No Relevant Content Found on Comedy or Sydney in Provided Articles

Female nudity and art that stinks: key takeways from Venice Biennale 2026 Despite a call for calm, a combustible mix of politics and protest punctuated the preview week across the pavilionsEvery two years the art world assembles in Venice for a sprawling celebration of visual arts at which countries compete against one another for the prize of best national pavilion. It is a barometer of taste, a shop window for artists and the industrys biggest get-together – once described by the art historian Lawrence Alloway as an orgy of contact and communication.This year, 99 countries are involved, including Somalia and Qatar, which are among seven first-time participants in an event that was overshadowed by the death of its curator, Koyo Kouoh, just over a year ago. She wanted an event that focused on enhancement with a main show called In Minor Keys. Despite the call for calm, a combustible mix of politics and protest punctuated the preview week. The activist group Pussy Riot turned up on site to object to Russias inclusion and a strike on Friday in protest at Israels inclusion caused several pavilions – including the UK, Austria and France – to close their doors. Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

Its about recognising our role in history: Bradford exhibition to revisit live Somali display At the citys Great Exhibition of 1904, 57 Somali men, women and children cooked, weaved and danced for visitorsIt was, the posters said, a rare chance to see a little known but interesting people: a live display of 57 Somali men, women and children who cooked, weaved and danced for the entertainment of hundreds of thousands of Edwardians who flocked to Yorkshire to see them.More than 120 years later, this controversial – and, in its time, incredibly popular – show will be revisited in a new exhibition in Bradford that will put Britains colonial legacy under the spotlight. Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

Joseph Fiennes on parenting, politics and banning children from social media: Stand up, Keir, this is your kids generation Hes played English titans from William Shakespeare to Gareth Southgate, but what does the actor really think about the country today?We are at a corner table in a breakfast place in Chelsea, Joseph Fiennes opposite me on the banquette with his jack russell, Noa. Dog duty, he says, apologetic. Noa looks at me, brown eyes also apologetic. Theyve been in Hyde Park, he says, he lost track, didnt have time to take her home. Nature is where hes at his best, where he feels cleansed, connected, observant – his sentences are decorative like this. Its when Im at my happiest, on hours-long, rain-drenched walks. Hot cheeks, freezing hands. In an ideal world hed be trekking or wild swimming in the rugged landscape of the Tramuntana in Spain. But if it must be London, nothing beats Hyde Park. Fiennes is tidy in a cashmere cardie and thick twill chinos. Noa has a snazzy yellow collar. Anyway, shes well-behaved, he says: Arent you, Noa? She curls up to prove it. The scene is a masterclass in unhurried wholesomeness. Until he says Noa will savage me if Im mean.Fiennes was launched into the national consciousness as the doe-eyed, luscious-lashed 28-year-old star of Shakespeare in Love opposite Gwyneth Paltrow. Hes self-deprecating about his career since, saying to one interviewer that it condemned him to a decade of flouncy shirts and horses and to me that hes been pretty much a supporting actor for an actress throughout. While hes worked alongside impressive women – Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren, Elisabeth Moss, Rachel Weisz, Eva Green – his own standout roles include the chilling Commander Waterford in The Handmaids Tale (whom he describes as insidious). Now 55, he jokes, hes mostly playing dads. Not least Young Sherlocks dad in the Amazon series – young Sherlock being his real-life nephew Hero Fiennes Tiffin – but also a gripping portrayal of Richard Ratcliffe, husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was held hostage in Iran for six years, in Prisoner 951. Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

Comédie de Genève fires its artistic director, Séverine Chavrier Séverine Chavrier, director of the Swiss theatre Comédie de Genève since 2023, has been dismissed. The Fondation dart dramatique (dramatic arts foundation) said on Friday that it was ending its working relationship as controversy swirls around Chavrier. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The decision was taken on Friday morning by a majority of the foundations board, whose chair Philippe Juvet was elected earlier this week to replace Lorella Bertani, who had resigned. The decision was communicated to all staff after Chavrier was informed she was being let go. The dramatic arts foundation had no further comment. The announcement comes as the results of a human resources audit involving around 150 people were due to be released this week. However, Chavriers lawyer, Romain Jordan, obtained a ban on the publication of these results through super-provisional measures. In a statement, Jordan responded to Fridays decision by saying: The foundation, a master ...

swissinfo · 12 days ago

You dont have to sell them on the idea: how Celebrity Traitors has seduced the stars Second season of BBC hit has attracted one of the most high-profile casts ever assembled for a reality TV showIf it were any other show, the sight of the comedian Alan Carr sobbing under the burden of his dishonesty may have been enough to put off any celebrity thinking about accepting a place in the perilous Traitors castle.Yet the second season of The Celebrity Traitors, being filmed at its now famous Highlands retreat, has managed to attract one of the most high-profile casts ever assembled for a reality TV show. Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

