Influential member of experimental Sheffield band, known for their provocative performances, also maintained a prolific solo careerThe influential British electronic musician Richard H Kirk, best known as a founding member of Sheffield group Cabaret Vo…
The Gateway review – if Dirty Harry worked for social services
A hard-boozing caseworker grimaces his way around St Louis in Michele Civetta’s overblown urban thrillerNot quite credible enough to stand up as a gritty, 70s-esque social drama, and lacking the focus of the Training Day-style urban thriller it’s marke…
Sarah Dash, member of Lady Marmalade trio Labelle, dies aged 76
New Jersey-born singer had a US No 1 hit with the R&B trio, and later worked with the Rolling StonesSarah Dash, member of R&B trio Labelle who had a US No 1 hit with Lady Marmalade, has died aged 76.No cause of death has been given, though she …
Arrested development: why are adults still playing high-schoolers on screen?
The casting of 27-year-old Ben Platt to play a 17-year-old in Dear Evan Hansen is the latest example of a weird trend that shows no sign of abatingBy all accounts, Dear Evan Hansen has plenty of problems to contend with. Transplanted to cinema from its…
Flying colours: Photo Basel 2021 gets vibrant – in pictures
Switzerland’s first and only art fair dedicated to photography is back with vivid images of fairytales, fabrics and firepower Continue reading…
Miss Dior by Justine Picardie review – fashion meets the French Resistance
Christian Dior’s younger sister is a largely ghostly presence in this nonetheless enjoyable book about the courageous Nazi-fighting florist Postwar Europe is eternally fascinating: the sheer disjunction between past and present. “I will not disguise th…
The duo who created Drag Race: ‘We saw RuPaul in a loincloth and went, “Oh my God!”’
They took RuPaul from obscurity to global fame – inventing The Adam and Joe Show along the way. As Drag Race UK returns to the BBC, we talk to Fenton Bailey and Randy BarbatoMore than 20 years before Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato launched RuPaul’s Dr…
Trump may be gone, but Covid has not seen off populism
It is liberal fantasy to imagine that poor handing of the pandemic has lessened the allure of Modi and Bolsonaro. They are learning fast how to subvert votingWhen the pandemic struck, newspaper opinion pages were full of pieces predicting the end of au…
Balloon review – playfulness and melancholy in Tibet’s sheep-herding life
Writer-director Pema Tseden tells this story of a clash between modernity and tradition as a woman is dismayed to find she is pregnantThe latest of Pema Tseden’s empathic and intimate portraits of Tibetan pastoral life begins with an intriguing cloudin…
Poem of the week: Thames by John Challis
Bobbing and jostling with assorted fragments, London’s unsettled river here loses and finds its human pastThamesAfter a day of keeping tugs and waste disposal barges,sailing racers, showboats and commuter clippers afloat,the Thames turns inwardly to fi…