Titian: Love Desire Death ★★★★★ The National Gallery | Until June 14, 2020


Known as the poesie, Titian's epic series of paintings has not been together since the sixteenth century. This ground-breaking exhibition brings them together and adds a seventh, The Death of Actaeon, which was conceived as part of the series but executed later and never delivered to Titian's patron, King Philip II of Spain. The works all treat stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses but the emphasis is on the female nude in a series of beguiling poses. They are testaments to Titian's skills as a painter and as a storyteller. Behind their obvious erotic component, however, there is often a darker point. The Renaissance was a period that celebrated rationality but Titian's works here focus on the irrational nature of desire and the often cruel and capricious reality the humans are faced with. Zeus, the king of the gods, follows his desires where they lead him regardless of consequences, whether that is the rape of Europa or the assault on Danaë. They have no say in their fates. Actaeon and Callisto are presented as the innocent victims punished for actions that were not of their own will. Venus is abandoned by Adonis after a night of passion and although Perseus is acting to save Andromeda he is not her intended husband. The amorality of power and the irrationality of desire are in the ascendant in these stunning works. This is an intelligently designed exhibition which beautifully draws out the power of Titian's works by bringing them together for the first time in over four hundred years!

Reviewed by J.C.
Image: Danaë by Titian, c. 1551-1553. © Stratfield Saye Preservation Trust.

 Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆☆ 

WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until June 14, 2020
Sat - Thu: 10 am - 6 pm, Fri: 10 am - 10 pm
The National Gallery (Ground Floor Galleries)
Nearest tube: Charing Cross
Map & Location: Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, London WC2N 5DN, UK

Most Popular

When We Are Married ★★★★ Donmar Warehouse | Dec 6, 2025 - Feb 7, 2026

Image
Set in 1908 and written in 1938, When We Are Married was produced shortly after the passage of the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1937, which expanded the grounds for divorce beyond adultery to include cruelty and desertion. At the turn of the century, particularly for the chapel-going middle classes, marriage was firmly understood as a till-death-do-us-part commitment. For Priestley’s original audience, the play’s premise that three couples might discover, after twenty-five years together, that they were not legally married and could therefore make different choices was not only comic but almost subversive. Times have changed, but Priestley’s comedy remains strikingly relevant, especially in its clear-eyed identification of the pressures that can undermine marriage: infidelity, financial anxiety, and bullying abuse. Although these themes are treated lightly, the point behind the laughter remains sharp. The play offers shrewd insight into relationships, class and the hypocrisy that often i...
Full Details »

Oh, Mary! ★★★ Trafalgar Theatre | Dec 3, 2025 - Apr 25, 2026

Image
Riffing on the long-standing rumours that Mary Todd Lincoln was an alcoholic and that her husband harboured homosexual tendencies, Oh, Mary! is a drag extravaganza with a sharp ahistorical and satirical edge. Its humour relies heavily on standard drag tropes. There is abundant mugging, snide asides, sexual puns, and what was once considered blue language. Much of this feels familiar, and the shocked laughter that taboo sexual references once provoked has been dulled by overuse. Indeed, anyone acquainted with the drag genre will see most of the jokes coming well in advance. That said, the production values are notably higher here than those of the average drag show. The set is handsomely appointed, and the use of music to underscore scenes is effective. Cole Escola’s script presents Mary as a bored housewife yearning to become a cabaret star. In an effort to keep Mary away from the bottle, her husband hires a teacher to give her acting lessons. The funniest moments actually emerge from...
Full Details »

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 »

Snow White ★★★★ Emerald Theatre | Dec 17, 2025 - Jan 4, 2026

Image
This adult-themed, all-drag panto delivers all the seasonal fun and silliness one could hope for, and then some. There are plenty of clever jokes mixed with a fair number of groaners, alongside some strong physical comedy and parodies of familiar tunes that genuinely raise a laugh. The contemporary cultural references are right up to date and so numerous it is hard to catch them all. Everything from the new Paddington Bear musical to The Traitors gets a mention. Nods to RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Great British Bake Off come thick and fast, with the latter earning extra resonance thanks to drag king Oliver Clothezoff, who plays the Prince, having previously appeared on the show. Not all of the material lands. Some well worn sexual puns feel overdue for retirement, as does the "Twelve Days of Christmas" routine. Even so, there are far more hits than misses, although the second act does seem to lose a little momentum. We were also left uncertain about why Keir Starmer had bee...
Full Details »

Christmas Day ★★★★ Almeida Theatre | Dec 9, 2025 - Jan 8, 2026

Image
In an odd warehouse conversion where his son and daughter live with a strange assortment of inhabitants, a Jewish father joins his children for a Christmas Day meal. Elliot, a secular Jew, represents a generation for whom identity and allegiances are largely unquestioned. His children, however, inhabit a far less certain world. His daughter Tamara is urgently searching for spiritual answers and openly challenges Israel’s actions, even as her former boyfriend has found a new sense of himself through Israeli nationalism. On the other hand, Elliot’s son Noah, who has a non-Jewish girlfriend, is adrift, struggling to locate himself within the tradition that shaped him but no longer anchors him. Sam Grabiner’s Christmas Day explores what it means to be Jewish in contemporary Britain, asking whether it is possible, or even desirable, to maintain or reconcile ethnic, religious, and cultural identity in an assimilative society. While rooted in a specifically Jewish experience, the play’s ques...
Full Details »

