The National Gallery uses its art world influence to bring together an astonishing array of works in Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350. Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 Phew, I’ve finally managed to stop rushing around exhibitions that are closing, and get to a few that you might still have a chance of seeing, […]
SWING! SWING! ADMIRAL BYNG! at the Playground Theatre is a thoughtful look at legacy and justice, with strong performances and clever design, though uneven pacing holds it back. SWING! SWING! ADMIRAL BYNG! I like serendipitous moments. One happened to me recently when I heard that a play was going to be on at the Playground […]
Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo is worth seeing not so much for the art itself, but for the way it rounds out Hugo as much more than just a famous author. Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo How much did I know about Victor Hugo before coming to this exhibition at the […]
In Showdown, Upswing turns the TV talent-show format on its head, mixing circus spectacle with sharp reflections on ambition, risk, and control. Showdown This is it: the final of the competition to decide the new face of circus arts. Six contenders remain, battling it out in a series of challenges to determine the champion. Sound […]
Another expansive Tate Britain exhibition, The 80s: Photographing Britain focuses a political lens on this crucial decade in modern British history. The Eternal Torture of Exhibition Schedules That’s a dramatic title now, isn’t it? Good to write something attention-grabbing every now and then. And frankly my list of exhibitions, many of which are in the […]
William Kentridge’s film Oh to Believe in Another World creates a subversively complex emotional landscape to accompany Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E Minor. Oh to Believe in Another World As I’ve established before, I’m no expert in classical music. In fact, I’m sometimes woefully unable to distinguish my Tchaikovsky from my Camille Saint-Saëns when it […]
A small but interesting exhibition featuring some new donations to the Queer Britain collection, Jimmy Somerville and Bronski Beat is well worth a look if you’re in the King’s Cross cultural quarter. Jimmy Somerville and Bronski Beat It’s not all that long since I last visited Queer Britain — you can read about that visit […]
A last minute excursion to the Royal Academy exhibition Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism introduces me to some new artists. But does it all hang together? Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism Art lovers who follow the Salterton Arts Review may have noticed there has not been a lot of art content in recent […]
SOIR NOIR is a stylish evening of song and storytelling that channels intimate American soirees with wit, warmth, and a contemporary flair. SOIR NOIR at The Crazy Coqs The almost inexhaustible number of venues in London is one of its enduring wonders. There’s always somewhere you haven’t quite been yet, or some corner of culture […]
The meeting of two women in a London train station has all the energy and mystery of quantum physics in this queer reworking of Simon Stephens’ Heisenberg. Heisenberg Formulated by the German physicist and Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg in 1927, the uncertainty principle states that we cannot know both the position and speed of a […]
