America
Vernon God Little, Young VicTuesday, 08 February 2011
A whiff of excrement hangs around DBC Pierre’s Booker Prize-winning Vernon God Little. It’s a novel that likes to get right up into the crevices of society and then inhale deeply. Written in an anarchic, freewheeling American patois, it’s the inner... Read more... |
Ronald Reagan: American Idol, BBC FourSunday, 06 February 2011
Aptly for a programme whose title invokes a show which is all style, no substance, the subject of Ronald Reagan: American Idol is image. What was Reagan really like? How much of his career as a Hollywood star did he carry into office? And why... Read more... |
DVD: Winter's BoneSaturday, 05 February 2011
The timely arrival on DVD of Winter’s Bone as it heads for the Oscars ceremony gives a fresh chance to dwell on the film’s unshowy riches. Jennifer Lawrence plays 17-year-old Ree whose father has disappeared, leaving her to care for an invalid... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Producer/DJ Carl CraigSaturday, 05 February 2011
Carl Craig is extraordinarily easygoing. Most dance producers of his seniority and level of achievement would come with at least a publicist in tow, but when we meet him in his London hotel, his only entourage is his nine-year-old son, playing... Read more... |
The Big C, More4Thursday, 03 February 2011
Probably the only person who would try and tackle cancer in a "humorous" way in Britain would be Frankie Boyle, and God knows he's not funny. No doubt we'd be treated to jokes about how unattractive women without hair are, or something equally... Read more... |
Boardwalk Empire, Sky AtlanticThursday, 03 February 2011
"We've got a product a fella's got to have," decreed Nucky Thompson, the County Treasurer in Atlantic City the day Prohibition came into force. "Better still, we've got a product he's not allowed to have."For Nucky and his cronies running the... Read more... |
American Ballet Theatre, Prog 2, Sadler’s WellsWednesday, 02 February 2011
Jardin aux Lilas is one of ABT’s great calling cards, and it was danced with great seriousness of purpose and devotion by an admirably schooled cast. This short ballet, to "Poème" by Chausson (admirably played by a pick-up orchestra), is one of... Read more... |
American Ballet Theatre, Prog 1, Sadler's WellsTuesday, 01 February 2011
Was it the worst-played and worst-danced performance of Duo Concertant I’ve ever seen? I can’t remember a direr in my experience of quite a few DCs. But then the opening night of American Ballet Theatre’s London tour was a set of fine promises... Read more... |
Christine Brewer, Wigmore HallFriday, 28 January 2011
Christine Brewer singing American song – it’s like Judi Dench in Shakespeare, or an Aaron Sorkin screenplay: it just doesn’t get any better. Forcing the restrained acoustic of the Wigmore to ring as though it were St Paul’s, and persuading a white-... Read more... |
Interview: Novelist DBC PierreFriday, 28 January 2011
Very early in 2003 I went to the offices of Faber & Faber in Bloomsbury to meet a first-time novelist. At 41, he looked slightly long in the tooth to be fresh out of the traps, even a bit roughed up by life. With seasoned teeth and... Read more... |
CD: Mama Rosin - Black RobertTuesday, 25 January 2011
What’s not to like about this Swiss trio with an unquenchable love of the most obscure American roots music? As well as having the ability to evoke the spirit of early Cajun and rock’n’roll recordings without resorting to staid academic imitation,... Read more... |
Nurse Jackie, BBC TwoSaturday, 22 January 2011
Medical dramas have a never-ending appeal to television viewers; but whereas British versions are more about the heartstrings than open-heart surgery, America prefers its programmes to be done with scalpel-sharp wit and incisive social commentary.... Read more... |
