At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

  • Lloyd Cole at G Live review ****

    Lloyd Cole G Live, Guildford, 3rd March 2018 No idea why I like the music of grouchy, arch, wistful, charter of failing relationships,  Lloyd Cole. I have never felt sorry for myself in my life. Well maybe a bit. Oh alright then, practically every day. Here is a man who,…

  • The Weir at Richmond Theatre review ****

    The Weir Richmond Theatre, 2nd March 2018 I am jealous of anyone who has never seen Conor McPherson’s 1997 play The Weir. They have something special to look forward to. I last saw it at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh at the beginning of 2016 in a fine production directed…

  • Smile Upon Us Lord review at the Barbican Theatre review ***

    Smile Upon Us, Lord Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre of Russia, Barbican Theatre, 1st March 2018 OK. Sometimes you just have to accept that an artistic endeavour is a bit beyond your reach. For whatever reason it just doesn’t click. That is what happened here with Smile Upon Us, Lord. There…

  • Curtains at the Rose Theatre Kingston review ****

    Curtains Rose Theatre Kingston, 1st March 2018 Stage comedies don’t always stand the test of time too well. Comedy is elusive enough in the first place and may often be more rooted than tragedy to specific times, places or events. Comedic fashion chops and changes and what is acceptable shifts…

  • Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre *****

    Julius Caesar Bridge Theatre, 28th February 2018 I had really, really been looking forward to this. Julius Caesar is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. Contemporary relevance of course, but Shakespeare always has relevance. My appetite whetted by the excellent RSC production I saw at the Barbican last month, (Julius…

  • Satyagraha at English National Opera review ***

    Satyagraha English National Opera, 27th February 2018 Finally I have got to see all three of Philip Glass’s seminal operas, Einstein on the Beach (the science-y one), Akhnaten (the religious one) and now this Satyagraha (the political one). Einstein on the Beach was a recreation of the original Robert Wilson…

  • The Shape of Water film review *****

    The Shape of Water, 26th February 2018 I have to confess I wasn’t that interested in seeing The Shape of Water, (I am pleased with my little conceptual joke here). The trailers suggested this was likely in a similar vein to Guillermo Del Toro’s previous gothic horror/romance/fantasy films: lovely to…

  • Picnic at Hanging Rock at the Barbican Theatre review ***

    Picnic at Hanging Rock Barbican Theatre, 24th February 2018 Picnic at Hanging Rock is an Australian cultural icon. Joan Lindsay’s novel, published in 1967 and Peter Weir’s 1975 film, (and all manner of subsequent examinations, interpretations and meditations), is a metaphor which gets to the very heart of the making…

  • Phantom Thread film review *****

    Phantom Thread, 19th February 2018 I saw Daniel Day-Lewis on stage. In Another Country in the early 1980s. That’s why it’s a good idea to buy programmes and stick them in a box. I remember the play a bit but not really his performance. Not sure I would have guessed…

  • William Kentridge: Smoke, Ashes, Fable at Sint-Janshospitaal review ****

    William Kentridge: Smoke, Ashes, Fable Sint-Janshospitaal, Bruges, 20th February 2018 Off to Bruges and Brussels for a couple of days. Main purpose. To soak up the best paintings that the Northern Renaissance has to offer. Now you all know that it doesn’t get much prettier than Bruges, (though Ghent may…