At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: Culture

• Classical Music Concert Culture London Religion

  Ligeti, Bartok and Haydn choral works at the Barbican review ****

  London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Francois-Xavier Roth (conductor), Camilla Tilling, Adele Charvet, Julien Behr, Christopher Purves, William Thomas Barbican Hall, 11th November 2018 Gyorgy Ligeti – Lontano Bela Bartok – Cantata profana Haydn – Nelson Mass Three composers I like. Three works I did not know. A slightly earlier start.…

  November 26, 2018
• art Classics Culture Exhibition Italy London Religion Renaissance

  Mantegna and Bellini at the National Gallery review *****

  Mantegna and Bellini National Gallery, 11th November 2018 11th November was turning into a very busy day for the Tourist. Fresh from the heady Edward Burne-Jones phantasmagoria at Tate Britain and a proper Sunday lunch, it was off to the National, now solo, for these Old Masters, before rounding off…

  November 25, 2018
• Architecture art Birmingham Culture Design Exhibition London Renaissance

  Edward Burne-Jones at Tate Britain review ****

  Edward Burne Jones Tate Britain, 11th November 2018 Turns out Burne-Jones isn’t quite as awful as I had previously thought. Don’t get me wrong. All that hippy-dippy, fey, dreamy. dusky-toned, doe-eyed, ginger-permed, long-bodied, nymph-y, mannequin-esque, briar-strewn, Arthurian, industrialisation-denying, fake-Medieval, cod-Renaissance daubing is still guaranteed to do my head in. But…

  November 25, 2018
• Classical Music Concert Contemporary Classical Culture Ireland London Opera Theatre War

  The Silver Tassie at the Barbican review *****

  The Silver Tassie Barbican Hall, 10th November 2018 Mark-Anthony Turnage (composer) Amanda Holden (libretto) Ashley Riches – Harry Sally Matthews – Susie Brindley Sherratt – The Croucher Claire Booth – Mrs Foran Marcus Farnsworth – Teddy Alexander Robin Baker – Barney Louise Alder – Jessie Susan Bickley – Mrs Heegan…

  November 24, 2018
• China Culture History London Politics Theatre War

  Forgotten at the Arcola Theatre review ****

  Forgotten Arcola Theatre, 10th November 2018 I was much taken, if not entirely convinced, by the British East Asian Yellow Earth Theatre company’s version of Tamburlaine at the Arcola 18 months ago. And this co-production, with Moongate, of a new play, Forgotten, by Daniel York Loh, which kicked off at…

  November 24, 2018
• Classics Culture History London Philosophy Politics Religion Renaissance Romanticism Spain Theatre

  Don Carlos at the Rose Kingston review ****

  Don Carlos Rose Theatre Kingston, 9th November 2018 No one could accuse Friedrich Schiller of holding back in Don Carlos. Goethe inspired Sturm und Drang Romanticism, a Kantian paean to the centrality of personal freedom and democracy, the clash of liberty and tyranny, a stab at the sublime, a (loose)…

  November 23, 2018
• Culture Italy Literature London Love Sexuality Shakespeare

  Romeo and Juliet at the Barbican review ***

  Romeo and Juliet Barbican Theatre, 8th November 2018 You can stay right next to Juliet’s balcony in Verona. Le Suite de Giulietta. The Tourist, SO, BD and LD can vouch for the lovely decor, the sizeable rooms and the delicious breakfast. The courtyard is closed at night so it is…

  November 19, 2018
• Culture London Religion Sexuality Theatre

  The Funeral Director at the Southwark Playhouse review ****

  The Funeral Director Southwark Playhouse, 6th November 2018 The Papatango New Writing Prize, which kicked off in 2009, is the first and only playwriting award which guarantees the winner a full scale professional production, a share of the takings and a commission for a follow up. Whilst I missed last…

  November 16, 2018
• Culture Ireland London Russia Theatre

  Chekhov’s First Play at the Battersea Arts Centre review ***

  Chekhov’s First Play Battersea Arts Centre, 5th November 2018 Some venerable theatre grandees have had a crack a knocking Anton Chekhov’s first play into shape. The venerable Lev Dodin and The Maly Theatre presented a version based on Chekhov’s own text, albeit with nine characters chopped out and a jazz…

  November 16, 2018
• Community Culture Economics Film History Manchester Politics

  Peterloo film review ****

  Peterloo, 2nd November 2018 I doubt that there has ever been a more carefully researched, painstakingly assembled or more vividly imagined “history” film than Peterloo. If you like Mike Leigh (I do) you are going to love this. If you like British social, economic and political history (I do) you…

  November 9, 2018