May 29, 2024 - 7:00pm

→ Eddie Izzard’s ‘Hamlet’ widely panned

Well, it appears as though Eddie Izzard’s foray into Shakespeare has not turned out quite as planned. “An act of colossal vanity and hubris,” reads one headline. “Virtuosic but dull,” reads another. “A one-woman juggling act exposes the limits of Eddie Izzard’s acting ability,” says the third.

It was always going to be an uphill battle. Performing one Shakespeare role, let alone 23, is difficult enough. After the show was extended three times in New York, there was some optimism about Izzard’s one-woman performance. But it was not to be, with even The Guardian criticising the performance as having “little compelling movement or emotional purchase.” “Never mind the murder at the heart of Hamlet,” writes the Guardian reviewer. “This production feels like its own massacre”. Ouch…

→ The pensioners are not amused

One might have thought that the last few days have been pretty good for Britain’s OAPs. First came the news that Rishi Sunak intended to conscript the young for military national service. Good riddance! Then came the announcement that the Tories would grant tax cuts for millions of pensioners — a big electoral play for the grey vote.

But unfortunately for Sunak and co., the UK’s golden oldies remain unimpressed. A new poll has found that over half (54%) believe that the Tories’ pension proposals do not go far enough versus just 4% who think they go too far. There’s just no pleasing some people.

→ Germany’s AfD experiments with anime

Germany’s AfD party has considerable buy-in from young men — including, apparently, anime fans.

A Tuesday tweet from the Right-wing party called for public pools to be made safe again, alongside an anime video of giggling bikini-clad women soaking up the sun. The playful ad, some observers noted, was perhaps incongruous with the implicit message in favour of removing foreigners.

The Right has long had a penchant for anime, with the medium becoming a symbol of the post-religious Right and stoking intra-conservative feuds about culture and morality. One could easily imagine the Trump campaign leaning into this aesthetic too — his followers certainly have. We’re left with one question: will the AfD make anime real