I grew up on regular helpings of Barbe Bleu or Bluebeard as a child, the chilling, grotesque tale of the serial killer who somehow was supposed to appeal to young French minds – together with other delightful tales such as Hansel and Gretel and Red Riding Hood. So, as I headed to the Royal Festival…
15 reasons to visit Bankside
Last updated on September 22nd, 2022Bankside was once a cacophonous pleasure zone with brothels, bear-baiting, gaming dens and four Tudor theatres: The Globe, The Rose, the Swan and the Hope. Shakespeare and Dickens lived here. Samuel Pepys watched the Great Fire light up the London sky from here in 1666. So, if you’re visiting London,…
The Lehman Trilogy – National Theatre
Last updated on January 19th, 2019It’s a familiar story of bucks to bankruptcy, but this one is on a scale that shook the financial world to its core and affected ordinary mortals across the globe. Stefano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy has been given a Sam Mendes and Ben Power makeover at the National Theatre, with…
Art Review – Modigliani at Tate Modern
Last updated on April 22nd, 2018I am doing something remarkable. I am a voyeur in an artist’s studio in Paris – in Montparnasse to be exact – for a full six and a half minutes. But, I am actually in London. I am gazing out of Amedeo Modigliani’s studio window, towards the smoky chimney tops…
I’m MAD AS HELL and I’m not going to take it anymore
Last updated on February 3rd, 2020In 1976, a film called Network cleaned up at the Oscars, winning four Academy Awards. Written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by the great, late Sidney Lumet, the black comedy was written and released during the Watergate Scandal and the Vietnam War, poking fun at the lengths to which the…