At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: Capitalism

• Aesthetics Ancient History Beauty Capitalism Colonialism Consumption Desire Economics Exploitation Guilds History Luxury Marx Rome Thorstein Veblen Venice Walter Benjamin

  

  The Stuff of Dreams and Exploitation: From Lapis Lazuli to Louis Vuitton

  In which we trace the history of luxury.

  April 21, 2026
• Aesthetics Capitalism Commodity Consumption Critical Theory Economics Frankfurt School Luxury Walter Benjamin

  

  The Stuff of Dreams and Exploitation: Walter Benjamin at the Border

  In which we set out a potted portrait of Walter Benjamin and his ideas.

  April 19, 2026
• Aesthetics art Beauty Capitalism Culture Marx Philosophy Uncategorized Walter Benjamin

  

  What is art? … according to me and my new mate Claude

  17th April 2026 Preamble It’s been a few years since I took this blog seriously. It started as a way of recording and illuminating my own cultural life. Following quasi retirement and concomitant dormancy. It branched out a bit. But it all got a bit much to maintain. And Covid…

  April 17, 2026
• Agency art Capitalism Class Community Culture Exhibition Friendship Language London Masculinity Photography Place Power Privilege Race Religion Theatre Wales

  Catching up (Part 6)

  June 2021 Oleanna – Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath – 28th June – ***** Finally an opportunity to scratch that travel itch. The SO was forced to drive the Tourist around some of the loveliest parts of Northern England in early June, but the attractions were almost entirely architectural and…

  November 28, 2021
• Acting art Capitalism Classical Music Classics Comedy Concert Contemporary Classical Culture Electronics England Exhibition Feminism Fiction Film Fringe Gender Generations Identity Love Memory Monarchy Monologue Novel Opera Pantomime Photography Politics Poverty Power Race Satire Sexuality Shakespeare Space Theatre Truth War

  Catching up (Part 3)

  April 2020 to December 2020 In which the Tourist condenses down 2020, in and out of lockdown, mostly watching stuff on a screen. Don’t worry he also took walks, saw punters when permitted and growled at the state of his disappointing nation, but it is only now he is back…

  November 5, 2021
• Capitalism Communism Culture Ideology London Politics Soviet Union Sport Theatre USA

  Ravens at the Hampstead Theatre review ***

  Ravens: Spassky vs Fischer Hampstead Theatre, 18th December 2019 I can see why Tom Morton-Smith would have alighted on the infamous chess match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer in 1972 in Reykjavik. There are a ton of tomes on the subject and, after all, if it was good enough…

  February 3, 2020
• Capitalism Culture London Property Theatre

  Valued Friends at the Rose Theatre Kingston ***

  Valued Friends Rose Theatre Kingston, 8th October 2019 I am all for revivals of modern plays that have something to say to us right now. Assuming the play was good enough in the first place. And that the director and creative team have a clear idea of how they craft…

  November 17, 2019
• Capitalism Community Culture Environment Morality Norway Nottingham Politics Theatre

  An Enemy of the People at the Nottingham Playhouse review ****

  An Enemy of the People Nottingham Playhouse, 28th September 2019 Another day, another Ibsen update. After Tanika Gupta’s intelligent relocation of A Doll’s House to colonial India and Cordelia Lynn’s not quite so successful ageing of Hedda Gabler, the Tourist’s next stop was Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s transformation of Henrik’s prototype eco-warrior…

  November 4, 2019
• Capitalism China Culture Epidemic Exploitation History London Medicine Morality Science Theatre

  The King of Hell’s Palace at the Hampstead Theatre review ***

  The King of Hell’s Palace Hampstead Theatre, 17th September 2019 This was an interesting choice as the first production in Roxana Silbert’s inaugural season at the Hampstead Theatre. A play based on a true story about corruption scandal in China. From a US playwright, (who spent part of her childhood…

  October 27, 2019
• Acting Capitalism Culture Finance London Satire Theatre

  Serious Money at LAMDA review review ****

  Serious Money Sainsbury Theatre, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, 4th June 2019 Last minute jaunt to Hammersmith to see one of LAMDA’s summer season offerings. If there are times when you start fulminating about paying close to a ton for a cramped perch in a dingy West End…

  June 26, 2019