Tuppence Middleton: My guiltiest pleasure? Watching Naked Attraction when my partner is out The actor on her Dua Lipa faux pas, restless legs syndrome, and a shock realisation at a housewarming partyBorn in Bristol, Tuppence Middleton, 39, trained at ArtsEd in London before appearing in films The Imitation Game and Mank. Her stage roles include The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre, and her TV work spans Sense8, War and Peace, The Forsytes and the next series of Slow Horses. Since the age of 11, she has had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which she writes about in Scorpions, out in paperback on 21 May. She lives in London with Swedish film director Måns Mårlind and their child.What is your greatest fear? Endless vomiting. That comes from my emetophobia, which is a huge part of my OCD. Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

The hill I will die on: Voice notes have made my generation a bunch of self-absorbed bores | Annabel Martin We used to have the back and forth of actual conversation. Now we have phones filled with our friends rambling soliloquies The message I most dread receiving on WhatsApp isnt Call me or I cant believe what you did last night. Its Im just going to vn you, itll be easier. I roll my eyes as I fish my grubby headphones out of my bag to listen to yet another voice note.Voice notes were fun when WhatsApp introduced them in 2013, but what was once a novelty has become too many peoples go-to method of communication. We are now faced with what feels to me like a voice note epidemic. Side effects may include the cheapening of conversation and a startling increase in narcissism.Annabel Martin is a lifestyle and culture writer Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

The Guide #242: Everyday Hollywood film comedies have faded but can they make a comeback? In this weeks newsletter: As studios chase safer bets and streamers fail to deliver, the humble standalone comedy has been replaced by blockbusters that sprinkle jokes instead of delivering belly laughsThere was a striking moment during this weeks episode of The Rewatchables, the wildly popular film-recap podcast that I reach for when Ive had my fill of history/football/glum current affairs pods. The episode was revisiting 90s comedy Theres Something About Mary, a film that in some ways holds up hilariously, and in others has aged about as well as a bottle of semi-skimmed on a summers day in Death Valley. As part of the episode, the podcasts panel were going through their favourite comedy films by decade and were spoilt for choice – until, that is, they reached the 2020s, when they seemed to collectively draw a blank. The Dramas pretty funny … one offered tentatively. Finally, host Bill Simmons cut through the umming, ahhing and awkward silence to get to the heart of the matter: Do we have comedies any more? What happened to comedies?Yes, what did happen to comedies? Or rather, what happened to the everyday American comedies like Theres Something About Mary that once set up a permanent frat house residence in cinemas? You know the ones I mean: those that took a familiar real-world situation – teens trying to lose their virginity, a man clashing with his girlfriends dad, a maid of honour struggling to arrange a hen do, stunted adolescents refusing to fly the nest – and stretched them to absurd and lurid extremes. Its a lineage that goes back almost half a century, to the days of Animal House (rowdy college students annoy the dean by throwing a massive rager). Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

Ah, ah, ah, ah - I saved my dads life with a little help from the office and the bee gees When my father collapsed suddenly, an episode of the US comedy in which Steve Carell does CPR to the tune of Stayin Alive sprung miraculously to mindIt was a boiling hot day last summer, four days after my dads 73rd birthday. Mum was plating up dinner and Dad was on the sofa complaining about how stifling it was. I was meant to head to work, for my job as a personal trainer, but decided to take the evening off. It was just as well: as I turned back to Mum, Dad collapsed backwards and suffered a massive cardiac arrest.Mum was hysterical. She called the ambulance as I tried to stay calm but inside I felt mad with fear as she relayed what the 999 handler was saying. Check if hes breathing, she told me. I put my hand on his chest but felt nothing. Move him to the floor. I laid him on the wood flooring. Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

Meera Sodhas recipe for chopped broad bean trofie with mint and lemon | Meera Sodha recipes Zingy lemon and mint elevate tender young beans in this fresh and simple spring supper What are your simple pleasures in the kitchen? The sizzle and spit of a fried egg? The smell of buttered toast, or putting on an apron to mark the end of a day? I like podding beans. I enjoy how it involves hands but not much brain, and how it makes time feel slow and good, like drinking a cup of tea. I also like that it reminds me of my Gujarati aunties doing the same (but with valor beans). And I love not always cooking so much, as in this recipe, where you pod and chop the beans, then mix them with pasta to reveal a simple good meal. Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

From The Sheep Detectives to Rivals: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson star in a farmyard mystery, while the spirited bonkbuster returns for a smutty second outingThe Sheep DetectivesOut now Few can claim a writing career as varied as Craig Mazin, creator of TVs Chernobyl, co-writer of several Scary Movie and The Hangover films, and co-creator of The Last of Us. Here, he turns his hand to a comedy-mystery about sheep, starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson. Adapted from a novel by Leonie Swann. Continue reading...

theguardian · 12 days ago

Punching the light: Sydneys 90s raves – in pictures At the age of 17, Simon Burstall documented the burgeoning underground rave scene of 1990s Sydney. Armed with borrowed school cameras and stealing away from home in the early hours of the morning in the family car, Simon found community and a career that would change him forever. 93: Punching the Light was published by Damiani in 2019. Continue reading...

theguardian · 13 days ago