MELBOURNE: Chicago is coming to stage in Australia

Updated: 13/06/2019

So, Chicago’s back in town and turning it out with big dancing name Jason Donovan as Billy Flynn. He’ll take on the role of the cunning and charismatic lawyer, making Donovan’s first time in such a role on stage, alongside Australian products Natalie Bassingthwaighte and singer Casey Donovan as everyone’s favourite Matron ‘Mama’ Morton, famous for her song ‘When you’re good to mama’. The Kander & Ebb musical has been seen by over 31 million people worldwide in 36 countries and is the winner of six Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy Award. Chicago continues to play on Broadway and around the world in multiple languages and is the longest running American musical in Broadway and West End history. Chicago tells the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer Billy Flynn to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today’s tabloids. It’s a sensation of a story that’ll be a sensation on stage. For more info and to get your own tickets, check out the Chicago website.

Category: CITIES, LIFESTYLE, MELBOURNE, THEATRE

Tags: Chicago, Chicago Jason Donovan, Chicago Melbourne, Chicago Melbourne Arts Centre, Chicago Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Chicago review, Chicago theatre, Melbourne threatre

LONDON: Frantic Assembly celebrates turning 25 with a year of projects

by James Banham

Updated: 13/06/2019

They’ve just been announced as one of this year’s partners for the fifth running of the National Theatre’s River Stage, but that’s not all Frantic Assembly have up their sleeve in 2019. They’re a theatre company, known for their fearlessness and ambition; a set of skills that has them game enough to announce a years’ worth of work for them to look forward to. And that’s just the start. They’ve got a new website coming in July, heading theatre arena at Latitude Festival with a new show, Sometimes Thinking – celebration of the hours invested in daydreaming and fantasising about the people we could have been, the things we should have said, and who we might yet become – which will be performed at Latitude, 19-20 July. Not to mention, thought the full line up of what’s on offer for River Stage is yet to be announced, it’ll include a combo of works like Sometimes Thinking, the Frantic Megamix (a performance celebrating 25 years of Frantic Assembly) a movement demonstration from A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Frantic Family workshops, a return of the Fatherland Chorus of Others and special performances from our Ignition Graduates such as DJ sets from Lewis Griffiths and Stefan Janik. Oh, and they’ve also formed a new creative think-tank, The Assembly, consisting of an evolving group of artists, creative practitioners and advisors invited by the Artistic Director, who will meet quarterly to discuss the vision and ambition of the company. For more on what’s to come from… Read More

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: Arts blog, Frantic Assembly, Frantic Assembly London, London arts, London Arts blog, London blog, London performing arts

London’s National Theatre is back with River Stage for 5th year running

River Stage National Theatre people smiling

by James Banham

Updated: 08/06/2019

The free summer festival, hosted by the National Theatre on London’s thriving Southbank is back again. Complete with a full line-up of performances that span the gamut of drag, cabaret, acrobatics, singing and dancing, it’s an event, inclusive of all, that really puts the National Theatre and London arts on the map. The whole festival is about celebrating the best of British and International culture, drag artists and London’s green and blue spaces, including the River Thames. River Stage is on around the city, but has partnered with The Glory (gay bar 5-7 July), Shubbak Festival (Arabic entertainment spread, 12-14 July), National Park City Festival (19-21 July), Frantic Assembly (26-28 July) and the National Theatre itself (2-4 August). Subbak Festival Shubbak Festival will be bringing an international focus to the festival with Bricklab’s ‘Geographical Child’s Play’. Bricklab, the designers of the first Saudi pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale have created a new pop-up sculpture especially for Shubbak: 22 brightly coloured units equalling in number the 22 states of the Arab League. National Park City Festival To celebrate London becoming the world’s first National Park City, the Mayor of London’s National Park City Festival features a huge array of acts to celebrate everything green and wild about the city, including family favourites The Gruffalo and living costumes walkabout, the Grass Men, plus two large-scale outdoor dance theatre spectacles: the Urban Astronaut and BLOCK, which explore themes of air pollution and the challenges of living in an urban jungle. Frantic Assembly Frantic Assembly are celebrating their 25 anniversary this year, will offer the chance for everyone… Read More

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON, MUSIC

Tags: London arts, London Arts blog, London blog, National Theatre, National Theatre River Stage, River Stage London, THE F arts

