Léon Spilliaert ★★★★ Royal Academy of Arts | Until May 25, 2020


If you don't know the name Léon Spilliaert, you are probably not alone.This is the first exhibition of his work in the UK, and it provides a beautiful introduction to the artist. Born in 1881, in Ostend, Belgium, Spilliaert was not healthy for most of his life and his bleak, brooding vision seems to have found its source both in that illness as well as in his haunting native landscape. His rendering of the seashore and the dark nights in Ostend are particularly evocative. His fascination with liminal realties is made evident in his intriguing studies of sea/shore and light/dark whilst the limited palate in many of his works heightens the drama. In his landscapes, people, often alone, stand out against their background. The fisher women in his pictures and the girl in A Gust of Wind (1904) are in their environments but not part of them. There is a profound sense of solitude and separateness in Spilliaert's work but it does not express itself in the desperation of an Edvard Munch with whom it is easy to compare him. Here there is a quiet acceptance of detachment. The artist, who suffered from insomnia, is like the invalid who is in the world but not always of it. Spilliaert's work seems to accept his lack of engagement finding comfort in the world of bed and bed chamber, familiar objects, books and ideas. For us, Spilliaert's haunting self portraits were a fitting and captivating conclusion to the exhibition. Here we saw the artist as he saw himself and looked into the eyes that had seen the unique world to which we had been introduced. Take this opportunity to see Léon Spilliaert!

 Reviewed by J.C.
Image: Woman at the Shoreline by Léon Spilliaert, 1910.
 Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆ 

 WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until May 25, 2020
Daily: 10 am - 6 pm (Fri until 10 pm)
Royal Academy of Arts
Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/leon-spilliaert
Map & Location: Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 0BD, UK

Most Popular

St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

Image
Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
Full Details »

The Little Big Things ★★★★ @sohoplace | Sep 2 - Nov 25, 2023

Image
When he was seventeen, Henry Fraser suffered a life changing accident whilst holidaying in Portugal. The rugby playing teen became paralysed from the shoulders down, and this exuberantly upbeat and funny musical traces how he and his family dealt with that adversity. Based on Fraser's memoir, the show deals with the denial, regret and blame that inevitably follow in the wake of such an accident, but ultimately it celebrates the emergence of a new more introspective Henry who is an artist and who is able to face the future with confidence. Fraser's role is divided between two actors. Post-accident Henry, perceptively played by Ed Larkin, is shadowed by a wonderfully energetic Jonny Amies who, as pre-accident Henry, haunts the former with the suggestion of "what might have been." The acceptance and integration of these two selves becomes a powerful drama, bolstered by the terrific score of Nick Butcher and Tom Ling and the extraordinary choreography of Mark Smith. Songs
Full Details »

Rebecca ★★★ Charing Cross Theatre | Sep 4 - Nov 18, 2023

Image
Premiering in Vienna in 2006, Rebecca , the musical, which is based on Daphne du Maurier's Gothic tale, has been performed in twelve countries and viewed by over twenty-one million people worldwide. The show is still running in Vienna and the Korean production garnered several awards. Unfortunately, the scaled down version at the Charing Cross Theatre probably doesn't do this international hit justice. Du Maurier's story certainly offers the opportunity for some spectacular effects, but in this production it all seems rather ho-hum. The opulence and mystery of Manderley is missing and the foggy beach scene borders on embarrassing. Those looking for the atmosphere and dark allure of Du Maurier's book, or Hitchcock's film, will be disappointed, but Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay's score has some real highlights. The wistful "Last Night I dreamt of Manderley" is quite haunting and the powerful "Rebecca" is a genuine showstopper. For us, the p
Full Details »

Strategic Love Play ★★★ Soho Theatre | September 6 - 23, 2023

Image
First dates are a minefield and this one is certainly explosive! Woman, played by Letty Thomas, wants to skip the banter, and she delivers an acerbic diatribe on the falsity of the conventions and stratagems of the dating experience. There is certainly lots of humour in her insights, but her aggression and obvious self-hate have an uncomfortable edge. On the other hand, Man, played by Archie Backhouse, is trying to apologise his way into a relationship in which he can just relax. While it might seem that they are incompatible, she, nevertheless, proposes that they could establish a relationship. Her insistence on "truth" and his desire to please hardly seem to be much of a basis for getting together, but their dysfunctions might prove compatible. The second half of the play is then a catalogue of the goals they have for being a couple and the compromises they could make in a co-dependency. The generic naming of the characters suggests that there is a universality in their exp
Full Details »

