Category: Nationhood
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A History of British Architecture: Dissolution, Civil War, Empire and the Making of British Exceptionalism
Britain’s particular history of religious trauma, the response to the Reformation, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Civil War, created a culture in which the forms of religious life were stripped of their theological content repeatedly and the question of what was left became urgent and creative. What do…
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A History of British Architecture: Gothic Britain c. 1150 to 1540
A meander through the history of British Architecture by era. Part 5 The Gothic.
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Cymbeline: Shakespeare and the Search for National Identity
A diversion in which we examine Shakespeare’s Cymbeline and its commentary on the conception of British nationhood.
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The Norman Paradox, Continued: Sicily and the Problem of Italian Nationhood
A short diversion into the (non)-impact of Norman Sicily on Italian nationhood.
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A History of British Architecture: Norman Britain 1066 to 1150 AD
A meander through the history of British Architecture by era. Part 4 The Normans.
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A History of British Architecture: Anglo-Saxon and Early Christian Britain c. 410 to 1066 AD
A meander through the history of British Architecture by era. Part 3 The “No So” Dark Ages.
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A History of British Architecture: Roman Britain 43AD to 410AD
A meander through the history of British Architecture by era. Part 2 Roman Britain.
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The Line and the Circle
Two formal languages run through the whole of British architectural history, and the tension between them is the engine of everything worth discussing.
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Three Sisters at the National Theatre review ***
Three Sisters National Theatre Lyttleton, 9th December 2019 Opportunity partially missed I am afraid. Inua Ellams has come up with a brilliant idea by transporting Chekhov to 1960s Nigeria, specifically during the Biafaran Civil War. Yet his urge to educate and contextualise leaves the dialogue heavy on exposition. And, in…
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Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads at the Spiegeltent Chichester
Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads Spigeltent, Chichester Festival Theatre, 17th October 2019 There are a few candidates for my favourite play of 2019. Lynn Nottage’s stunning Sweat at the Donmar Warehouse, or either of the revivals of the Miller classics at the Old and Young Vics respectively, All…
At Home He Feels Like A Tourist 