Boarding school challenges

Alan Hollinghurst, the Booker Prize-winning author of The Line of Beauty, bring us a “Our Evenings”. Gay life in England across the decades, from 1960s to the pandemic captured with glowing intensity through an actor’s memories. A dark luminous and wickedly funny portrait of modern England through the lens of one man’s acutely observed and often unnerving experience. It is a story of race and class, theatre and sexuality, love and the cruel shock of violence, from on the finest writers of our age. Dave Win is thirteen years old when he first goes to stay with the sponsors of … Continue reading Boarding school challenges

Focus on real-life injustice

John Grisham the master of legal thriller teams up with Jim McCloskey, who has dedicated his life to exonerating innocent people, to uncover stories that shine an astonishing light on miscarriages of justice. Joe Bryan suffered the unbearable tragedy of his wife’s murder, only to be tried and found guilty of the crime himself – despite being 120 miles away at the time of the murder. Clarence Brandley spent nine years in Death Row, coming to within six days of execution, before new evidence emerged clearing him of all charges. The case of Norfolk Four, police and prosecutors continued to … Continue reading Focus on real-life injustice

BERYL COOK: A PRIVATE VIEW Finborough Theatre Earls Court.

Fresh from The Edinburgh Festival – BERYL COOK: A PRIVATE VIEW Finborough Theatre Earls Court. http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk– “Probably the most influential fringe theatre in the world” (Time Out). 1 Oct to 26 Oct. Please see times and prices on the website.WHEN ART AND ACTING MEET AND SHAKE HANDS Written performed and painted by KARA WILSON Wife of renowned actor Tom Conti and writer and performer in several plays, Kara Wilson does a show involving painting a Beryl Cook piece of artwork which can be bought at a later date by admirers. The title of the artwork done live on stage is … Continue reading BERYL COOK: A PRIVATE VIEW Finborough Theatre Earls Court.

Lust while the daylight dims

Alan Hollinghurst, the Booker Prize-winning author of The Line of Beauty, brings us a dark, luminous and wickedly funny portrait of modern England through the lens of one man’s acutely observed and often unnerving experience. It is a story of race and class, theatre and sexuality, love and the cruel shock of violence, from one of the finest writers of our age. Our evenings the flames of gutter and dwindle pleading for a snuffer. The author’s own life spanning from 1960s boarding school to the scoundrel times of just yesterday, graphic explanations of cosiness battles with lust  amid dimming of the daylight.  … Continue reading Lust while the daylight dims

Do you make critical decisions after intuitive and rational thinking?

Why do we make critical decisions we do? Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, the godfather of behavioural science, whose work on prospect  theory won him a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002, an award he acknowledges he would have shared with collaborator Amos Tversky, had Tversky lived.  Prospect theory means that investors value gains and losses differently, placing more weight on perceived gains than perceived losses. His research come to a conclusion that women make better investors than men because they hold on to their investment  where as men panic and sell when the market dips, thereby missing out on upswings. Kahneman … Continue reading Do you make critical decisions after intuitive and rational thinking?

Embrace our non-negotiable limitations

British journalist and columnist, Oliver Burkeman in Meditations for Mortals takes us on a liberating journey towards a more meaningful life – one that begins not with fantasies of the ideal existence, but with the reality in which we actually find ourselves. Ask yourself why you should spend huge amount of money in the pursuit of wellbeing, but when you sign up for a meditation class you’ll no doubt be bombarded with online adverts for crystal water bottles, nutritional powders, branded workouts and self-help books. Addressing the fundamental questions about how to live, it offers a powerful new way to … Continue reading Embrace our non-negotiable limitations

Roald Dahl, a new play

A new play at the Royal Court in London is set to explore World’s No 1 storyteller, Roald Dahl’s legacy and contradictions. Giant by Mark Rosenblatt takes place over the imagined course of an afternoon in 1983, in which Dahl must decide how to handle the scandal that could sink his career. A book review he has written for a literary magazine, comparing Isarel to Nazi Germany and called all Jews cowards if they don’t condemn the Israeli state, has caused quite a dismay. The Witches by Roald Dahl could well be his masterpiece, is about o come out and … Continue reading Roald Dahl, a new play

Overwhelming incandescent rage

Zoe Stamper, Junior researcher in Ancient Greek Tragedy, the younger partner in a same-sex marriage which has produced two children, Zoe is, after almost 20 years, now messily attempting to separate from her spouse, Dr Penny Cartwright. Complications are added by the fact that Robin, the children’s biological father, who donated sperm to both women and is fully present in their lives, occupies the flat below theirs. Robin’s uncompromising parental role, rigidly set out before either child was even conceived, is amplified by a fourth party, his sister Justine – who also happens to be Penny’s-ex. Zoe, down the academic … Continue reading Overwhelming incandescent rage

Ordinary life made exceptional

In My Beloved Life, Jadunath Kunwar, a historian, involving lining up the past with the present. Having lived through the evolution of modern India, Jadu wishes to tell “ the story of our nation at a point of time”,  but spends most of his life putting off the act of writing it all down. “ I’m not a  writer” a rural doctor tells another character. An exceptionally moving novel that traces the arc of a man’s life, an ordinary life made exceptional by the fact that he was loved and has been loved in turn. Born in 1935 to illiterate … Continue reading Ordinary life made exceptional

OnlyFans and Sex satire

Twenty-year-old Margo, child of a Hooter’s waitress and an ex-pro-wrestler, got money troubles, but she’s always known she’d have to make it on her own. When she finds herself pregnant by her college English professor, naïve and drifting – who is very keen not to be involved – she realizes she will need cash fast. She hadn’t thought through the consequences of having a baby- now  she’s lost her waitressing job and it looks unlikely she  will be able to afford her rent. Although Margo lacks in options she makes up for in ingenuity, and soon she has a plan. … Continue reading OnlyFans and Sex satire