Monthly culture, June 2025
Friday, July 25th, 2025 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth07JUN25: Siena: the Rise of Painting 1300-1350 -- National Gallery
Panels, manuscripts and altarpieces, many gilded, some with a distinctly modern feel: it's easy to see how the work of a handful of painters (mostly working on religious themes) set the fashion for and shaped the future of Italian art. Beautifully intricate painting, with a sense that real people were used as models. A very well-organised exhibition, too: large-print captions, well-spaced exhibits and no shuffling around in a solid queue. Kudos to the National Gallery for reassembling pieces that have been scattered for centuries.
12JUN25: In Her Place (Alberdi, 2024) -- Netflix
Based on a real-life murder in 1950s Chile: Maria Carolina Geel shot and killed her lover in a hotel bar. In this film, the protagonist isn't Geel but (fictional) paralegal Mercedes, who has a difficult home life (her husband brings her a floor polisher as a romantic gesture) and who spends time in Geel's flat, reading her books, using her lipstick, reassessing her own life. Well-acted, great period flavour, subdued but interesting.
14JUN25: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare / Hytner) -- Bridge Theatre
As seen on NT@Home during lockdown ... it is even better live. Excellent singing from the 'Athenian eunuch' whose identity I have been unable to discover. Bottom was magnificent even when he was not wielding a musical light-sabre... We had seats in the stalls and were able to see just how much the audience in the pit were directed around the action as it overflowed from the stage, and as the stage moved. JJ Feild as Oberon and Theseus, Susannah Fielding as Titania/Hippolyta (some great improv lines), Emmanuel Akwafo as Bottom, and David Moorst returning as punkish, dangerous, feline Puck. Utterly joyous and very highly recommended.
19JUN25: Sparks -- Eventim Apollo
Didn't enjoy this as much as their Festival Hall gig [LLINK] or their gig with Franz Ferdinand in Edinburgh [LLINK]-- possibly because the Eventim Apollo (nee Hammersmith Odeon) is a larger venue than I prefer, possibly because the band lacked a certain something. No support, just one long set featuring most of the latest album and a few classics. Had a nice chat with the woman next to me, who used to work for Iron Maiden.
20JUN25: Fiddler on the Roof (Bock / Harnick) -- Barbican Theatre
Fabulous choreography and a great set: a plot revolving around women being treated as possessions. I thought I knew the music but in fact only recognised a couple of songs (though the harmonies throughout *felt* familiar). A splendid performance that didn't really engage me.
Also a round of appointments with spine consultant, culminating in aspiration of an L5 synovial cyst and a bracing dose of steroid nerve block.
Panels, manuscripts and altarpieces, many gilded, some with a distinctly modern feel: it's easy to see how the work of a handful of painters (mostly working on religious themes) set the fashion for and shaped the future of Italian art. Beautifully intricate painting, with a sense that real people were used as models. A very well-organised exhibition, too: large-print captions, well-spaced exhibits and no shuffling around in a solid queue. Kudos to the National Gallery for reassembling pieces that have been scattered for centuries.
12JUN25: In Her Place (Alberdi, 2024) -- Netflix
Based on a real-life murder in 1950s Chile: Maria Carolina Geel shot and killed her lover in a hotel bar. In this film, the protagonist isn't Geel but (fictional) paralegal Mercedes, who has a difficult home life (her husband brings her a floor polisher as a romantic gesture) and who spends time in Geel's flat, reading her books, using her lipstick, reassessing her own life. Well-acted, great period flavour, subdued but interesting.
14JUN25: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare / Hytner) -- Bridge Theatre
As seen on NT@Home during lockdown ... it is even better live. Excellent singing from the 'Athenian eunuch' whose identity I have been unable to discover. Bottom was magnificent even when he was not wielding a musical light-sabre... We had seats in the stalls and were able to see just how much the audience in the pit were directed around the action as it overflowed from the stage, and as the stage moved. JJ Feild as Oberon and Theseus, Susannah Fielding as Titania/Hippolyta (some great improv lines), Emmanuel Akwafo as Bottom, and David Moorst returning as punkish, dangerous, feline Puck. Utterly joyous and very highly recommended.
19JUN25: Sparks -- Eventim Apollo
Didn't enjoy this as much as their Festival Hall gig [LLINK] or their gig with Franz Ferdinand in Edinburgh [LLINK]-- possibly because the Eventim Apollo (nee Hammersmith Odeon) is a larger venue than I prefer, possibly because the band lacked a certain something. No support, just one long set featuring most of the latest album and a few classics. Had a nice chat with the woman next to me, who used to work for Iron Maiden.
20JUN25: Fiddler on the Roof (Bock / Harnick) -- Barbican Theatre
Fabulous choreography and a great set: a plot revolving around women being treated as possessions. I thought I knew the music but in fact only recognised a couple of songs (though the harmonies throughout *felt* familiar). A splendid performance that didn't really engage me.
Also a round of appointments with spine consultant, culminating in aspiration of an L5 synovial cyst and a bracing dose of steroid nerve block.
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 27th, 2025 05:39 pm (UTC)