Hysteria
Hysteria is Jane Austen without inhibitions. It looks like an Austen adaption but is more “racy”. Director Tanya Wexler’s debut film, based on the true story of the invention of the vibrator in the 1880’s, blends passion, scandal and medical advancement into a hilarious and informative story. At a time when leeches were used to Read More
Hurting God – Part Essay Part Rhyme
This is Rita Ann Higgins’ ninth collection, a poetic memoir about her working class, Catholic upbringing, a collection about loss, language, poetry and travel. There is a strong thread of repression and fear running through her work, which describes the drudgery of women’s lives, the poverty of poverty, and the sadness of realisation, all softened Read More
Human Race: Inside the History of Sport Medicine
Funded by the Scottish Arts Council and the Lottery Legacy Trust, this touring exhibition is part of the Cultural Olympiad which accompanies the 2012 London Olympic Games. In conjunction with the exhibition – which includes material from several Scottish collections exploring and illustrating the development of sports medicine – a series of free talks, evening Read More
House of Bees
This collection is not for those who seek light reading or any form of reassurance. Opening with a poem not listed in the contents, Stephen Murray immediately throws us into a cuttingly real and tumultuous world. Murray cleaves open his world with an honesty that is almost chilling; he invites us into a past littered Read More
Dredd (3D)
Pete Travis’ work as a TV and film director tends to focus on violent political histories; his films have told the story of the Omagh bombing, the attempted assassination of a US President, and the last days of apartheid in South Africa. Those who have followed Travis’ work may have been surprised at his decision Read More
Ten Drawings and Sketches
How should one review Leonardo Da Vinci?! What could be said about the man or his work that has not been said? What could be said here that did not come across as trite in the extreme? When you first enter the gallery, the churlish impulse is to worry about scale – with only ten Read More
Common as Air: Revolution, Art and Ownership
There is much to be admired about Lewis Hyde’s Common as Air: Revolution, Art and Ownership, which critically enquires into the intellectual and historical development of our current laws and practices dealing with intellectual property. His guiding thesis, that the public good should limit the duration of any monopoly by artist, inventor or thinker on Read More
Bring up the Bodies
In Bring up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel’s much anticipated follow-up to the multi-award winning Wolf Hall (2009), we explore one of the most unsettling episodes in English history: the destruction of Anne Boleyn. As the author points out in a note at the end of the book, however, this new novel is not about the Read More