A CONSERVATORY IS THE BEST WAY TO ENJOY THE SUMMER May 14, 2009 WITH a rare hot summer on the way, making use of your outdoor space this year will be a priority for anyone with a garden and a bit of an itch to renovate. Enter the conservatory. Banish thoughts of hyacinth-filled, musty rooms belonging to ladies with cats or ageing parents. They are an increasingly sleek [...]
NOW SHOWING FIVE OF THE BEST May 14, 2009 FILM: Let the Right One In: Swedish film-maker Tomas Alfredson weaves friendship, rejection and loyalty into a disturbing vampire movie that’s one of the stand-out movies of 2009. OPERA: Peter Grimes at the ENO: Premiered in 1945, Britten’s masterpiece concerns an anti-hero outsider in a fishing village. An eagerly awaited new production by David Alden. [...]
Q&A: BUYING May 14, 2009 Q. Dear Camilla, I’m looking to buy a property but have we reached the bottom of the market or do prices have further to fall? A. Prices have fallen between 15 and 20 percent since the peak of the market, which was March 2008 for London. At the beginning of this year most analysts were [...]
OUT THIS WEEKEND PREVIEWS May 14, 2009 FILMFIGHTING Tough as old boots movie about bare-knuckle boxing in New York. VIVA Peculiarly kitsch drama about suburban sexual-awakening in 50s America. FRENCH FILM Incompetent Brit rom-com, with a bizarre cameo from Eric Cantona. DVDFROST/NIXON Michael Sheen and Frank Langella star in the adaptation of Peter Morgan’s play. DEFIANCE World War II drama with Daniel Craig [...]
Froth and love in a wonderful, light romance May 14, 2009 OperaL’ELISIR D’AMORERoyal Opera HouseA PERFECT springtime opera, L’Elisir D’Amore is pure Italian frivolity. Played out to the tune of Donizetti’s jaunty but sporadically beautiful score, the opera – revived here at Covent Garden for the first time, with Laurent Pelly’s spritely production setting the action set in contemporary rural Italy – revolves around a dopey village boy [...]
Froth and love in a wonderful, light romance May 14, 2009 TheatreDUET FOR ONEVaudeville TheatreDUET for One provides us with what must be one of the West End’s most poignant performances in recent times, in the shape of Juliet Stevenson’s musician whose career has been curtailed by multiple sclerosis. It is a masterclass in control, nuance and subtle physicality, without ever seeming anything other than entirely [...]
The places in town not to be seen May 13, 2009 ARE you happy in your job? Of course you are. You are hardworking and – most importantly – loyal. But imagine if somebody did come along and try to headhunt you. You would be stupid not to agree to a meeting, just to have a chat and see how the land lies. A little bit [...]
The places in town not to be seen May 13, 2009 The Mercer34 Threadneedle Street, EC2R 8AYDiscreet Seats: The counter at the bar-end of the room: only backs are visible and it would be almost impossible to hear what someone was ordering, let alone which bottle of vintage Bordeaux.Food and drink: Very solid new British cuisine, with everything sourced as locally as possible and an award-winning, [...]
Monica Ali’s Brick Lane follow-up never really reaches boiling point May 13, 2009 ALTHOUGH she published a book called Alentejo Clue in 2006, this is being seen as the follow-up to Ali’s much-trumpeted Brick Lane. Once again it tackles the prickly topic of immigrants in London, but this time the action centres round the unlikeable chef Gabriel Lightfoot who works at the Imperial Hotel (note the heavy whiff [...]
Monica Ali’s Brick Lane follow-up never really reaches boiling point May 13, 2009 ALTHOUGH she published a book called Alentejo Clue in 2006, this is being seen as the follow-up to Ali’s much-trumpeted Brick Lane. Once again it tackles the prickly topic of immigrants in London, but this time the action centres round the unlikeable chef Gabriel Lightfoot who works at the Imperial Hotel (note the heavy whiff [...]