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Puppeteers behind a Dracula show too disturbing for young children
Norwegian theatre director Yngvild Aspeli is bringing her French-Norwegian company Plexus Polaire’s puppet production Dracula: Lucy’s Dream to the Edinburgh fringe this summer, in a deeply unsettling staging she insists is unsuitable for young children. The show reflects the growing recognition of puppetry as a serious art form for adult audiences, blending lifesized, waxen puppets…
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Convictions must not be shortened for sexual abuse victims
Grooming gang survivors have written to MPs urging them to exclude sexual offenders from any early prison release, ahead of a parliamentary debate on the Sentencing Act 2026. The proposed legislation would cut the time some prisoners serve in order to ease overcrowding, but survivors argue such measures leave them fearful that those who harmed…
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The March of the Sunflowers wins backing from Autour de Minuit and Spamflix
France’s Autour de Minuit, the studio behind the Oscar-winning short “Logorama,” and Portugal’s Spamflix have joined Brazilian director Erick Ricco’s stop-motion feature “The March of the Sunflowers” as co-production partners. The film, presented as one of the standout animation projects at this week’s Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM), is notable as the first stop-motion feature ever…
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Webb telescope marks four years with sharpest view of Centaurus A
NASA has marked the fourth anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope by releasing the most detailed images ever taken of Centaurus A, an active galaxy roughly 11 million light-years from Earth. The agency said the images reflect four years of “better-than-anticipated performance and successful science operations” for what it calls the most powerful space…
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Belleza filmed in Bogotá as Colombia doubles for Mexico City
New production company Miércoles Entertainment, co-founded by former Pantelion and Pantaya executive Paul Presburger, has shot its debut feature, “Belleza,” in Bogotá, Colombia, standing in for its Mexican setting of Mexico City. Drawn by Colombia’s film incentives, the production wrapped on budget and on schedule, marking a smooth launch for the fledgling company’s slate and…
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Marshall refreshes Acton and Stanmore speakers with better bass and repairable parts
Marshall has announced the Acton IV and Stanmore IV, updated versions of its Bluetooth speakers that replace models launched four years ago. The refresh matters because it pairs improved audio hardware with a new emphasis on repairability, allowing owners to swap out several damaged parts rather than replacing the whole unit. Both speakers gain upgraded…
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Casting Jimi Hendrix: the plaster artist who reframed groupie culture
Rolling Stone has published an in-depth account of Cynthia Albritton, better known as Cynthia Plaster Caster, a Chicago groupie who made plaster casts of rock musicians’ erect penises from the late 1960s onwards. The article’s centrepiece is her most famous session: casting Jimi Hendrix at Chicago’s Conrad Hilton Hotel on 25 February 1968. The piece…
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England win over Mexico watched by peak 9.1 million overnight
A peak audience of 9.1 million people watched England’s dramatic World Cup win over Mexico on BBC TV and BBC iPlayer on Monday, despite the match kicking off at 02:00 BST. The overnight broadcast drew an average audience of 7.8 million, making it the biggest UK television audience ever recorded for a live broadcast between…
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Air Force sergeant stationed in England spared jail over child abuse images
A serving US Air Force staff sergeant stationed in England has avoided prison after admitting to possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornography. Jarik Lofthus, 33, who was based at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, had posted online that he was “interested in everything, all ages including babies”, and was found to hold images of…
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Bus crashes into Notting Hill house leaving elderly residents homeless
A single-decker electric London bus crashed into the front of an Edwardian house at 73 St Quintin Avenue in Notting Hill last Thursday evening, sending debris flying and destroying the living room of a ground-floor flat. The elderly couple who live there — a 75-year-old woman and her 82-year-old husband — have been left homeless…