Kreator / Dimmu Borgir, Roundhouse review - explosive extreme metal extravaganza

★★★★ KREATOR / DIMMU BORGIR, ROUNDHOUSE Explosive extreme metal extravaganza

A tour-concluding night of energised international thrash mayhem

It’s about to begin. The final performance on the final night – and only UK date – of the European Apocalypse package tour featuring four extreme metal bands. The 1,700 capacity Roundhouse is sold out. Touts outside are scrabbling for tickets. A curtain covers the stagefront. A procession of images flicker across it; ancient art, demons, gods and hellish conflict. Then the screen goes black. In large white gothic letters, words in sequence: LONDON. PREPARE. TO. GET.

Lizzie review - murder most meticulous

★★★★ LIZZIE Historic axe-killer mystery reworked as feminist fable

Historic axe-killer mystery reworked as feminist fable

The story of Lizzie Borden, controversially acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892, has been explored many times on screen and in print (there’s even an opera and a musical version, not to mention the Los Angeles metal band Lizzy Borden).

Macbeth, Shakespeare's Globe review - sexually-charged production draws power from the shadows

★★★★ MACBETH, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE Daring counterintuitive reading is richly rewarding

A daring counterintuitive reading proves richly rewarding

Macbeth has rarely seemed quite as metrosexual as in this gorgeous shadow-painted production that marks Globe artistic director Michelle Terry’s first production in the Sam Wanamaker theatre.

Laurent Cantet: 'Young people have different preoccupations nowadays' – interview

LAURENT CANTET The award-winning director on his new film 'The Workshop'

The award-winning director discusses his new film, The Workshop, in which some newbie writers get in a tizz over the fine line between fact and fiction

Like Ken Loach and the Dardennes brothers, Laurent Cantet is a filmmaker with a keen interest in social issues and themes, often using non-professional actors and a naturalistic approach, but perfectly willing to inject a little plot contrivance to spice things up.

Suspiria review - kindly, slow-motion grand guignol

★★★★ SUSPIRIA Horror shocker remade with heartfelt emotion

Horror shocker remade with heartfelt emotion

The first Suspiria was a sensation, and spectacularly, monomaniacally new. Its young heroine Susie Bannon’s ride from an innately hostile airport through eldritch woods in which a panicked girl ran from her destination, the Markos Academy of Dance, as Goblin’s rock score gibbered and pounded at the senses, was hysterical, relentless film-making.

Peterloo review - Mike Leigh's angry historical drama

★★★★★ PETERLOO Angry, riveting historical drama from Mike Leigh

Sprawling and wordy, but riveting

Considering how the UK prides itself on having created the "Mother of Parliaments" and its citizens having once chopped off a king's head for thwarting its will, remarkably little is taught in our schools about one of the seminal events on the way to fully democratising this country: the Peterloo Massacre.

Erik Poppe and Andrea Berntzen: 'When white young men do stuff like this, we just shake our heads'

ERIK POPPE AND ANDREA BERNTZEN Director and lead actor of 'Utoya: July 22' on working with survivors to recreate the Norwegian terror attack

Director and lead actor of Utoya: July 22 on working with survivors to recreate the Norwegian terror attack

On 22nd July 2011, on a tiny island off the Norwegian coast, 69 young people were killed, with another 109 injured in a terrorist attack. It was the darkest day in Norway since World War Two, and one that is still evident in its news, politics and society today. But somewhere down the line, the victims became background noise to the circus around the aftermath and perpetrator.

The Sweet Science of Bruising, Southwark Playhouse review - boxing clever

★★★★ THE SWEET SCIENCE OF BRUISING, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Original and timely Victorian pugilistic drama

 

Victorian pugilistic drama: thoroughly heartfelt, highly original and completely timely

There are not that many plays about sport, but, whether you gamble on results or not, you can bet that most of them are about boxing. And often set in the past.

Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt, V&A review - gaming for all

★★★★ VIDEOGAMES: DESIGN/PLAY/DISRUPT, V&A Broad look at gaming, present & future

A comprehensive look at gaming present and future has surprisingly broad appeal

Design/Play/Disrupt at the V&A covers a wide variety of games that are spearheading the gaming world at the moment. It takes a closer look at eight of the most innovative and different games that have changed the world of gaming in the last five years.