BroadwayWorld.com •

Review: WHEN THE CLOUD CATCHES COLOURS, Barbican Theatre

“It’s not Buddhist to be gay”: from this early line in Singaporean drama When the cloud catches colours, one might expect a hard-hitting, intellectual look at homophobia in the South East Asian nation, which decriminalised male homosexuality in 2023. What follows, however, is something both more profound and more tender, a look at queer attitudes towards domesticity and community through the lens of two middle-aged Singaporean lives. The lives in question are those of Qing and E (short for Eileen...
BroadwayWorld.com •

Review: STILETTO, Charing Cross Theatre

A musical set in the 1730s heyday of Venetian opera ought to be a glamorous glimpse into a different, dangerous era. Stiletto, from the composer behind the classic Disney hero’s journey Mulan, has all the ingredients for that to be the case – simmering rivalries, power struggles, romance and murder. Sometimes, though, the real power struggle is between seedy underworld glamour and the story’s tendency to veer into fairytale schmaltz...
MA Portfolio •

New exhibition sheds light on the bygone era of early fashion shows

When you think of a fashion show in Paris or Milan, you’re just as likely to think of rows upon rows of influencers clamouring for the perfect Insta story as you are to focus on the clothes themselves. However, a new immersive exhibition sponsored by Vogue shows that this was not always the case. King’s Cross “projection storytelling” venue Lightroom’s newest exhibit takes us back to the earliest days of the runway show, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, when couture was an altogether more intimate affair...
MA Portfolio •

Vivien Ellis: the eclectic vocalist reinventing the community choir

It’s clear even before we start our interview that Vivien Ellis’ twin passions are music and harnessing its power to bring a community together. Ten minutes after we meet, she’s already regaled me with tales of eighteenth century ballads, her efforts to learn how words were pronounced in historical songs in a bid for authenticity, and her love of first person musical narratives that put the singer ‘in the character’s shoes’. And that’s before her impromptu performance of a Bulgarian work song, right there in her suburban living room...
Museums Journal •

Louise Bourgeois spider to return to Tate Modern for gallery’s 25th birthday - Museums Association

The 10 metre-high stainless-steel spider that greeted the first visitors to London’s Tate Modern in 2000 will return to the Turbine Hall next year in honour of the gallery’s 25th anniversary. Louise Bourgeois’ Maman – which the late French-American artist described as an exploration of the “ambiguities of motherhood” – was initially commissioned for the gallery’s opening, and was exhibited both in the Turbine Hall and outside the museum before its permanent acquisition by Tate in 2008.
Museums Journal •

National Gallery announces ‘once in a generation’ redisplay of major holdings

In celebration of its bicentenary, London’s National Gallery has announced a major rehang of its collection, alongside new acquisitions and loans. C C Land: The Wonder of Art will mark the first time the gallery’s Titian holdings have been displayed in the same room as each other, and will include new acquisitions by Poussin, Degas, and the French impressionist and student of Manet, Eva Gonzalès. The works will still be hung in a primarily chronological arrangement, starting with medieval art...
Museums Journal •

Rooms Through Time: Winter Past, Museum of the Home, London - Review

Following the relaunch of its perennially popular Rooms Through Time exhibition in July, Hoxton's Museum of the Home has decked the halls of its household displays to tell a series of winter stories from London’s past, present and future. The permanent exhibition – a series of reconstructed household rooms transporting the visitor from London in 1630 to a speculative vision of the capital in 2049 – has been subtly altered to reflect what each group of characters would do to celebrate...
Museums Journal •

Minister approves plans for multimillion-pound museum in Derry-Londonderry - Museums Association

Northern Ireland’s minister for infrastructure has given the final sign-off to plans for a major new museum in Derry-Londonderry’s Ebrington Square, which will have a broader focus than originally intended. The Derry-Londonderry North Atlantic (DNA) Museum project has been in the works since 2012, but has faced a series of delays since then after the collapse of power-sharing in the devolved government.
Squaremeal •

The Light Bar, London - Restaurant Review

A former power station in the shadow of Amazon’s London HQ, handily between Shoreditch High Street and Liverpool Street stations - the scene is potentially set for a gimmicky, opportunistic joint targeting commuters and serving unimaginative cocktails to weary City workers. Thankfully the Light Bar defies expectations, and offers, put simply, very good food and drink. Servers are eager to help navigate the difference between ‘starters’ and ‘small plates’ and how many of each to order...
The Local España •

Everything you need to know about Carnival in Cádiz

The coastal city of Cádiz hosts carnival or carnaval, like many other cities in Spain and around the world, for a week starting from the weekend before Ash Wednesday. While most Spanish carnavales ended on February 14th, the event in Cádiz, along with Santa Cruz de Tenerife’s equally famous carnaval, continues until the following weekend (the 18th). Cadiz’s version of carnival also distinguishes itself from other Spanish iterations through its notable focus on humour and political satire, making...
BroadwayWorld.com •

Review: PICTURE PERFECT CHRISTMAS SHOW, National Gallery

Ever wanted to step inside the world of one of the National Gallery's paintings? Immersive theatre company Boo Productions may have the answer. In what is surprisingly the gallery's first time hosting theatre, the somewhat blandly titled Picture Perfect Christmas Show takes as its inspiration the Dutch painter Hendrick Avercamp's idyllic oil snowscapes. Writer-director Francesca Renèe Reid and composer Edward Court pluck their protagonists, the steadfastly heroic Frederik (Ciarán McCormack) and...
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