Reviews
Gary Naylor
Writing about the upcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the National Theatre in The Guardian recently, the usually reliable Michael Billington made a rare misstep. He called for the successor to Rufus Norris, the departing artistic director, to stage neglected classics: “I would also argue that the National, given its resources, has a civic duty to revive the drama of the past that, Shakespeare aside, is in danger of being consigned to the dustbin.” But does it need to? Whilst it is obvious that an NT production would be a very different beast to a fringe show, Lazarus Theatre Read more ...
James Saynor
The director Mary Harron is famous for staying classy while tackling blood-splashy topics – notably the attack on pop art’s leader in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) and whatever the hell was going on in the Bret Easton Ellis novel that became Harron’s American Psycho (2000). Almost any male director would have gone Brian-De-Palma-berserk with the latter, but Harron’s film is more memorable for an OCD Christian Bale handing out his business cards than any ultra-violence. She’s got a cool eye and a steady hand when people are wielding guns and knives.Perhaps surprisingly, there’s none of that in Read more ...
Helen Hawkins
The problem with star casting is that the viewer can’t escape what it is: a very well known face pretending to be another very well known face. So Steve Coogan’s portrayal of Jimmy Savile in The Reckoning is both a fine impersonation of the abusive DJ turned TV presenter and a distraction. He has been given a prosthetic chin and nose, a series of peroxide-blond wigs and (I’m guessing here) orthotics in his footwear that help him pull off that bandy swagger of Savile’s. His costumes are note-perfect, a hideous collection of jazzy sportswear and lurid suits, and the script conveys the mad Read more ...
Iolanthe, English National Opera review - still gorgeous but ever so slightly less funny than before
David Nice
Parliament may be topsy-turvy, with a motley bunch of Lords the only hope in vetoing outrageous bills, but up the road at the London Coliseum a more disciplined company is steering a luxury liner with perfect craft. Cal McCrystal’s best G&S so far, where fairies meet peers with, as the cliché has it, hilarious results, was a winner first time round, with gorgeous designs by Paul Brown taking fairyland, Arcadia and Westminster seriously. It still packs most of its comic punches, but not all. So let’s get the caveats out of the way first. I’d told friends coming to see the ENO show for Read more ...
Jonathan Geddes
The first declaration of love for the Last Dinner Party arrived approximately one song into their set. “I love you too,” declared a delighted looking Abigail Morris, the band’s pirouetting frontwoman, in response, and the ensuing hour suggested outpourings of affection are just one of many reasons for Morris to be cheerful these days.This show had been upgraded from the considerably smaller King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut and yet filled up with ease, with a number of Glaswegians getting dressed up like Morris and her compatriots, whether in Gothic chic or Virgin Suicides esque dresses. Onstage Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Il Viaggio is a form of soundtrack. Its lyrics, music and soundscapes are created in response to the journey referenced in the title. Though born and raised in Belgium, Melanie De Biasio’s paternal grandfather was Italian. After the Europalia arts festival contacted her to see if she would create a work on its chosen theme of “Trains & Tracks” she chose to explore her roots. This took her to Abruzzo, in central eastern Italy – where Il Viaggio was born.The resultant album arrives six years after its predecessor, 2017’s Lillies. Like that goth-flavoured outing, it’s a long way from her Read more ...
aleks.sierz
It’s closing time somewhere in the East End. Nah, not the pub, but at a small local shop. Inside, Denise is banging around with some big pans, while Carly is packing up the flowers. Their business is coming to an end and they are about to hand over the keys to the next tenant.It’s also the climax of Roy Williams and Clint Dyer’s epic Death of England tetralogy, which began in early 2020, and has been one of the best new writing series recently staged at the flagship National Theatre. But while earlier episodes – Death of England, Delroy and Face to Face – featured the men, this time it’s the Read more ...
Veronica Lee
The starting point of this musical comedy – using a panto format to take a deep dive into the UK's immigration law – comes from such a good place that one feels a real heel for criticising it. But however much I wanted to like Shani Erez's ambitious work for BOLD Theatre, I really couldn't.The story within a story follows a group of immigrants to “Britaim” as they stage a panto – what could be more British? – to show their love and knowledge of UK culture.For panto fans there are nods to Dick Whittington, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty as the story follows Lord Villain (Vikash Bhai), the Read more ...
Saskia Baron
The London Film Festival continues to pull in an eclectic selection of films from all over the world. And it’s from the countries not known for their movie industries that some of the most impressive and engaging films have emerged.Goodbye Julia is the first feature film to be made in Sudan to be submitted to Cannes (where it won the Prix de la Liberté award). It’s also been entered for an Academy Award, another first for Sudan. A beautifully shot drama, it gives Western audiences a glimpse of life in a country that we normally only see in news reports and documentaries. Writer- Read more ...
David Kettle
The title of Peter Arnott’s new play – a co-production with the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, and now partway into a ten-day run at Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre – might conjure a painterly image of contented friends and family in an idyllic rural setting.There’s plenty that meets that description in Arnott’s plotline. Ageing politics academic Rennie (a nicely self-satisfied John Michie) has invited a gaggle of his remaining brood, plus a couple of judiciously selected ex-students and their current companions, to his country retreat in Perthshire – a setting that’s stunning evoked in the picture Read more ...
Sarah Kent
It’s incredible to think that the Turner Prize has been going for nearly 40 years. It was initially set up to generate interest in contemporary art by sparking debate. Not surprisingly, the media took this as an invitation to stir up controversy by focusing on work they considered shocking and this, in turn, encouraged artists to be provocative.These days, though, it’s hard to imagine anyone getting hot under the collar about art when there are more serious issues to worry about, like climate change, inflation, racism, sexism, the NHS and the self-inflicted wound of Brexit. And this more Read more ...
David Nice
Poetry came an honourable second to sharp rhythms and lurid definition in this choreographic poem of a concert. You don’t get more tumultuous applause after an opener than with Ravel’s La Valse played like this. Vienna may have nearly collapsed after World War One, but the Scheherazade of Fazil Say’s 1001 Nights Violin Concerto lives to see a bright dawn, and Rachmaninov cries “Alliluya’ to whirling demons in his swansong Symphonic Dances.Once again, there’s no doubt that the London Symphony Orchestra has made the right choice in Antonio Pappano, this season titled its Music Director Read more ...