http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/article en Copyright 2013 2013-04-29T16:10:59+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/from_bragging_boys_to_haggard_men/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/from_bragging_boys_to_haggard_men/#When:16:10:59Z Conor McPherson writes plays that feel simple but are tied together with such skill, the themes as delicate as silk, lightly binding everything together but never squeezing too tight. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2013-04-29T16:10:59+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/gleeful_distilled_creativity/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/gleeful_distilled_creativity/#When:15:30:09Z The show pulses with the kind of knowing naivete that is now Little Bulb’s trademark. Everything – even the hugely sophisticated and high-end stuff – is performed with a great big twinkle in the eye. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2013-04-28T15:30:09+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/the_batman_of_pop_art/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/the_batman_of_pop_art/#When:14:08:06Z Whatever interpretation we place on Lichtenstein’s approach to his work, it is chiefly the early Pop material for which he remains famous and it makes the major visual impact in this exhibition. It leaves us with contradictory emotions. Nicky Charlish Visual Arts, 2013-04-19T14:08:06+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/every_twitch_moan_and_flicker_of_the_eyes/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/every_twitch_moan_and_flicker_of_the_eyes/#When:13:42:13Z There are no tangible divisions or barriers in Christopher’s world. When he walks about the streets, trying to track down the murderer of the neighbour’s dog, the houses have no walls. Christopher’s world is a without boundaries – or, at least, without divisions that he can easily recognise or understand. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2013-04-16T13:42:13+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/bloody_exposing/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/bloody_exposing/#When:17:04:11Z But for much of the time, we’re simply badgered and bullied by a number of aggressive types, the threat of execution held – ridiculously – over our heads. It feels silly. It also feels completely out of synch with Kafka’s novel, which doesn’t look death in the eye until the very final moment. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2013-04-07T17:04:11+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/posher_prettier_pricier_even_perhaps_more_political/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/posher_prettier_pricier_even_perhaps_more_political/#When:14:54:18Z The printed book, therefore, begins to be coded not as something uniform or production line but as almost artisanal – like spelt bread from a local baker as opposed to Hovis sliced white. And because of this it is changing from the often unconsidered vehicle for a text to an artefact in and of itself – something reflected not merely in the content of the book but in its physical form. Miranda Kiek Books, 2013-04-01T14:54:18+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/bringing_back_working_class_values/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/bringing_back_working_class_values/#When:14:49:29Z Manion, for all his radical pretensions, is more orthodox than he imagines. His belief that public services should be redefined so that they ‘support and promote a safe, decent, healthy, responsible society’ is already in the mainstream of public service reform. The problems that he raises - both cultural and fiscal - are no less real and pressing for that, however, and he is to be commended for taking them seriously. Dave Clements Books, 2013-04-01T14:49:29+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/the_customary_and_the_disturbing/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/the_customary_and_the_disturbing/#When:14:12:43Z It is, perhaps, ironic that that Man Ray — who participated in this movement which set out to challenge received social attitudes - could also produce photographs which are eye-catching, yet conventional. Perhaps he deliberately split his work into the customary and the disturbing, maintaining this juxtaposition of radically different things in a Surrealist spirit Nicky Charlish Visual Arts, 2013-04-01T14:12:43+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/fill_in_the_gaps/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/fill_in_the_gaps/#When:15:06:03Z The classic Kneehigh touches - the karaoke sessions, a moon that doubles up as a clock and the spooky cold music that trembles beneath every scene - only make the dialogue sound weaker still. While these kooky visual and aural touches scream out ‘THEATRE’, the dialogue whispers ‘television’. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2013-03-23T15:06:03+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/gruesome_and_abstract/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/gruesome_and_abstract/#When:15:00:39Z This disorientating disconnect between sound and reality lies at the heart of this show. At first, we resist the obvious inconsistencies between what we hear and what we know to be possible. But the 3D soundscape, which is so convincing and so overwhelming, gradually wears us down Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2013-03-23T15:00:39+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/duchamp_the_joker/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/duchamp_the_joker/#When:19:05:55Z The Duchamp season at the Barbican is a tribute to the most significant of Duchamp’s reincarnations, his American revival as the godfather of a new and irreverent attitude towards art’s institutionalisation and its obsession with the nature of the medium. Karl Sharro Visual Arts, Intellectuals & the Public, 2013-02-26T19:05:55+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/no_need_to_shout/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/no_need_to_shout/#When:11:53:44Z Everything becomes grindingly over-explicit, as the ‘austerity’ measures are picked apart by an angry throng. There are a few gems of economic insight in here but it’s really tough to stay engaged. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2013-02-24T11:53:44+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/brilliantly_complex_perspectives/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/brilliantly_complex_perspectives/#When:16:14:13Z When Odysseus and Penelope are finally reunited, the stark black and white set is suddenly flooded with colour. It feels like nothing less than the beginning of a new and better world. Miriam Gillinson Theatre, 2013-02-21T16:14:13+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/competing_claims_of_love_and_the_glory_of_war/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/competing_claims_of_love_and_the_glory_of_war/#When:16:10:59Z In spite of being based broadly on Euripides’ character, Charpentier’s Medea is curiously modern, and at times her modernity emerges into the music, with harsh discords that strain against baroque formality. Timandra Harkness Music, Opera, 2013-02-21T16:10:59+00:00 http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/cw_editorial_note_-_13_february_2013/ http://www.culturewars.org.uk/index.php/site/article/cw_editorial_note_-_13_february_2013/#When:15:41:56Z London exhibitions: Manet at the RA and Light Show at the Hayward Editorial Team Blogs, CW Editorial Notes, 2013-02-13T15:41:56+00:00