Category: Culture
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Rachel Whiteread at Tate Britain review *****
Rachel Whiteread Tate Britain, 25th September 2017 If you take even a passing interest in contemporary British art you are probably aware of Rachel Whiteread, and you may well have seen some of her work. Even if you are not interested, or are firmly in the nihilistic, hater camp that…
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The Unknown Island at the Gate Theatre review ***
The Unknown Island The Gate Theatre, 23rd September 2017 Saturday matinees at the Gate Theatre represent an astonishing bargain by “that London” standards (as do Wednesday matinees though they are limited to us economically unproductive types). So I could traipse up to Wembley to watch Spurs stuff Bournemouth for just…
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Fretwork at the Wigmore Hall review ****
Fretwork (Asako Morikawa, Joanna Levine, Sam Stadlen, Emily Ashton, Richard Boothby) Wigmore Hall, 18th September 2017 JS Bach – The Art of Fugue – Contrapunctus I-XI, XIV Fretwork are one of those marvellous groups of dedicated adventurers who have brought Early, Renaissance and Baroque music back to life. There was…
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The Limehouse Golem film review ****
The Limehouse Golem, 15th September 2017 Now I love a well told Victorian Gothic melodrama and by and large this is what you get here. It is based on the novel, Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem, by the prolific (if occasionally wayward) author, Peter Ackroyd, though the screenplay by…
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Britten Sinfonia at Milton Court review *****
Britten Sinfonia, Helen Grime This is Rattle, Milton Court Hall, 20th September 2017 Purcell – Fantasia Upon One Note Oliver Knussen, George Benjamin, Colin Matthews – A Purcell Garland Helen Grime – Into the Faded Air Oliver Knussen – Cantata Helen Grime – A Cold Spring Thomas Ades – Court…
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Girl From the North Country review ****
Girl From the North Country The Old Vic, 20th September 2017 (Girl From the North Country is transferring to the Noel Coward Theatre from 29th Dec 2017 through to 24th Mar 2018) I am afraid there is a bit of a rant coming. If the Old Vic is going to…
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Knives in Hens at the Donmar Warehouse review *****
Knives in Hens Donmar Warehouse, 21st September 2017 Now I guessed I was going to like this. All the clever folk who know about plays and stuff had raved about it. Written in 1995 by David Harrower it is considered a classic of British modern theatre. Its ostensible subject matter,…
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Mosquitoes at the National Theatre review ****
Mosquitoes National Theatre, 18th September 2017 Two sisters. Some sad stuff happens to them. Sciencey backdrop. There you go. That’s Mosquitoes. Except that is isn’t. Lucy Kirkwood is not the type of playwright to let us off the hook that easily. She chucks a lot into this pot, brings it…
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Man to Man at Wilton’s Music Hall review ***
Man to Man Wilton’s Music Hall, 15th September 2017 I am confused about this. Is it an expressionistic masterpiece that explores the nature of gender identity and German history through devastating poetry, or a piece of pretentious fuck-wittery which couldn’t be bothered to serve us up a coherent story? Was…
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Loot at the Park Theatre review ****
Loot Park Theatre, 14th September 2017 There has been a lot of progress in the last 50 years in this country. Good people are more tolerant and accepting of the identity of others (though there are still plenty of bigoted d*ckheads to be found polluting the discourse), The fairy tales…
