• “Italy in England”, Academy of Ancient Music at Milton Court review ****

    Academy of Ancient Music, Bojan Cicic (director and violin), Frank de Bruine (oboe) Italy in England: When Handel Met Corelli, Milton Court Concert Hall, 19th October 2017 Corelli – Concerto Grosso in D major Op. 6 No. 4 Handel – Concerto for Oboe No. 3 in G minor Geminiani – Concerto Grosso Op. 5 No.…

  • Albion at the Almeida Theatre review ****

    Albion Almeida Theatre, 21st October 2017 Now we all know Mike Bartlett is a great writer. If you don’t know his stage work then, if you love your telly in the UK, you will likely have come across his mini-series Doctor Foster. So you will know that he can write a totally gripping story and…

  • Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre review ***

    Les Miserables Queen’s Theatre, 16th September I first saw Les Mis at the Barbican some three decades ago (gulp). I seem to remember me and TFF were perched up in the gallery and the view was obscured a bit by lighting rigs. To use the vernacular it blew me away. Between now and then, as…

  • Insignificance at the Arcola Theatre review ****

    Insignificance Arcola Theatre, 21st October 2017 Regular readers of this blog (don’t be shy) will know that I adore the work of Terry Johnson. As do a lot of proper theatre critic types. I also have a very soft spot for the Arcola. With this revival of Insignificance the combination delivers. However, I see from…

  • What Shadows at the Park Theatre review ****

    What Shadows Park Theatre, 19th October 2005 The Park Theatre has pulled off a bit of a coup in bringing the Birmingham Rep’s production of What Shadows to London. It has been a deserved sell out. I have some misgivings, there were times when the didactisism verged on the patronising, shared by the SO who…

  • Wings at the Young Vic review ****

    Wings Young Vic Theatre, 18th October 2017 Turns out there are a few tickets left for the final week or so of Wings. You could do worse than snapping one up. I cannot pretend it is a masterpiece, but the performance of the wonderful Juliet Stevenson, under the direction of Natalie Abrahami and with the…

  • The Cherry Orchard at Milton Court Theatre review ***

    The Cherry Orchard Milton Court Theatre, 17th October 2017 I have remarked before on the attractions of the Guildhall School final year productions. Lovely venue, clear interpretations which eschew directorial licence, and the chance to see some potential future stars of stage and screen. I must say these students are an extraordinarily attractive bunch. I…

  • Every Brilliant Thing at the Orange Tree Theatre review ****

    Every Brilliant Thing Orange Tree Theatre, 17th October 2017 This jolly looking fellow is Jonny Donahoe. He is currently the latest incumbent in the one man show, Every Brilliant Thing, at the Orange Tree Theatre. The play was originally written by Duncan Macmillan (he of People, Places and Things, Lungs, 2071 and a bunch of…

  • The Comedy About a Bank Robbery at the Criterion Theatre review ****

    The Comedy About a Bank Robbery The Criterion Theatre, 15th October 2017 Abandoned by the SO, and with BD now, like MS, deep in academe, LD and I needed entertaining. The solution. A fix of Mischief Theatre. Now it is not the first time we had seen this. The whole family had been to TCAABR…

  • The Wedding Present at Cadogan Hall review ****

    The Wedding Present Cadogan Hall, 14th October 2017 Regular readers of this blog (remember chums, the best clubs are exclusive) will be aware that the Tourist doesn’t really do “gigs”. It is all a bit loud for his aged ears. The number of bands/artists he would pay money to see is severely limited and dwindling…

At Home He Feels Like A Tourist