Arts Stewart Lee: Brighton Dome: Review Political comedy is notoriously hard to get right: on one hand you can end up slightly too earnest, too right-on and not particularly funny (a lot of ’80s alternative comedy). On the other you can appear merely snarky and even hypocritical (The 10 O’clock Show). Part of Lee’s greatness is that he’s By Michael Hootman • 2 min read
Arts Coward: Marlborough Theatre: Review Lovers of Noël Coward may be surprised at James Martin Charlton‘s portrayal of the Master as a man with sex foremost on his mind. Although we still get the dapper dandy possessed of an elegant wit living a glamorous life, the play also presents a man who tells no lie when he describes himself as […] By Michael Hootman • 2 min read
Arts Death in Venice: ENO: Opera Review Benjamin Britten’s last opera is perhaps his finest: a work which, although it embraces aspects of discordant modernism, also contains some of opera’s most hauntingly melodic music. Deborah Warner’s production brings out the opera’s eerie beauty, its internal struggle between sensuality and repressi By Michael Hootman • 2 min read
