Last updated on October 22nd, 2020Gurinder Chadha is dressed up to the nines and a little breathless: she’s just arrived from an audience with HM the Queen at Buckingham Palace. She’s at the Curzon Mayfair to talk about her new film, Viceroy’s House, which has been two generations and seven years in the making. Her…
REVIEW: Mother Africa at The Peacock
Last updated on March 14th, 2018Wednesday evening was one of firsts for me: I heard an audience groan when the interval lights came on instead of scurrying to the bar or loo; I sat through a circus without a clown in sight (thank you); and I went to the Peacock Theatre in Holborn, baby sister…
A Blazing Beauty: Kipling’s India
Last updated on October 22nd, 2020I could have easily given up all my worldly rupees and even a piece of my soul for some of the artwork on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition, “Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab and London.” There were no magic carpets here, but it certainly…
Midnight in London
Last updated on June 2nd, 2021Come with me on a flight of fancy just for a moment. Imagine that the film director Woody Allen had set his film “Midnight in Paris” in London. In which period of British history would Allen have time-travelled: what moment in time represents London as its most nostalgic? I thought…
Hello, Goodbye
Last updated on June 2nd, 2021My beautiful daughter Clarissa was born on New Year’s Day, the first of 1990. My little bundle of mayhem came into my world when I was only 21 and she’s kept me on my toes ever since. She helped me breathe life into Diary of a Londoness, a project close…
THEATRE REVIEW: Sideshow & Amadeus
Last updated on June 2nd, 2021Sideshow at the Southwark Playhouse The Southwark Playhouse is the go-to venue when I am looking for quirky and slightly off-beat productions. Last year it played host to the wonderfully eclectic Grey Gardens, starring Sheila Hancock, and is now staging the colourful and moving musical, Sideshow, on until the 3rd…