Can Ali G: Who Iz I? save character comedy cinema
Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film risks being outdated in a more rancorous era. But could it restore the personality-driven genre to big screens or end it altogether?For a man whose campaign slogan was once “Keep it real”, Ali G has his work cut out in the…
As You Like It review – there are no mere players in the RSC’s ravishing all-male escapade
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonWith a WWE-style wrestling match, playful eroticism and a fine cast including Hamilton’s Jonathan Groff, this is an exquisite production‘To liberty, and not to banishment,” exclaims Celia to Rosalind, the…
Hay Fever review – Richard E Grant and Christine Baranski host Coward’s country house shenanigans
Wyndham’s theatre, London Grant brings shock-haired vigour as a vain novelist forced to welcome his boho children’s surprise guests in comedy of clipped social embarrassmentHay Fever, now one of Noël Coward’s best-known and…
Digger review – Tom Cruise’s loudmouth oil tycoon goes hard in Alejandro G Iñárritu’s eco-satire
One man’s irresponsible drilling causes a global crisis in Iñárritu’s exasperatingly laborious, self-congratulatory filmA new movie from the Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu is always an event. So it’s disconcerting to discover…
Are Mitchell and Webb the baddies now? It’s not quite that simple | Brian Logan
The deletion of 11 old sketches from BBC’s iPlayer has angered culture warriors and raises questions about how society has changed “Are we the baddies?”, asked the comedy double act Mitchell and Webb in their most famous sketch, in which two uniformed SS…
Catherine Bohart: Borrowing Trouble review – obsessive compulsion to overshare is captivatingly funny
Soho theatre, LondonThis latest bulletin from the Irish standup’s fraught life delves deep into her OCD and dismay at her own foiblesPeople talking about their mental health is boring, says Catherine Bohart. Even listening to herself do so frays the…
Two Doors Down review – outrageously sharp, joyously sweary return of the Latimer Crescent favourites
OVO Hydro, GlasgowAhead of the sitcom’s new series in 2027 the full TV cast reunite for a masterclass in comfort comedy, adding musical interludes to the familiar suburban bedlamIt may have started as a one-off special in 2013, but seven series and five…
‘A couple of times people walked out’: how an Anne Frank musical became the hottest theater ticket of the year
The creators and stars of Slam Frank on their off-Broadway production - which reimagines the Holocaust victim as a pansexual rapperIt’s difficult to not invoke the term “woke” when discussing Slam Frank, the 2025 musical that reimagines Anne Frank as a…
Table 17 review – a tasty romcom served with dazzle and cheek
Kiln theatre, LondonMarisha Wallace and Jamael Westman play exes who reconvene over dinner in Douglas Lyons’ sparky old-school charmerThis incorrigibly likable romcom comes to the UK with a series of sold out runs in New York and Los Angeles in its wake.…
Phil Wang: Uh Oh review – how to achieve an eighth of an orgasm, and other millennial myths
Soho Theatre Walthamstow, LondonThe standup delivers older and wiser musings and mockery, whether it’s about taches, a passion for Gail’s or a distaste for cyclistsLots has changed in the world of Phil Wang since his last tour. He has mastered the art of…