Haruki Murakami’s 1999 novel Sputnik Sweetheart comes to the Arcola stage, with all its ambiguity, loneliness and longing. Sputnik Sweetheart The novels of Haruki Murakami are not easy ones to stage. Ambiguous, with frequently charismatic yet unreliable narrators, and other worlds as metaphorical plot devices. I’ve read other works by the author, but not Sputnik […]
A world premiere in Hornchurch as Killing Jack takes the stage, reclaiming the stories of the five women whose lives have been overshadowed by their deaths in the autumn of 1888. Content warning: contains references to (sexual) violence, death and grief. Killing Jack Whitechapel, 1888. Five murders take place from September to November. All women, […]
A large-scale exhibition of the work of Frans Hals at the National Gallery is an opportunity to get to know the full range of this talented Dutch painter. Frans Hals At The National Gallery I was at first a little surprised to read that this exhibition at the National Gallery was the first of Hals’ […]
Sam Steiner’s play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons comes to the Royal Opera House stage as new dance-theatre work The Limit. What will a new medium bring to the story? Find out below. The Limit I saw Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons last year in the West End: a play which started life as a […]
Spooky thrills and laughs: it’s time for another pre-Halloween treat in the form of The Nag’s Head, brought to London’s Park Theatre by Make it Beautiful Theatre Company. The Nag’s Head ‘Tis the season and all that. OK, not quite that season yet, we have the spooky season of Halloween first. And an evening of […]
The Tate co-organised exhibition Radical Landscapes moves to the William Morris Gallery, bringing with it new connections and meaning. Radical Landscapes Landscapes are not neutral. This is the central thesis of Radical Landscapes. Instead, the exhibition suggests, landscapes are a contested space in life as in art. Radical Landscapes is all about how we view, […]
An eery retelling of a Victorian tale of the supernatural, Casting the Runes is a perfect pre-Halloween treat. Casting The Runes My favourite type of horror story does not contain slasher gore or lots of jump scares. I prefer horror in its original sense, where the focus is on creating a sense of fear. A […]
James Graham tells the story of Gareth Southgate’s England team in Dear England, an insightful play which also examines the place of individual, team and national psychology in sport and society. Dear England Dear England is a play about football. What do I know about football? Not a whole lot, really. But Dear England is […]
A clever little story about a very Victorian scandal, The Flea shows just what an impact something seemingly insignificant can have. The Flea Well, which flea? The flea. That started it all. The flea that bit the rat, which spooked a horse, which kicked a man, which… so on and so on. OK, not a […]
A video installation inside St Pancras New Church, A Room of One’s Own reminds us to take stock of our lockdown experience for good and ill. A Room Of One’s Own This is today’s second Bloomsbury Festival post. A double bill, if you will, which gives a taster of just some of what’s on offer. […]
