At Home He Feels Like A Tourist

  • Vanessa Bell exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery review ***

    Vanessa Bell 1879-1941 Dulwich Picture Gallery, 3rd June 2017 Sun shining. Dulwich Park at play. Bit of a picnic then off to the Vanessa Bell retrospective with SO, BUD and KCK. This is London. It won’t go away. Dulwich PG does a fine job in bringing together thoughtfully curated exhibitions…

  • Britten Sinfonia and Thomas Ades at the Barbican Hall *****

    Britten Sinfonia, Thomas Ades, Mark Stone Barbican Hall, 2nd June 2017 Gerard Barry – Beethoven Beethoven – Symphony No 1 in C Major, Op 21 Beethoven – Symphony No 2 in D, Op 36 After the chamber concert earlier in the week reviewed here – Britten Sinfonia and Thomas Ades at…

  • Richard Goode at the Royal Festival Hall review ****

    Richard Goode Royal Festival Hall, 31st May 2017 JS Bach – Partita No 6 BWV 830 Chopin – Nocturne Op 62/1 Chopin – Mazurka Op 41/3 Chopin – Mazurka Op 41/4 Chopin – Mazurka – Op 50/3 Chopin – Polonaise-Fantasie Op 61 Beethoven – Sonata No 28 Op 101 Beethoven…

  • Britten Sinfonia and Thomas Ades at Milton Court review *****

    Thomas Ades, Gerald Barry, Britten Sinfonia Milton Court Concert Hall, 30th May 2017 Beethoven – Septet in E Flat Major Op 20 Gerald Barry – Five Chorales from the Intelligence Park Beethoven – Piano Trio in E Flat Op 70/2 I’m guessing that composer heaven is a miserable place. All…

  • The Treatment at the Almeida Theatre review ***

    The Treatment Almeida Theatre, 24th May 2017 I didn’t really get on with this. The premise is interesting, the acting was accomplished (all the leads were new to me) and there were ideas to ponder upon, but I just didn’t find it that involving, either emotionally or intellectually. I had…

  • The Goat, or Who is Sylvia at the Theatre Royal Haymarket review *****

    The Goat, or Who is Sylvia Theatre Royal Haymarket, 25th May 2017 I love the theatre. It wasn’t always so. Until relatively recently I confess I didn’t have the time or, more importantly, the patience to really grasp what it was all about. Yes I would see a few plays,…

  • Occupational Hazards at Hampstead Theatre review ****

    Occupational Hazards Hampstead Theatre, 20th May 2017 You can learn a lot at the theatre. Rory Stewart is (actually was, given Parliament is dissolved) a junior minister at the Department of International Development. Apparently he has known the playwright here, Stephen Brown, since they were kids. Mr Stewart sounds like…

  • The Levelling film review *****

    The Levelling, 23rd May 2017 This is director Hope Dickson Leach’s full length film debut. In the screening I attended there was a short but illuminating interview with Ms Dickson Leach which discussed the difficulties female film-makers face in bringing their ideas to fruition. She gave up for a bit…

  • Woyzeck at the Old Vic review ***

    Woyzeck The Old Vic, 27th May 2017 One day soon the Old Vic under the aegis of its ambitious Artistic Director, Mathew Warchus, is going to come up with an absolute stonker. The strategy of taking a classic play, or new work from a top flight current playwright, stuffing it…

  • Don Juan in Soho at the Wyndham’s Theatre review ****

    Don Juan in Soho Wyndham’s Theatre, 22nd May Get this. The programme says that since a Spanish dramatist, Tirso di Molina, first brought Don Juan to the world in around 1620 he has appeared in at least 1,800 plays, operas, novels, films and poems. And I bet he appeared as…