Private Lives ★★★★ Ambassadors Theatre | Aug 31 - Nov 25, 2023

Image
Noël Coward's delicious mixture of wit and sentiment still provokes laughter and delight in this beautifully polished production directed by Christopher Luscombe. The first rate cast headed by Nigel Havers as Elyot and Patricia Hodge as Amanda manage to squeeze every nuance out of Coward's arch commentary on the pleasures and perils of lives lived passionately. As the divorced couple who accidentally meet while they are honeymooning with new partners, Havers and Hodge display virtuoso skills as they deliver Coward's intricately crafted dialogue. They also skilfully manage to communicate the barely controlled ardour that underlies their brittle interactions. Supporting these bravura portrayals, and playing the new spouses of this tempestuous pair, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart as Victor and Natalie Walter as Sybil also put in first rate performances. They are spot on as the conformist and unimaginative foils to the volatile duo. If there is any issue here, it is when Coward's ch
Full Details »

The Father and the Assassin ★★★★ National Theatre | Sep 8 - Oct 14

Image
Playwright, Anupama Chandrasekhar weaves together two stories: the history of India's struggle for freedom under the inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi and the personal development and radicalisation of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of the father of independence. The two are intertwined, but tenuously connected. The former deals with the struggle between Gandhi's pluralistic vision for the subcontinent and the belief of Jinnah and Nehru that the future requires a division of the country along sectarian lines. While the political history is interesting, none of these characters are really developed, nor is their debate presented in a way which really captures the audience's imagination. On the other hand, the more personal story of Godse and his evolving intolerance is quite engrossing. Raised as a girl by parents who have made a bargain with the goddess, Durga, after the loss of three male children, Godse, as engagingly portrayed by Hiran Abeysekera, is both humorous and charming
Full Details »

It's Headed Straight Towards Us ★★★★★ Park Theatre | Sep 14 - Oct 20, 2023

Image
You think you've got problems! Consider the situation of two actors with a history of rivalry who find themselves in Iceland stranded on a glacier atop a volcano. This wonderfully wacky premise for Adrian Edmondson and Nigel Planer's delightful new comedy sets the audience up for a show that is original, extremely funny and surprisingly thoughtful. Gary, played by Rufus Hound, and his counterpart, Hugh, played by Samuel West, attended drama school together and have since reinvented themselves as they embarked on careers of pretending to be other people. In their current film, Hugh, who has chosen a life of outward conformity and upward mobility, plays a butler while Gary who presents as being the tormented, bad-boy artiste is cast as an alien. Outwardly their personae appear to be quite different, but they both negotiate their way through life by employing pretence, or art. And, although one might think their current dilemma could serve to concentrate the mind, for the most par
Full Details »

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre ★★★★ Sadler's Wells Theatre | September 5 - 16, 2023

Image
It is difficult to believe that Alvin Ailey's extraordinary company is celebrating its 65th anniversary. This year, with a combination of new work and old favourites, it brings four different shows to London: Contemporary Voices , Modern Masters , Ailey Classics and 21st Century Creations . The first three programmes include Alvin Ailey's unforgettable choreography of "Revelations." Almost inevitably for us, this was the highlight of the Contemporary Voices program. Ailey's ability to capture the longing and exuberance of such spirituals as "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel," "Sinner Man," and "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham" remains both enthralling and inspirational. It's an almost impossible act to follow, and for all three programmes, in which has been included, it has wisely been selected as the concluding piece. For us, the opening , Kyle Abraham's "Are You in Your Feelings," has some engaging and ext
Full Details »

Infamous ★★★ Jermyn Street Theatre | Sep 7 - Oct 7, 2023

Image
Emma Hamilton is best remembered for being the mistress of Nelson, but her rags-to-riches and back again, story has a fascination all its own. Hamilton was a larger than life character who defied the proprieties of her time and who was a "personality" long before the infamous Kardashians. It is a remarkable story, but as with any history play, the challenge is how many facts does the audience need to know and how are these going to be conveyed. Writer, April De Angelis, squeezes in a lot of information, but it sometimes feels rather awkwardly inserted, distracting from what is probably meant primarily to be a reflection on mother-daughter relationships. Act I shows Emma as a wilful young woman who has risen to the heights of society and whose daring dismays her trepidatious, low-born mother, Mrs Cadogan. Act II contrasts an older Emma, now suffering hard times but still opportunistic and optimistic, with her practical and disapproving daughter, Horatia Nelson. De Angelis does
Full Details »

Peter Grimes ★★★★★ London Coliseum | Sep 21 - Oct 11, 2023

Image
Caught between the harshness of nature and the hypocrisy of a society that closes its doors to him, Peter Grimes is isolated and brutalised in a way that leads to his tragic end. Benjamin Britten's interpretation of George Crabbe's poem, The Borough , is a very dark picture of the human condition, indeed, and it is reinforced by the brilliantly stark sets of Paul Steinberg and drably evocative costuming of Brigitte Reiffenstuel. Director David Alden manages to make the sense of oppression and grim menace palpable, capturing the repetitive and joyless nature of both work and recreation in this dismal reality. Both musically and dramatically, Gwyn Hughes Jones does an amazing job of capturing the animality and humanity of the title character. The audience shares his frustration and aspiration in the wonderfully rendered "Now the Great Bear and Pleiades" and is horror-struck by his mad scene. In her interpretation of the "Embroidery Aria" Elizabeth Llewellyn, a
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings