Ellen Cheshire

There is something special about encountering cinema history in person. From early experiments with photography and motion studies, to the development of projection technology, national cinemas and the stories behind the screen, film museums and permanent exhibitions offer a chance to experience cinema history beyond the films themselves. Over the years I have visited a number of fascinating collections, from local exhibitions celebrating cinema pioneers to internationally re

Here’s the 27th batch of #52FilmsByWomen watched since taking the pledge in 2016. This set of 52 films (1354-1405), watched between May and September 2026, continues my in interest in women’s filmmaking across decades, genres, and formats. It includes 18 feature films, 2 event cinema screenings, 30 shorts and 2 television entries. Many of the features and shorts watched for the 11th Femme Filmmakers Festival for which I had the honour of being a judge. You can read more abou

Looking back over the past few years, I have set myself annual challenges that combine theatre and film in ways that push me to see work I might not ordinarily seek out. In 2024 I undertook a project revisiting all the productions I had seen at the theatre and cinema in 1984. In 2025 I focused on filling in gaps in my Sondheim knowledge, watching musicals live and exploring his top forty films. Both years encouraged me to view familiar works differently, take risks and draw c

Over the years, I’ve occasionally ventured into the world of theatre reviews, but a covert assignment with The Spy in the Stalls reignited my passion for this undercover craft. Since then, I’ve been regularly donning my disguise and stepping into the shadows, where every review is a stealth mission—uncovering the brilliance (or the flaws) hidden within each performance. This page serves as my secret dossier: a direct link to the operations I’ve carried out in the name of thea

Alongside my freelance writing about theatre, film and literature, my role as Fundraising and Development Manager at Chichester Cathedral gives me the chance to tell stories that are just as rich in history and creativity. Whether it’s celebrating the music that fills the Cathedral’s spaces or sharing the craft and care behind preserving its heritage, my work is about connecting people to the heart of this extraordinary place - and showing why we need support to keep its musi

August's A Year in Gothic live theatrical performance around which the month's films and fiction spun was Death Note The Musical at the Barbican Centre, bringing the Gothic into the realm of moral certainty, surveillance and absolute power. At its centre is Light, a student who discovers a supernatural notebook capable of killing anyone whose name is written within it. What begins as an attempt to create a better world rapidly becomes an exercise in control, as the power to d

I was delighted to be invited to join the jury for the 11th Femme Filmmakers Festival, watching and discussing the 17 short films in this year’s Competition Selection. The festival, hosted online by Filmotomy, ran from 14 to 23 August, bringing together short films from filmmakers around the world and spanning animation, documentary, drama, comedy, thriller and experimental work - alongside a feature film programme, and further short films. Being a juror is rather different f

July's A Year in Gothic live theatrical performance around which the month's films and fiction spun was -320°F, Hideki Noda's strange and unsettling exploration of humanity's desire to overcome mortality. At Sadler's Wells, a biotechnology expedition into a mythical relic becomes a journey through genetic memory, ancient history and scientific ambition, where bodies, identities and timelines begin to blur. The play draws together the Gothic's longstanding fascination with for

Nestled innocently within my main bucket list are four entries that could each stand as their own separate quests. Since they all share a similar goal - exploring the UK and Ireland through their cinematic venues - I’ve combined them here for convenience. These are: visiting the other six cinemas in the small chain that my local Bognor Picturedrome belongs to; ticking off all independent cinemas in Sussex; seeing films or concerts at venues with cinema organs (from the Cinem

I first drew this up in January 2022, as the world was emerging from the long shadow of lockdowns. I realised how easy it is to take experiences for granted, and I didn’t want to keep putting things off “for another time.” So, I began a bucket list - part wish list, part reminder - and since then I’ve been adding to it and crossing things off as I go. It’s a mix of theatre, film, concerts, museums, places and the occasional wild card. Some items are big dreams, others are mor

When I decided to spend June (and a bit of July) exploring the films of Gene Tierney, I knew I was revisiting one of Hollywood’s most fascinating screen presences. Tierney’s career is often defined by a handful of iconic roles: the haunting mystery of Laura, the obsessive darkness of Leave Her to Heaven, the romantic melancholy of The Ghost and Mrs Muir. But between those celebrated performances lies a much wider and more varied career: Westerns, wartime adventures, romantic

Two theatre visits have been ticked off my bucket list over the past few weeks, and they sit neatly alongside each other, even if they come from very different theatrical worlds: Grace Pervades by David Hare at the Theatre Royal Haymarket (27 June 2026), and Grayson, a new musical about Grayson Perry, seen in a work-in-progress presentation at Soho Theatre Walthamstow (18 July 2026). The coincidence is almost comically neat: both share the initials GP, but they also form an u

June's A Year in Gothic live theatrical performance around which the the month's films and fiction spun, was Beetlejuice: The Musical which reframes death not as solemn inevitability but as meta-theatrical spectacle shaped by grief, family and disruption. At the Prince Edward Theatre, Beetlejuice establishes its tone immediately through its opening number “Being Dead”, which playfully undercuts mortality itself. Everyone dies, it suggests, regardless of effort, discipline or

Very excited to share that my essay, Beyond the Blonde, has been published in Encounters with Marilyn Monroe: Celebrating 100 Years. A hundred years after her birth, Marilyn Monroe remains an obsession: endlessly reproduced, discussed, mythologised, rediscovered and reinterpreted. Few screen stars have lingered in the cultural imagination quite like Marilyn, who continues to exist simultaneously as Hollywood legend, fashion icon, tragic figure, comic genius and symbol of mode

If April explored the vampire as a figure of psychological instability and shifting identity, May returned to Dracula in a more recognisable form. Yet even within adaptations that remained closer to Bram Stoker's novel, the Gothic continued to reveal its capacity for reinvention. Across ballet, film and fiction, I found myself less interested in Dracula himself than in the different ways artists chose to reshape his world and those who inhabit it. May's central production was

Seeing Northern Ballet's production of Gentleman Jack at Sadler's Wells Theatre and visiting Queer Britain, the National LGBTQ+ Museum both went onto the bucket list the moment I heard about them. With the ballet only having a limited run at Sadler’s Wells, I took a day off work and nipped up to London for the Thursday matinee. The two felt like an obvious pairing: matinee in Angel, then a bus down to King’s Cross afterwards. Thematically and geographically connected. The onl

Rewatched The Truman Show (1998, Peter Weir) after hearing the Blank Check boys talking about it. A film I already know and love, but always worth revisiting. Watched it over a couple of mornings. Then, in a slightly accidental double-bill situation, on the eve of the first day I went to Chichester Cinema at New Park for a screening of The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974, Werner Herzog), which I went into knowing basically nothing about. Immediately struck by how similar they a

Oh, Vienna The music is weaving Haunting notes, pizzicato strings, the rhythm is calling This means [far from] nothing to me Without a fixed itinerary between the two Eurovision shows (read more here on why I was in Vienna) I decided simply to wander. Occasionally, when my feet objected, I jumped on a tram, which glide through the city with a calm efficiency that somehow feels entirely in keeping with the architecture around them. And what architecture. For a bit of fun I hav

On the bucket list: attending the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 live. I didn't make it to the Grand Final, but in some ways what I did do turned out to be something even more fascinating: the afternoon dress rehearsals for the first and second semi-finals in Vienna in May 2026. Enough of the atmosphere and spectacle to feel part of the event, but also enough distance to see how the whole extraordinary machine actually works. Opening video package from the first Semi Final And

World Premiere of David Haig's new play, Magic, at Chichester Festival Theatre, Directed by Lucy Bailey. David Haig as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Hadley Fraser as Houdini David Haig’s Magic brings together two towering figures of early 20th-century imagination and belief, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, in a story shaped by illusion, grief and competing ideals. Set in a world still enthralled by spiritualism and spectacle, the play traces their unlikely friendship a