At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

Category: London

  • Judith at the Arcola Theatre review ***

    Judith: A Parting from the Body Arcola Theatre, 7th September 2017 I am guessing they don’t watch Bake-Off in the Barker household. Howard Barker does not write easy plays. By his own admission he wants each of us to experience his plays as an individual: none of that namby-pamby rush…

  • Prism at the Hampstead Theatre review ****

    Prism Hampstead Theatre, 14th September 2017 Full disclosure. I love Terry Johnson’s plays. The marrying of “high” and “popular” culture themes and structures, the mix of humour and, as he calls it “brainy stuff, the abrupt lurches in tone: all this works for me. I have many more plays to…

  • Against at the Almeida Theatre review ****

    Against Almeida Theatre, 9th September 2017 The more plays I see the more I realise there are many ways to build a work of theatrical drama. You can build the foundations on language and the space around it, You can create powerful, memorable, immediate characters. You can construct a plot…

  • London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall review ****

    London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski, Alina Ibragimova (violin) Prom 71, Royal Albert Hall, 6th September 2017 Igor Stravinsky – Funeral Song, Igor Stravinsky – Song of the Volga Boatmen, Sergei Prokofiev – Violin Concert No 1 in D Major Benjamin Britten – Russian Funeral Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No 11…

  • road at the Royal Court Theatre review ****

    road Royal Court Theatre, 7th September 2017 Another useless review as this revival of Jim Cartwright’s seminal debut play is about to end its run. But I would be pretty confident it will pop up again somewhere in the next few years. And that is because, as this production shows,…

  • Sargent Watercolours at Dulwich Picture Gallery review *****

    Sargent: The Watercolours Dulwich Picture Gallery, 5th September 2017 There have been some top drawer exhibitions already this year. The comprehensive survey of American painting in the 1930s at the Orangerie and Royal Academy, the joyous Rauschenberg retrospective at Tate Modern, the astonishing survey of Michael Andrews’s spray painted landscapes…

  • From Selfie to Self-Expression at the Saatchi Gallery review ****

    From Selfie to Self-Expression Saatchi Gallery, 20th August 2017 I hadn’t really intended to seek out this exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. I had forgotten it was on but realised I would be passing when engaged on another mission (taking a twirl around the relatively newly opened National Army Museum,…

  • Queer British Art at Tate Britain review ***

    Queer British Art 1861-1967 Tate Britain, 18th August 2017 I learnt a lot from this exhibition. A damming reflection of my ignorance of gay history in Britain over the period under review. However I am afraid I didn’t really see much in the way of compelling art or artists which…

  • Rabbits at the Park Theatre review ***

    Rabbits Park Theatre, 17th August 2017 Even after seeing Rabbits I am scratching my head somewhat as to why I did. Others have remarked on the slightly wayward output of the Park Theatre under Jez Bond’s tutelage but you can’t fault the breadth of the offers and it is all…

  • Alexander Melnikov and the Latvian Radio Choir at Cadogan Hall review ****

    Alexander Melnikov (piano), Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava Proms Chamber Music No 5, Cadogan Hall, 14th August 2017 Dimitri Shostakovich – Preludes and Fugues Op 87 – Nos 1, 2, 3, 4, 7. 8 Dimitri Shostakovich – Ten Poems on Texts by Revolutionary Poets, Op 88 – Nos 5,6,7,8,9 Previous…