Archives: Posts From December 2007
A Languid Summer 'Seagull' From the RSC
By Zoe Strimpel | Fri, 21 Dec 2007 at 2:08 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: And so to see the other side of the Royal Shakespeare Company's double bill at the New London Theatre. Having seen a breathtaking "King Lear" (starring Ian McKellen), it was wondrous to see the cast every bit as strong, and perhaps stronger, in Chekhov's ...
Russia to Royal Academy: Our Paintings Stay Home
By Zoe Strimpel | Thu, 20 Dec 2007 at 1:05 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia soured further today after Russian authorities canceled a major forthcoming show at the Royal Academy of Arts. The show, "From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings 1870–1925 from Moscow and St ...
Ah, England: Where Book-Prize Jurors Can Cause a Stir
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 18 Dec 2007 at 4:20 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Michael Portillo, the Conservative politician and journalist who was tipped for top but never quite got there, has been announced chairman of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction judging panel in 2008. Mr. Portillo, onetime defense secretary under John Major ...
The Panto Passion of the Brits, Explained
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 18 Dec 2007 at 2:18 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: It's "panto" season! Derived from Italian masked comedy (itself from ancient Italian fabulae Atellanae, or low Roman comedy), the British pantomime is as culturally explicit as the drunken late-night kebab. Throughout the festive season, countless pantos ...
Pickled Cows & Dead Flies: With Love From Hirst to Tate
By Zoe Strimpel | Sun, 16 Dec 2007 at 2:54 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: In the culmination of longstanding plans to make his work accessible to the public, Damien Hirst has forgone millions of pounds on the white-hot contemporary art market and donated some of his most famous pieces to the Tate. Though perhaps the ...
Heaving Heart Into Mouth for McKellen's 'Lear'
By Zoe Strimpel | Thu, 13 Dec 2007 at 3:25 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: I was told repeatedly how lucky I was to get a single ticket for the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "King Lear," starring Ian McKellen. The show, which visited the Brooklyn Academy of Music in September, is fresh from Stratford-Upon-Avon at ...
7 Fingers Make a Cirque of Their Own
By Zoe Strimpel | Wed, 12 Dec 2007 at 2:03 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Last night a troupe of Montreal-based ex-Cirque du Soleil performers called the 7 Fingers launched their Christmas show at the Roundhouse in Camden, north London. Only the performance, "Loft," had nothing to do with Christmas, and everything to do with ...
Ewan McGregor in 'Othello': A Heartthrob as Henchman
By Zoe Strimpel | Mon, 10 Dec 2007 at 3:56 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Neither love nor money (well, maybe a lot of money) can get you into Michael Grandage's new "Othello" at the Donmar Warehouse. Nothing surprising about that, you say — this is London and people are finding it very difficult to get into anything these ...
Convicted, 'Lyrical Terrorist' Stops Getting Ink
By Zoe Strimpel | Mon, 10 Dec 2007 at 1:24 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Buzz about the "lyrical terrorist" Samina Malik has quieted following her conviction last week. In the lead-up there were angry comment pieces about a silly young girl getting the heavy treatment when her ravings should just be dismissed. Shirley Dent in ...
The Queue Forms Here for Led Zeppelin Redux
By Zoe Strimpel | Mon, 10 Dec 2007 at 12:44 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Who said music these days is all about overproduced poptarts? The return of Led Zeppelin — for one night only — has untold (and frankly, a little unexpected) hordes of fans in a furor. So frenetic has been the interest in the show — a tribute to the late ...
Old Masters Still Hot in London
By Zoe Strimpel | Fri, 7 Dec 2007 at 4:36 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: The property market may be teetering on a knife edge (the Bank of England cut interest rates by .25 of a percentage point yesterday to ease the pain of a now-repentant economy). But all is still well on the art market, which this week reported ...
Balanchine's 'Jewels' Packs the Royal Opera House
By Zoe Strimpel | Wed, 5 Dec 2007 at 1:52 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Sir Richard Eyre, the director and former head of the National Theatre, expressed concern recently that Britain was heading for cultural "apartheid," with the gap growing between those who feel engaged by the arts and those who feel the arts are not for ...
Reunited With Its Bottom Half, Cabinet Fetches £1.08M
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 4 Dec 2007 at 1:43 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Four bidders competed for an Italian Baroque cabinet at Sotheby's today, with the successful bidder taking home the most expensive "and important" piece of Italian Baroque furniture sold to date at auction. The piece went for £1,084,500, just above its ...
With Bear and 'Britain,' Wallinger Wins Turner
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 4 Dec 2007 at 1:18 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: The winner of Britain's foremost contemporary art accolade, the Turner Prize, was announced last night by the movie star Dennis Hopper at the Tate Liverpool. Moving the prize from London to Liverpool was a gesture toward that city's role as European ...
Hennessy Cup a Draw for Royals, Tweeded Aristocrats
By Zoe Strimpel | Sun, 2 Dec 2007 at 2:33 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: The cream of British society was out in force yesterday at the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup steeplechase at Newbury Racecourse, one of the year's most important race meets. Not quite as royal as Ascot, which the queen always attends, it was nevertheless the ...
Sir Richard Eyre: Britain on Way to Cultural Apartheid
By Zoe Strimpel | Sun, 2 Dec 2007 at 1:58 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: One of Britain's most influential figures in the arts, Sir Richard Eyre, the former director of the National Theatre and director of films including "Notes on a Scandal," has said that Britain is on the way to cultural apartheid. According to the ...
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