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Close Cousins to Sculpture? Stephen Buckley’s Work Needs All Three Dimensions

January 10, 2019 by Paul Levy Leave a Comment

   Étaples (1995) A couple of the essays in the gorgeous book (published by Neuendorf) that accompanies Close Cousins, an exhibition of Stephen Buckley paintings at the smart Mayor Gallery (Cork Street, London, until 8 February), make the point that Buckley is not a household name. Well, he is in our household, where we have whole walls of works on paper by the painter, who now … [Read more...]

The Tell-Tale Horror of Christmas

December 21, 2018 by Paul Levy 3 Comments

David Carlyle and Tamara Lawrence (photo Manuel Harlan) Non-Brits find it hard to believe, but in addition to the tree, holly, mistletoe, turkey, plum pudding, watching the Queen’s speech and drinking far too much, ghost stories are a part of (at least) English Christmas traditions, as much as the pantomime. If this startles you, just think of the spectres in Dickens’ 1843 A Christmas Carol, … [Read more...]

Six Characters in Search of a Babymother

October 23, 2018 by Paul Levy Leave a Comment

  Of course, it’s pure coincidence that the royal pregnancy of the Duchess of Sussex was announced only a little before the curtain went up on Nina Raine’s new play, Stories, at the Dorfman auditorium of the National Theatre. But the news couldn’t be more apt, as the 37-year-old American former actress has much in common with Anna (Claudie Blakley), the heroine of  the play –except the … [Read more...]

Axel, Lutz, Salchow — whodunnit at Garsington Opera?

July 10, 2018 by Paul Levy 2 Comments

  It’s not very often that you hear and seen an opera in which you worry about (or care) whodunnit. Even Nicol Muhly’s (I thought splendid) Marnie, which had its world première in London last year, and was derived from the suspenseful Hitchcock film, we didn’t so much worry about who did what, as about Marnie’s weird character. But David Sawer and Rory Mullarkey’s The Skating Rink, … [Read more...]

Verdi v Shakespeare? Falstaff’s no contest

June 19, 2018 by Paul Levy Leave a Comment

Garsington Opera, Bucks.   Verdi’s Falstaff seems a modern piece to me; despite its première being 1893, it feels as musically up-to-date as say, Puccini’s 1926 Turandot. Verdi knew what was up in music. Before 1887, when Otello was first heard, Verdi had been in virtual retirement since Aida in 1871, and clearly noted what Wagner and his ilk were writing. At Garsington, director Bruno … [Read more...]

The Shock of the Not Quite New: La Pittura dopo il Postmodernismo alla Reggia Caserta

April 24, 2018 by Paul Levy 1 Comment

Barbara Rose, "the high priestess of art," at Caserta I’ve just come back from Naples, following a few days at Caserta, to see a variant of an exhibition we saw in Brussels in September, 2016, under the title “Painting After Post-Modernism” sponsored by Roberto Polo, and curated by Barbara Rose. But it wasn’t so much an alternative version of the earlier show (which was also seen in Málaga), as a … [Read more...]

Some Home Thoughts from Abroad as Hurricane Hamilton Hits Britain

December 30, 2017 by Paul Levy 3 Comments

The hoop-la surrounding the London staging of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is almost as interesting as the musical itself. The ticket-tout-defeating instructions for admission to the Victoria Palace Theatre that came with my pair of house seats were more elaborate and demanding than those for our recent night out at Buckingham Palace. In the event, though, we were whisked past the velvet rope … [Read more...]

Imperium on the Potomac staged in Stratford-upon-Avon

December 22, 2017 by Paul Levy Leave a Comment

  Though a fan of Robert Harris’s fiction, I have to confess that I’ve not read his Cicero trilogy. That’s probably because I had insufficient exposure to Cicero during the many years I did Latin at my Kentucky high school. (Indeed, I have the impression that my father, at more or less the same schools, was much better grounded in the classics.) Of course, I’ve had to translate snippets of … [Read more...]

Reflections on the Bodleian’s Treasures — and a few others

December 21, 2017 by Paul Levy 4 Comments

  To be honest, though for most of my adult life I’ve lived less than twenty minutes away from the Bodleian Library, I haven’t spent a great deal of time in its reading rooms – or even using its collections. When younger, I preferred my Oxford college library, and even then, I disliked reading, working and writing in the company of others. The Internet was made for people like me. But … [Read more...]

American Television’s Götterdämmerung Frightens the London Theatre Zone

December 14, 2017 by Paul Levy Leave a Comment

  Owing to circumstances of age and birthplace, I expect I was a fan of – perhaps addicted to – the American TV series of the late-1950s to early 1960s, The Twilight Zone. At this week’s première at the Almeida Theatre of Anne Washburn’s mash-up adaptation of eight episodes of this sci-fi schlock-horror entertainment, I think I did – just – recognise the theme tune. Much as I enjoyed the … [Read more...]

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Paul Levy

is almost a citizen of the world, carrying the passports of the USA and the UK/EU. He wrote about the arts in general for the now-defunct Wall Street Journal Europe. [Read More]

Plain English

An Anglo-American look at what's happening here and there, where English is spoken and more or less understood -- in letters, the visual and performing arts, and, occasionally, in the kitchen or dining room. … [Read More...]

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Recent Comments

  • Edward Mortimer on The Tell-Tale Horror of Christmas: “Perhaps Neilson's next play could be about a father and a daughter explaining the plot of a play within the…” Dec 22, 07:54
  • Paul Levy on The Tell-Tale Horror of Christmas: “You have convinced me. I got it wrong. But your comment implies that the play doesn't quite work -- and…” Dec 21, 17:31
  • Tatyana Levy on The Tell-Tale Horror of Christmas: “You missed the trick: It's a play within a play-- all revealed by the policeman at the end. The Writer,…” Dec 21, 17:25
  • Carol M Dupre on The Shock of the Not Quite New: La Pittura dopo il Postmodernismo alla Reggia Caserta: “for all the names, places, titles, people, atmospherics, backing this or these exhibits up as post-postmodern I'm sorry to admit…” Apr 25, 17:14
  • william osborne on Some Home Thoughts from Abroad as Hurricane Hamilton Hits Britain: “Correction. The last paragraph should read, Never mind that to this day, the average *net worth* of a…” Jan 1, 07:07
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An ArtsJournal Blog

Recent Posts

  • Close Cousins to Sculpture? Stephen Buckley’s Work Needs All Three Dimensions
  • The Tell-Tale Horror of Christmas
  • Six Characters in Search of a Babymother
  • Axel, Lutz, Salchow — whodunnit at Garsington Opera?
  • Verdi v Shakespeare? Falstaff’s no contest

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