Category: Colonialism
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The Stuff of Dreams and Exploitation: From Lapis Lazuli to Louis Vuitton
In which we trace the history of luxury.
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The Line and the Circle
Two formal languages run through the whole of British architectural history, and the tension between them is the engine of everything worth discussing.
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The Gift at the Theatre Royal Stratford East review ***
The Gift Theatre Royal Stratford East, 8th February 2020 Another in the lengthening list of contemporary plays where the reach of ambition exceeds the grasp of execution. Janice Okoh has set her sights on “imperialism, cross-racial adoption, cultural appropriation … and tea” with her “outrageous” play set firstly, in Victorian…
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Three Sisters at the National Theatre review ***
Three Sisters National Theatre Lyttleton, 9th December 2019 Opportunity partially missed I am afraid. Inua Ellams has come up with a brilliant idea by transporting Chekhov to 1960s Nigeria, specifically during the Biafaran Civil War. Yet his urge to educate and contextualise leaves the dialogue heavy on exposition. And, in…
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A Doll’s House at the Lyric Hammersmith review *****
A Doll’s House Lyric Hammersmith, 18th September 2019 You can never have too much Nora. After Samuel Adamson’s gender fluid Wife at the Kiln, and this adaptation from Tanika Gupta set in colonial India, the Tourist has the 3 for the price of 1, Glasgow Citizens, radical re-working from Steff…
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The Secret River at the National Theatre review ****
The Secret River National Theatre Olivier, 29th August 2019 This must have been tough. Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Secret River is an epic production, in terms of the story it tells and the way it tells it, involving numerous creatives and a large cast, over 40 people in…
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The Tempest at Greenwich Theatre review ****
The Tempest Greenwich Theatre, 16th February 2019 As my dear old mum would say “sometimes Michael you would forget your head if it wasn’t screwed on”. Not for the first time the Tourist managed to leave the programme for this performance by Lazarus Theatre Company of The Tempest in a…
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Cuzco at Theatre 503 review ***
Cuzco Theatre 503, 13th February 2019 Wednesday afternoon. Quite nice weather as I recall. Near the end of the run. No great surprise that Theatre 503, (above the Latchmere in Battersea), was home to just a few, presumably, lost souls including your intrepid correspondent. Hopefully a few more punters pitched…
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The Madness of George III at the Nottingham Playhouse review *****
The Madness of George III Nottingham Playhouse, 13th November 2018 Flushed with success from his visit to Manchester the Tourist hopped on a train across the Peak District to the proud city of Sheffield, (where I see the Theatres will be staging a Rutherford and Sons next year ahead of…