I recently saw Benjamin Britten’s tragic opera Billy Budd. A friend bought me a ticket to go to Glyndebourne, which was a crude shock. I would have to dress up, bringing back sinister memories of moving from state to private school aged 10, where the uniform was part of the authoritarian message. In the sweetness […]
Tao of Glass is an astonishing piece of theatre. It seeks to explore the minimalist, meditational music of Philip Glass, which is celebrated in concert halls and opera houses around the world. But how do you give tangible form to music – and the thoughts and life stance which may lie behind it? It’s a
This is a post that asks – Does a Narcissist KNOW he’s a Narcissist? It’s about the Awareness or rather Un-Awareness of Donald Trump. It was written by someone who feels threatened by the vindictiveness of Trump and his big tech allies, so I am cited as the author though this piece is not by
Does a Narcissist know he’s a Narcissist? Read More »
There’s a lot of sexual politics in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. Maybe that’s why I love it, and why the opera remains so popular round the world. I was at the dress rehearsal of a wonderful production coming up at London’s Royal Opera House, with a very strong cast including the South African soprano Masabane
Mozart’s Sexual Politics Read More »
The 21 new poems at the start of Wish by Maggie Brookes-Butt are a grandparent’s love song, addressed to her descendants. They are designed to be read when the children grow up. The volume of new and selected poems is written in a simple style that wears its heart on its sleeve but it is often
A Grandparent’s Love Song Read More »
There is nothing more beastly than people who shudder with distaste or squeamishness at contact with animals. This ironically-titled book by Keggie Carew, offering “A New History of the Animals and Us” is a cry from the heart of a nature lover. The author runs a small nature reserve in Wiltshire. She has previously won
Beastly is Beautiful Read More »
When the rejuvenated scholar Faust has slept with Helen of Troy, via the black magic arts of Mephistopheles, the vision fades and he finds himself on a high rugged peak. He marvels at the spectacle of sun-irradiated clouds, and imagines a luscious female form on softest bedding: “I see it! It is like Juno, Leda,
How Faust Was Saved Read More »
Bob Dylan is one of the finest ever writers of protest songs, about the oppression of poor people, young people, black people in the militarist, capitalist hustle of the USA. But what about his portrayal of suffocating or fickle women? When he sings in The Gates of Eden: “Of war and peace the truth just
Bob Dylan’s World of Fickle Women Read More »
Goethe’s character Faust is a potent symbol of Everyman in our modern hi-tech wonderland. If we have the money, we can have almost anything we desire delivered to our door the next day. Does that make us happy? Does that make us good? Does that make our world safe? This may be the most eccentric
Goethe’s Faust, a Parable of Modern Techno Man Read More »
This a terrific film about a man who is not there. It won this year’s Palme d’Or for its tragi-comic depiction of a group of dissidents in Iran. It was shot secretly by the director Jafar Panahi, who was only released from his latest spell in prison after a hunger strike. A man is driving
Secret Police and their Blindfolded Victims Read More »
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