Category: London
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The Jungle at the Playhouse Theatre review *****
The Jungle Playhouse Theatre, 4th October 2018 So this was my second attempt to see The Jungle. I had to bail out of the first halfway through as my back wasn’t up to squatting on the floor of the Young Vic. This is not a complaint. Given the subject it…
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The Humans at the Hampstead Theatre review ****
The Humans Hampstead Theatre Main Stage, 3rd October 2018 Sometimes it can feel like the whole history of US theatrical drama is one long story of family dysfunctionality. Mind you you can see why. When it works, Miller, O’Neill, Williams, Albee, Shepherd, Wilson, Kushner, to name a few, it is…
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Holst’s The Planets: BBCSO at the Barbican review ****
BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus (women’s voices), Professor Brian Cox, Ben Gernon Barbican Hall, 29th September 2018 I wasn’t quite sure of what the format would be for this performance of Holst’s The Planets. Maybe a quick intro from our most famous and telegenic physicist, then a work-out for…
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The Cardinal’s Musick at Wigmore Hall review ****
The Cardinal’s Musick, Andrew Carwood (director) Wigmore Hall, 27th September 2018 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – Motet Tu es Petrus, Missa Tu es Petrus, Gregorian Chant, Magnus Sanctus Paulus a 8 Giovanni Bassano – O Rex gloriae Jacob Handl – Sanctus Bartholomeus Thomas Crecquillon – Andreas Christi famulus Tomás Luis…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…