As I am a regular contributor to The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and still earn a bit of my keep by writing obituaries for the British national newspapers, it is a rare delight to pen a tribute to a living person. But I have the excuse of having been asked to provide a summary of the career of a dear friend, a major figure in the food world, (and who has published at least one book … [Read more...]
How élite does opera get? From the private loo to the movie & the museum – opera’s for all
Who knew? To the right of the Royal Box at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, is the Bedford Box, its identical twin, but nearer the stage. Same private entrance, same butler-run dining-room, even the same china/thunderbox private loo. It’s the only privately-owned box in the ROH and belongs to some generous people who occasionally give the use of it to our equally generous friend – who took us … [Read more...]
What’s Growing in Albion?
The title of the new Mike Bartlett/Rupert Goold collaboration at the Almeida Theatre (until 24 November) tells you everything. “Albion” is, after all, just another name for this island, Great Britain, from the ancient Greek Ἀλβιών. Like, Charles III, the last project written by Bartlett and directed by Goold, Albion is a state-of-the-nation play. This time, however, the conceit is not the court or … [Read more...]
Lies & Damnable Uncertainty
Two new London theatre productions, The Lie and Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, seem to have little in common, save that they are both topics discussed by philosophers. But director Lindsay Posner’s The Lie by Florian Zeller, in a zippy translation and adaptation by Christopher Hampton (at the Menier Chocolate Factory until 18 November), and Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle (at Wyndham’s … [Read more...]
Aida at the ENO: singing the words of one song to the tune of another
No production of Aida will ever improve on the one I saw in 1962 at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. (I was only 21, and with my father – so if my memory has burnished or slighted some of the details, forgive me.) The Triumphal March had not one, but two corps de ballet (some dancers and acrobats, I regret to say, in blackface – but it was a long time ago), and they were preceded by live … [Read more...]
After Degas: Burrell Collection at the National Gallery
A small Degas show, “Drawn in Colour,” at the National Gallery until 7 May, comprises a splendid group of pictures, chiefly on loan from the Burrell Collection, near Glasgow, complemented by some from the National’s own horde. It’s a little difficult to find, as it’s not in the Sainsbury wing, but in the main-floor galleries, and the National Gallery’s disability-challenging signage doesn’t … [Read more...]
Upstairs & Downstairs at the Royal National Theatre
photograph Johan Persson It’s said (by Michael Coveney, in his superb new book, London Theatres, Frances Lincoln, £30) that the auditorium of the 1,100-seat Olivier Theatre (upstairs at the Royal National Theatre) is modelled on the amphitheatre at Epidaurus. This makes it an especially poignant venue for a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, which depicts a reunion of the chorus … [Read more...]
The Artist in His Studio – Matisse: and These are a Few of His Favourite Things
The artist’s studio is different things to different people. I’ve been in quite a few of these (often magical) spaces. The first I can remember is Barbara Hepworth’s in Cornwall, and most of what I recollect about that visit is the ashtrays, which were everywhere. Duncan Grant’s studio at Charleston had half-full ashtrays as well, also a decorated fireplace with a lovely metal stove, bottles of … [Read more...]
A Scientific Cure for Mosquito Bite? Not the Higgs Boson.
You have to wonder a little why Lucy Kirkwood’s new play (at the Dorfman, National Theatre, directed by the NT’s head honcho, Rufus Norris) is called Mosquitoes. The nasty wee beasties are the special research interest of one of the minor characters in this drama of love and loss against a background of trailblazing science – and his big idea is to wipe out malaria by targeting “the mosquito at … [Read more...]
Take it from an old friend, Bob, you just gotta see this
Girl from the North Country, which has just opened at the Old Vic is not easy to describe. Other theatrical events have had strange origins – for example, most of Peter Sellar’s oeuvre, or Jonathan Miller’s staging of the Matthew Passion; but the genesis of this play with music, written and directed by Conor McPherson, strains the imagination. According to the Old Vic programme essay, about four … [Read more...]