Plain English

Did you know that you can go to Buckingham Palace without an invitation? Most people don't realize that The Queen's Gallery is part of Buck House: you buys your ticket and they lets you in (the price of the ticket includes the use of the excellent loos, as well).  And if you're only going to the gift shop (the best in London - I'm told the dark marmalade is terrific) you don't even need … [Read more...]

Funny that the same theatre company sometimes has a hit and a flop in the same week; but that's exactly what the Royal Shakespeare Company did recently. Denis Kelly's new play, his take on King Lear, called The Gods Weep, and starring Jeremy Irons, opened at the RSC's current London base, the Hampstead Theatre. It was so very bad (and this is, I believe, the unanimous view of all us … [Read more...]

 Among the several surprising exhibitions in London at the moment is the British Museum's Kingdom of Ife: sculptures from West Africa.   Like many people, I had vaguely seen some of the sculptures - such as the "Ori Olokun" head, because it was used as the logo for an all-African sporting event in 1973, and had managed to impinge on my consciousness.  But though … [Read more...]

 Among the several surprising exhibitions in London at the moment is the British Museum's Kingdom of Ife: sculptures from West Africa.   Like many people, I had vaguely seen some of the sculptures - such as the "Ori Olokun" head, because it was used as the logo for an all-African sporting event in 1973, and had managed to impinge on my consciousness.  But though … [Read more...]

 Two operas in a week and two odd, Anthony Powell-ish coincidences. Jonathan Miller's wonderful production of Così fan tutte is having its sixth revival at Covent Garden, and Sir Jonathan seems to have changed his mind again about how the story ends. In his original version, I seem to remember, the two boys leave the two girls and go off with each other at the end - though whether … [Read more...]

Enron has transferred to the Noel Coward Theatre after its beginnings at the Chichester Festival (where I saw it early last year) and then its run at the Royal Court. At the time I thought it was the best new play I'd seen that year and, indeed, yesterday its director, Rupert Goold, won the Critic's Circle award for best director for it. This was one of the few winners I managed to vote for in … [Read more...]

Late last year I had the good luck to be shown around the exhibition of Van Gogh's letters at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam by Ann Dumas, who is the curator of "The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters," which has just opened at the Royal Academy in London (and continues until 18 April).  So I am in the happy position of being able to tell you what almost no one has noticed - … [Read more...]

At every year's end there's a rush to nominate and then vote for the UK Critics' Circle Drama Awards, and every year I suffer from the same sudden memory failure. What and whom have I seen in 2009 that merits a gong? Good though my short-term memory is for the details of performances and sets, by a few days after the review has appeared I'm fortunate if I can remember the name of the play or its … [Read more...]

Tomorrow at the Gagosian Gallery at 17-19 Davies Street, London W1, my close friend Howard Hodgkin has a show of ]Seven New Paintings.  I saw some of them in his studio, small, vigorous, and fresh, and so recognisably, uniquely, by Hodgkin, that I was able to spot what was in the envelope bearing the announcement from seeing the brush-work of one detail of Embrace (below). Another … [Read more...]

It's not every day that I'll take the trouble to go to Birmingham to hear a piece of contemporary music - or to do anything else, as the train fare is 20 per cent more than the fare from Oxford to London (though the distance is smaller), and as my wife refuses to drive in Birmingham because of its diabolical navigation difficulties.  Despite having to share our carriage on the return leg with … [Read more...]