Reviews
Rodin, Eifman Ballet, London ColiseumWednesday, 16 April 2014
Before Boris Eifman’s second visit to London this week, ballet lovers who missed the divisive Russian dancemaker last time round will have been weighing up the merits of a punt on a ticket. If they were basing their calculations on reviews, I... Read more... |
Watermen: A Dirty Business, BBC TwoWednesday, 16 April 2014
It’s a misnomer, of course. Water. It’s not even a prissy misnomer as in “when did you last pass water?” It’s more categorical than that: solids rather than liquids are our subject here. This is essentially a show about shit. Shit and all who sail... Read more... |
Matisse: The Cut-Outs, Tate ModernTuesday, 15 April 2014
When it comes to the two vying giants of 20th century art we do – don’t we? – all fall into that cliché of two opposing camps. You have the seductions of colour and decorative form on the one hand and you have the more classical rigours of line on... Read more... |
We Are the Best!Tuesday, 15 April 2014
For a teenager, a parent’s birthday party is never comfortable. As We Are the Best! opens, it’s worse than that for Bobo as she holds a torch for punk rock and her mother is determined to have a good time. It’s Stockholm in 1982 and no matter how... Read more... |
Only Connect, BBC FourTuesday, 15 April 2014
EM Forster fans will straight away get the reference in the quiz show's title to Howards End. Those of a less literary bent will make another mental link – Connect Four, a game for six-year-olds and up invented in 1974 and still going strong – which... Read more... |
Olivier Awards 2014: Mormons, Ghosts, and ChimericaMonday, 14 April 2014
Gavin Creel licked his trophy in delight, Zrinka Cvitešić spoke of making Croatian history, and Sharon D Clarke let out an exultant "wow" from the podium that was surely heard well beyond the walls of the Royal Opera House. And so it was Sunday... Read more... |
Trifonov, LSO, Gergiev, BarbicanMonday, 14 April 2014
This concert brought to a close the London Symphony Orchestra's focus on Scriabin, in a series appropriately titled "Music in colour". The Third Symphony was partnered here with Messiaen’s early work Les offrandes oubliées and Chopin’s Second Piano... Read more... |
LockeMonday, 14 April 2014
The first line of his Wikipedia entry says that Tom Hardy "is an English actor" (he was born in Hammersmith), but for the 84 minute duration of Locke I was fully prepared to accept that he came from Llangollen or Llareggub. The film's narrative... Read more... |
Maudie's Rooms, Bute Street, Cardiff BayMonday, 14 April 2014
Cardiff Bay’s Bute Street is home to many imposing buildings, a large number of which are derelict. They have the potential to become something more than they currently are. They can be revived, and that’s what Louise Osborn has done by mounting her... Read more... |
Ivo Neame Quintet, Kings PlaceSunday, 13 April 2014
Pianist Ivo Neame, whose quintet gave a masterclass in the more reflective, concept-driven variety of contemporary jazz at Kings Place last night, is one of the lynchpins of the London scene. As well as leading and composing for this, his own group... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Vee-Jay RecordsSunday, 13 April 2014
Various Artists: Chicago Hit Factory – The Vee-Jay Story 1953-1966According to the book accompanying this 10-disc tribute to the Chicago independent label, “in one month alone in 1964 Vee-Jay records sold 2.6 million records. Two years later... Read more... |
The Rite of Spring & Petrushka, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, Sadler's WellsSaturday, 12 April 2014
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring captures the pulsing terror of seasonal change, the relentless onward drive of nature that brings death closer even as life burns at its most ferocious. The 1913 première of the ballet created by Vaslav Nijinsky... Read more... |
