Recent Posts

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1
Athol Fugard discussion / Blood Knot reading in Atlanta, USA
« Last post by Iain Fisher on May 17, 2026, 12:32:18 PM »
Theatrical Outfit and True Colors Theatre Company present a reading of Blood Knot in Atlanta, USA in Spring 2027.

The performers are Tom Key and Kenny Leon.

For the theatre website click here
https://www.theatricaloutfit.org/
For more on the play click here
https://www.iainfisher.com/fugard/athol-fugard-plays-port-elizabeth.html



2
Steven Berkoff discussion / Metamorphosis in Ireland
« Last post by Iain Fisher on May 11, 2026, 11:50:43 PM »
Corn Mill Theatre in County Leitrim present Steven Berkoff'sThe Metamorphosis 22-23 May 2026.

The director is OisĂ­n Hourican and the cast are Connor Sheridan (Moyne), Michele Ciba, Paddy Sheanon, Taragh Donohoe, Connor Sheridan (Bailieborough), Sinead Conefrey & Sarah McGearty.

"'As Gregor Samsa Awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic Insect...- A gripping look at family loyalty, secret resentments, and what happens when a loved one becomes a burden. A fast-paced, stylish drama that asks the ultimate question: Would you still love me if I was a gigantic dungbeetle?".

The theatre website is here
https://cornmilltheatre.com/

For more on Metamorphosis click here
https://iainfisher.com/berkoff/berkoff-play-adaptation-kafka.html



3
Savage Messiah: Ken Russell / The Devils restored at Cannes and in cinemas
« Last post by Iain Fisher on May 11, 2026, 09:51:29 PM »
Ken Russell's The Devils is the prestigious first release from Warner Bros new specialised label Clockwork.  The 4K restoration will be constructed from the original negative and will restore deleted scenes including the "rape of Christ" scene.

The restored version will premiere in the Classics section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.  It will then be released theatrically firstly in American theaters with a one-week engagement from 16 October 2026.  International releases will follow.

For more on The Devils click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-the-devils.html


4
Savage Messiah: Ken Russell / 15 Best British Movies Of All Time, Ranked
« Last post by Iain Fisher on April 13, 2026, 11:07:26 PM »
Leo Noboru Lima gives the 15 best British films in Looper, 12 April 2026.

15. Women in Love, Director: Ken Russell
14. The Souvenir, Director: Joanna Hogg
13. Maurice, Director: James Ivory
12. The Lady Vanishes, Director: Alfred Hitchcock
11. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover, Director: Peter Greenaway
10. Performance, Directors: Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell
9. The Other Side of the Underneath, Director: Jane Arden
8. Blue, Director: Derek Jarman
7. The Long Day Closes, Director: Terence Davies
6. Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Director: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
5. The Third Man, Director: Carol Reed
4. Morvern Callar, Director: Lynne Ramsay
3. Secrets & Lies, Director: Mike Leigh
2. Lawrence of Arabia, Director: David Lean
1. The Red Shoes, Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

For the Looper site click here
https://www.looper.com/2125631/best-british-movies-ranked/
For more on Women in Love click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-women-in-love.html


5
Ken Russell The Music Lover - Music and Images, A 3CD set of music from Russell's films, will be released on 26 June 2026.

It is an "Anthology of music from the films of director Ken Russell; the enfant terrible of British cinema… Inspired by Orson Welles, admired by Michael Powell, Ken Russell set British cinema aflame in the 1960s and 70s with his superbly crafted, often highly controversial dramatised documentaries on the lives of classical music composers”.

The set comprises music from
Elgar - Portrait of A Composer
The Debussy Film
Delius: Song of Summer
The Music Lovers (Tchaikovsky)
Mahler
Dante's Inferno
Messiah
Women In Love

For details of orchestras and conductors, as well as to order from Cherry Red Records click here
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/various-artists-ken-russell-the-music-lover-music-and-images-the-art-of-britain-s-greatest-filmmaker-3cd
For more on the films click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film.html
and here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-tv.html


6
Athol Fugard discussion / My Children My Africa in South Africa
« Last post by Iain Fisher on March 27, 2026, 11:20:37 PM »
My Children My Africa! is presented from 22 July- 4 August 2026 at Artscape Arena in Cape Town, South Africa.

