In what has been the coldest week I can remember in the UK, my priorities haven't been to seek out new foods to try, but more around making sure we have enough oil and wood to keep the house warm! I'll share a couple of related images below.

In other news, Revue (the Twitter-owned platform which hosts this newsletter) is being shut down and so I'll be looking for a new home for my ramblings. I'm pretty new to all this so hopefully it'll be a seamless transition for you all, but do reach out if you suddenly realise you haven't heard from me in a while.

Film

During our trip to London a few weeks ago, we went to see Frozen the Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

No, I wasn't dragged.

Yes, I picked it out.

I must admit when we arrived at the theatre only to find a large proportion of the audience was made up of girls in princess dresses, I started to worry we'd made a mistake. I needn't have. The show is fantastic, with a clever blend of hitting the important beats of the original film, but adding some twists with a new song or two.

I wasn't sure how they translate an animated film onto the stage, but Sven (the puppy-like reindeer) and Olaf (the talking snowman) both work brilliantly. The show is visually thrilling with the stage freezing up as a result of Elsa's spell casting, whilst fog and snow billows towards the audience during a blizzard.

The highlight for me is the rendition and adaptation of Frozen's most famous song Let It Go; it's full of drama and makes full use of stage magic to wow the audience into a jaw dropping closing of the first act. You can't help but woop and cheer as the lights go out and the curtains drop. I've just about stopped singing Frozen songs around the house in the last week, but writing this review will maybe prolong it for a little longer.

Rating: 9/10

I gave a pretty damning review of The Mole back in Issue 12 and as if by magic there's now a UK version of the show currently airing on the BBC, hosted by our very own Claudia Winkleman. The Traitors is a reality show in which a group of strangers are essentially playing an elaborate game of Mafia/Werewolf, where three of the contestants are traitors, secretly 'killing' one of the 22-strong cohort each night. The group have to try to identify who these traitors are and through a group vote, get the opportunity to banish someone every evening.

At the time of writing this we're about half way through the series with a good chunk of the 'faithful' contestants having either been murdered or banished each other out. There have of course been a few more twists, all designed to put the group in a heightened state of perpetual anxiety and therefore leading to maximum drama. It's all a bit ridiculous and the majority seem to have forgotten they're playing a game, getting overly offended and upset when they're inevitably accused. There have been panic attacks, screaming and plenty of tears. It makes for excellent TV and with my mental health cap on, I'm sure they'll all be completely fine once they leave such a high pressure environment.

If you're wondering why I hated The Mole but love The Traitors, it could be that I'm enjoying the virtual group-watch aspect with friends, but I think it's more that they aren't identical. The Traitors is far more in keeping with the original Mafia party game and unlike any typical American reality show, the majority of each episode has new content, compared to the numerous replays you get of every dramatic moment, followed by the person then reacting to that moment in an interview. Can you tell I'm still annoyed by The Mole?!

This show won't be for everyone but personally having played a lot of Mafia over the years, I'm hooked. Countless hours spent either trying to figure out which of my friends was lying, or attempting to keep my cool under the pressure of accusing eyes. Some people hate it, but it's my jam.

Rating: 8/10

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Thanks for reading and have a great week.

Adam