|
|
|
|
|
TRAINSPOTTING VENUE REVEALED
It's been almost twenty years since Trainspotting was released - and if that doesn't make you baulk at the age you first viewed a copy (ten; it was our brother's fault) you had some particularly attentive parents. Following obscenely successful runs at both Edinburgh Fringe and in London, a dark and immersive iteration of the Irvine Welsh classic is coming to a stage - or more specifically - a warehouse - near you. And while the location has been a secret until this very moment, we can exclusively divulge that the production will be performed under Digbeth's railway arches, in a little accessed unit of appropriate mystique, next to Spotlight. Showing as part of the launch of a Lower Trinity Street facelift which we hear will be of Kardashian proportions (think Bourbon Street style bar, drive-in cinema and a lounge with an ardent focus on gin), the production has even been described as 'shocking' by Welsh himself. Suffice to say drugs, strobes, nudity and that toilet all feature in a more than incidental manner. From March 23 to April 2, get tickets for this collaboration with mac Birmingham for £15. Trailer.
|
|
|
Venue: Pho, Grand Central, Stephenson Place, Birmingham, B2 4XJ; website
Choice: Spicy Green Pho (£9.50) Chooser: Manager
You're nearly a fortnight into that unfamiliar world of packed lunches and parsimony. And there's only so long you can hold out. So this week, we've got a first step back into the world of eating out - which is beyond repute - both in quantity of veg and ability to be purchased for under a tenner. Until the end of February, Pho is offering two new bowls of brothy noodly goodness, consumption of which is equivalent to at least a year of vitamin supplements (it's not) and tastes infinitesimally better. Plump for the spicy green pho, which comes with oodles of pak choi, morning glory and green beans, as well as chicken breast and the usual herby Pho accompaniments. Also utterly satisfying with mushrooms of the shitake and enoki variety (or with beef), ask for extra napkins - first date territory, this is not.
|
|
|
|
|
HAGGIS MEETS SAXOPHONE. FALLS IN LOVE.
Burns Night is on January 25, which is a Monday. As everyone knows, it's obscene to go out on the first day of the week in January. It is however entirely acceptable to do so on a Sunday - and to drink whisky - which is pretty fortunate given that The Church's haggis-based banquet takes place on the eve of Burns Night itself (January 24). Get your haggis, neaps and tatties, finished off by way of a mustard whisky sauce for the main event. There'll be cranachan for afters, a traditional Scottish dessert which includes raspberries, whipped cream, and, yes, whisky. The piping of the haggis will be conducted by saxophone, because no-one likes bag pipes. Tickets, at £25, include three courses, plus a Macallan Gold, and are available behind the bar, or book right here and take the booking fee on the chin. Veggie options. More.
|
|
|
|
|
MOVIE OF THE WEEK:
THE REVENANT
The Revenant may do everything it can to attract awards bar waggling its touche in front of Oscar voters, which has provoked some kneejerk scorn in its stateside reviews - but this is muscular, visceral filmmaking that’s a million miles away from more staid trophy bait. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a fur hunter in the nineteenth century American wilderness who’s left for dead after being mauled by a bear, and subsequently mounts an epic quest for revenge. Repeated sequences of Leo looking authentically freezing can get a little repetitive, but there are scenes of such brutality you won’t forget them in a hurry, and the photography by Mexican maestro Emmanuel Lubezki is among the best ever seen in a cinema. The filmmaking may be better than the film, but what filmmaking this is. Times and trailer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
