At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: Culture

  • The Kid Stays in the Picture at the Royal Court Theatre review *****

    The Kid Stays in the Picture Royal Court Theatre, 30th March 2017 So another of life’s minor annoyances caused by devoting too much time to work and not enough time to expanding the cultural horizons. I confess I have not read Robert Evans’s eponymous autobiography on which this play is…

  • English National Ballet at Sadler’s Wells review ***

    English National Ballet Sadler’s Wells, 26th March 2017 So there I am sitting at a performance of Steve Reich classics a few months ago. In front of me is some twenty something with an open tablet nodding his head up and down like he’s listening to Metallica. Utter p*ick. Anyway once…

  • Nederlands Kamerkoor at Cadogan Hall review *****

    Nederlands Kamerkoor: Sacred and Profane Cadogan Hall, 8th March 2017 Britten – Hymn to St Cecilia Gabriel Jackson – Ave Regina caelorum Berio – Cries of London Lars Johan Werle – Orpheus Lars Johan Werle – Canzone 126 di Francesco Petrarca Britten – Sacred and Profane Another bit of a catch up here. This was so…

  • Roman Tragedies at the Barbican review *****

    Roman Tragedies Barbican Theatre, 19th March 2017 Right that fella in the pic above is Hans Kesting. And for my money he is the best stage actor in the world (though to be fair the fact that I have only seen a small sub-set  of the total universe of stage actors…

  • The Miser at Richmond Theatre review ***

    The Miser Richmond Theatre, 22nd February 2017 Just catching up with this from a few weeks ago prior to the current West End run at the Garrick Theatre. Now comedy is a tricky business to get right. Moliere’s tale with satirical and farcical forebears by way of Plautus and Italy…

  • Sussex Modernism at Two Temple Place review ***

    Sussex Modernism: Retreat and Rebellion Two Temple Place, 15th February 2017 Just a quick shout out for this interesting, compact exhibition. For those who don’t know Two Temple Place it is a neo-Gothic, late Victorian mansion on the Embankment built for an Astor and full to the brim of OTT…

  • Hamlet at the Almeida review *****

    Hamlet Almeida Theatre, 11th March 2017 “…. but I’ve forgotten what Hamlet is about.  It’s about a young man called Hamlet. And a girl called Ophelia who goes mad. And a ghost. And a Queen called Gertrude who gets poisoned. And a king called Claudius who gets stabbed. And a young man called Laertes…

  • John Latham at the Serpentine Gallery review ****

    John Latham: A World View Serpentine Gallery, 17th March 2017 in recent years I have had a growing fascination with the “pure” Conceptual Art (only capitals will do here) of the 1960’s and 1970s and the way it appears to have come to influence chunks of today’s artistic discourse. This is…

  • Some ideas for the culturally inclined in London

    So here is a brief list of what is on in London or coming up … and is of interest to me and maybe to you Theatre This is just an update of the following post … with a few new ideas that have cropped up recently Some forthcoming theatre ideas…

  • Some forthcoming classical music concert ideas (with a bit of nostalgia thrown in)

    Some recommendations – but read the caveats below So in this post I have tried to draw out some highlights (for me) of the forthcoming classical music seasons at the major London venues. Remember this blog is for the curious – all you experts out there are permitted to snigger…

  • My Brilliant Friend at the Rose Theatre Kingston review ****

    My Brilliant Friend Parts 1 and 2 Rose Theatre Kingston, 27th February and 17th March 2017 I had not read the quartet of Elena Ferrante novels coming in to this (though I mean to put this right now). However, as this is a Guardian readers’ and various novelists’ favourite and…

  • Grounded at the Gate Theatre review ****

    Grounded Gate Theatre, Notting Hill Gate, 15th March 2017 Given that Grounded is now into its third run at the Gate and that is has had critical acclaim heaped upon it the last thing it needs is this chump adding to the sound and fury. But it seems I am…