http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/article en Copyright 2012 2012-05-12T12:08:27+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/their_own_beautiful_mess/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/their_own_beautiful_mess/#When:12:08:27Z Don’t look at the front of the stage, they seem to be screaming silently. Don’t look for the obvious. Maybe, just maybe, if you look beyond the surface, you might get a little closer to understanding us and discovering the truth. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2012-05-12T12:08:27+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/dialogue_is_the_objective_of_dialogue./ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/dialogue_is_the_objective_of_dialogue./#When:16:16:47Z If the exclusion of authors disliked by the Chinese government was a necessary condition for the British Council’s programme to go ahead, so be it. Whether it in fact was necessary is a separate discussion to have; what matters is that some established writers visited from China to exchange ideas about new literary genres, globalisation and e-publishing, and to search for commercial opportunities. Sam Burt Essays, Blogs, Intellectuals & the Public, World Development, 2012-05-08T16:16:47+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/more_bewildered_than_bedazzled/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/more_bewildered_than_bedazzled/#When:20:29:15Z The actor’s painful catharsis feels too much, though, and a gap opens between the audience and the action. This gap widens, as the warped music envelops us and the actors crack up completely, storming around with strange props, including a massive penis, attached to their flailing bodies. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2012-05-06T20:29:15+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/a_foghorn_of_despair/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/a_foghorn_of_despair/#When:13:10:42Z Mandarin is quite a hard-hitting language – packed with monosyllabic words – and the cast’s delivery sounds a little monotonous. It’s hard to make out those elegant swoops, dips and swerves in Shakespeare’s text. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2012-05-03T13:10:42+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/wispy_and_blank/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/wispy_and_blank/#When:16:41:35Z It all feels frustratingly and wilfully dry. Bond’s desire to write a highly stylised and starkly symbolic piece has ripped the guts out of his writing. ‘The Under Room’ never throbs with the kind of thick danger that wraps its way around his other, better and meatier plays. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2012-04-27T16:41:35+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/from_knock-kneed_sweetness_to_knees-up_knockabout/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/from_knock-kneed_sweetness_to_knees-up_knockabout/#When:20:17:09Z Lee Mattinson’s characters and events are larger than life. Its gags are slick and its sentiment is unabashed. Characters often voice the themes of the play. All this smacks of a writer siding for flair and entertainment over truthfulness. That’s fine; there are good plays like that. But they can’t make nuanced, near-contradictory sociological points. Matt Trueman Theatre, 2012-04-23T20:17:09+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/an_attic_full_of_lifes_flotsam/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/an_attic_full_of_lifes_flotsam/#When:20:10:34Z Melanie Wilson makes theatre as spa-treatment. Her work seeps through you, washes over you and leaves you refreshed. You exist alongside it, surfing moment by moment, completely outside out of everyday time. Autobiographer is experienced entirely in the present, just as the Floras (and the rest of us) live life. Matt Trueman Theatre, 2012-04-23T20:10:34+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/cw_editorial_note_-_21_april_2012/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/cw_editorial_note_-_21_april_2012/#When:17:59:33Z London theatre, ‘difficult’ and exciting, and the Royal Ballet’s take on pop culture Editorial Team Blogs, CW Editorial Notes, 2012-04-21T17:59:33+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/the_thumping_excitement_only_theatre_can_muster/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/the_thumping_excitement_only_theatre_can_muster/#When:17:46:01Z Rain pours from the ceiling. Odd little crucifixes flash up, initially comforting but quickly threatening. Thunder rumbles, lightning flashes and music, outside of Magill’s control, envelops everything. The effects grow bigger, madder and wilder, as Magill loses his grip on his story and his sanity. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2012-04-21T17:46:01+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/dead_inside_and_deeply_frustrated/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/dead_inside_and_deeply_frustrated/#When:17:44:15Z Many reviews of this show have included the slippy caveat: ‘This is not an easy viewing experience’. This phrase is often slipped in as an afterthought, following a careful exploration of all the cerebral pleasures, to be mined from said misery fest. And yet, what this phrase really means is: most of the audience will not enjoy this. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2012-04-21T17:44:15+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/the_ultimate_take_on_pop_culture/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/the_ultimate_take_on_pop_culture/#When:17:33:19Z McGregor’s pieces are known for overpowering the audience but, if the works he created so far for the Royal Ballet were oozing with energy, ‘Carbon Life’ bursts with it. Federica Ancona Dance, 2012-04-21T17:33:19+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/permanent_psychological_damage/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/permanent_psychological_damage/#When:17:23:58Z Cate Blanchett is an incredible force on stage and the production would be so much less without her. She manages to make her character, Lotte (wearing pastel pink, Alice in Wonderland-themed costumes), both bafflingly innocent and wearingly knowing. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2012-04-21T17:23:58+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/there_have_been_fights_in_here/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/there_have_been_fights_in_here/#When:17:11:43Z Canham prowls, thoughtfully, around the stage, placing scraps of masking tape on the floor and across the walls, as stolen conversations rumble around him. A blueprint of the theatre gradually emerges, breaking up the space into three distinct areas. Now all that is needed, is to colour in between those white lines: that’s where the dancing comes in. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2012-04-21T17:11:43+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/a_pathetic_little_word/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/a_pathetic_little_word/#When:05:31:39Z Tassos Stevens is a storyteller and, as he narrates the tale of Jimmy wandering across the earth and wondering about human feeling, he uses every opportunity he can to crack open the concept of love and examine its individual parts. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2012-04-21T05:31:39+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/cw_editorial_note_-_9_april_2012/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/cw_editorial_note_-_9_april_2012/#When:14:13:59Z The case for libraries, reimagining China, and London theatre Editorial Team Blogs, CW Editorial Notes, 2012-04-09T14:13:59+00:00