Latest news with #dark comedy
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fringe Review: Bomb a crisp, polished drama
Bomb 4 stars out of 5 Stage 4, Walterdale Theatre, 10322 83 Ave. This dark, absurdist comedy by Ukrainian playwright Natalia Blok is a clean, crisp production with strong and supple performances by its four characters. The story is, by turns, funny and frightening and requires some knowledge of, and interest in, the plight of Ukraine in the last 30 years. At the centre is Dasha (the energetically comical Mariya Khomutova), an activist with PTSD and an anxiety disorder. Fighting for various social justice causes has left her feeling like a ticking time bomb that just might go off at any time. When her devoted husband (a cheerfully manic Geoffrey Simon Brown) suggests a trip to a psychiatrist, Dasha finds herself in the grip of a practitioner (James MacDonald, compellingly wacky) who mixes heliotropic breathwork with the study of auras. His diagnosis? Dasha actually does have a bomb in her belly, one that could change history if she chooses to pull the pin. Helmed by one of the rising stars of directing in Canada, Edmonton's own Lianna Makuch (fresh off a Stratford gig), Bomb moves with speed and precision and the kind of professional polish that's not necessarily common at Fringe shows. Designer Stephanie Bahniuk's spare set, with its overhead projector and vintage hospital room dividers, channels a Soviet-style cinderblock mentality. It's a very confusing place to be, and that's just the point. Related Fringe Review: Quiz Icarus a treat for trivia fans Fringe Review: Prepare to be scared with GHOST STORIES: Paul Strickland Check out all of our reviews from the 2025 Edmotnon International Fringe Theatre Festival here.
Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Michelle Collins: ‘The death of my school friend changed my life'
Michelle Collins, who's in Edinburgh with her Fringe show, Motorhome Marilyn, is best known for playing Cindy Beale in EastEnders. It's a dark comedy about a woman called Denise who went to America to seek fame and fortune and ends up as a Marilyn impersonator. She is an obsessive Marilyn fan and also lives in a motorhome, hence the title. She has a very lonely existence in Las Vegas, living with her pet python, and has been Marilyn for so long she is not quite sure who Denise is any more. Port Logan, where I spent three summers filming Two Thousand Acres of Sky (even though the series was set on a fictional island off Skye). It was probably the most enjoyable filming I've ever done. Port Logan is a tiny village next to Portpatrick with, I think, a population then of only about 20 people. Just beautiful. In the height of summer I remember it not getting dark until so late, and sometimes you could see the northern lights. I love the beautiful, rugged landscape of Scotland; I feel a real affinity with the country. I also filmed Sea of Souls with Bill Paterson right up in northern Scotland, near Durness. It was a really hot summer and there were caves right on the beach. When the weather is good, Scotland is the best place in the world. The beaches were so beautiful and it was quite spooky because it was about a psychic criminologist and that part of Scotland in the north is quite spooky — I even stayed in a haunted hotel and saw a ghost. Mother India's café in Edinburgh, an amazing Indian tapas restaurant near the Gilded Balloon, where I am performing this year. There were also some fantastic fish restaurants in Portpatrick: I remember getting my first deep-fried Mars bar there. I'm partial to vegetarian haggis. • The 15 best restaurants in Edinburgh — our critic's guide Intense, kind, scatty. Charlie George. I used to have big posters of the Arsenal football team, especially when they did the double in the early Seventies. I still support them now. The train up to Glasgow, then driving down along the coastline to Stranraer and on to Portpatrick and Port Logan. That I was in Baywatch. I had dinner with someone once and they asked me if I still had that red swimming costume. Apparently, Wikipedia says I was in it. I wasn't. Never send an email on a Monday morning. Always sit on it. • Paul Sinha: I dodged an early death. It changes your perspective My great-grandma, Granny Bowen. My sister and I lived with her and my grandad for about a year when we were children, when I was about 11. I didn't like living out in Hayes, Middlesex — it felt like the back of beyond. I used to do everything I could to wind them up. She used to call me a little minx. David