Arts
Rare treat
In Venice, around 1552, Titian began work on a series of six paintings for King Philip II of Spain, each…
Balanchinian ideal
George Balanchine’s Serenade, the manifesto of 20th-century neoclassical choreography, requires a deep understanding of both its complex stylistic nuances and…
Loss of heart
In all its minute details, Der Rosenkavalier is rooted in a painstakingly stylised version of Rococo Vienna that, paradoxically, is…
Brain power
How do you write a play? Here’s one theory. Put a guy up a tree, throw rocks at him, get…
Love actually
When you see the latest corporate entertainment juggernaut hurtling at you, what are your options? When I saw X-Men: Days…
Alcohol overload
According to its executive producer Griff Rhys Jones, A Poet in New York (BBC2, Sunday) sought to rescue Dylan Thomas…
The lives of others
Tucked away in the schedules, just before midday, just after midweek (on Thursday), just four lines in the Radio Times,…
Pony tales
‘The natural aids to horsemanship are the hands, the legs, the body and the voice.’ But a Thelwell pony sometimes…
Pony tales
‘The natural aids to horsemanship are the hands, the legs, the body and the voice.’ But a Thelwell pony sometimes…
Pony tales
‘The natural aids to horsemanship are the hands, the legs, the body and the voice.’ But a Thelwell pony sometimes…
Balanchinian ideal
George Balanchine’s Serenade, the manifesto of 20th-century neoclassical choreography, requires a deep understanding of both its complex stylistic nuances and…
Running out of time
If I live as long as my father, I’ll be checking out on 9 December 2017. Since every man in…
Running out of time
If I live as long as my father, I’ll be checking out on 9 December 2017. Since every man in…
New ways of seeing
Andrew Lambirth talks to Justin Partyka, whose photographs show Constable Country in an unexpected light
Weird and wonderful
In many respects the average art-lover remains a Victorian, and the Florentine Renaissance is one area in which that is…
The spiritual in landscape
‘Valleys breathe, heaven and earth move together,/ daisies push inches of yellow air, vegetables tremble,/ grass shimmers green…’ The characteristic…
Snap happy
Before there was Hello!, OK! and Closer, there was Oggi. Oggi was the magazine my Italian mother used to flick…
The quiet man
Shigeru Ban is the celebrated architect who refuses to become a celebrity. Thus, at 57, his career has run opposite…
Northern light
Purists might have winced at Opera North’s advertisement for its latest revival of La Bohème. ‘If you see one musical…
Failed experiment
The Silver Tassie is the major opening at the Lyttelton this spring. Sean O’Casey’s rarely staged play introduces us to…
Visual bombast
Godzilla is from the director Gareth Edwards, a Brit whose first film, Monsters, truly put him on the map, as…
Touchstone of humanity
Which character are you in Game of Thrones? For me it’s got to be the imp, Tyrion Lannister. As Ed…
Lines of beauty
A rustle of paper as the sleeve is removed. A clunk and click as the needle arm is swung across.…
Sketches of war and peace
Soldier scribes are rare, soldier artists rarer still, and soldiers who can write and draw rarest of all. General Henry…
Sketches of war and peace
Soldier scribes are rare, soldier artists rarer still, and soldiers who can write and draw rarest of all. General Henry…