Opera Australia is going fully digital for their premieres

by James Banham

Posted: 05/06/2019

It was back in 2018 that Opera Australia first introduced their new digital screens in Aida. They fly around the stage, producing incredible images of stage props, striking colours and engaging projections that singers, the choir and stage actors move around seamlessly like they’re barely there. Here’s a refresher: Pegged as the opera of the future, Opera Australia is bringing them back again, only this time, instead of limiting it to one production, they’re turning them out for all of them. They’re the first company in the world to present a fully digital season of three brand new productions when it opens its Sydney Winter Season on 28 June 2019 in Sydney. Starring at the world renowned Sydney Opera House, Madama Butterfly – perfectly timed too, given its last production by Moffat Oxenbould wound-up last year – Anna Bolena and Whiteley will benefit for the digital treatment, no doubt wowing everyone who’s there to see it. They work thanks to fourteen, 7-metre high suspended LED screens that are choreographed to move seamlessly around the stage, creating a visual landscape that needs to be seen to be believed, and taking opera to a whole new level. See more and get tickets to the productions at the Opera Australia website.

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, OPERA, SYDNEY

Tags: Digital screens Opera Australia, opera, opera australia, Opera digital screens, Opera world first, Sydney digital opera, sydney opera

LONDON: Immigration and Modern Britain – The Kaleidoscope exhibition at Somerset House

by James Banham

Updated: 16/11/2022

There’s a new exhibition that puts Britain’s relationship with the rest of the world and its nationalities on the map, so to speak. It’s going down at Somerset House, right in the heart of London and it’s called Kaleidoscope; exploring the identity of immigration in modern Britain. The exhibition will contain stills and video, showcasing the works of ten photographers born or based in Britain, many with family origins abroad including Hong Kong, India, Jamaica and Russia. It’ll explore what it means and how it feels to live as an immigrant, or a descendent of immigrants, in Britain today. It all stems from personal experiences to evoke some sort of emotion in visitors to the exhibition and tell the story of a nation’s wide and varied multiculturalism. Think stories of the struggles of asylum seekers and stories of second and third generation immigrants in forms that are as moving as they are engaging, all presented in the striking environs of Somerset House. See the Kaleidoscope exhibition from 12 June to 8 September 2019 on Sat – Tues, 10.00 – 18.00, Wed – Fri, 11.00 – 20.00, except for 11 – 21 July and 8 – 21 August, when daily opening hours are 10.00 – 18.00. Get tickets from the Somerset House website.

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: Art blog, Immigration, London art, London art blog, London art gallery, London blog, London blogger, Somerset House, Somerset House exhibition, Somerset House Kaleidoscope, Somerset House Kaleidoscope exhibition, Somerset House London, The F London, THE F London blog

What to see at Somerset House London: Get Up, Stand Up Now

by James Banham

Updated: 05/06/2019

Celebrating generations of Black Creative Pioneers, the new exhibition at Somerset House, right in the heart of London, will put on a showcase of art, film and photography. There’ll be 100 artists represented, whose work will be presented to articulate and address the black experience and sensibility from the post-war era to the present day. The whole collection will showcase works and new commissions alongside items from personal archives, much of which has never been seen before. The whole thing has been curated by acclaimed artist Zak Ové, who’s invited each artist to exhibit on account of their significant contribution to shaping the cultural landscape. You’ll see works from the likes of Zak and Horace Ove, Armet Francis, Charlie Phillips, Sonia Boyce and Steve McQueen and many more. See more of what’s on at the Somerset House website.

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: Get Up Stand Up Now, London art, Somerset House, Somerset House London, the f art, THE F Get Up Stand Up Now London, The F London, THE F Somerset House

The Art of Persuasion at the National Army Museum, London

by James Banham

Posted: 04/06/2019

Abram Games was one clever dude. Talk about a guy that knew the medium, smashed the message and did so with creative, desirable, artistic flair that very few possess. There’s a brand new exhibition of him and the artwork and posters he created while he was a poster artist for the Public Relations Department at the War Office from 1941 until 1945, and it’s seriously good. Thing art deco-like posters done with taste, muted 40s/50s colour palettes and messages delivered so effortlessly, they’re hard to forget despite their nowadays irrelevant message. He was the father of wartime graphic designers and just a straight-up genius. It’s a must-see exhibition – and the National Army Museum in general, as well – that will reinvigorate your appreciation of what a horrid time WWI and II were. At a time of immense social unrest, after the ‘war to end all wars’ had left hundreds of thousands of veterans and civilians on the poverty line, the country was to embark on a second world war with National Service an unthinkable necessity. Games made the message the hero and turned some small part of it around as best he could. See the exhibition at the National Army Museum London until 24 November 2019. Head to National Army Museum,Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HT.

