Manet: Portraying Life
“This retrospective at the Royal Academy provides a fascinating insight into the relationship between Manet’s work as a portraitist and those of his realistic scenes of modern life.”
Browsing: The Culturist
The Royal Ballet: Onegin
“Onegin is one of the most powerful ballets in the general repertory. It stems from Pushkin’s verse-novel of the same name, a staple of Russian literature published in the nineteenth century.”
Cirque du Soleil’s Koozå
“I grew up seeing snippets of Cirque du Soleil’s wonders on the Royal Variety Performance (back when it featured acts worth watching), never quite believing how the tricks and talents could be real.”
The ENB’s Sleeping Beauty
“If Anna Pavlova was dainty enough to lend her name to a meringue dessert, then the English National Ballet dancers of this Sleeping Beauty remind one of a selection box of Ladurée macaroons.”
Simon Callow on A Christmas Carol
As winter’s gnarled fingers claw at our cores and we battle the last-minute shopping to…
Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty
“Matthew Bourne might not be for the purists in the audience, but for those of us eager to see a new take on traditional ballets he consistently succeeds in creating excitement and surprise for old and young alike.”
Old Money at the Hampstead Theatre
“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple, with a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves , and satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.”
(S)he is a Dreamer: Julius Caesar
“I found myself at the Donmar Warehouse, preparing to watch Phyllida Lloyd’s Julius Caesar – arguably the most masculine of Shakespeare’s plays – performed by an all-female cast.”
Festive Frolics: Skating and Candlelit Carols
If Christmas turns you into a couch potato and you’re looking for some ideas to keep your relatives and sugar-fuelled children entertained this Christmas, here is our guide to the best of the best during the festive season…
Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company: Quimeras at Sadler’s Wells
“It was the press night of the Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company’s Quimeras . The journalist seated beside me whooped at any opportunity, sobbed during the second half, and was the first one to her feet when it came to the standing ovation.”
Written in the Stars: Constellations
“From the mundane to the truly life-changing, the different paths our lives can or could have taken create a spaghetti junction of possible scenarios for the here and now (and future and past).”
Handbags at Dawn: Carmen at the ENO
“Carmen, Bizet’s masterpiece, was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1875 where it initially received only limited success before catching the imagination of opera lovers everywhere.”