Saturday 19 June 2010

London trip Fri 4 – Sun 6 Jun 2010

a mix of exhibitions and theatre...

National Portrait Gallery: Bridget Riley Portraits - early drawings; Irving Penn Portraits (2nd visit); Alex Katz portraits - very striking pics so bought the book

Leighton House refurbed plus Closer To Home: Leighton's Collection Returned - a very unusual place, beautifully designed and now restored

White Cube Masons Yard: Antony Gormley – Test Sites [review] Generally I like his stuff but Test Sites (the grid of lights) was a yawn. Upstairs was his latest reworking of his body cast theme: imagine his usual metal body casts, in the usual array of poses, but each rendered in a set of metal cuboids to represent his body.

NLA gallery: Strata SE1 tower - stunning new landmark in Elephant & Castle; formal opening is on 1-jul; 1st building with own set of wind turbines - 3 at the top

BL: Magnificent Maps

Museum of London, at last fully reopened afer 2-3yr refurb of the Modern London galleries, which are stunning - must go back when gallery is quiet

Duke of York's Theatre: Bedroom Farce [review]- there were some cast changes for the transfer to West End [more]

Tate Modern: Exposed - the high-profile exhib was a disappointment though I'll go again when it's quiet to get a better view

National Theatre: exhibition of history of West End theatres and a Sunday performance of Thomas Middleton's excellent Women Beware Women - so much more entertaining than his contemporary Will Shakespeare (who's "dull & worthy" in my view) [review]

I should want to see these current high-profile productions: All My Sons, The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue, The Late Middle Classes, After the Dance - superb writers and/or casts but I can't summon enthusiasm for 'em