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: Arts blog, London Army Museum, London art, London blog, London blogger, London Museum, National Army Museum London, The F London

See the Chihuly exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens in London

by James Banham

Updated: 04/06/2019

Over 33 nights this season at sunset, fans of Dale Chihuly – a glass sculptor artist – will be able to view some of his best work at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew. Showing the works in a new light, transposed against the illuminated Unesco world heritage site, the Chihuly Nights (13 April – 27 October) event kicks off in August and will kick off with specially curated music that responds to artworks, including improvised live performances from internationally acclaimed artists. It’s all about celebrating the artwork of Chihuly in a completely new light, through an exclusive after-dark experience with food, drink, and music. See more of what’s on specifically at the Kew Gardens website.

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, LIFESTYLE

Tags: Chihuly exhibition, London art, Somerset House Chihuly, Somerset House London, Somerset London, THE F Chihuly, The F London

Life behind the palace walls: New exhibition tells the story of Queen Victoria

by James Banham

Posted: 03/06/2019

Queen Victoria was a boss. She took the throne at age 18 and made it hers from the get-go. A lot of that revolved around her moving into Buckingham Palace right in the middle of London. Three weeks into her reign, she moved into Buckingham Palace, despite the building being incomplete and many of the rooms undecorated and unfurnished. The Palace had been empty for seven years following the death of Victoria’s uncle, George IV, who had commissioned at great expense the conversion of Buckingham House into a Palace to the designs of John Nash. The King never occupied the Palace, and his successor, William IV, preferred to live at Clarence House during his short reign. The Queen’s ministers advised her to stay at Kensington Palace, her childhood home, until Buckingham Palace could be brought up to a suitable standard, but Victoria wanted to move immediately and begin her new life. Artist Thomas Sully then painted Victoria shortly after she moved in. Then after that, a whole bunch of other works were created, items and changes made that typified her reign. To celebrate, Buckingham Palace is putting on an exhibition, Queen Victoria’s Palace, curated by the historian and biographer Dr Amanda Foreman and Lucy Peter, Assistant Curator of Paintings, Royal Collection Trust. It’s all part of a visit to the Summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace, 20 July – 29 September 2019. The exhibition is accompanied by the publication Inside Queen Victoria’s Buckingham Palace by Dr Amanda Foreman and Lucy Peter. It… Read More

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: Art blog, Buckingham Palace, Buckingham Palace London, Buckingham Palace Queens Gallery, Inside Queen Victoria Buckingham, London art blog, London blog, Queens Gallery, Queens Gallery London, the f art, THE F Buckingham Palace, The F London

Feel Good Festival, London: Geffrye Museum gardens in Hoxton come to life in June

by James Banham

Updated: 30/05/2019

The Geffrye Museum might be shut until next year because of extensive renos and upgrades, but that doesn’t mean everything comes to a halt. On Saturday 1 June from 10.30am – 4pm (free entry), the gardens out the front of the museum will come to life with the Feel Good Festival, a free event for anyone who’s into wellbeing and feeling fine. The festival will encourage people to feel good moving, making, eating and relaxing and celebrating primarily Turkish, Cypriot and Vietnamese culture especially as it champions working in partnership with the local community. On offer will be activities for everyone like building up an appetite doing tai chi, yoga or Zumba; origami, Turkish marbling or planter making, outdoor games or just chilling out with something tasty on hand. The event has been programmed in collaboration with the museum’s local community partners: Centre 151, Derman, Hackney Cypriot Association, and Islington & Shoreditch and Lien Viet Housing Association. Head over to the Geffrye gardens at 136 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8EA.

Category: ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, FOOD & DRINK, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: Feel Good Festival, Geffrye Museum, Geffrye Museum London, THE F Feel Good Festival, The F London