Orphans ★★★★ Jermyn Street Theatre | January 5 - 24, 2026

Image
Phillip is an emotionally immature, developmentally challenged recluse, protected and controlled by his impulsive and potentially violent older brother Treat who supports them both by stealing. Together they inhabit a sealed world of rituals, games, and shared fantasy. However, when Treat kidnaps Harold, an apparently wealthy criminal on the run, this act proves far from the solution he expects. Instead, the power dynamic shifts as Harold, himself an orphan, assumes an almost parental role, exposing the brothers to an alternative way of living beyond their self-made confinement. In just two weeks, he becomes a conduit to the outside world and offers the boys a new vision of themselves. Harold’s repeated rendition of “The Prisoner’s Song” underscores the play’s central metaphor of entrapment. Phillip is paralysed by his fear of leaving the apartment, Treat by his reliance on violence and control, and Harold by his desperate attempt to outrun the past. While Lyle Kessler’s dark vision e...
Full Details »

Top Hat ★★★★ Southbank Centre | Dec 12, 2025 - Jan 17, 2026

Image
“They’re Dancing Cheek to Cheek Again!” The posters and advertising for the original 1935 film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers promised romance, dancing, and songs you would never forget. This current production is every bit as delightful as the original and largely lives up to the film’s hype. The farcical confusions of the love story continue to charm and amuse, and it is refreshing that director Kathleen Marshall has chosen not to update the references. The show is unapologetically presented as a period piece, relying on the quality of its singing and dancing to bridge the gap between eras. With its unforgettable Irving Berlin score and top notch tapping from Phillip Attmore as Jerry Travers, it succeeds admirably. Attmore clearly relishes his role, and his exuberance is infectious. As Jerry’s love interest, Dale Tremont, Amara Okereke displays a fine voice, and the couple’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” is a definite highlight. As the comic foils the young lovers, Horace...
Full Details »

High Noon ★★★ Harold Pinter Theatre | Until March 6, 2026

Image
When it was first written, the 1952 film High Noon drew much of its force from the then political context and from Gary Cooper’s Oscar-winning performance. Created during the era of McCarthyism by Carl Foreman while he was under scrutiny from the House Un-American Activities Committee, the film’s moral urgency, combined with Cooper’s quiet integrity, helped secure its status as a classic. The tale of a small-town marshal who confronts an anarchic threat to the rule of law struck a deep chord with audiences. In this allegory, Will Kane stands isolated as he faces an approaching tyranny that leaves his fellow citizens paralysed by fear. Set against their timidity and willingness to submit to intimidation or to flee, his resolve appears all the more heroic. Kane’s ordeal is further complicated by the two opposing forces that inform his personal life and underscore his symbolic role as the law. His Quaker wife embodies noble but impractical ideals, grounded in a faith that rejects violenc...
Full Details »

The Rivals ★★★ Orange Tree Theatre | Until January 24, 2026

Image
This latest version of The Rivals is one part Richard Brinsley Sheridan and his eighteenth-century social satire, one part P. G. Wodehouse and the Roaring Twenties, plus a dash of topical humour such as references to the television series Survivor . It is not a mocktail that will be to everyone's taste, but it is clearly a labour of love for director Tom Littler. This attempt to reimagine Sheridan’s comedy of manners and modernise its references frequently succeeds, yet it also produces some awkward moments. Elements such as the anachronism of a duel set in the 1920s or the unnecessary aside about nudity in a bathroom scene are jarring and forced. Indeed, too often, the drive to provoke laughter at any cost appears to dominate the production, resulting in moments that feel strained and tonally uneven. This approach undermines the original and intelligent concept of relocating Sheridan’s play to a period whose literature was often similarly dismissed as superficial but which was al...
Full Details »

Paranormal Activity ★★★ Ambassadors Theatre | Until April 25, 2026

Image
The Paranormal franchise has a proven following, and horror fans are likely to enjoy this new stage incarnation. When James and Lou relocate from Chicago to London in search of a fresh start, it soon becomes clear that leaving their problems behind will not be so easy. He has a new job and she can work remotely, yet, as the programme hints, hauntings are not always tied to places. Sometimes they attach themselves to people. James must contend with his prying, Bible-quoting mother via a laptop screen, while Lou quickly realises that her grandchild- obsessed mother-in-law is the least of her concerns. Darkness, sudden loud noises and the occasional effective illusion are used to draw the audience into their increasingly unstable world. While this production recalls the successful 2:22 A Ghost Story and the long running The Woman in Black, it lacks the technical ingenuity of a show like Stranger Things: The First Shadow . Fly Davis’s set is a meticulously detailed two storey house, but ...
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings