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.”
Browsing: The Culturist
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.”
The Magistrate: You Be the Judge
The playwright Arthur Wing Pinero (and, yes, Wing really was his middle name, as opposed…
Great Scot! Jack Vettriano’s Exclusive Painting For Scottish Awards
Scottish artist and OBE Jack Vettriano, renowned for his iconic painting ‘The Singing Butler’ which…
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night needs no introduction, but the cast of this production might; there’s a chap called Stephen Fry you might have heard of, and another called Mark Rylance. It caused a frenzy at the Arts desk…
Uncle Vanya at the Vaudeville
In what appears to be a season of Chekhov fluttering through London’s West End, the latest production boasts an impressive cast on stage…and in the stalls, it would seem…
Uncut: A Season of Films at the BFI
It’s a curious facet of the human psychological condition that we actively seek to do…