Book review - "Sitcom: a Memoir" by Chuck Lorre (2026)

 Highly entertaining. Short. Full of gossip. Charlie Sheen was good for seven years then went heywire. Brett Butler was mad from the get-go. Cybill Shepherd went mad after one season. Casey-Werner backed the stars. Ana Faris was... unspecified problems. Les Moonves comes out of the book bad but also good. Lorre's career was amazing. It's a type of TV that doesn't exist anymore. Entertaining. Wobbly written in a few places, his inexperience with prose shows. The scripts at the end was so tight and good - that's his real strength.

Play review - "Whom do I have the honor of addressing?" by Peter Shaffer (1989)

 Radio play which is a suicide note of an uptight woman who went to work for a Hollywood star. Beautifully acted by Judi Dench. Maybe a little slight at the end.

Movie review - "Blue Moon" (2025) ***

 Better than the sccript because it has such good actors - Ethan Hawke, Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley. It's still a stage play at heart which hits the same beats - he's got a crush on a hot woman who he doesn't desire, life is moving on, he stuffed it with Hammerstein. No progression. A grace note. I like that it exists, mind.

Play review - "The Apple Cart" by George Bernard Shaw (1928)

 Lots of zingers but it's annoying. In the future the king is appointed to rule the country. The king is based on Shaw himself so he is wise and witty. There's a female role for a Katherine Hepburn type as there is in most Shaws.

Play review - "Royal Hunt of the Sun" by Peter Schaffer (1964)

 Excellently theatrical. Bold. Makes the Spaniards British but that works. Lots of talking between the officer and the Inca King. I wanted to see it on stage.

Movie review - "Digger" (2026) ***1/2

 Yes, overlong and didn't have to cost that much money, should've been made for $40 million (most of it is sent indoors in a few rooms) and you could cut out half an hour. But bold, and funny, and clever and all the things. Tom Cruise very good as is all the cast. American critics can't handle movies too critical of them - neither can Americans.

Play review - "Equus" by Peter Shaffer (warning: spoilers) (1973)

 Marvellous play. Yes I know the psychiatry is no doubt dodgy - building to the big breakthrough. And it's all because dad is upset about sex. And someone wanting to sleep with you isn't a great excuse for blinding horses. But the shrink character is memorable. It works brilliantly.