Not for Andy Jackson the esoteric or the pastoral lark ascending, it is realism that is essential to his work. Jackson has been published in a wide range of magazines and periodicals and had his first collection, The Assassination Museum, published in 2010, also by Red Squirrel Press. In this his second collection, Jackson takes Read More
This book deserves a review other than this one. I must not be its ideal reader. The author, Gillian Rose (1947-1995) was a philosopher, schooled at Oxford, who last held a position as Professor of Social and Political Thought at the University of Warwick. I briefly looked at her book Dialectic of Nihilism (1984) while Read More
Book jackets are interesting indeed, ideally giving generously before even a word inside is seen. Madeline von Foerster’s arresting tempera panel Invasive Species II makes an apt introduction to the complex nature of Caitríona O’Reilly’s third collection, Geis. On the back cover, Patrick Crotty, in The Irish Times, praises The Nowhere Birds (Bloodaxe 2001), shortlisted Read More
Rob Currie’s play, Undertaking, explores the dimensions of grief and loss by blurring the lines between reality, fantasy and memory, examining death as it were from a personal and professional point of view. Undertaking ushers the audience into the backrooms of a funeral parlour and the home of a grieving family, as both prepare for Read More
A luridly pink cover and a suggestive title first drew me to The Art of Scratching. Shazea Quraishi is a Pakistani-Canadian writer,and the second and middle sections of her new collection were published in her first pamphlet The Courtesans Reply (2012). Having lived in Pakistan, Canada, Spain, and London, her influences are myriad. Of Skyros, Read More
A veteran sheriff, an elderly back-up deputy, a vain gentleman and a cowboy cripple set out into the west. Although this sounds like the set-up for a joke, Bone Tomahawk is anything but a slapstick-comedy or a Tarantino imitation. Indeed, writer S. Craig Zahler’s directorial debut is an original and refreshing Western with a sustained Read More
The Coen Brothers return with another beautifully set and engrossing piece of cinematography to add to their long list of triumphs. The staple quirky wit that The Coens are known for comes through perfectly; the direction and dialogue is riddled with “inadvertently” satisfying comedy that makes for a truly enjoyable cinematic experience about cinematic experiences. Read More
After recently viewing the Marvel film Deadpool, I noticed that the actor portraying the titular Deadpool was Ryan Reynolds, who also played him in another Marvel film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Even during his first pass as the mercenary it can be seen that Reynolds, despite the incredibly little screen time afforded to him within that Read More
Poetry Centre Stage played host to exciting performances from two of the UK’s leading poets on the Friday of the StAnza festival. Lemn Sissay’s presence filled the auditorium as soon as he appeared on stage; his larger-than-life exuberance creates its own buzz. Effortlessly facing down some caustic remarks from a member of the audience, Sissay Read More
Working with the theme of montage, the curators make the case that the artist’s imagination lies “on the edge between reality and fantasy, where logic is irrelevant and nonsense can be oddly rational”. This assertion helps solidify the link between the state of dreaming and the form which the content of this exhibition takes: the Read More