Image: Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bleumel – Born With Teeth – photo by Johan Persson
One of the best theatrical productions this year, The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Born With Teeth directed by Daniel Evans imagines a meeting between William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, two great playwrights of their time.
In this two-hander, Ncuti Gatwa as Christopher Marlowe (Kit) and Edward Bluemel as William Shakespeare (Will) give mesmerising performances in a play where author Liz Duffy Adams explores one of literature’s most persistent questions: What if Shakespeare didn’t work alone? The actors are on stage for virtually the entire 90 minutes which, with witty and sometimes comical dialogue, imagines the discourse between the two men.
In the world of late-Tudor England, Queen Elizabeth 1’s England was fighting for survival. The country protected itself from enemies abroad with ferocious treason laws and surveillance techniques. The writers are seen in the back room of a pub collaborating on the three Henry VI plays penned early in Shakespeare’s life. The drama confirms the contentious issue of Marlowe’s literary importance to Shakespeare and vice-versa. Their co-writing refutes many theories as well as highlighting two contrasting temperaments brought into one another’s orbits amidst a larger climate of political, social and even sexual cunning.
More info:
Only on for a very short run, the play finishes on Saturday, 1 November 2025.
Performance times: Monday – Sat 7.30pm, Wed & Sat 2.30pm
Audio described performance: Saturday 20 September 2.30pm Captioned performance: Saturday 4 October 2.30pm
Wyndham’s Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London WC2H ODA.
Book online: www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk Tickets from £25
2,000 tickets available at £10 for 16-25 year olds, sponsored by TikTok
I had never been to Dumfries, but I hear good things about the 1610 Restaurant, so that seems like a good excuse to visit. The town sits on the River Nith in Scotland’s southwest, just over the border from England. It was here that Robert the Bruce killed his rival and also that Robert Burns, the national poet, spent his final years, weaving Dumfries into Scotland’s cultural fabric forever.
Globe Inn
River Nith
Dumfries
But Burns is more than museum pieces here; he lingers in the air. The Globe Inn, one of his favourite haunts, still serves pints to thirsty visitors. In the Burns Rooms, see the poet’s chair plus other artefacts, and you can almost hear his laughter. Now, the stables have been transformed into the 1610 restaurant, named after the date the pub was founded. It’s one of only six in Scotland to be listed in the Michelin Guide.
Wooden tables line both sides of this narrow, intimate space, complete with dark timbered panelling. Stained glass murals, depicting the story of Tam O’Shanter, run along one wall. At one end, by the entrance, is the bar offering one of the UK’s largest single cask single malt collections.
Globe Inn
1610 Restaurant
1610 Restaurant
The menu is a celebration of Scottish produce, reimagined with modern, creative flair and vibrant presentation. The head chef, Fraser Cameron, brings Michelin-inspired techniques to the table, fusing traditional roots with innovative dishes. You can choose from the à la carte menu or go for an eight-course Degustation with matching wine pairing. Of course, that’s what we chose.
Tasting Menu
CANAPES – I love the Fish and chip canape with cod roe.
Canapes
BREAD – curry, parmesan and apricot. Two thick slices of extremely delicious warm bread, and well-presented butter. Delicious as it is, I make sure I don’t eat too much.
Amuse Bouche
1st Course AMOUSE BOUCHE – Green pea gazpacho with loads of mint, feta cheese and barley. This is wonderfully minty and the crunchy barley at the bottom of the bowl gives extra texture.
Sea Bass
2nd Course SEA BASS mi-cuit w hollandaise. A symphony of colour with thin discs of different beets, green beet leaves, dark cucumber chutney, and yellow hollandaise.
Pork en Croute
3rd Course PORK EN CROUTE. A slice of belly pork in moist pastry and a cylinder of celeriac mash topped with prune and pickled walnut. It’s hard to beat a good pork pie and this is one of the best.
Cod Roulade
4th Course COD ROULADE. The fish is wrapped in a carrot shaving, there’s parsnip and carrot puree, plus a single carrot with honey and mustard sauce, topped with lovage. A nice surprise is the horseradish tartlet, giving an extra buzz,
Galloway Beef
5th Course GALLOWAY BEEF. Square of meat is nicely rare in a rich jus with a slice of parmesan hash browns. Another tartlet here, this time artichoke and mushroom, a very tasty bite.
Yuzu
6th Course YUZU. A fresh citrusy palate cleanser on a bed of almond granola with blood orange does the job perfectly.
Mille Feuille
7th Course MILLE FEUILLE. Exquisite layers of pineapple and coconut with banana and rum ice cream on the side. Brilliant.
Cheese
8TH Course CHEESE. Imagine a cheese clock with 9 different cheese where the numbers should be. A great choice, served at exactly the right temperature and comes with a crib sheet detailing the different cheeses. I leave the accompaniments of apple slices, grapes, dehydrated pear, biscuits and honey almost untouched
Petits Fours
PETITS FOUR. Three, all delightful.
As you can see from the pictures, the presentation is excellent and the service was attentive and efficient. What I like about the food is the distinctive combinations of flavour in each dish, with excellent use of local and seasonal products. Every course has that element of surprise due to the inventive use of vegetable garnishes, both fresh and preserved.
Verdict: In my opinion, it’s well worth a special trip to border country.
Sometimes our nature and landscape photos fall shot of the beauty we witnessed through the viewfinder, either because our camera settings were incorrect or we used the wrong approach during post processing. The video below from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel addresses the latter concern with a straightforward color-grading technique that anyone can master in minutes.
Instructor Christian Mohrle is an outstanding landscape photographer and popular educator based in Southern Germany near beautiful Lake Constance. Here’s how he describes today’s comprehensive episode: “This is my four-step Lightroom color grading workflow for making realistic photos that really pop!”
First on the list are a bunch of basic adjustments to the image as a whole that significantly improve exposure and white balance. He begins in Lightroom’s Basic panel and changes the profile to Adobe Landscape which immediately boosts base saturation to reflect his goal of a more colorful result.
The next step involves modifying exposure to achieve a much more accurate balance between highlights and shadows. The necessary changes include increasing overall exposure, opening the shadows, and adjusting the blacks. He also brings down highlights and whites to retain details in the brightest areas of the clouds.
Now it’s time to improve white balance, which Mohrle says is an essential components when editing images like his example. His goal here is to push color temperature in a way that significantly warms up the strong blue tones to convey the sunrise appearance he desires. A simple shift in tint also makes a noticeable difference.
With his original shot greatly improved, Mohrle turns his attention to targeting selective colors in different areas within the frame using masking techniques that are super easy to follow. Then come a few important HSL adjustments that blend these enhancements together.
The remarkable transformation concludes by introducing a very compelling split-toning effect. The instructional PHLOG Photography YouTube channel is a great resource for everyone who shoots in the field, so be sure to take a look.
We also recommend watching last week’s tutorial from another post-processing specialist who demonstrates a straightforward Lightroom technique for transforming ho-hum daytime scenes into breathtaking sunset photographs.
