David Pountney is a genius. The British-Polish director has transformed one of the repertoire’s most difficult and eccentric operas into a madcap, merry work of art, bursting with colour, humour and silliness. I was both intrigued by and slightly dreading The Excursions of Mr Brouček at Grange Park Opera. I ended up with quite a
If you could transplant the hearts face emoji onto humans, then the crowd at the Old Vic last night would have radiated red, pulsating love for Noel Coward’s Present Laughter. That’s because Andrew Scott was in the house, having recently traded in his cassocks from Fleabag, for a much more jazzy, art-deco inspired wardrobe in
Tom Hiddleston is clearly a really nice guy. He’s on-stage for a straight 90 minutes in Harold Pinter’s 1978 classic, Betrayal, and follows with autograph signing and selfie-taking with the hordes of fans who wait for him at the Harold Pinter Theatre stage door. So, it’s with a heavy heart than I tell you that
As a young Parisienne, I would dream of floating across the Channel to London’s rooftops in the company of a sooty Bert and his Mary Poppins. Pan and Tinker Bell would whisk me over to Big Ben in the blink of a sleepy eye, and for breakfast, I would make marmalade sandwiches with Paddington Bear.
It’s time to hop into your winged slippers and take a trip round a magical London – one where childhood dreams never end. These London tales tell of a honey-loving bear from Harrods, an eccentric detective, boys with magic powers, giants and a Gothic vampire. So, without further ado, let’s take a swashbuckling, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious literary
Please don’t send in the clowns, I whispered to myself as I took a seat at the Royal Festival Hall last night to watch Circus 1903. And here’s the great news: there wasn’t a single Krusty, Bozo or Grimaldi in this funny, sensual and gravity-defying showstopper. What you get instead is a big top serving
I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t know it was going to be such a bumper of an evening. With echoes of Bette Davis in my head, I sat my bum in a Noel Coward Theatre seat to watch Lily James and Gillian Anderson, and one of my favourite actors, Sondheim
The tale of Orpheus and Eurydice might be a “sad, sad story of woe” but the Little Bulb Theatre version at the Battersea Arts Centre is anything and everything but sad. It’s hammy, funny, moving, silly and utterly brilliant. The epic Greek myth of Orpheus descending into hell to collect his wife, Eurydice, has been
It’s all very well dragging the kids to London’s big-name museums, but which galleries and museums will your children actually like? And once you’re there, which painting, sculpture or object will they really appreciate? London is one giant artscape, and with most of it free, it’s hard to decide where to take children. Follow me
If you’ve ever been to Cuba, you may have visited La Guarida, one of Havana’s most famous paladar restaurants and which attained mythical status after Beyoncé sashayed in and out of it with Jay Z. Its gloriously-faded staircase is the set design inspiration for the sizzling new musical, Carmen La Cubana, which opened at Sadler’s