At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: London

  • The Party film review ****

     The Party, 2nd November 2017 Other than Orlando this was the first Sally Potter film I had seen. Neither have I seen any of her theatrical events. Which is surprisingly because I would have thought I was bang up the target audience for her work. Ho, hum. So much to…

  • Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall review ****

    Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti (director), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano) Royal Festival Hall, 3rd November 2017 Bach The Art of Fugue Contrapunctus 1 to 4 Mozart Piano Concerto 15 Shostakovich Two Pieces for String Octet Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence There is something truly thrilling about watching a group of string players,…

  • Soutine’s Portraits at the Courtauld Gallery review ****

    Soutine’s Portraits: Cooks, Waiters and Bellboys Courtauld Gallery, 31st October 2017 I am afraid that the joys of Soutine’s paintings have passed me by in the past. I could see the vibrant colours and intense animation but all that skew-whiffedness left me a bit bewildered. On my last visit to…

  • St George and the Dragon at the National Theatre review ***

    Saint George and the Dragon National Theatre, 31st October 2017 This must have looked a great idea on paper. A state of the nation play, with much to say about ill at ease contemporary Britain, told as allegory, in a format and staging that nods to a fairy tale. Writer…

  • Mother Courage and Her Children at the Southwark Playhouse review ***

    Mother Courage and Her Children Southwark Playhouse, 7th November 2017 Hmmm. I am torn. This was a mixed bag and no mistake. The good stuff first. Well it is Brecht so there will always be big issues to chew on, although here the anti-war appeal that lies at the heart…

  • Suzy Storck at the Gate Theatre review ****

    Suzy Storck Gate Theatre, 4th November 2017 The Gate under Ellen McDougall has found another blinding play, this time courtesy of French writer Magali Mougel (translated by Chris Campbell). Visceral only begins to describe it. Ms Mougel has created a modern-day Medea and invested it with an arresting, and bleak,…

  • Minefield at the Royal Court Theatre *****

    Minefield The Royal Court Theatre, 7th November 2017 Argentinian writer, Lola Arias, in her own words, explores the “overlap zones between reality and fiction”. Minefield though is all reality, in the rawest, most uncomfortable and, ultimately, moving way imaginable. She has devised a powerful piece of theatre, documenting the tragedy…

  • Heather at the Bush Theatre review *****

    Heather Bush Theatre, 8th November 2017 For me the best plays take a very few ideas, or even better one idea, and then explore those ideas from multiple perspectives. If the writer loads up the text with too many ideas and messages, usually because he/she can and “it would be…

  • My pick of London theatre – on now and booking ahead

    Right let me cut to the chase. Here is my latest attempt to distil the best of what is on now and what is coming up in the world of London theatre. There is a bunch of new stuff notably at the National Theatre, the Barbican, the Donmar Warehouse, the…

  • Beethoven and Shostakovich: LPO at the Royal Festival Hall review ***

    London Philharmonic Orchestra, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Inon Barnatan Royal Festival Hall, 27th October 2017 Beethoven – Piano Concerto No 5 “Emperor” Shostakovich – Symphony No 7 “Leningrad” Off to the Festival Hall for a couple of big beasts of the repertoire (or at least the repertoire I like). Yet I have…