At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: Culture

• Business Community Culture Economics Family London Theatre

  Approaching Empty at the Kiln Theatre review ***

  Approaching Empty Kiln Theatre, 16th January 2019 An overly optimistic faith, despite a welter of evidence to the contrary, in the combined efforts of South Western Railway and Network Rail’s ability to convey passengers to the stated destination on time meant that the Tourist pitched up late for this showing.…

  January 25, 2019
• Baroque Classical Music Concert Concerto Culture London Oxford Romanticism Symphony

  Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra at the Barbican review ****

  Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Marios Papadopoulos (conductor), Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Maxim Vengerov (violin), Martha Argerich (piano) Barbican Hall, 12th January 2019 JS Bach – Concerto for Two Violins in D minor BWV 1043, Robert Schumann – Piano Concerto in A minor Op 54 Beethoven – Symphony No 3 in E flat…

  January 24, 2019
• Culture London Russia Theatre

  Uncle Vanya at the Hampstead Theatre review ****

  Uncle Vanya Hampstead Theatre, 12th January 2019 Should you be tempted to follow the Tourist into a life of excess …. theatre-going … then I have a warning. These luvvies do put on a lot of Shakespeare. No surprise there I guess. But they also really, really love their Chekhov.…

  January 23, 2019
• Classical Music Contemporary Classical Culture Denmark Finland London Symphony

  The LSO and Barbara Hannigan at the Barbican review ****

  London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle, Barbara Hannigan (soprano) Barbican Hall, 10th January 2019 Sibelius – Symphony No 7 in C major, Op 105 Hans Abrahamsen – let me tell you Nielsen – Symphony No 4 “Inextinguishable”, Op 29 I am pretty sure that Simon Rattle’s Sibelius cycle with the…

  January 22, 2019
• Culture Family Film London Theatre USA

  True West at the Vaudeville Theatre review ****

  True West Vaudeville Theatre, 10th January 2019 The Tourist’s first viewing of a Sam Shepherd play. A couple of near misses, but this, with Matthew Dunster directing and Johnny Flynn as one of the two brothers was not to be missed. I was less sure about the acting merits of…

  January 20, 2019
• Culture History London Medieval Monarchy Politics Shakespeare Theatre

  The Tragedy of King Richard the Second at the Almeida Theatre review ****

  The Tragedy of King Richard the Second Almeida Theatre, 9th January 2019 Vain, frivolous, self pitying, introverted. Richard II doesn’t come across too well at the beginning of this play, Shakespeare’s first instalment of his histories that chart the origins of the “War of the Roses” and end with the…

  January 19, 2019
• Comedy Culture History London Love Restoration Theatre

  The Double Dealer at the Orange Tree review ****

  The Double Dealer Orange Tree Theatre, 7th January 2019 Now everyone know’s that Restoration comedy is a tricky customer. What with the humour built on misogyny, that’s if it is funny at all. The satire of a social class few of us recognise. Texts are so thick, built on repartee,…

  January 17, 2019
• Baroque Culture Film Georgian History Love Monarchy Politics Sexuality

  The Favourite film review *****

  The Favourite, 3rd January 2019 The more theatre I see, the more I am turning into an insufferably superior luvvie. “A play will always trump a film because it is organic, dynamic, viewed from multiple perspectives, energised by audience complicity, palpable, alive, more daring in terms of form and structure”…

  January 15, 2019
• Baroque Classical Music Concert Contemporary Classical Culture London Opera

  My top ten concerts and opera of 2018

  Just a list so I don’t forget. 1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – English National Opera – 4th March Not quite a war-horse of a production but Robert Carsen’s version of Britten’s Shakespearean opera looks, sounds and, well, is just wonderful. 2. Ligeti in Wonderland – South Bank – 11th,…

  January 15, 2019
• Comedy Culture Fiction Literature London Novel Spain Theatre

  Don Quixote at the Garrick Theatre review ****

  Don Quixote Garrick Theatre, 2nd January 2019 Finally the Tourist gets to see this. Took a chance that it would, after the mostly strong reviews, eventually find a home in London, and waited for the run to settle in to secure a fairly priced ticket. If you are of a…

  January 14, 2019