Canada
The Queen's Green Planet, ITV review - right royal arborealsTuesday, 17 April 2018
QCC isn’t the name of a new football club, nor some higher qualification for those toiling at the Bar, but stands for "Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy". Had you heard of it? On the eve of the Commonwealth conference, along came Jane Treays's gently... Read more... |
Arcade Fire, Wembley Arena review - sensational spectacleFriday, 13 April 2018
The Stones do it. U2 too. It takes immense and lordly clout for a touring band to breeze into town and each night summon a major recording artist to step onstage for some party fun. For Arcade Fire’s first night at Wembley Arena it was Chrissie... Read more... |
Big Cats, BBC One review - how cats conquered the worldFriday, 12 January 2018
Accepted wisdom seemed to be that in the animal world rats and cockroaches were the most adaptable and the most widely geographically distributed, followed by those pesky humans. But think again: the premise in this new three-part series is that the... Read more... |
My Mum's a Twat, Royal Court review - Patsy Ferran shines in a solo play that looks back in angerThursday, 11 January 2018
That ages-old dictum "write what you know" has given rise to the intriguingly titled My Mum's a Twat, in which the Royal Court's delightful head of press, Anoushka Warden, here turns first-time playwright, much as the Hampstead Theatre's then-press... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Sofya Gulyak, The Prince Regent's Band, EsmerineSaturday, 25 November 2017
Chaconne - Sofya Gulyak (piano) (Champs Hill Records)Traditionally, a chaconne is an instrumental piece in triple time with a continually repeating bass line. Sofya Gulyak, winner of the 2009 Leeds Piano Competition, gives us seven. Best known... Read more... |
CD: The Burning Hell - Revival BeachThursday, 02 November 2017
“The Babysitter” tells the story of a Scottish spy embedded with the Nazis during World War Two who has come home. His sister tells him that Unity Mitford is convalescing at a nearby cottage. Visiting, he finds that it’s a maternity home. The... Read more... |
Angela Hewitt, Wigmore Hall review – Bach Partitas shine and singThursday, 19 October 2017
On paper this was a fairly austere piece of programming. No variety in composer, genre or style, just four Bach Partitas in a row, works of similar approach, length and technique. And yet in performance, in the hands of Angela Hewitt, there was... Read more... |
Mae Martin, Soho Theatre review - life is a drugTuesday, 19 September 2017
She’s only 30, but Mae Martin has been at this comedy lark for a long time. By her own admission she was a rather strange child; she became obsessed with stand-up after her parents took her to a comedy club when she was 11, and she started... Read more... |
CD: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Luciferian TowersTuesday, 19 September 2017
Luciferian Towers, the third album since Canadian oddballs Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s 2011 reunion, is an instrumental psychedelic masterpiece that reflects our times without resorting to political bluster. Indeed, with two of its four tracks... Read more... |
Tin Star, Sky Atlantic - broken characters stalked by remorseless fateMonday, 11 September 2017
Sometimes you can find yourself hankering after those old-fashioned TV dramas where you got a self-contained story every week, so you can drop in on it at any time and still keep up with what’s going on. With Tin Star, on the other hand, you need to... Read more... |
Late Company, Trafalgar Studios review - visceral production of Jordan Tannahill's lean, pained dramaTuesday, 29 August 2017
Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill wrote Late Company when he was only 23. It would be an impressive achievement at any age, but it seems all the more remarkable that so stark a dissection of the consequences of a tragedy should have come from so... Read more... |
Maudie review - intriguing and irritating in turnFriday, 04 August 2017
The little-known Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis is the Maudie of the title of Aisling Walsh's grim-faced biopic, which feels frustratingly incomplete where it really counts. Sally Hawkins's committed occupancy of this sweet-faced if largely... Read more... |
