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The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Mr Creep review – a grubby visit from the office pest
The clue is in the fingers. Rubbery, bulbous things, they look as if they would leave a trail of slime if they touched you. And they probably want to touch you. They belong to Martin, aka Mr Creep, the alter ego of Theodora van der Beek, all lank hair, faux leather jacket and grubby 70s aesthetic. To call Martin a character would be stretching a point: he does not actually do very much in this entertaining show, half lecture, half film screening. He is more object than protagonist. He is a symbol of every office pest, every man who gets uncomfortably close on public transport, every bloke with a warped sense of his sexual attractiveness to younger women. He eats a lot of ham. The show is a product of lockdown when the performer and her six-strong household decided to throw an office party at home, seeing as none of them had an office of their own. They took on roles from intern to boss and Van der Beek came as the office creep. Getting to know the enemy, she found Martin, with his perfumed breath and poor spatial awareness, strangely compelling. What if she could look at the world through his eyes? Now, reading from cue cards, she takes us through a series of movies, AI-generated fantasies and TV clips to talk about the objectifying lens of the male gaze and men's almost imperceptible encroachments on female space (elsewhere in Edinburgh, Red Like Fruit has a similar theme). Some sections are more fully realised than others in a show Van der Beek admits is developing all the time, but she has inventiveness and eccentric charm to carry her through, not to mention a particularly disgusting way with processed meat. The show's tone is quirky, messy and wry, even while its message is on point. At Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh, until 24 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews
New York Times
09-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
How to Raise Super-Achievers? Hint: It's Not the Cereal.
THE FAMILY DYNAMIC: A Journey Into the Mystery of Sibling Success, by Susan Dominus Once, when I was giving a lecture on health policy, I'd thoughtlessly failed to turn my phone off, and unexpectedly it rang. 'It's my brother,' I said. Someone called out, 'Answer it, it's the White House!' 'No,' I said, 'it's the other brother — the successful one.' Afterward, a crowd gathered to ask questions, but they weren't interested in the substance of my talk. Instead, most asked some version of, 'What did your mom put in the breakfast cereal?' I often get that question from anxious new parents wanting to know how they can raise their children to be 'successful.' Susan Dominus had that question, too. Finding no book on the subject, she set out to elucidate the commonalities among families that had 'more than one high-achieving child.' The result is her wonderfully engaging new work, 'The Family Dynamic.'
