Thomas Dillon

Law & policy; theatre, film & politics.

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@ReconnectingOx Congestion is a voluntary experience. If you prefer listening to your radio in air-conditioned comfort over battling with public transport, why not? Unless, of course, your moralising instinct is to control and ban.

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

https://t.co/u8wFGDVwyp Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Raison are splendid as Irving and Terry. As usual, David Hare’s play sags after the interval, but we get to hear his thoughts, such as they are, about theatre. Very much worth seeing for the stars, not so much for the play.

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

Ticket available for The Divine Comedy at Aylesbury on 8 July: https://t.co/xpTHnttkJ5

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

Andy Burnham is about to prove the true worth of a Cambridge English degree https://t.co/IKDl2L8nBL

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@thedailymemes_ Poor child is disabled. I’m happy he was happy.

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

https://t.co/4Mxo6E0CR4 Remarkable level of anxiety in Geneva about the risk of violence during the impending G7 meeting across Lake Geneva. Memories of 2003 are strong.

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@lfotweet Outstanding first night for Longborough’s Orlando. Tremendous singing, acting and movement by all the cast. Beth Taylor in title role was titanic. Händel’s great score well delivered by Academy of Ancient Music. A few gimmicks, but what a night! https://t.co/pPqq4Bqxev

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:

“It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.

“There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.

“If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the ‘medicine closet’ and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That’s why you should always have a nutrition choice!

“Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity.”

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@arcolatheatre shows how it should be done - how to engage respectfully with a great work and yet bring it into communion with our times. Outstanding theatre. https://t.co/RBwVsWOUon

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@ArchRose90 I noticed that. Perhaps it is national policy!

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@metpoliceuk @adje__ Please identify a moment when the semiconscious, prone man tried to attack the officers.

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@msjenniferjames @metpoliceuk @adje__ This is so obvious, yet in our terrified world people will turn a blind eye to what was revolting violence. What if he had died from the repeated kicks to the head?

[Rabbi Linda Goldstein (🇵🇸🍉I/P Commentary) @realrabbilinda]

I’m outraged by the excessive use of force used by police in London to detain the Muslim man who stabbed two Jews.

This is the type of violence towards Muslims learned from the IDF and Israeli police.

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@metpoliceuk @realrabbilinda Are they not aware that a man who has been electrocuted cannot release his grip? This was a disgusting display that should result in disciplinary action.

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@metpoliceuk Is repeatedly kicking a prone, tazered man in the head an approved form of restraint?

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@Hamps_Theatre If Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen spins a lot out of a factual little, it is still a stylish, paradoxical and witty caprice on a fascinating theme. It’s well staged; and Damien Molony excels as Heisenberg. https://t.co/ftYmUuxOLz

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@NationalTheatre The NT’s staging is impressive, but one views Gorky’s coruscating play through the distorting mirror of Nina and Moses Raine’s crassly vulgar “version”. Sadly this infects some of the acting. Disappointing. https://t.co/4n4r3K13Tj

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

Tim Crouch’s tiresome Tempest at #SamWanamakerPlayhouse reassigns text for anti-colonial point-scoring. He casts himself as lead - reminded me of Jason Statham, but Statham might have been all right. Good music, the lovers touching. But still a shambles. https://t.co/EUK4qsN55x

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@OrangeTreeThtr Few modern plays are revived - understandably. Nicholas Wright’s deft, humane “Vincent in Brixton” is a happy exception, now at the Orange Tree in Richmond. A uniformly excellent cast, led by the outstanding Niamh Cusack, does it justice. https://t.co/gTzKbouDvy

[Thomas Dillon @ThomaDillon]

@WelshNatTheatre presents Thornton Wilder’s Our Town brilliantly at @Rosetheatre, Kingston. Michael Sheen is (unsurprisingly) outstanding as the master of ceremonies. The movement, timing, lighting are crisp, the play very moving.