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Avenue Q
I think we all need a little distraction at the moment, as the nights darken and Brexit chaos drags on. So if you’re in need of some inspiration, I thoroughly recommend a night out at the New Vic to see the delightfully funny and irreverent Avenue Q. Having won the prestigious Tony Triple Crown for… →
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Burning Bright: The Scottish Colourists
by Carla Scarano Shaping forms with colours, merging Scottish artistic heritage with Parisian avant-garde movements and well structured compositions are the main features that characterise the Scottish Colourists. They were not a group of painters with a common goal and exhibited together only three times. Nevertheless, they shared a common path. JD Fergusson, FCB Cadell,… →
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The Entertainer
The figure of Mrs Thatcher looms larger than the Queen in this timely revival of John Osborne’s critically-acclaimed play The Entertainer, in which the backdrop is updated from the 1950s Suez crisis to Argentina’s 1982 invasion of the Falklands. The first act opens with the voice of the prime minister announcing the invasion in the… →
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Northern Ballet’s Cinderella
The Northern Ballet are one of my favourite dance companies. So, I was full of anticipation for their latest version of Cinderella. How would they transform this timeless classic about unjust oppression and triumphant reward? This version is choreographed and directed by David Nixon OBE, with an original score by Philip Feeney. Given the pedigree… →
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The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
by Carla Scarano D’Antonio Watercolour painting or aquarelle is a difficult technique that does not allow rethinking. The first time is forever or the picture would be spoiled by fiddling and retouching. This gives the painting freshness and immediacy but also reveals great skills and a sense of impromptu at the same time. The fascinating… →
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Amelie the Musical
There’s something supremely classic about all things French; it’s the je ne sais pas quoi way in which they bring together style, romance, art and music with beautiful simplicity. And hence the phenomenally successful film Amelie, which since 2001 has bewitched and charmed audiences worldwide. Even those audiences that hate sub-titles. The musical theatre version… →
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Annie
I have to confess that I am an Annie virgin. I have never read the cartoons or seen the film, despite really liking 1930s musicals. The first stage production opened in Broadway in 1977, ran for nearly six years and has rarely been off the stage since. It’s obviously popular and well-liked – but what… →
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The Ingram Collection: The St Ives School
Carla Scarano D’Antonio enjoys the range of work of a thriving artistic community exhibited at the Lightbox gallery in Woking ‘I believe that the understanding of the material and the meaning of the form being carved must be in perfect equilibrium’ Dame Barbara Hepworth The Upper Gallery at the Lightbox in Woking displays substantial… →
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Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake
I suppose that I should start by crediting Tchaikovsky for the best-known ballet of them all – Swan Lake, first performed to audiences back in 1875. Since then generation after generation of little girls have grown up wanting to dance the role of Odette, or least wear the magnificent breathtaking swan tutu. However, since 1995,… →
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The House on Cold Hill
Bestselling author Peter James, whose page-turning, murderous works provide the staple reading diet of airport travellers and WH Smith perusers, has extended his chilling reach once more, by adapting his ghostly tale The House on Cold Hill into a stage production. He might be on to a good thing here, as other supernatural productions such… →
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