Arts News
Kanye West's boos, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes reviews: all today's pop culture LIVE
Fresh from being abandoned at Glastonbury and adopted by Dolly Parton, the liveblog is back!
We'll have music, movies and musing all day long*
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10.22am BST
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Continue reading...Cottrell Boyce writes Doctor episode
Transformers holds US box office
The world bodypainting festival in pictures
The 17th annual world bodypainting festival has taken place in Pörtschach, Austria. Thousands of visitors arrived to observe the bodypainting work of artists from 47 different countries on the theme of Pop Art.
Dolly offers to keep Glastonbury dog
Metallica close Sonisphere Festival
Otello review lead performances worthy of a still powerful opera
Sydney Opera House, Sydney
Opera Australia leave behind offstage drama of disgraced Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri for brilliant onstage performances
In an attempt to entice composer Giuseppe Verdi out of premature retirement in the late 1800s, Italian librettist Arrigo Boito wrote his own version of Shakespeares Othello. It stripped the narrative so that the action centred predominantly on its four main characters. As a result, Verdis penultimate opera, Otello, is not only one of Verdis most character-driven works, it is also one of his most focused and beloved.
Otello was first directed by German director Harry Kupfer for Opera Australia in 2003, who updated the work from 15th century Cyprus to wartime Germany. In this remount the set, by original designer Hans Schavernoch, retains its visually arresting grand staircase with its tilted, crumbling edge, and swastikaesque red cross. Similarly, the costumes preserve their symbolic allure, the sumptuous black and white evening attire of the chorus contrasting with the jewelled tones of Desdemonas emerald and purple evening gowns.
Continue reading...Hetti Perkins: youre Aboriginal all the time ... you can't just clock off
The host of art + soul says that while Aboriginal art continues to innovate, many of the same profound themes and political messages remain
In 1965, the year that I was born, my father, activist Charles Perkins led the Freedom Ride through NSW. From the get go, politics was part of my blood, as well as that of my brother and sister (film director Rachel Perkins).
At the same time, I spent my early years surrounded by art. When I was a child, my mother started a gallery in our house. Back then, Australians were really not interested in Aboriginal art, so it was mainly for tourists. I'd always thought they were amazing pieces of work but its only now, as an adult, I realise their full significance as forms of political activism, and that art and politics are intricately linked.
Continue reading...Hodor: 'it's an actor's dream to have only one line'
At Melbourne's Oz Comic Con, actor Kristian Nairn, famed for his single-word role in Game of Thrones, eloquently answered fans' questions. Here are some highlights
Given the nature of Game of Thrones in which many key characters are killed off, what kind of death would you like [author] George RR Martin to give your character?
I would like Hodor to die in the middle of a big speech. The first time ever he stands up to say something different he gets eaten by a wolf. That would be ironic.
El Salvador leader opens residence
In pictures: Liverpool Biennial 2014
Should you feel guilty owning Rolf's art?
Two unknowns cast in new Star Wars
Grande tops first combined chart
The week ahead in arts
Shakespeare in Love
John Madden's movie, co-penned by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, won seven Oscars. Can this version repeat the feat with Oliviers? While it may not boast Judi Dench and Gwyneth Paltrow, it does have Lee Hall the powerhouse writer behind the stage version of Billy Elliott.
Noel Coward Theatre, London (0844 482 5141), booking until 25 October
Malevich
With his iconic Black Square of 1915, Kazimir Malevich liberated art from the shackles of representation. A century later, Tate Modern hosts the first major survey of his art for 25 years minus the square, too fragile to move from Moscow but replete with paintings, sculptures and drawings by the Russian revolutionary.
Tate Modern, London (020-7887 8888), 16 July - 26 October.
Drama questions 'group' murder rule
Crowd problems at Libertines gig
Iron Maiden headline Sonisphere
Conchita Wurst: 'Most artists are sensitive and insecure people. I am too'
The photoshoot is in full swing. The starlet is a vision: she flicks her long dark hair, pouts, and expertly twirls her rainbow-coloured couture gown, which swishes around her like a waterfall. "Let's try a sultry one," the photographer says and she turns up the oomph. Lit up by the bay window behind her, she is at once angelic and full-on glamorous. Her face is all fluttering eyelashes and glitter, accessorised with a thick, soft-looking beard.
In the two months since winning Eurovision with the rousing power ballad Rise Like a Phoenix, Conchita Wurst has gone from well-liked personality at home in Austria to global gay icon. Outside, the annual Gay Pride festival is in full swing and the crowd, many wearing fake beards, cheers: "Conchita! Conchita!" She has just headlined Pride in London; Madrid and Stockholm are next. She attended Vienna's star-studded Life Ball, and in Cannes celebrities lined up to be photographed with her ("It was just like, 'Alessandra Ambrosio, of course you can take a picture with me.' It was so, so weird").
Continue reading...McCartney resumes concert tour
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