, More 4Sunday, 16 June 2013
Being a woman soldier in the Afghan army must rate among the world’s “least wanted” jobs, if only 14 applicants came forward for 150 places in the year’s intake covered in Afghan Army Girls. It apparently took a year’s negotiations to get a single... Read more... |
DVD: Zero Dark ThirtyMonday, 10 June 2013
Despite its five Oscar nominations, in the end Zero Dark Thirty only won for Best Sound Editing, with the Academy showing a distinct preference for the more "thrillerised" version of US foreign affairs displayed in Ben Affleck's hugely entertaining... Read more... |
The Kite Runner, Theatre Royal BrightonWednesday, 22 May 2013
The absolute loyalty of a little boy to his under-deserving friend is what swells The Kite Runner’s heart and fuels its tragedy. So you can’t really blame Matthew Spangler’s stage adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 bestseller for sticking... Read more... |
Bluestone 42, BBC ThreeWednesday, 06 March 2013
Compile a list of the subjects you thought may be unsuitable for a sitcom, and it will almost certainly include a person with learning difficulties, assisted suicide and an army bomb disposal team.Well all three of those now exist – Derek and Way To... Read more... |
Walking Wounded: Return to the Frontline, Channel 4Thursday, 21 February 2013
The public rarely sees the human cost of journalists covering war. More rarely still does it see the real civilian cost. That makes Walking Wounded a frank and refreshing insight into the world at either end of the lens. Siobhan Sinnerton’s... Read more... |
Prince Harry: Frontline Afghanistan, BBC ThreeTuesday, 29 January 2013
The television channels have been making documentaries about our boys, and indeed girls, in Afghanistan for the best part of a decade. We’re used by now to the imagery, which mainly consists of dust, joshing, weaponry and boredom. Prince Harry:... Read more... |
Zero Dark ThirtyThursday, 24 January 2013
Zero Dark Thirty could have easily gone by the name of the Danish thriller from last year, The Hunt, it’s so furiously single-minded. As it is, the film's striking title is a military term for half-past midnight - the timing of the Navy SEAL raid... Read more... |
Our War: Into the Hornet's Nest, BBC ThreeTuesday, 21 August 2012
It is a Hollywood truism that any film that begins with amateur footage of happy, smiling people ends in tears. Our War was no exception: fit young men messed about in the sun and somersaulted into the Med. However, their R&R was soon over and... Read more... |
Mixed Media, Haunch of VenisonMonday, 05 March 2012
Group shows can be strained: the rubric can be so narrow that it has to be stretched to accommodate the artists at hand. That is one reason why Haunch of Venison's new show, Mixed Media, is so pleasing: it features contemporary sculpture with an... Read more... |
Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan, Tate ModernFriday, 02 March 2012
Two superb exhibitions at Tate Modern bring into public view the work of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and Italian conceptualist Alighiero Boetti; their work is not in any way connected except that, with their singular voices, each deserves much... Read more... |
