Long Weekend review: Island hopping around Spain’s Balearic Islands, from luxury villa to serene Mediterranean spa June 3, 2016 THE WEEKEND: Island-hopping around the Balearics is the perfect way to spend a three-day weekend. The Mediterranean islands may be notorious party hotspots, but the charm of the Balearics is easy to find in the quieter parts of the islands. You know, the parts that don’t attract groups of lads who expect two-for-one Jagerbombs poured [...]
The beautiful Caribbean island of Anguilla is the shimmering blue epitome of tropical fun times June 3, 2016 Far out in the well charted waters of the east Caribbean lies the Leeward Island chain, and at its northern tip is an utterly charming little strip of limestone called Anguilla. Its interior is arid, scrubby and overrun with semi-domesticated goats and chickens, but it is frilled with some of the most incredible beaches in [...]
This boozed-up and Giamatti-less theatre production of Sideways fails to live up to its big screen cousin June 3, 2016 St James Theatre | ★★☆☆☆ If you could forget about Sideways, the Oscar-winning film starring Paul Giamatti, this play (by the author of the original novel but based on the movie) would be a passable if unremarkable comedy. But the film does exist: it’s a brilliant, poignant exploration of obsession. This production is a poor cousin [...]
Sunset at the Villa Thalia tackles 1960s Greek politics from a deckchair June 3, 2016 Dorfman Theatre | ★★★★☆ Alexi Kaye Campbell’s new play is a deeply personal effort. Born and raised in Greece, he was a baby at the time of the 1967 military coup, which is his play’s organising event; the two acts are set during its occurrence and aftermath, formulated around two holidays at the eponymous villa. Theo [...]
Race review: A moving and uplifting biopic that sadly fails to fully address America’s own historic hurdles June 2, 2016 Dir. Stephen Hopkins | ★★★☆☆ It’s disappointing but not surprising, given Hollywood's unfortunate record with diversity, that it's taken 80 years for the fascinating story of Jesse Owens to get a biopic. After all, it's only a couple of years since both Martin Luther King (Selma) and Jackie Robinson (42) were given the big screen treatment. [...]
Threepenny Opera at the National Theatre review: An explosively raucous show June 2, 2016 Olivier Theatre | ★★★★★ The National Theatre’s production of The Threepenny Opera is stagy, artificial, vulgar, nihilistic, hilarious, and brilliant. This is opera for people who don’t like opera. Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill’s Weimar Republic-era adaptation of John Gay’s 18th century ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera, is returned to its London roots in [...]
Obsidian Tear/An Invitation/Within the Golden Hour at the Royal Ballet review: A joyous, moving and brilliantly danced production June 2, 2016 Royal Opera House | ★★★★☆ It’s a brave man who opens an eagerly anticipated night at the Royal Ballet in silence, and an even braver one who picks a fight with a ballet dancer. In Wayne McGregor’s latest contemporary piece, Obsidian Tear, the stage is practically bare save for two men, eyeing each other up menacingly, [...]
Cuttin’ It at the Young Vic review: A powerful 21st century take on an age-old tragedy June 2, 2016 Young Vic | ★★★☆☆ At just over an hour long, Cuttin’ It is a compact yet ambitious play that takes on the complex issue of female genital mutilation. Our guides through this painful subject are two 15-year-old girls, Muna (Adelayo Adedayo) and Iqra (played by newcomer Tsion Habte), Somali-British schoolgirls who seem to hail from different [...]
New homes on sale in London: from a Hackney reservoir opened by Sir David Attenborough to Shared Ownership homes in Greenwich and Penge June 2, 2016 Woodberry Down, Stoke Newington From £475,000 Live in an apartment overlooking a protected nature reserve in north east London that hasn’t been accessible to the public for 200 years. Sir David Attenborough re-opened the Stoke Newington Reservoir in April and now the first homes next to it, The Nature Collection, are on sale. Set across [...]
Property of the Week: We may have found the only bungalow in central London tucked inside a courtyard in Marylebone June 2, 2016 If you’re torn between living centrally in squished conditions or braving a suburban commute for a quainter way of life, then The Bailey in Marylebone may be the solution. Its sales agent Kay & Co claims it’s the only bungalow in central London. Bungalows – self-contained, single level houses – became popular in the inter-war [...]