Featured Post

Brief awakenings: White Rose The Musical @MaryleboneTHLDN

Image
A fascinating and daring act of defiance in Nazi Germany by a group of university students in Munich is given a slightly perplexing rock musical treatment in White Rose, the musical. Something seems amiss in this earnest and occasionally tuneful show. It lags more than it inspires, which is surprising given the tragic and compelling history of the real-life characters the show depicts. Given that young people are increasingly likely to vote for far-right parties across Europe, it’s an opportunity to look at a time when they had a different perspective on the future. Perhaps something has been lost in the translation or the larger space of the Marylebone Theatre where it plays.  The White Rose were a group of university students in Munich who sought to undermine the Third Reich through publication of a series of pamphlets urging passive resistance to the Nazi regime. Over a brief period between June 1942 and February 1943, they distributed their pamphlets across campus using ...

Art, death and decay: Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum

The British Museum's Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum is a wonderful way to start to appreciate the richness and beauty that has been uncovered from these two ancient towns. Over 250 artifacts, some which have never ventured out of Italy are on display and attempt to piece together the ordinary life of the Roman home and the people who lived in them.

There are the obligatory pieces of information that explain the eruption, how it engulfed the cities and how those who were not able to flee died. But what is more interesting than the plaster casts and the bone fragments as others have noted is how you can see firsthand the various lost art forms from the Roman Empire that were rediscovered and reinterpreted from the Renaissance onwards.
Rooms showing statues and frescoes of a variety of styles are shown off to impressive effect that look familiar yet still from a different world. After all, nobody in the Renaissance was thinking about carving Pan making tender love to a nanny goat. The museum is keen to point out Pan is half goat anyway (so its not bestiality) and the exhibition (unlike in Naples where it is in a dark, restricted room) gives it as prominent display as it would have been in a Herculaneum garden.

You are not able to photograph any of the works, so I have used my photo taken in 2011 from Naples where no such restrictions (other than no flash photography) to show the Portrait of baker Terentius Neo and his wife uncovered from Pompeii and believed to be from AD 55–79. In an exhibition about the people who lived in these ancient towns it is fitting to have a portrait of a what could be a rather sophisticated couple looking at you. As one other visitor quipped, while they were carving these magnificent pieces the English were probably in tree houses. I'm not sure about that, but looking at the people does make you feel that some things may not have changed that much over time...

Of course to really appreciate the treasures that have been found to date in Pompeii and Herculaneum, a trip to Naples to see the National Archaeological Museum is essential and an almost overwhelming assault on the senses as there is room after room of beautiful frescoes, sculptures and artifacts. Although perhaps leave the visit until after September when at least some of them have returned... Until then this exhibition will give you a whirlwind tour that will have you wanting more. The exhibition runs at the British Museum until 29 September. Be sure to book online as this is the only way to ensure access.

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...