Arts
An urge to take over the play
It’s astonishing what awaits the culture vulture. A lot of people know the riches on offer when they see the…
A fascinating curiosity at the National Theatre
Helen Edmundson has given her new play an ingenious title, Some Woman. The phrase may be admiring, ‘that is some…
Adultery is TV drama by numbers – and I’m hooked
The unequivocally titled Adultery began with a somewhat portentous voiceover. ‘There is a psychological equation,’ it intoned. ‘Attraction plus an…
Please can we give Manon a rest?
Everyone knows that actors have weird rituals around the naming of Shakespeare’s Scottish play but how many have heard about…
How I wish I could have seen Gordon Matta-Clark’s death traps in the flesh
Architecture can’t be exhibited, other than indirectly in drawings, models and photographs. But this is even more true for Gordon…
The thrill of Madra Salach
Madra Salach did a good chunk of my work for me at the Electric Ballroom. I’d been wondering how I…
What cinema gets wrong about conductors
André Previn began his career at MGM. And after he’d quit the studio to become conductor of the London Symphony…
Nick Love, brute of British cinema, on the beauty of crime
Nick Love makes irresponsible films – that’s what people say. When he did The Football Factory in 2004, the BBC…
The beauty of the ruthless truth
There are times when the screen, big or small, looks like a gift of the gods. In the last week…
Don’t miss this Cherry Orchard
Where are we? That’s the question raised by Ian Rickson’s version of The Cherry Orchard adapted by Conor McPherson. The…
Nureyev was a lousy choreographer
Rudolf Nureyev was no doubt a phenomenal dancer and an electrifying personality – nobody who saw him on stage could…
A new BBC series that captures some of the channel’s old values
I watched Smiley’s People on BBC iPlayer recently because I fancied a nostalgia trip back to the days (1982) when…
The problem with the Beatles
A pungent sentimentality has taken hold of their legacy
Ali G isn’t satire
The two main problems with Ali G are, one, that it’s old hat (or old durag if you wish), and,…
Opera’s obsession with the Eastern bloc
There was a fad a while back for photo books about Eastern bloc architecture. Derelict megastructures, brutalist monuments; you couldn’t…
The RA’s triumphant new exhibition
What a show at the Royal Academy. You go straight into a room of Cézannes and Renoirs and that is…
Our thirst for torching old buildings
Regard the protestors. See how happy they are. Can you hear them whoop and whistle? The burning clock tower of…
Conflicting colours and tones of tragedy
Any fan of Gerald Murnane would love to see him win the Nobel Prize for Literature. And if it’s never…
Rent has not aged well
Rent is a show about mortality haunted by the untimely death of its author, Jonathan Larson. On the eve of…
The Hallé is on a roll
Say what you like about Manchester – and who doesn’t, right now? – but when it comes to imaginative programming,…
BBC1’s Time isn’t subtle – but it’s still riveting
Jimmy McGovern is a writer whose sleeve is rarely heart-free. Since cutting his teeth on Brookside in the early 1980s,…
Status Quo are a much better band than people think
Some years ago a concert promoter called Alan Day explained to me how he had revived the touring fortunes of…
The yacht rock revival
Returning to Britain this year, I have been struck by the re-emergence of some of the 1970s’ smoothest sounds. This…
Our obsession with the 1990s
Why are we drawn ceaselessly back into the ever-more-recent past? The 1990s trend has been building for years now, with…
