Recent Blog Posts

Archives: Posts From July 2008

At the National, Some Trace of 'The Idiot'
By Zoe Strimpel | Thu, 31 Jul 2008 at 10:20 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: The National Theatre is associated with "proper" theater: big, luxuriant, expensive, and expansive productions of heavy hitters from Michael Frayn to Tennessee Williams, Beckett, and Shakespeare. Indeed, that's been my experience of the place. Bit of a ...

A Social Worker Makes the Booker Long List
By Zoe Strimpel | Thu, 31 Jul 2008 at 9:52 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: A 63-year-old social worker from Birmingham has been announced as one of 13 contenders on the long list for the Man Booker Prize, Britain's famous literary honor. It's a satisfying victory for Gaynor Arnold, whose manuscript was initially rejected by ...

Damien Hirst: Genius or Sell-Out?
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 29 Jul 2008 at 10:14 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "His reputation is a little wobbly now," the editor of a fine arts publication called the Burlington Magazine, Richard Shone, told the Times of London. He was speaking about Damien Hirst, details of whose sale at Sotheby's this September, called ...

Cross-Generational Fare: 'Doctor Who' at the Proms
By Zoe Strimpel | Mon, 28 Jul 2008 at 10:50 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Those who assume the BBC Proms are a stuffy classical music festival with nothing to offer anyone under 40 should think again. Last night's concert was nothing less than a paean to the "Doctor Who" television series, complete with the Tardis lit up in ...

Watching Kylie Minogue From the VIP Bubble
By Zoe Strimpel | Mon, 28 Jul 2008 at 10:48 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Time was, a pop concert meant gay men, sweaty teens, and girlfriends on a night out standing, swaying, and spending at least half an hour of the show in line for a Coke and nachos. In England, replace nachos with "chips." A "VIP experience" at a pop ...

Oyster Gives Londoners a Free Ride (Whoops)
By Zoe Strimpel | Mon, 28 Jul 2008 at 4:02 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: The smug, expensive Oyster card payment system that governs London's public transport failed this week for the second time this month, causing mayhem. Glee for "customers," many of whom were shooed through open barriers around the city as blushing ...

At the Proms, 1958 Is Busting Out All Over
By Zoe Strimpel | Thu, 24 Jul 2008 at 8:52 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Somehow, it's Proms time again. The biggest classical music festival in the world has kicked off with fanfare: a week of sell-outs and near sell-outs, and the same electric atmosphere at the Royal Albert Hall. That the punters have been crowding in for ...

Reluctant History Students, Hail British Museum's 'Hadrian'
By Zoe Strimpel | Thu, 24 Jul 2008 at 8:23 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: All hail "Hadrian: Empire and Conflict," the British Museum's replacement for the Terracotta Army bonanza. And yes, it's good. Very good. And I speak as one for whom an interest in history has always been — sad to say — forced.The masterstroke of the ...

Sniffing at Sainsbury's Gifts
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 22 Jul 2008 at 4:04 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Simon Sainsbury, of the Sainsbury's supermarket dynasty, left 13 paintings to Tate Britain and five to the National Gallery at a total value of £100 million ($200 million). Tate gets the bulk of the works, though the National Gallery is the institution ...

Summer in Paris, and Relaxing Is Easy
By Zoe Strimpel | Sun, 20 Jul 2008 at 10:51 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Just back from Paris, where tourist season (particularly American) is in full swing. On hearing of the timing of the trip, most people offered me a "glad it's you, not me" gesture. Summer vacations in European cities such as Paris, Rome, and London are ...

A Fictional Play's Topic: Germaine Greer's Kidnapping
By Zoe Strimpel | Sun, 20 Jul 2008 at 10:40 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Injecting a little zest into the dull, dull summer season comes the new play, "Female of the Species," at the Vaudeville Theatre. It's a dressing down of feminism based on the real-life kidnapping of Germaine Greer eight years ago, when a student briefly ...

'Zorro' Swashbuckles Through London
By Zoe Strimpel | Wed, 16 Jul 2008 at 9:35 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: The latest incitement to London's current furor for musicals — "Marguerite," the ill-fated "Gone With the Wind," and "Jersey Boys" are three recent examples — is testament to the fact that things are on the upswing, and Broadway had better watch out ...

British Museum: More Fun Than the Beach
By Zoe Strimpel | Sun, 6 Jul 2008 at 3:45 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: When it comes to the modern leisure seeker, neither the seaside nor the delights of the country's best modern art museum are quite as tempting as the meaty displays on offer at the British Museum. Funny — I used to see the British Museum as the boring ...

Martin Creed's Tate Britain Show: Not the Usual Gallery Run
By Zoe Strimpel | Wed, 2 Jul 2008 at 12:14 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Turner Prize winner Martin Creed's, err, surprising exhibit has opened at Tate Britain. "Work No 850" is entirely devoid of objects. Assigned the task of filling the museum's 86-meter Duveen Galleries, Mr. Creed sure came up with something a little ...

A Roaring Success for Contemporary Art at Christie's
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 1 Jul 2008 at 4:34 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Christie's Post-War and Contemporary art sale last night was a roaring success, making £17.3 million ($34.5 million) despite the fact that the economic mood in London has not been worse in years.I had suspected that the hype from Christie's press office ...