daveydave

Royal Shakespeare Company, starring Patrick Stewart. Newcastle Theatre Royal. This is the first time I have seen the RSC. I am a bit of a fan of live theatre, and indeed Shakespeare, so it was grand to see the big boys treading my local (recently enlarged) stage. I saw a production of The Tempest several years back, staged at Tynemouth Priory. Thoroughly enjoyable and atmospheric it was too. However, making the jump from a local, amateur group to professionals of RSC calibre was quite something to behold. The whole cast were excellent. The guy who played Ariel and the gal who played Miranda standing out in particular. There was, however, no doubt who the star of the show was. Patrick Stewart of Star Trek: The Next Generation and X-Men fame, showed just what an accomplished actor he is. A quite brilliant performance I thought. Perhaps those with more Shakey/RSC experience may disagree, but he certainly impressed me. It's performances such as this that make you want to go and see mo...

I've always been a fan of Bond - particularly the Connery years - but I hadn't really paid much attention to the later films. I think the last one I saw at the cinema was Tomorrow Never Dies maybe? Whichever one that starts at the Millennium Dome. Therefore... having heard very good things about the latest release and indeed Daniel Craig's portrayal of Bond, I was looking forward to seeing Casino Royale for myself. Due to the immense popularity, I couldn't get tickets last week, so I went yesterday. It did not disappoint. Bags of action, a little bit of lovin' and the right amount of humour (without going too cheesy) made for a rip-snorting 2 and a half hours of enjoyable escapism. It introduces the character of Bond, how he gained his double-0 status, and why he treats women the way he does. It does it all with a fair degree of style. The film is well produced, directed with the right pace all the way through and you could even forgive it a couple of places where ...