Featured Post

The greatest show and other bromances: Adam Riches and John Kearns ARE Ball and Boe @sohotheatre

Image
Alfie Boe and Michael Ball seem to be a bit of a joke act anyway. Their endless interpretations of popular songs (also known as covers) and their double-act bromance make them quintessential crossover artists where popular music meets opera and Broadway. And a perilous choice for the discerning listener. It’s not that they aren’t talented musicians and performers in their own right. Still, their musical choices are always safe, predictable and less than their potential. But every country deserves to have a pair of self-described national treasures that can tour the local arenas and give people a good time for the bargain price of £175 a seat.  And so the concept of Adam Riches and John Kearns - two world-famous from the Edinburgh Fringe comedians taking on this bromance seems like a curious choice for a Christmas musical fare. One can only hope that over the fourteen nights, it is playing at the Soho Theatre that the show evolves into something more substantial than a series of po...

Art in a dark moist place: David Breuer-Weil's Project 4


David Breuer-Weil from Guy Natanel on Vimeo.

London-based artist David Breuer-Weil has taken over the vaults under Waterloo Station with Project 4, an evocative and thought-provoking exhibition about the world, the apocalypse and other social and political considerations. Nothing is small scale here. Everything is big. Most of his paintings are two metres high and four metres long. One giant canvas follows another and as you are drawn into the tunnels under Waterloo Station, they come together to form an impressive spectacle of colour. Interspersed amongst these is Breuer-Weil's sculptures which give the works an added dimension and physicality.

Many Londoners will be familiar with his works, particularly his sculpture. Emergence (see below after the jump) was temporarily installed into Hanover Square in 2012 and Visitor has previously been seen in Golders Hill Park, Hampstead.


Placing the works (and there is 70 canvasses and a number of sculptures) in the cold, rumbling and dark tunnels underneath Waterloo station they appear the perfect setting for exploring these themes. The works feel as if they emerge from the Victorian brickwork, shadows and puddles and are beautifully lit.

The works are for sale although given their size they are probably not for the average home. Even large offices might find it difficult to find the hanging space. In addition the subject matter which shows depictions of the apocalypse, violence and people without brains might not be the sort of message that a big bank would be keen on showing to its clients or workers.

The last time I was here was for the Old Vic Vaults festival and amongst the old furniture and dirty cushions, theatre and opera sprang up from the most unlikeliest of places. This time around there is an order, beauty and calmness about the area. Visiting the space again in the week when it was announced the Old Vic Tunnels would be closing in March, it was a reminder that while places may come and go, good ideas will always find a place to exist. And besides, there are many more miles of railway arches in South London...

The exhibition continues until 1 March. Worth a diversion down Leake Street off Lower Marsh to see what all the fuss is about... It is open from 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and Sundays from 12pm to 4pm. Be sure to check out the Lower Marsh Market if you're visiting on a weekday too...

Update:David Breuer Weil’s Project 4 has been so popular that the exhibition has been extended until Sunday 24th March. There will also be a giveaway of a signed catalogue raissoné to the 5000th visitor. Curator-led tours will take place at 2.30pm on Saturday 9th and Saturday 23rd March and the exhibition will stay open until 9pm on Thursday 21st March.

Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan...
Read more...

Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

Image
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial ...
Read more...

Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

Image
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
Read more...