• The Village at Theatre Royal Stratford East review ****

    The Village Theatre Royal Stratford East, 27th September 2018 One of the many advantages of the idle life of culture is the opportunity to savour the coincidences that it routinely throws up. I see a play, Losing Venice, about the end of Empire, written in a style which apes the dramatists of the Spanish Golden…

  • Thomas Ades and the LPO at the Royal Festival Hall review ****

    London Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Ades, Kirill Gerstein (piano) Royal Festival Hall, 26th September 2018 Igor Stravinsky – Symphony in Three Movements Thomas Ades – In Seven Days (Concerto for piano and orchestra) Witold Lutoslawski – Symphony No 3 Thomas Ades is a talented chap. As composer, conductor and performer he follows in the footsteps of…

  • An Adventure at the Bush Theatre review ****

    An Adventure Bush Theatre, 26th September 2018 Now I cannot pretend that, when the lovely people at the Bush moved the matinee performance of An Adventure that I attended forward by an hour, and indicated it had metamorphosed into a three hour plus extravaganza, I wasn’t concerned. And reading the proper reviews, which were variable,…

  • Losing Venice at the Orange Tree Theatre review ***

    Losing Venice Orange Tree Theatre, 24th September 2018 A modicum of research was all that was required to realise that this was going to be a curious, but also intriguing, entertainment. Which is near enough exactly what it was. Jo Clifford’s play was a hit at the Edinburgh fringe when it first appeared in 1985.…

  • The League of Gentlemen Live Again! at the O2 Arena review ****

    The League of Gentlemen Live Again! O2 Arena London, 23rd September 2018 The Tourist really dislikes the O2 Arena. Awful sound, brutal lighting, terrible sightlines, cavernous, uncomfortable seats, no water, sh*te loos. Pretty much pointless choosing to “see” anything there. Still sometimes, as here, you have no choice. And this, to repeat,was the League of…

  • Touching the Void at Bristol Old Vic review *****

    Touching the Void Bristol Old Vic, 22nd September 2018 The Tourist had a terrific visit to Bristol recently. Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory’s marvellous Henry V (Henry V at the Tobacco Factory Bristol review *****), the Georgian House, another fine cathedral ticked off, an accidental preview of the refurbished space at the Old Vic and…

  • Henry V at the Tobacco Factory Bristol review *****

    Henry V Tobacco Factory Theatre, 22nd September 2018 Hello. I feel another bout of hyperbole coming on. It could just be that cumulative exposure is making me realise what the smarter punters and all the luvvies have known for hundreds of years, that nothing comes close to Shakespeare. It could be that my first visit…

  • The Fishermen at the Arcola Theatre review ****

    The Fishermen Arcola Theatre, 20th September 2018 Good to see the Arcola downstairs space filled to bursting for Gbolahan Obiesesan’s adaptation of Chigozie Obioma’s 2015 novel, a rapid transfer after a successful run in Edinburgh and then Manchester. Pretty clear that everyone in the audience was wowed by what they saw. The story has been…

  • Aristocrats at the Donmar Warehouse review ****

    Aristocrats Donmar Warehouse, 20th September 2018 Brian Friel, like his own dramatist hero Chekhov, can take a bit of time to get going. Faith Healer, at this theatre a couple of years ago, exerted a vice like grip on me from the open, though that may have been because it is such a brilliantly crafted…

  • The Outsider at the Print Room Coronet review ****

    The Outsider Print Room Coronet, 19th September 2018 Tricky one this. I can’t pretend I was pinned back in my seat by the two and a half hours of Ben Okri’s adaptation of Albert Camus’ absurd existentialist classic written in 1942. Abbey Wright’s careful direction injects a little humour, (a dog is played by a…

At Home He Feels Like A Tourist