A good, but far from great interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s better-known plays. Productions of HV are famous for being tuned to the prevailing sentiments of the time, but this version didn’t seem to know what it was trying to say beyond the very obvious. Alfred Enoch sadly didn’t have the heft for Henry and… Read More
Category: Stage
Drive is an exceedingly stylish film that startles you out of an appreciative smile with several shockingly violent scenes. I don’t think I’m squeamish, but there was one sequence I couldn’t watch. Ryan Gosling plays the Driver – an American movie hero in the footsteps of many a Clint Eastwood character. Carey Mulligan plays the… Read More
As we’ve established, I’m no classical music expert, but was excited for my first ever visit to the Royal Albert Hall (surprisingly comfortable). The programme was Brahms’ 2nd piano concerto, with Emanuel Ax at the piano, and then Brahms’ 4th symphony. Both were played by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and (82 year-old!) Bernard Haitink… Read More
Entertaining 1973 comedy with Glenda turning in an Oscar-winning performance. 8/10
A mixed bag at this event, and headliner Harry Shearer could only join by Skype, which didn’t work. Judith Kerr was the stand-out highlight, Jay Rayner was surprisingly entertaining, Janet Street-Porter woeful. Expensive for what it was, especially when deprived of Shearer. 4/10
I feel less qualified to talk about classical music than any other art form, so will just say that I saw Jukka-Pekka Sarastre conduct the London Philharmonic. The programme was Beethoven’s Overture, Egmont followed by Bohuslav Martinů’s Violin Concerto No.2 with Frank Peter Zimmermann as the soloist. After the interval, there was a performance of… Read More
The day that London got its head round the imminent closure of Kilburn’s Luminaire saw me there amidst a sea of Canadians listening to Joel Plaskett accompanied by his Dad Bill. Imagine a young Ralph Feinnes crossed with Neil Finn to get a sense of Plaskett’s mix of boyish charm and folk-inspired songs. The crowd… Read More
Stewart Lee – Vegetable Stew
Britain’s least well-known brilliant stand-up Stewart Lee testing out more material for that telly. Mostly genius if at times more theatrical monologue than stand-up comedy but Lee’s audience tends to know what it’s letting itself in for. Still the master of technique – and knows it. 8/10
100 Years of Iconic London Transport Posters
Claire Dobbin, senior curator at the London Transport Museum rattled through a century of posters in 45 minutes, doing a fantastic job of covering both the design philosophies, the artists and the social messages of each period. 8/10
Not my favourite Atom Egoyan film. It has some interesting ideas, but never really hangs together like his other classics. Still a class apart from most filmmakers though. 7/10