The Photograph review - star-powered romance mostly simmers, sometimes soars

★★★ THE PHOTOGRAPH Star-powered romance mostly simmers, sometimes soars

Lakeith Stanfield and Issa Rae star in Stella Meghie's light-soaked love story

The Photograph, from writer-director Stella Meghie, tells twin tales. The first is all flashback and follows Christine (Chanté Adams, pictured below with Y'lan Noel), a young photographer balancing love and ambition.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire review – love unshackled

★★★★★ PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE Love unshackled in spellbinding drama

Céline Sciamma's spellbinding costume drama has no room for a Mr. Darcy or Heathcliff

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is windblown, spare, taut, and sensual – a haunted seaside romantic drama, set in the 18th century, that makes most recent films and series dressed in period costumes seem like party-line effusions of empty style and social conservatism (Gentleman Jack excepted).

Sex Education, Series 2, Netflix review - the teen sex show we deserved

★★★★ SEX EDUCATION, SERIES 2, NETFLIX The teen sex show we deserved

Happy Valentines: this humdrum holiday is the perfect occasion to stream the most affirming sex comedy in years

Netflix’s Sex Education has returned to our screens and streams. The show made waves last year for its refreshing take on the teen comedy-drama. It took on abortion, consent and female pleasure — subjects strikingly absent from our actual high school educations.

Asking For It, Birmingham Repertory Theatre review - victim-blaming and abuse in small town Ireland

★★★★ ASKING FOR IT, BIRMINGHAM REPERTORY THEATRE Victim-blaming and abuse in small town Ireland

Story of sexual consent leaves the audience squirming

In a world where the contentious report of a young English woman gang raped by teenage boys in Cyprus last year continues to make headlines, Asking For It is more than relevant. Such scenarios are by no means new but are once again making news. 

Shock of the Nude with Mary Beard, BBC Two review - when does art become erotica?

★★★ SHOCK OF THE NUDE WITH MARY BEARD, BBC TWO When does art become erotica?

Strangely bland survey of the naked body in Western art

Are you a fan of oysters or Marmite? Mary Beard is not to everybody’s taste, but love her or loathe her she is not only a distinguished academic but a ubiquitous writer and presenter of classical histories, connected travels, and ruminations on societal problems. She is enthusiastic, staggeringly energetic, erudite, profoundly knowledgable, the antithesis of fashionable in both opinion and appearance.

Botticelli in the Fire, Hampstead Theatre review - history mash-up burns bright

Jordan Tannahill's queering of Renaissance art is riotously vulgar and unapologetic

Botticelli is a household name, but who knows the true story behind his most famous painting? The painter's 1480s masterpiece, The Birth of Venus, is one of the most striking images of Renaissance Florence – and has achieved iconic status. Because it has been minutely dissected by generations of art historians, it takes a bold playwright to smash through the scholarship and give a memorably fresh, in not necessarily accurate, account of its commissioning. Enter Jordan Tannahill, the Canadian polymath whose work spans theatre, film, dance, novels and everything else.

The Cunning Little Vixen, Welsh National Opera review - family night in the forest

★★★★★ THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN, WNO Janáček’s life cycle still fresh after four decades

Janáček’s life cycle comes up fresh and inspiring after four decades

Considering that Janáček’s Vixen is, among other things, an allegory of the passing and returning years, it’s appropriate that WNO continue to recycle David Pountney’s now nearly 40-year-old production, and that it comes up each time refreshed, with this or that altered or added detail, but quantum-like the same general image. This second night was like a mass family outing, perhaps because of the associated outreach event, the designs for which adorned the foyer.

Romesh Ranganathan, Brighton Dome review - transgressive, edgy and very likeable

★★★★ ROMESH RANGANATHAN, BRIGHTON DOME Transgressive, edgy and very likeable

The TV favourite hits the ground running at the start of his Cynic's Mixtape tour

One question springs immediately to mind on hearing that Romesh Ranganathan’s new stand-up show, The Cynic’s Mixtape, is touring: how does he find the time? Ranganathan has overtaken Jack Whitehall as Britain’s most media ubiquitous comic, with a deluge of TV shows and appearances, a column in the Guardian newspaper and even a recent autobiography. However, his TV CV is hit’n’miss, which leads to a second question: can he still cut it in the live arena?