19th century
A Christmas Carol, Noël Coward TheatreThursday, 10 December 2015
Is Jim Broadbent Britain’s best-loved actor? The slate of screen roles he’s accumulated over the years – this Christmas Carol is his return to theatre after a decade away – has surely given him a very special quality in the nation's consciousness, a... Read more... |
The Nutcracker, Royal BalletThursday, 10 December 2015
With its hybrid Romantic-kitschy plot, chocolate-advert Tchaikovksy tunes, and baggage of obligatory Christmas cheer, the Nutcracker is harder to get right than you might think if you've only ever seen Sir Peter Wright's Royal Ballet version, now... Read more... |
200 Miller Mikados at ENOSunday, 06 December 2015
Much of what follows was included in the 25th anniversary programme for Jonathan Miller’s legendary production of The Mikado at English National Opera. And the show goes on, still dazzling on each curtain-up thanks to the undated feat of the late... Read more... |
Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci, Royal OperaFriday, 04 December 2015
You can forgive a certain amount of scepticism. After his now-infamous Royal Opera debut earlier this year, directing a Guillaume Tell that was heavy on concept and light on just about everything else, Damiano Michieletto returns for a Cavalleria... Read more... |
Around the World in 80 Days, St James TheatreFriday, 04 December 2015
One of the joys about this stage adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days is the contrast between its phlegmatic hero Phileas Fogg, who deals with everything in terms of precision and logic, and the picaresque confusion of his journey... Read more... |
Julia Margaret Cameron, Victoria & Albert Museum / Science MuseumMonday, 30 November 2015
Reputations and popularity rise and fall and rise again in cycles, and so with the redoubtable Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1879). Now considered one of the finest photographers ever, she was an amateur gifted with incredible tenacity, intellectual... Read more... |
Artist and Empire, Tate BritainFriday, 27 November 2015
There are some wonderful things in this exhibition, and that’s no surprise: the British Empire endured for over 500 years and at its peak extended across a quarter of the world’s land mass. Preparing an exhibition of corresponding reach must have... Read more... |
Escaich, RSNO, Märkl, Usher Hall, EdinburghSunday, 22 November 2015
It does not seem like 12 years since the organ in the Usher Hall was restored to full working order. That may be because, in the minds of many Edinburghers, the recent years of untroubled service are still eclipsed by the many decades in which... Read more... |
High Spirits: The Comic Art of Thomas Rowlandson, The Queen’s GalleryFriday, 20 November 2015
“High Spirits” is a multi-layered title: the caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827) was himself a heavy gambler and a heavy drinker, continually using up his material assets in such pursuits. His high spirits extended to the Georgian society he... Read more... |
Love, Art and Rock 'n' Roll, Rambert, Sadler's WellsWednesday, 04 November 2015
A good triple bill should have something for everyone, so Rambert have all bases covered with their latest: rare must be the person who likes neither love, nor art, nor rock 'n' roll. In fact, it's a safe bet that most people like all of them, and... Read more... |
Freddy Kempf, Cadogan HallWednesday, 04 November 2015
London foists hard choices on concertgoers. Over at St John's Smith Square last night Nikolai Demidenko was giving a high-profile recital of Brahms and Prokofiev. But since the Prokofiev CD which has had the most impact in recent years has been... Read more... |
Le Pré aux Clercs, Wexford Festival OperaWednesday, 28 October 2015
“No courtier or lady’s champion would dream of fighting a duel anywhere else…” The setting for duels, liaisons, champagne and love, Paris’s Pré aux Clercs gives its name to Ferdinand Herold’s almost-comic 1832 opera – a welcome mood-lightener in... Read more... |
