At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: London

• Comedy Culture Gender London Love Shakespeare Stratford upon Avon Theatre

  As You Like It at the Barbican Theatre review ***

  As You Like It Barbican Theatre, 15th January 2020 As You Like It? Not really like this. Mind you I have yet to see a production of the play that really bowled me over. The NT production from 2016 directed by Polly Findlay looked great, office chairs becoming the Forest…

  March 1, 2020
• Authority Choral Classical Music Concert Contemporary Classical Culture London Opera Resistance

  prisoner of the state at the Barbican review ****

  BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (conductor), Elkhanah Pulitzer (director), Julie Mathevet, Jarrett Ott, Alan Oke, Davóne Tines, BBC Singers Barbican Hall, 11th January 2020 In which American contemporary composer David Lang, co-founder alongside Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon and probably best known for his Pulitzer prize winning the little match…

  February 26, 2020
• Culture Justice London Morality Power Sexuality Shakespeare Theatre Vienna

  Measure for Measure at the Barbican Theatre review ****

  Measure for Measure Barbican Theatre, 8th January 2020 I like Measure for Measure. I find the weird cocktail of morality play and satirical “comedy” fascinating. No one comes out of it well, not even the ostensibly virtuous Isabella who goes into bat to save brother Claudio from death, but is…

  February 25, 2020
• Culture Jacobean London Patriarchy Power Theatre Tragedy

  The Duchess of Malfi at the Almeida Theatre ****

  The Duchess of Malfi Almeida Theatre, 2nd Jan 2020 No question Almeida Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall is talented. Her Summer and Smoke, the dreamy Three Sisters here last year and now this. And for those, like the Tourist, who get a little antsy about her intemperate use of de jour…

  February 12, 2020
• Acting Agency Culture Gender London Patriarchy Power Shakespeare Theatre

  The Taming of the Shrew at the Barbican review ***

  The Taming of the Shrew Barbican Theatre, 2nd January 2020 What to do with Taming of the Shrew. Pretend the framing device with Sly deceived by Milord gets you off the hook. Not sure audiences buy that. Mine the text very carefully and add detail through direction which undermines the…

  February 9, 2020
• Age Christmas Culture Family Generations Identity London Politics Relationship Sexuality Theatre

  Snowflake at the Kiln Theatre review ****

  Snowflake Kiln Theatre, 28th December 2019 Lucky family. Never know what Dad is going to serve up as their Christmas theatrical treat(s). And always careful to at least try to conceal their disappointment. Having banked the virtual certain success of Mischief Theatre’s Magic Goes Wrong (of which more to come),…

  February 6, 2020
• Classical Music Concert Culture London Russia

  Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale at the Wigmore Hall review ***

  Isabelle Faust (violin), Wies de Boevé (double bass), Lorenzo Coppola (clarinet), Javier Zafra (bassoon), Reinhold Friedrich (trumpet), Jörgen van Rijen (trombone), Raymond Curfs (drums), Dominique Horwitz (narrator) Wigmore Hall, 23rd December 2019 Bartok – Solo Violin Sonata BB124 Stravinsky – The Soldier’s Tale Curious confection this. Cut off from Russian royalties on the ballets, Stravinsky was…

  February 6, 2020
• Capitalism Communism Culture Ideology London Politics Soviet Union Sport Theatre USA

  Ravens at the Hampstead Theatre review ***

  Ravens: Spassky vs Fischer Hampstead Theatre, 18th December 2019 I can see why Tom Morton-Smith would have alighted on the infamous chess match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer in 1972 in Reykjavik. There are a ton of tomes on the subject and, after all, if it was good enough…

  February 3, 2020
• Class Culture England Family London Race Relationship Theatre

  A Kind of People at the Royal Court Theatre review ****

  A Kind of People Royal Court Downstairs, 16th December 2019 Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti was a new playwriting name for me. No longer. A Kind of People takes a not uncommon subject, racism in contemporary Britain, and not uncommon set-ups, a mixed race marriage, friendships, a party, a workplace, and conjures…

  January 31, 2020
• Baroque Choral Christmas Classical Music Concert Culture London Oratorio

  Freiburg Baroque Orchestra at the Barbican Hall review ****

  Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Trevor Pinnock (director), Rachel Redmond (soprano), Claudia Huckle (alto), James Way (tenor), Ashley Riches (bass), Zürcher Sing-Akademie Barbican Hall, 11th December 2019 The Tourist’s annual Messiah. Almost Billy No Mates. But eventually MSBDB1 stepped into the breach. For which many thanks as Messiah is best shared. Now…

  January 30, 2020