The art deco former theatre escaped demolition, but has been closed since its recent £50m renovation

In many ways, it was the kind of marketing that money simply could not buy. Bradford Live, a new 3,900-capacity, city-centre entertainment venue, was splashed over the pages of local newspapers, made the subject of Facebook groups and even afforded national headlines . Unfortunately, it was for the wrong reasons.

The exceptionally well-restored West Yorkshire concert hall was brimming with possibilities, but was unable to open in November as planned because there was no operator in place to run it.

Continue reading...

A blockbuster production of the Shakespeare tragedy might boast Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal but it’s sparked a debate over excessive pricing

How much would you pay to be in the same room as Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal , watching them work? Is that price in the mid-hundreds of dollars? And would you double it to nearly a thousand for a slightly better seat?

The 15-week limited Broadway run of William Shakespeare’s Othello , featuring one of our greatest living actors in the title role (and another, pretty damn good actor as Iago), is betting that at least some people would. Orchestra-level advance tickets to the show run between $216 and $921, depending on where you sit (those $216 tickets, more in line with what a less starry straight play might charge, are at the far side of the row, which at least means you’re getting a slightly lesser chance of catching Covid or the flu alongside your mild discount). It’s the latest innovation in live-theater pricing, where you no longer need to visit a scalper to get price-gouged. But if you do peruse the second-hand sites, you could fork over that same grand to see the revival of Glengarry Glen Ross, starring Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr – an intriguing cast to be sure, albeit all a bit further down the list of greatest living actors than Washington.

Continue reading...

After 67 years and many wild incidents etched on Britain’s collective memory, the world’s longest-running children’s TV show will stop going out live. Will it ever go viral again?

Life has changed beyond all recognition over the last 67 years. The way we live, the way we communicate, the things we eat; if you were to grab someone from 1958 and bring them forward in time to 2025, the sheer scale of change would blow their minds. Except, perhaps, for one thing. Everything else might be unrecognisable, but Blue Peter has always been broadcast live. Until now.

It has been reported that the last live episode of Blue Peter has aired, ending a tradition that has endured for nearly seven decades. It isn’t the end of Blue Peter, which will continue, albeit in a prerecorded format, but it is the end of an era. The show may be an institution, but even the longest-running children’s programme in the world isn’t immune to change.

Continue reading...

A swan appears to sing the aurora borealis into existence in this visionary nature poem with an unexpected war connection

The Stopover

A swan sings. From the marshes’
far reaches, its sharp call rings
in a coppery snare of cymbals.

Continue reading...

Pop radio DJ and presenter who recorded the last interview with John Lennon in December 1980

Andy Peebles, who has died suddenly aged 76, was for 14 years a disc jockey on BBC Radio 1, where he presented shows across the schedule, switching between mornings, afternoons and evenings.

In 1981, three years after joining Radio 1, he settled into a Friday evening spot with a programme combining music and a preview of the weekend’s sporting action. “I never dreamed that I’d get to talk to all those incredible people,” he said in a 2017 Radio Today podcast to mark the station’s 50th anniversary. “Ian Botham was about to become a worldwide star, Billy Beaumont was just about to lead his English rugby team to a grand slam, Kevin Keegan – great character – was at the forefront, captaining the England football side.”

Continue reading...

Rereleased documentary study of the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre is an epic story of success and failure

After 20 years, Ondi Timoner has rereleased her riveting and colossal documentary study of two psych rock bands, the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and their epic dual story of success and failure. There is about 40 minutes of extra material and a present-day coda that reveals, among other things, that each band has a member who now sells real estate. That ending, brutally and suddenly visiting grey-haired middle age on these gorgeous rock’n’roll exquisites, reminded me of the Fellini-esque dream opening to Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories in which two trains, one carrying life’s winners and the other with hapless losers, wind up at the same dusty rubbish heap.

Dig! XX, which took years to shoot, is alternately narrated by the Warhols’ frontman, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, and the BJM’s relentlessly goofy tambourine player, Joel Gion, and it shows the complex “frenmity” of the two bands. Almost from the outset, it seemed as if the Dandy Warhols were destined for commercial success tainted by feelings of selling out, and their pals the Brian Jonestown Massacre were heading for failure redeemed by a magnificent and self-destructive kind of integrity.

Continue reading...

Actor, 76, is accused of groping two women on set during the filming of The Green Shutters in 2021

Gérard Depardieu arrived in court in Paris on Monday for his trial over alleged sexual assaults on a film set, a case that places one of France’s best-known film stars at the heart of the country’s broader reckoning over sexual violence.

Depardieu, 76, has faced allegations of rape or sexual assault from more than a dozen women, all of which he has denied, but this is the first time he has appeared in court to answer accusations.

Continue reading...

The comic on idolising Russell Howard, spending summer away from the Edinburgh fringe and lying to cabbies

Why did you get into comedy?
I started standup as a teenager despite being painfully shy. I loved the feeling of making people laugh, but the thought of it being a job had never crossed my mind. A career started to snowball without me even realising and I’ve been delighted and astounded by that ever since. I’ve grown up in this job, and 18-year-old me would never have believed it possible.

Who did you admire when you were starting out?
Rob Rouse. To this day, if I see I’m on a lineup with him I’m buzzing. I’ve also been in awe of Ross Noble’s ludicrous genius since before I even started comedy.

Continue reading...

A carbon crime or bright new future? For nearly four years, a fierce debate raged over the future of the site’s high-rise flats

For nearly four years, a fierce debate raged over the future of the Wyndford estate in Glasgow, dividing residents and sparking wider national controversy. Was the demolition of its high-rises an environmental travesty or the first step toward much-needed regeneration?

The dispute began in November 2021, days after the city hosted Cop26, where politicians and businesses promised to curb wasteful building destruction. Yet, residents of Wyndford soon found leaflets on their doorsteps heralding a “bright new future” – one that involved the demolition of all four high-rise blocks on the estate. The decision set off years of protests, legal challenges and community divisions.

The four high-rise blocks of the Wyndford estate one week before demolition. Three blocks were demolished by controlled explosion on 23 March – – the block on the left will be brought down floor by floor owing to its proximity to other homes on the estate.

Continue reading...