The Devil Has The Best Tunes You might think that Orfeo’s visit to the underworld was a bad trip, but the appearance of sinkholes next to a Purley railway bridge made yesterday’s journey to Glyndebourne from London similarly hellish, with train cancellations and quite a few ticketholders having to cancel. However, the transport-induced shenanigans didn’t […]
A Life in Four Seasons, Regent’s Park Theatre
Vivaldi’s Masterpiece Re-imagined in Dance A Life in Four Seasons is an exuberant riff on the phases of our lives, danced by a company that encompasses a range of ages and training, and all the better for that. Presented in the feel-good, sylvan setting of the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre on a mercifully dry […]
Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria – Garsington Opera
From Orfeo to Ulisse: The Second Chapter of a Monteverdi Journey Visiting Garsington for the second time this season (check our review of Rosenkavalier for more of what is on), the production of Il ritorno d’Ulisse from The English Concert seems particularly apposite. I’m moving away from London, and much as I love summer excursions […]
So Are We: León and Lightfoot at Covent Garden
The Royal Ballet Excels in a New Choreographic Language The dancers of The Royal Ballet are truly special. We knew that, of course, but to see the way in which they mastered the totally alien choreographic language of León and Lightfoot was heart-warming. The double bill So Are We marks the first time work by […]
Witness for the Prosecution Gala Night
Champagne and Murder at County Hall Agatha Christie’s play Witness for the Prosecution is now in its 9th year at the atmospheric octagonal Edwardian Baroque ex-council chamber of County Hall, the iconic behemoth of a building on Westminster Bridge that used to house both the London County Council and its successor, the Greater London Council. […]
This is Rambert
On its Centenary, Rambert Looks to the Future You can celebrate a landmark birthday – a centenary, in the case of Rambert, the UK’s foremost contemporary dance company, in one of two ways. You can look back at the key moments of a long and illustrious life to outline “how we got here”. Or you […]
Ballet Nights New Futures
A Showcase for the UK’s Major Dance Schools For its latest edition, Ballet Nights went off piste: instead of assembling a cast of seasoned professionals and up-and-coming dancers and choreographers, as it’s done over the past 11 editions, director Jamiel Devernay-Laurence brought together the top seven ballet schools in the UK for an unprecedented joint […]
White Rabbit Red Rabbit – Duchess Theatre
Theatre as a social experiment An actor opens an envelope on stage. Inside is a script they have never seen. This is not a rehearsal, and there is no director. The performance is now. White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a one-person show written by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour. Opened in London as part of its […]
Sir Peter Wright at 100
A Celebration of “a True Man of the Theatre” Dancer, teacher, artistic director, choreographer – Sir Peter Wright is a towering, inspirational figure in British ballet, “a true man of the theatre”, in the words of Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare. As he turns 100-years-old this year (25 November), Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is holding […]
Tosca at Glyndebourne
The First Cut is the Deepest We are a bit late to the party in reviewing American director Ted Huffman’s new production of Tosca at Glyndebourne. I only managed to get to see the fourth performance of the opera house’s first production of Puccini’s “shabby little shocker”, as described by critic Joseph Kerman in 1952. […]