"In a township classroom in the Eastern Cape in 1984, an idealistic teacher attempts to instill a love of learning in his gifted pupil, but political unrest and the generational divide soon culminate in an explosive conflict with tragic consequences. Athol Fugard’s seminal 1989 play, My Children! My Africa! presents a candid and moving portrait of a country on the verge of revolution. This modern classic is Fugard’s hymn to the power of youth, education, hope and ideas".

For the theatre website click here
https://www.artscape.co.za/
For more on the play click here
https://iainfisher.com/fugard/athol-fugard-plays-port-elizabeth.html



7
Athol Fugard discussion / Master Harold and the Boys in South Africa
« Last post by Iain Fisher on March 27, 2026, 11:01:07 PM »
"Master Harold"... and the Boys is presented from 9- 18 April 2026 at Artscape Arena in Cape Town, South Africa.

The director is Warona Seane and the performers are Sello Maake kaNcube, Lebohang Motaung and Daniel Anderson.

"Set in 1950s apartheid South Africa, Athol Fugard's searing drama explores systemic racism, betrayal, and companionship. It can be an uncomfortable watch — all the more reason to see it... Master Harold is a powerful tribute to Fugard's enduring legacy".

For the theatre website click here
https://www.artscape.co.za/
For more on the play click here
https://iainfisher.com/fugard/athol-fugard-plays-port-elizabeth.html


8
Athol Fugard discussion / Sizwe Banzi is Dead USA
« Last post by Iain Fisher on March 27, 2026, 08:16:20 PM »
Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick present Sizwe Bansi is Dead in collaboration with John Kani.  It plays from 19 May- 14 June 2026.

The director is Ricardo Khan.

"One man’s death becomes another’s salvation in this indictment of South Africa’s Apartheid system which lasted through the 1990s.  Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, was written by South African playwright Athol Fugard in collaboration with John Kani and Winston Ntshona. Both actors/playwrights, Kani and Ntshona received Tony’s in 1975, for their starring roles in the play’s Broadway production. The Crossroads production of Sizwe is in collaboration with John Kani, the last remaining member of the writing team".

For the theatre website click here
https://www.crossroadstheatrecompany.org/
For more on the play click here
https://iainfisher.com/fugard/athol-fugard-statements.html





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Savage Messiah: Ken Russell / Gothic in St Louis, Missouri, USA
« Last post by Iain Fisher on March 23, 2026, 09:42:54 PM »
Ken Russell's Gothic will shown on 26 March 2026 at the Arkadin Cinema in St Louis, Missouri.

“Gothic is an explosive horror-drama in which the devilish, omnisexual Byron leads his crew of aesthetes in a laudanum-assisted night of playful games and erotically charged rituals. The poets and artists are “beckoning the spark of creation” for a storytelling contest in a castle full of gothic props – cobwebs, skulls, suits of armor, automata, mirrors, a mask, a goat and a snake. Traumas are triggered, nightmares come to life, and visions of future doom dance in the night as a tripping, terrified Mary will be galvanized into merging her past grief and present panic into one of the greatest horror stories ever told”.

For the cinema site click here
https://arkadincinema.com/
For more on Gothic click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-gothic.html
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Savage Messiah: Ken Russell / The Devils in Calgary, Canada
« Last post by Iain Fisher on March 23, 2026, 09:17:40 PM »
The Globe Cinema in  Calgary present Ken Russell’s The Devils on 3- 12 April 2026.

“The most controversial film of the 1970s was banned across the world for its deliriously overheated, shockingly blasphemous tale of sexual frenzy and demonic possession in a seventeenth-century French convent.  Based on Aldous Huxley’s novel The Devils of Loudun and John Whiting’s play The Devils, Ken Russell’s X-rated spectacle of the depraved stars Vanessa Redgrave as a hunchbacked nun whose lust for priest Father Grandier (Oliver Reed) sets off a perverse witch hunt and unleashes an orgy of sadomasochistic sacrilege”.

I'm not sure about the cinema's description -deliriously overheated, spectacle of the depraved etc, but the film is good.

For the cinema website click here
https://globecinema.ca/
For more on The Devils click here
https://iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-film-the-devils.html


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