Florrie Elizabeth.

Admittedly, I have never considered myself a fantasy type of person. Except for my slight obsession with Harry Potter, little of the literature I read, the films I watch and the TV series I follow falls under the fantasy genre.   Until recently, that is.   One month ago, I finally got round to watching 'The Lord of the Rings'. It took fifteen years after the first movie came out for me even to consider watching it. It's long. It's got elves in it. Why would I want to watch it?  Now, I know that there are many reasons why I would want to watch it. Full to the brim with action, the scenery is breathtaking, the antagonists are perfectly abhorrent and Orlando Bloom makes one lovable elf. Frankly, it's got everything I could wish for in a movie- with the addition of Gollum and a couple-thousand Orcs. I liked the first movie so much that, within the week, I'd watched all 10 hours of the trilogy. 'Two Towers' is now in my top 10 all-time favourite films. ...

If you're one of the literary buffs who has heard of Christopher Marlowe's 'Dr. Faustus', you'd probably be surprised to hear of a theatre production of the play involving full-frontal nudity, rape and a whole lot of bodily fluid. Recently, I watched The Jamie Lloyd Theatre Company's adaptation of the play and, yes, that is exactly what it entailed.  'Dr. Faustus' follows the aspirations of academic Dr. John Faustus, who, in exchange for 24 years of power, wealth and honour, agrees to sign his soul away to the Devil. Lloyd's modern rewrite of the play intelligently mixed old with new; instead of presenting heavy criticism of the Catholic Church, the play focuses on the dark side of celebrity. The titular role of Faustus was performed by none other than Kit Harington (aka Jon Snow of 'Game of Thrones'), who, you'll be pleased to know, was very much alive at the Duke of York's Theatre, London. For those who know the plot of ...