To be honest, though for most of my adult life I’ve lived less than twenty minutes away from the Bodleian Library, I haven’t spent a great deal of time in its reading rooms – or even using its collections. When younger, I preferred my Oxford college library, and even then, I disliked reading, working and writing in the company of others. The Internet was made for people like me. But … [Read more...]
American Television’s Götterdämmerung Frightens the London Theatre Zone
Owing to circumstances of age and birthplace, I expect I was a fan of – perhaps addicted to – the American TV series of the late-1950s to early 1960s, The Twilight Zone. At this week’s première at the Almeida Theatre of Anne Washburn’s mash-up adaptation of eight episodes of this sci-fi schlock-horror entertainment, I think I did – just – recognise the theme tune. Much as I enjoyed the … [Read more...]
Forgetting Hitchcock
Unlike most of my colleagues, I liked, and was even a little moved by the world première of Nico Muhly’s Marnie by the English National Opera (it goes to the NY Metropolitan next year). I particularly relished Nicholas Wright’s libretto (despite about fifteen minutes-worth of repetition, which could be cut to the piece’s benefit). The merits of Wright’s libretto include the good-old dramatic … [Read more...]
Not Quite What You Will, but Almost
“What country, friends, is this?” You might well ask. In the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new production of Twelfth Night the opening line is delivered by Viola/Cesario, played by Dinita Gohill, in gorgeous Indian get-up, and when we glimpse Esh Alladi as her twin, Sebastian, and Beruce Khan as a turban-topped Feste, you wonder whether director Christopher Luscombe has set Shakespeare’s … [Read more...]
Who is the greatest living publisher of cookery books? Read on
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...]