Essex, David Cassidy, David Bowie — all the Davids. I'm not sure if this is just my mind playing tricks with me, but I remember being in a huge pram (a big perambulator — I was a Sixties baby). Apparently, I threw eggs out of it and someone went into the butcher's shop where I was parked outside, and said to my mum: 'Your little baby boy is throwing eggs outside.' My mum didn't care about the eggs but she told them: 'That's not a boy, that's a girl!' I was in a TV show called The Illustrated Mum, which was adapted from a Jacqueline Wilson book. My agent didn't really want me to do it, but I wanted to because I loved the book. I loved playing the character, Marigold. It did really well — it won Baftas and an International Emmy. And I had a very memorable experience going to New York with Jacqueline Wilson. I was presented with the Emmy by Lenny Kravitz. • Miriam Margolyes: 'They call me vile. I'm absolutely delightful' I have very fond memories of going to see Oliver! with my mum when I was a kid. We saw it loads of times and every time I see it on TV now I feel an overwhelming sense of warmth and nostalgia. It still makes me cry. Also, The Sound of Music. Meeting a girl called Kate Healy. I was about 14, she was 15. We had very, very different lives; she had much more of a privileged life than I did. I would say she was more middle class, I was working class from a single-parent family. Sadly, Kate died when she was 16 — I was devastated. She had a cousin who was an actress who then helped me to audition for drama school. In many ways Kate really changed my life. Michelle Collins is performing in Motorhome Marilyn at Gilded Balloon Patter House until Aug 25 (not 13),
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sharon Stone makes rare red carpet appearance with three adoptive sons who are seldom seen
Sharon Stone 's three sons accompanied her onto the red carpet in Hollywood on Monday for the Los Angeles premiere of her latest film, Nobody 2. The Oscar-nominated actress, 67, who plays the role of Lendina in the dark comedy from Universal Pictures, looked amazing as she walked the red carpet at the TCL Chinese Theatre. The Basic Instinct star was pictured with her three adoptive sons Roan, 25, Laird, 20, and Quinn, 19, as she made her way to the screening room. Stone, who announced her mother's March passing last month, looked amazing in a form-fitting navy blue gown. Stone, who's also been seen in movies such as Sliver, Last Action Hero, and Total Recall, had her blonde locks parted and wore shaded sunglasses with hoop earrings, looking nothing short of amazing on the late summer night in La La Land. Stone opened up in 2022 about motherhood in an emotional Instagram comment. Sharon Stone, 67, was accompanied by three sons her onto the red carpet in Hollywood on Monday for the Los Angeles premiere of her latest film, Nobody 2. Stone, who's also been seen in movies such as Sliver, Last Action Hero, and Total Recall, bravely spoke about her own journey whereas it related to maternity and miscarriage. 'We, as females don't have a forum to discuss the profundity of this loss,' the actress said in a June 2022 comment on Instagram. ' I lost nine children by miscarriage.' She continued: 'It is no small thing, physically nor emotionally yet we are made to feel it is something to bear alone and secretly with some kind of sense of failure.' Stone said that 'instead of receiving the much needed compassion and empathy and healing which we so need,' women have been let down by gender discrimination due to a predominantly 'male ideology.' The outspoken star added, 'Female health and wellness left to the care of the male ideology has become lax at best, ignorant in fact, and violently oppressive in effort.' Stone stars opposite Christopher Lloyd, Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, and Colin Hanks in the motion picture from director Timo Tjahjanto. The storyline focuses on 'suburban dad Hutch Mansell,' played by Lloyd, according to a logline for the film. It continued: 'Mansell, a former lethal assassin, is pulled back into his violent past after thwarting a home invasion.' The action sets 'off a chain of events that unravels secrets about his wife Becca's past and his own.' Stone, who released her memoir The Beauty of Living Twice in 2021, took to Instagram Stories on Monday with a clip as she left her house for the premiere. 'On our way to NOBODY 2 Premier @nobodymovie,' Stone captioned the clip, which was set to NEU SONG's are you ready?. Nobody 2 arrived in theaters August 15.
