Christmas
Year Out/Year In: Theatre Raises the Bar, From Old to NewSunday, 02 January 2011
One expects Shakespeare to be rediscovered afresh on the British stage (if not here, where?), and it was gratifying during 2010 to find the Royal Court - a venue all about the new - raising the authorial bar ever higher via an (almost) unbroken... Read more... |
Winter Wassail, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Shakespeare's GlobeSaturday, 01 January 2011
Vienna has its New Year's Day concert, conducted this year with some style but not quite enough sensuousness by Franz Welser-Möst. London could do worse for a more modest equivalent than let the Wooden O play host to a well-spiced small package of... Read more... |
Year Out/Year In: Classical Music and OperaFriday, 31 December 2010
Earlier this month, George Osborne, Vince Cable and Jeremy Hunt were spotted in a Royal Opera House box surveying the country's most expensive artistic patrimony. What they thought - and how they and the Arts Council might wield their axe - will... Read more... |
Only the Best Ticket Competition - The WinnersMonday, 27 December 2010
Our winners are Marc, Imogen, Steven, Christopher, Tom, Antony, Sam, Zoe, Darren, Maxine, Cathryn, David, Nick, Sarra, Mark, Monique, Azi, Helen, Nick and Ben. Please check your emails and mobile SMS. We're also on Twitter and Facebook.These are the... Read more... |
Year Out/Year In: Films to Remember and ForgetMonday, 27 December 2010
Avatar or The Hurt Locker? Although the Academy Awards are by no means the only barometer of cinematic trends, at this year’s Oscars the two centrifugal strains in contemporary movie-making went head to head. For Best Picture and Director, James... Read more... |
Boxing Day Bloat: theartsdesk recommendsSaturday, 25 December 2010
Yesterday was yesterday. Today there's the rest of the week. What are the options? You could go to the shops and exchange all your presents, or you could pursue something more in the cultural line. To which end, theartsdesk is delighted to propose... Read more... |
theartsdesk Christmas MessageFriday, 24 December 2010
Once upon a time in the central West Bank, a child called Jesus was allegedly born to a virgin. Once upon an even earlier time, the Greek demigod Perseus was also allegedly born to a virgin, likewise the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli. You can... Read more... |
The 10 Best Christmas MoviesTuesday, 21 December 2010
A nostalgified panacea of pine, tinsel, and tintinnabulation? Or a black hole of loneliness, bitterness and melancholy? Films about Christmas, wholly or partially, have straddled both polarities over the years, producing a surprising number of... Read more... |
King's Singers, Cadogan HallSunday, 19 December 2010
An awful lot of bad singing goes on in the name of Christmas. If it’s not the endless piped renditions of Slade and Cliff Richard, then it’s anaemic carol singers in every railway station and foyer. Each street corner becomes a concert hall (albeit... Read more... |
Beasts and Beauties, Hampstead TheatreWednesday, 15 December 2010
Once upon a time there was a free spirit called Tim, who fell in love with olde folk tales and created little shows all about spells and wonders, and peopled them with princes and princesses, farmers and animals. When he was more grown up, he formed... Read more... |
Get Santa!, Royal CourtMonday, 13 December 2010
Incongruence is always interesting, so the news earlier this year that Anthony Neilson, bad-boy author of adult plays such as Penetrator, The Censor and The Wonderful World of Dissocia, was penning a Christmas play — suitable for kids — at the Royal... Read more... |
theartsdesk's Christmas Presents GuideMonday, 13 December 2010
With the lightning speed of online delivery, there is still masses of time to select the best and most enjoyable presents for Christmas, thanks to the taste and wisdom of theartsdesk's pack of writers. With battered guitars, Belgian cartoons, Pacino... Read more... |
