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TV Review: The Undoing

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant may have been the headliners but the real star of The Undoing was Noma Dumezweni saying the word ‘muck’

“People hire me to create muck”

Created by David E Kelley and directed by Susanne Bier for HBO Max, The Undoing was sold on its prestige merits but in the end, proved to be watchable hokum. And heaven knows in these times, that was what we kinda needed. Traditional scheduling of one episode a week heightened the buzz with some good old-fashioning theorising going on between episodes and if it didn’t quite live up to expectations in the end, well we’ve only ourselves to blame.

Set up as a whodunnit in the higher echelons of Manhattan society, we followed Nicole Kidman’s Grace and Hugh Grant’s Jonathan as their gilded lives are torn asunder when he is arrested for the murder of Matilda De Angelis’ Elena, who we soon find out is his lover. He couldn’t have done it, could he? Over six episodes, an inordinate amount of red herrings and a titanic court battle, the result might not have that surprising but I found the journey highly entertaining. Continue reading “TV Review: The Undoing”

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New TV shows for winter

As the clocks go back, the prestige TV shows come out, so I checked out the first episodes of The Undoing, Roadkill and The Sister to find not one but two Scandiqueens

“Sounds like we’re digging in for a long answer”

With a company that includes Noma Dumezweni and the empress of jumpers Sofie Gråbøl, I was initially a little disappointed that neither appeared in the first episode of new HBO show The Undoing. But when your leads are Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, your writer is David E Kelley and your director is Susanne Bier, then there’s little to complain about. Based on a Jean Hanff Korelitz novel and set in the dripping wealth of the Upper East Side, the tantalising promise of murder and adultery is skilfully woven across this opening episode and I’m definitely hooked.  Continue reading “New TV shows for winter”

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TV Review: Black Earth Rising

A cast led by Michaela Coel, Noma Dumezweni, John Goodman and Lucian Msamati make Hugo Blick’s complex Black Earth Rising watchable if not quite essential

“That is why I made a deal like that”

A tricky one this. At this point, you know what you’re getting with a Hugo Blick drama (qv The Shadow Line, The Honorable Woman), weighty complex dramas with amazing casts tackling inscrutable global conspiracies. And Black Earth Rising is no different, as it puts the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath under the microscope, examining Western colonial and capitalist attitudes towards Africa along with the role of the Iinternational Criminal Court.

And with a cast led by Michaela Coel, Noma Dumezweni, Harriet Walter, John Goodman and Lucian Msamati to name just a few, it is naturally eminently watchable. Coel plays Kate Ashby, a young woman with a complicated relationship with her barrister mother Eve (Walter). Eve adopted Kate from Rwanda years back but her decision to take on a case prosecuting a Tutsi general who, after helping end the genocide, went on to commit war crimes in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, outrages Kate who is also Tutsi.
Continue reading “TV Review: Black Earth Rising”

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News: even more black MT talent turning it up for TURN UP!

Theatrical superstars Sharon D. Clarke, Noma Dumezweni, Clive Rowe, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Johnnie Fiore, Brenda Edwards, Zaris-Angel Hator, Rachel Adedeji, Aisha Jawando, Norm Lewis, Brittney Johnson, Brandi Chavonne Massey and Joe Aaron Reid and more join the lineup for TURN UP! , a live stream event supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

The live stream event is streaming for The Bail Project, The Okra Project, The Black Curriculum and UK Black Pride – in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

TURN UP! will stream on Friday 10th, Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th July at 7.30pm prompt.  The performance streamed on Sunday 12th July will be captioned. Tickets cost £10 for one stream/show, or you can watch all 3 nights for £25, all profit (after streaming costs and applicable taxes) will be split between our four charities, tickets are available now from club11.london/turn. Continue reading “News: even more black MT talent turning it up for TURN UP!”

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News: the Almeida introduce the podcast in lockdown

Join the likes of Matt Smith, Noma Dumezweni, Indira Varma, and Tobias Menzies on the Almeida Theatre’s new podcast

There’s all sorts of virtual theatre-related content rocking around while the physical doors of theatres remain locked and one of the more fascinating ones, for me at least, is the Almeida’s podcast. Led by Artistic Director Rupert Goold, the theatre’s illustrious alumni means that it can call on the likes of Matt Smith, Noma Dumezweni, Indira Varma, and Tobias Menzies about their careers, the impact of the coronavirus lockdown and what they miss most about theatre.

The series has already begun with two interesting instalments. The first with BAFTA and Emmy Award-nominated actor Matt Smith who discusses his fear in doing his first ever musical, American Psycho, at the Almeida and his work on screen in The Crown and Doctor Who. Continue reading “News: the Almeida introduce the podcast in lockdown”