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Caroline, or Change at the Hampstead Theatre review *****
Caroline, or Change Hampstead Theatre, 18th April 2018 How many exceptions does it take before the rule is unproven? I don’t, as a rule, like musicals, as I have oft repeated on these very pages. I absolutely adored this though. That might be because it isn’t your classic show tunes,…
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The Country Wife at Southwark Playhouse review ***
The Country Wife Southwark Playhouse, 17th April 2018 I haven’t seen that many Restoration comedies. In fact if I take the list of notable examples of the genre offered up by Wiki I see it is a grand total of one, in the form of the NT’s Beaux Stratagem from…
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Macbeth at the National Theatre review ***
Macbeth National Theatre Olivier, 14th April 2018 Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more This was frustrating. No way of hiding it. It promised so much. A Macbeth. With Rory Kinnear and Anne-Marie Duff,…
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The Marriage of Figaro at the ENO review *****
The Marriage of Figaro English National Opera, 12th April 2018 It isn’t easy to think of a better opera than the Marriage of Figaro. And, as we culture vultures know, when opera works there is scarcely any entertainment to match it. It is just a shame that opera so rarely…
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Isle of Dogs film review ****
Isle of Dogs, 12th April 2018 Many, many years ago, just after the London Docklands Development Corporation was set up in 1981 I had cause to visit the Isle of Dogs, the real one, as part of my academic studies. It was a desolate sh*thole then, with all due respect…
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Humble Boy at the Orange Tree Theatre review ***
Humble Boy Orange Tree Theatre, 11th April 2018 Sometimes it can be tricky to put your finger on exactly why a play doesn’t quite work for you. Other times it is easy. This was one of the latter. For me, writer Charlotte Jones lavishes so much attention on shoehorning in…
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Bryce Dessner and the London Contemporary Orchestra Soloists at Queen Elizabeth Hall review ***
London Contemporary Orchestra Soloists, Galya Bisengalieva (violin), Rakhi Singh (violin), Robert Ames (viola), Oliver Coates (cello) – Bryce Dessner (electric guitar) Queen Elizabeth Hall. 10th April 2018 Bryce Dessner – Aheym for string quartet Mica Levi – You belong to me for string quartet Steve Reich – Electric Counterpoint for…
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Andreas Gursky at the Hayward Gallery exhibition review ****
Andreas Gursky Hayward Gallery, 4th April 2018 Odds are you have seen one of Andreas Gursky’s giant, hypnotic, immersive photographs. He charts the relationship between man and environment, fiddling with perspective, highlighting the repetition of our own industry and locating the beautiful and the ugly, often simultaneously. His viewpoint is…