At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: London

  • Howard Hodgkin at the National Portrait Gallery review ***

    Howard Hodgkin: Absent Friends National Portrait Gallery, 18th May 2017 I haven’t really known what to make of the work of Howard Hodgkin who sadly passed away just before this exhibition began (having been involved in its creation). And I am still not sure what to make of it. This…

  • Some ideas for the culturally inclined in London

    Here is a very brief round-up, (apparently I can drone on a bit so have tried to be disciplined), of the current and forthcoming major theatre and exhibition events in London that have caught my eye (and ear). I have a list of classical concerts which is still good to go…

  • London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican review ****

    Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sir Mark Elder, London Symphony Orchestra Barbican Hall, 7th May 2017 Modest Mussorgsky, arr. Rimsky-Korsakov – Prelude to Khovanshchina Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D major Op.35 Shostakovich – Symphony No.15 in A major Op.141 Who’d be a Russian composer eh. Mussorgsky drinks himself to death at 42…

  • The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Donmar Warehouse review ****

    The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Donmar Warehouse, 18th May 2017 I see a lot of theatre now. Which means I read a lot of press reviews. Which is about the only time I ever step out of my Guardian reading, liberal, metropolitan elite cocoon. And that means reading reviews…

  • The Cardinal at the Southwark Playhouse review ***

    The Cardinal Southwark Playhouse, 16th May 2017 Scary picture huh. Southwark Playhouse is a constant whirr of activity serving up all manner of delights across the theatrical spectrum. I just never know what to expect. I am not so shallow as to buy a ticket on spec based on a…

  • Othello at Wilton’s Music Hall review ****

    Othello Wilton’s Music Hall, 17th May 2017 I think Othello is my favourite Shakespeare tragedy. And it follows, therefore, that it is my favourite Shakespeare play since the tragedies generally kick the most arse. And it therefore also follows that it is probably my favourite ever play since no-one bests…

  • Obsession at the Barbican Theatre review ***

    Obsession Barbican Theatre, 13th May 2017 In retrospect there were warning signs. This was an adaptation of Luchino Visconti’s 1943 debut film, Obssessione, itself based on a book by James M. Cain, the Postman Always Rings Twice, which in turn was later made into an American film in 1946 (Lana…

  • Babette’s Feast at the Print Room Coronet review ****

    Babette’s Feast Print Room at the Coronet, 10th May, 2017 Ahh Babette’s Feast. A gently understated but uplifting Oscar winning film directed by Gabriel Axel (it beat Au Revoir Les Enfants to the 1987 foreign film prize !!) that ranks pretty high up on my list of all time faves.…

  • City of Glass at the Lyric Hammersmith review **

    City of Glass Lyric Hammersmith, May 11th 2017 So I remembered too late. I have thumbed copies of Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy so I think I must have read it, or at the very least City of Glass, when it came out in the 1980’s as any young, trendyish, new-to-theworld-of-work-but-still-able-to-go-out,…

  • The Ferryman at the Royal Court Theatre review *****

    The Ferryman Royal Court Theatre, 11th May 2017 Right then. For once the tourist finds himself not seeing a performance near the end of the run, casting off his usual workshy approach to blog posting and sufficiently motivated to rave about something. So just to say THIS IS FECKING OUTSTANDING. If…

  • Tim Gill (cellist) at Kings Place review *****

    London Sinfonietta’s Tim Gill: Avant Cello Kings Place, 6th May 2017 Tim Gill – cello Fali Pavri – piano Sound Intermedia Anton Webern – 3 kleine Stücke, Op. 11, Olivier Messiaen – ‘Louange à l’Éternite du Jesus Christ’ (‘Praise to the eternity of Jesus’) from Quartet for the End of…

  • Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos at St John’s Smith Square review ****

    Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: The Brandenburgs St John’s Smith Square, 2nd May 2017 Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 JS Bach. Tick. Brandenburg Concertos.…