| | | You booze you lose! The rise of sober-curious TV | | by Rachael Sigee Jun 2, 2022 | | TV’s most compelling heroines are currently kicking the habit. Thanks to shows like The Flight Attendant, alcohol-free television is where it’s at for fascinating, action-packed viewing “No one wants to hang out with the designated driver,” says functioning alcoholic Cassie in HBO’s The Flight Attendant. “You wanna know why? Because it’s boring.” In the past, pop culture has not always been keen to tell sobriety stories. And perhaps that assumption is why. There is plenty of drama in blackouts, hangovers and bad behaviour, but the strict rules of recovery? In Cassie’s words … boring. Or even worse, preachy. Continue reading... | | | | | Britannicus review – political drama is deadly serious but full of sass | | by Arifa Akbar Jun 2, 2022 | | Lyric Hammersmith, London
Timberlake Wertenbaker’s take on Racine’s version of ancient Rome is replete with power-crazed emperors, deadly poison and juicy family politics
Rome might have teemed with power-crazed emperors but if there is one most famed for his despotism it is Nero. Jean Racine’s 1669 play is a study of this tyrant but it comes at its subject matter slant – through the story of Britannicus, his stepbrother and rightful heir to the throne, who was poisoned. It is clear at the outset that Nero’s mother, Agrippina, is the kingmaker of this court but the drama’s trajectory shows her losing her hold over the once virtuous Nero. “Bored with being loved, he wants to be feared,” she says. Atri Banerjee’s thrilling production brings this Roman family into a modern-day court and shows us how old stories can be made terrifically new, with enough fearless imagination. Adapted and translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker, the play’s 17th-century language is exquisitely updated and has a crystalline, lucid quality. Continue reading... | | | | | Yma o Hyd: the defiant Welsh folk song that's been 1,600 years in the making | | by Rhys Thomas Jun 2, 2022 | | Dafydd Iwan’s Welsh-language ballad tells a rousing story of national survival. Now, 40 years since its release, and with support for independence on the rise, it’s become a football anthem In 1982, a Welsh-language folk singer from Brynamman, Carmarthenshire, called Dafydd Iwan sat down to write a song about his country. At the time Iwan “felt demoralised” about Wales. The main reason being a 1979 referendum, in which just under 80% of voters decided against forming a Welsh parliament, instead favouring the status quo: Westminster rule. Iwan, a devout nationalist who was briefly imprisoned in the 1970s for defacing English road signs and would later go on to be the president of Plaid Cymru between 2003 and 2010, wanted to write a song to “raise the spirits, to remind people we still speak Welsh against all odds. To show we are still here,” he says. He called it Yma o Hyd (“Still Here”). The song consists of rousing acoustic guitar, backing vocals that sound like a small male voice choir, synthetic organ and a snare drum that evokes a marching band. Continue reading... | | | | | Orfeo review – descent to the underworld takes you to heaven | | by Martin Kettle Jun 2, 2022 | | Garsington Opera, Wormsley Estate, Stokenchurch
John Caird delivers a triumphant fusion of staging, choreography and performance – with Ed Lyon formidably assured in the title role
Sometimes everything comes right in the theatre. You know it when it happens, and Garsington Opera’s Orfeo is such a moment. It helped that the Chilterns weather was so benign for the summer season opening, but the real achievement belonged squarely to the performers and to director John Caird’s production team. Monteverdi’s “fable in music” of 1607 tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in a psychologically intense musical word painting that is poised between the madrigal era and that of baroque opera. Caird’s beautifully deft production, with designs by Robert Jones and lighting by Paul Pyant, creates a pastoral Arcadian vision before tragedy strikes, and a shadowy underworld as Orpheus makes his doomed pursuit of the dead Eurydice. Orfeo is at Garsington Opera until 3 July. Continue reading... | | | | | First editions annotated by Le Carré and Mantel to be auctioned | | by Harriet Sherwood Arts and culture correspondent Jun 2, 2022 | | Other writers who have added handwritten thoughts for sale in support of English PEN include Ian McEwan and Margaret Atwood An extraordinary insight into some of the literary masterpieces of recent decades has been provided by their authors in handwritten annotations in first editions of their works. Among more than 80 writers who have reread and commented on their works are Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel, Salman Rushdie, Monica Ali, John le Carré, Sebastian Faulks, Ben Okri, Ian McEwan, JM Coetzee, Peter Carey and Bernardine Evaristo. Continue reading... | | | | | |
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