Hamlet at the Almeida: Sherlock star Andrew Scott brings a twitchy charm to the Danish prince March 3, 2017 King Lear has overtaken Hamlet as the most performed of the Bard’s work, but this outstanding production shows why the Danish prince is still king. The setting is thoroughly contemporary. Hamlet’s world of mid-century modern furniture and 24-hour news is seamlessly woven into the text; if you were watching the play for the first time [...]
Kong: Skull Island review: The daddy of all monster movies reimagined as a Vietnam war film March 3, 2017 Kong: Skull Island takes the daddy of all monster movies and reimagines it as a Vietnam war drama. Set in 1973, references to Apocalypse Now are thrown around so liberally it makes you wonder if director Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ (whose only previous feature film is the coming-of-age indie film The Kings of Summer) wanted to make [...]
How to profit from the Chinese art market and bag some cutting edge paintings while you’re at it March 2, 2017 Which country has the world’s largest art market? Hint: if you’re thinking anything other than “China”, then you’re wrong. Art information website artprice.com estimates that in the first half of 2016, China accounted for 35.5 per cent of the $6.53bn global art sales. Someone out there is making a killing from the Chinese art market, [...]
Patriots Day film review: A moving, yet flawed, dramatisation of the Boston Marathon bombings February 24, 2017 The Hollywoodification of recent American history continues with this dramatisation of the Boston Marathon bombings and the subsequent hunt for the terrorists behind the attacks. It starts off promisingly, following a number of Bostonians as they make plans to watch the annual race on their day off. The lead up to the atrocity itself is [...]
America After the Fall depicts the pain and the anxiety of America following the Wall Street Crash February 23, 2017 Hot on the heels of its Russian Revolution exhibition downstairs, the RA continues on an exciting trajectory in its programming with an equally intriguing – and rigorously curated – show in its Sackler Wing, focusing on American art in the decade following the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. Much has been made of the [...]
Twelfth Night at the National Theatre review: Grieg doesn’t disappoint in this energetic, skilful show February 23, 2017 The worst productions of Shakespeare’s comedies supplement dated jokes with bawdy thrusting and innuendo. But the best just as much scope for innovation than any of the history plays or the tragedies. Thankfully, this production of Twelfth Night falls deftly into the latter category; it’s a vibrant, energetic flight of fancy that’s just as skillful [...]
Electricity: The Spark of Life at the Wellcome Collection is an informative history of everyone’s favourite form of energy February 23, 2017 Frogs appear at several major junctures in the history of electricity. I know, right? I was surprised too, but our amphibian friends are dotted throughout the Wellcome Collection’s new exhibition about everybody’s favourite form of energy, electricity. The very first object you see, in fact, is a frog-shaped amber pendant from Ancient Greece. Long before [...]
Horizon Dark Zero review: A vast and exhilarating post-apocalyptic adventure February 22, 2017 Horizon Zero Dawn is the best looking console game ever made. Set centuries after the collapse of human civilisation, you play as Aloy, an outcast in a beautifully overgrown post apocalyptic world inhabited by futuristic machines. With tonnes of quests, a lengthy story and a huge open world, Horizon is rich with things to do [...]
Beyond Caravaggio has left the National Gallery, so we’ll just have to put up with Cagnacci’s Italian Baroque masterpiece instead February 20, 2017 For those missing strong, dramatic Italian Baroque art in their lives now the excellent Beyond Caravaggio show has wrapped, the National Gallery have secured (timely, for Valentines?) a superb and extremely rare loan of the magnificent painting, ‘The Repentant Magdalene’ by Guido Cagnacci, from the Norton Simon Museum in California. Many will likely not have heard [...]
Nick Jones interview: Soho House founder on The Ned, his new £200m project in the heart of the Square Mile February 18, 2017 As Nick Jones returns his teacup to its saucer, sits back and spreads his arms across the fluffy blue sofa, he looks uncommonly comfy. Of course he does. The founder of the world’s most famous chain of private members clubs, Soho House, is in his home from home, 76 Dean Street, one of 18 dotted [...]