A Razor-sharp Barber of Seville at Glyndebourne Tonight saw the fourth revival of Annabel Arden’s 2016 production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at Glyndebourne. I saw last summer’s revival and the cast and band sang and played their socks off. Would this Autumn Season’s iteration be able to match those heights? Director Arden co-founded […]
Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorised Musical Parody (Underbelly Boulevard Soho)
A musical romp that parodies the hit ice hockey-themed TV series Heated Rivalry transfers from a successful Edinburgh Fringe run to the West End.
The Marriage of Figaro – Glyndebourne Autumn Season
Glyndebourne’s The Marriage of Figaro Delivers and Delights Last night saw the opening of Glyndebourne’s Autumn Season with the delightful first revival of director Mariame Clément’s Festival 2025 production of The Marriage of Figaro, an opera that has been a central plank of the opera house’s programming since the very first Glyndebourne Festival in 1934. […]
Manon, The Royal Ballet
Manon, Kenneth MacMillan’s transporting ballet, opens at Covent Garden Manon, Abbé Prevost’s novel of innocence corrupted in 18th-century Paris, where abject poverty coexisted with an obscenely rich, amoral aristocracy and everything was for sale, offered fertile material for choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan, a peerless chronicler of tempestuous human feelings and frailties. Shocking when it premiered […]
Fulham Sky Deck
Footie and Fizz at Sky Deck! On a sunny late summer’s day, the matchday walk down by the river to Fulham FC’s ground at Craven Cottage is as pretty as it is exciting. I was off to see the Fulham – Manchester United match and to review Sky Deck, Fulham FC’s ultra-premium match day hospitality offer. […]
Mont Rochelle wine dinner – Virgin Hotel Shoreditch
Franschoek meets Shoreditch with a wine dinner of Mont Rochelle wines from South Africa at the Virgin Hotel Shoreditch
The Herd/Less, Sadler’s Wells East
South African Artist Mamela Niamza Returns to Dance Umbrella The Herd/Less opened the live in-person section of this year’s Dance Umbrella festival at a poorly attended Sadler’s Wells East, once again illustrating the festival’s ongoing drift away from dance. Time was when you could look forward to London’s annual festival of dance in the expectation […]
A taste of wine, beer and spirits at WSET School London in Bermondsey
Learning to taste, pair and understand wine, beer and spirits If you know your wine, chances are you have heard of WSET School London. The Wine & Spirit Education Trust was founded in 1969 as a charitable trust to provide education for the UK wine and spirits trade. Today, more than 50 years later, it […]
A Centenary Celebration
The Royal Ballet School’s 100th Birthday Bash One hundred years ago, a visionary woman of indomitable will, Ninette de Valois, founded what she called The Academy of Choreographic Art, an institution that would train dancers “to meet the various demands of the theatre”, through the teachings of classical school. Spool forward one century, and today […]
Beethoven/Bruckner: Salonen/Andsnes/Philharmonia
An Engrossing Beethoven/Bruckner Concert from Salonen and the Philharmonia This was my first time at the Philharmonia’s occasional Sunday at 3 pm concerts, in this case at the Royal Festival Hall for a Beethoven/Bruckner programme conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. It won’t be my last. The timing is ideal for those who don’t want to be […]