Last updated on January 3rd, 2020Matthew Broderick is all grown-up. He’s greyer, a tad stockier, and he looks a little tired, but he’s still the same boy we all fell in love with in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And until August, he’s bringing a little of New York City and some otherworldly charm to London’s…
London Arts and Culture
London Arts and Culture Blog: If culture vulturing is your thing, this is where you'll want to be. Grab a hot seat for the best art and exhibition, opera and classical music, dance and theatre in London. I sometimes head out of of the capital for out-of-town events.
Review: Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Southwark Playhouse
Last updated on April 29th, 2019When I saw Tyrone Huntley in Leave to Remain at the Lyric Hammersmith earlier this year, I knew a star was in the ascendant, although the Evening Standard already knew that when they awarded him the ES Theatre Award. He’s now sprinted from stage into the director’s seat in a…
BETRAYAL | Review
Last updated on August 7th, 2019Tom Hiddleston is clearly a really nice guy. He’s on-stage for a straight 90 minutes in Harold Pinter’s 1978 classic, Betrayal, and follows with autograph signing and selfie-taking with the hordes of fans who wait for him at the Harold Pinter Theatre stage door. So, it’s with a heavy heart…
How to get cheap (and free) opera tickets in London
Last updated on December 28th, 2023London opera isn’t just for the well-heeled. Here are some tips on how to see some top productions without breaking the bank including opera, chamber, classical music and song. Oh, and the best bit – some of it’s free. So, shhh: here’s Londoness’s guide to affordable opera and how to…
All About Eve | Review
Last updated on May 17th, 2019I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t know it was going to be such a bumper of an evening. With echoes of Bette Davis in my head, I sat my bum in a Noel Coward Theatre seat to watch Lily James and Gillian Anderson, and one…
Everybody Can! Opera | Tosca
Last updated on March 9th, 2019I knew I had witnessed a little magic during the opening sequence of the ENO’S Porgy and Bess last year. Clara (soprano Nadine Benjamin) was singing one of opera’s favourite arias, Summertime, to her babe in arms, and we were spellbound from the get-go. Last Friday, she commandeered the pulpit…
The Unreturning | Review
Last updated on January 23rd, 2019Scarborough. It’s 1918, 2013 and 2026. Huh, I hear you say? It’s all possible when you have a war Tardis on stage, a revolving shipping container that morphs into a home, a boat, a bar, the trenches and a refugee camp, transcending time and place. This is the skillful work…
Circus 1903 | Review | Royal Festival Hall
Last updated on February 20th, 2020Please don’t send in the clowns, I whispered to myself as I took a seat at the Royal Festival Hall last night to watch Circus 1903. And here’s the great news: there wasn’t a single Krusty, Bozo or Grimaldi in this funny, sensual and gravity-defying showstopper. What you get instead…
Orpheus at Battersea Arts Centre
Last updated on March 12th, 2021The tale of Orpheus and Eurydice might be a “sad, sad story of woe” but the Little Bulb Theatre version at the Battersea Arts Centre is anything and everything but sad. It’s hammy, funny, moving, silly and utterly brilliant. The epic Greek myth of Orpheus descending into hell to collect…
Porgy and Bess at the ENO | Review
Last updated on March 16th, 2019London, why on earth did it take your opera houses so long to stage Porgy and Bess? Thank goodness the English National Opera has corrected this cultural misdemeanour by staging the opera’s first major outing since the 1980s. It’s a sensory feast all round, perfect for opera lovers and novices…