poetry
Shakespeare triple bill, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sadler's WellsWednesday, 12 October 2016
Shakespeare has always been a fertile source of inspiration for story ballets. Plays which exist in multiple dance versions include Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet, while Shakespeare... Read more... |
CD: Gruff Rhys - Set Fire to the StarsMonday, 26 September 2016
Super Furry Animals front man Gruff Rhys is a quietly prolific talent. Every few years or so, there’ll be another album, complete with the kind of thought-through concept that gives lift to his literate and expressive story songs and colours them... Read more... |
CD: Jim Causley & Luke Thompson - The Clay HymnalWednesday, 20 July 2016
Devonian singer and accordionist Jim Causley released Cyprus Well, settings of his relative Charles Causley's poems, in 2013. What may be his finest album to date, Forgotten Kingdom, came early this year, and now he has released a second album of... Read more... |
Pink Mist, Bush TheatreWednesday, 27 January 2016
The war in Afghanistan has not exactly been neglected by contemporary British theatre, and the plight of returned soldiers is a standard trope of new writing. These distant wars function in our culture like worse-case scenarios, an excoriating... Read more... |
Until the Lions, Akram Khan, RoundhouseWednesday, 13 January 2016
As its first gift to dance fans, the new year has delivered not one but two chamber pieces about extraordinary women. Down in Covent Garden this week, Will Tuckett's Elizabeth for Royal Ballet dancers is exploring the life and loves of Queen... Read more... |
Yuletide Scenes: David Jones' Nativity with Shepherds and Beasts RejoicingTuesday, 22 December 2015
David Jones’ black and white drypoint – a drawing made by incising lines on a copper plate with a diamond-tipped needle and then printing from the plate – is a view of the nativity which is fresh, full of wonder and a highly intelligent naïveté. It... Read more... |
David Jones, Pallant House Gallery, ChichesterWednesday, 04 November 2015
Switching between the orderly and the chaotic, David Jones’ depiction of Noah’s family building the ark immerses us in the drama of the moment while simultaneously holding us at some point out of time, to emphasise the story’s ancient roots.... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Mons: The turbulence of VerlaineSunday, 01 November 2015
Poetry is everywhere in Mons, with 10 kilometres of verse painted along the city streets. You’ll even find it on the walls of the city’s imposing 19th-century prison, at odds with the arrow slits, the crenellations, and the towering nets preventing... Read more... |
Cordelia Williams, Kings PlaceWednesday, 14 October 2015
The music of Olivier Messiaen lends itself ideally to the kind of multimedia project created by Cordelia Williams. His titles tell stories of terror and redemption, Man, men, God and angels. His chords burst with colour, not only the green and gold... Read more... |
Return to Larkinland, BBC FourMonday, 12 October 2015
Return to Larkinland was the second of AN Wilson’s intimate portraits of poets, following his similar excursion to “Betjemanland” last year. His very particular form of exploration of the biographical genre results in a selectively detailed portrait... Read more... |
Ted Hughes: Stronger Than Death, BBC TwoSunday, 11 October 2015
The tragic love of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath is probably Britain’s most notorious 20th-century relationship. While other controversies – for example, those of Wallace Simpson, John Profumo and Princess Diana – have been laid to rest, Hughes and... Read more... |
An Open Book: Chantal JoffeTuesday, 15 September 2015
Huge canvases, bold, expressive brushwork and a full-bodied, vibrant palette. Chantal Joffe’s figurative paintings are certainly striking and seductive. Citing American painter Alice Neel and American photographer Diane Arbus as two abiding... Read more... |
