London’s International Festival of Dance Returns to Stage and Screen Dance Umbrella has been bringing both established and experimental dance to London every year for almost half a century. Over that period, the annual festival has necessarily evolved, gradually moving away from established companies to shift its focus to boundary-busting artists, whose work sometimes stretches […]
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Sadler’s Wells
Pioneers of Contemporary Dance Enthrall with New and Legacy Works There are many reasons why New York-based Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is one of the best-loved contemporary dance companies in the world: the impeccable, expansive technique of its dancers, the joy they bring to everything they do, the variety and inventiveness of its repertoire, […]
Alcina, Royal Ballet and Opera
Richard Jones’ Sparky Alcina Takes Flight Richard Jones’ 2022 production of Handel’s Alcina had its first revival last night at Covent Garden, with most of the cast, including star soprano Lisette Oropesa, mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo and soprano Mary Bevan, reprising their roles. Jones’ Alcina was unfortunate to have been produced in the same year as […]
The McRae/Vassilev Project
Two Virtuosi of Dance and Music Strut Their Stuff at the Linbury Two virtuosi of dance and music, respectively, Royal Ballet principal dancer Steven McRae and violinist and principal guest concert master Vasko Vassilev came together in the Linbury, the second stage of the house they call home, to perform, reminisce and pay homage to […]
Man to Man – Royal Court Theatre
Tilda Swinton delivers a powerhouse character study Tilda Swinton was in her mid-twenties when she first performed Manfred Karge’s one-act monologue Man to Man. The play landed in a very different cultural moment: the Cold War hung over Europe; the Berlin Wall still cut the German capital in two. Almost 40 years after the original […]
Arcangelo Bach B Minor Mass – BBC Proms
Award-winning early music ensemble Arcangelo brings the B Minor to the RAH I find it really hard to review the Bach B Minor Mass. As one of the towering masterpieces of Western music, it in some senses defies criticism. Albert Einstein even, allegedly, said: ‘This is what I have to say about Bach’s life’s work: […]
Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy, Stratford East
Ava Pickett’s latest play starring Michelle Dockery Although Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy is billed as a conflict between two female friends, there is much more to rising playwright Ava Pickett’s dynamic follow up to her award-winning 1536. With feisty dialogue in a domestic Essex sitting room, it’s like a modern Abigail’s Party except there’s […]
The Children — Lyric Hammersmith Theatre
A tender study of nuclear fallout Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children is about energy. The emotional core of the play is a charged love triangle between ex-engineers; its literal core is a broken nuclear reactor that explodes the drama into life. The Children explores the repercussions of an environmental catastrophe as they play out in the […]
Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House
A Punchy Don Giovanni to Open the Royal Opera Season The new season at the Royal Opera House kicked off last night with a strong revival of Kasper Holten’s 2014 production of Don Giovanni. Holten casts us deep into the amoral, guiltless world of the eponymous arch seducer. A man whose power and self-belief catalyses the […]
Tartuffe (Remixed) – Marylebone Theatre
Mark Rylance stars in a farce for our times When Molière’s farce Tartuffe was first performed for the King of France in 1664, it is thought that it met with royal approval, with King Louis XIV finding it amusing. Shortly afterwards, the play was banned after pressure was brought to bear on the king by […]