5 h. ago To warn or not to warn? Royal Shakespeare Company provides trigger warning to Hamlet audiences that play contains 'scenes of an adult nature' including death and grief

To warn, or not to warn, that is the question... And the Royal Shakespeare Company has decided that for audiences of its latest production of Hamlet 'tis better to warn.

Events

13 h. ago Theatre bosses slap trigger warning on iconic Shakespeare play over odd animal sound

Nervous theatre-goers have been warned by the RSC to be aware of other noises including the sound of water, applause and 'periods of silence'.

Events

69 h. ago TV icon Phil Spencer's urgent warning as 'broken system' leaves Brits £10,000 out of pocket

The Location, Location, Location star warns caravan owners are being ripped off with hidden charges and resale traps and his new site aims to give buyers and sellers a fair deal

Events

1 week ago EastEnders legend threatens to leave after issuing an explosive ultimatum

After over two decades on the show, one EastEnders icon has issued an ultimatum warning that she will leave Walford unless an 'evil' newcomer disappears from the soap

Events

1 week ago ‘Melancholy magic’: how Judi Dench and a host of stars came under the spell of the greatest comedy in history

The Twelfth Night Reunion gathers some of the grandest names in British theatre, including Simon Callow and Stephen Fry, to explain why Shakespeare’s play continues to bewitch audiencesMany of us decline into our dotage. Actors slip into their anecdotage. Two of the best programmes in the rather arid TV Christmas schedules featured Judi Dench touchingly reminiscing about her love of Shakespeare. The great dame is also one of the glittering ensemble in The Twelfth Night Reunion, a one-off event conceived and hosted by Gyles Brandreth and recorded at the Orange Tree in Richmond, London, a year ago, where a group of actors share their memories of the play.Now available on YouTube, it is like an upmarket version of The Graham Norton Show with two heart-stopping moments.The Twelfth Night Reunion is on YouTube Continue reading...

Culture

1 week ago Hamnet review – Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley beguile and captivate in audacious Shakespearean tragedy

Chloé Zhao’s film version of Maggie O’Farrell’s myth-making novel powerfully reimagines the agonising loss of a child as the source of Hamlet’s grand stage drama‘The joys of parents are secret, and so are their griefs and fears ” This is Francis Bacon’s essay Of Parents and Children; maybe they were more secret in his day than ours. This kind of secrecy and revelation is part of Chloé Zhao’s deeply felt romantic fantasy about the origin of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. It locates the play’s beginning in the imagined anguish of Shakespeare and his wife Agnes (or Anne) Hathaway at the death of their son Hamnet at the age of 11 in 1596, a few years before the play’s first performance.The nearness of the names is not supposed to be some monumental Freudian slip; there is linguistic evidence that the two could be used interchangeably. The movie is inspired by Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel of the same name – Zhao co-wrote the screenplay with O’Farrell – as well as the 2004 essay T...

Politics

2 w. ago Doomed lovers, high heels and The Odyssey: films to get excited about in 2026

Margot Robbie busts her corset in Wuthering Heights, the Devil Wears Prada sequel goes fashionably to war, and Christopher Nolan brings us a Greek epic. Plus much more in our pick of the best films coming to UK cinemas this year• More from the 2026 culture previewJessie Buckley may need to hire a carpenter for the silverware-cabinet she is expected to need for her hugely admired performance in the film based on the Maggie O’Farrell novel. She plays Anne (or Agnes) Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, grieving the terrible loss of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet, in 1596, which the story imagines to be a spur to the creation of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Paul Mescal plays Shakespeare and Emily Watson his mother, Mary. • 9 January. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Great white sharks 'face extinction' as heads go on sale in fish markets

Shark boffins have warned the iconic great white species faces extinction due to illegal fishing, with a research team failing to tag a single shark during a recent expedition

Economics

2 w. ago Soap’s panto rich list – from EastEnders star paid six figures to Corrie villain cashing in on fame

A star-studded cast list of some of the biggest names in soap land will be laughing all the way to the bank this Christmas with monster panto pay cheques ... oh, yes, they will. For many of the big-name actors, their soap careers might be behind them, but theatre bosses clamour for them to star...

Politics

3 w. ago London's New Year's Eve fireworks 'terrible' view warning to public

Partygoers without tickets to the London New Year's Fireworks have been warned as thousands flock to the iconic Thames crossing each year only to find the show hidden behind a river bend and tall buildings

Events

3 w. ago Cricket legends pay tribute to Aussie icon Shane Warne in the perfect way during Boxing Day Test match

Fans, players and cricket greats all paused for a brief moment during day one of the Boxing Day Test to pay a heartfelt tribute to Australian spin king Shane Warne. 

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3 w. ago Woke ITV bosses slap hit Vicky McClure drama with a trigger warning for scenes of ‘high tension’

WOKE ITV bosses have slapped Vicky McClure’s hit bomb squad drama Trigger Point with an alert to viewers about its “high tension”. Streaming site ITVX also warns that multiple episodes have “themes of peril” and “threats”. Guidance also reads: “Graphic scenes of injury and death. "Frequent strong language.” And the series one finale, revolving around...

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