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. 

Play review - "Amadeus" by Peter Shaffer (1979)

 Love it. So good. Clear conflict, brilliant central idea, nice tunes.

Book review - "The White Album" by Joan Didion

 She's an excellent writer. This is a collection of pieces over the years. Love the stuff on The Doors and also shopping malls.

Book review - "If They Move... Kill 'Em!: The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah" by David Weddle

 Superb book. Near definitive. Hard to imagine anyone getting the same quality quotes. Family, friends, exes, enemies, execs... Martin Baum! Ken Hyman!

Peckinpah actually comes across not very well. Charming, insecure, but controlling, wife beating, manic. Talented. Blessed with luck (family with connections... led to the job with Walter Wagner, good at Westerns during the boom). Brought undone by alcohol and cocaine.

Gripping story. A little light on on the later films but hugely impressive on the earlier stuff - early TV, theatre, etc And the masterpieces are well served. 

Book is a masterpiece really.