Last night, at around 9pm, I received a terrible phone call from a Mr Rodrigo Rojas. “I’m calling from Telefonica. We’ve knocked at your door many, many times, but for some reason, you are never in.” “I work,” I confessed, “Is there a problem?” “Are you Ms … of C/ … ?” “I am. ” “And… Read more »
Author: Alx Phillips
VIOLENT ENCOUNTERS of the isolating kind
A Boxing Day stroll along Diagonal was intercepted by a violent incident with a madman. “Puta!” yelled the hefty, pee-soaked man, who had already attracted my attention by spitting at me. “Why do you say that?” I replied. I realised my mistake immediately. “Puta!” he raged “Zorra!” He tossed aside his black bag and lunged at me. On your own, love. I… Read more »
TÚRRON DE YEMA: Gift or insult?
A moist, sickly-sweet lump of sugar (1kilo), smashed almonds (1kilo) and 12 semi-solidified egg yolks, the lightly browned Túrron de Yema must be the quintessentially backhanded Christmas gift; the booby prize of the seasonal raffle. One might go so far as to suspect that the same single bar has been circulating the peninsula since Wilfred… Read more »
WHAT’S ON? Silence in the name of The Artist
Silent French movie The Artist is out in Spain. It has 6 Golden Globe nominations – more than either of Clooney’s – and is tipped to win an Oscar. It’s not in 3D, so what could be the secret to its success? That it harks back to the Golden Age of Hollywood when acting was… Read more »
HENRY V: The Dark Heart of Heroism
A conspiracy to dumb down the dark side of archetypal English hero Henry V has been uncovered in a radical new version of the Shakespeare play, performed by Edward Hall’s all-male theatre company Propeller. The notion that Henry (left) was ‘curiously flat’ for a Shakespearean hero was dismissed by representatives of the troupe, the actor… Read more »
WHAT’S ON? Henry V, Propeller-style
Girona’s Teatre Municipal, December 6th & 7th: With the European ideal in the doghouse and nationalism on the rise, theatre company Propeller get in there with a brutal, allegedly brilliant staging of Shakespeare’s Henry V, the heroic history play-turned-1989 movie that once made Kenneth Branagh sexy. It’s the IV time that the all-male British troupe, artistically… Read more »
READ ABOUT IT: Catalan Drama
For my article based on interviews with Catalan bigwigs of theatre, Calixto Bieito and Toni Casares, published in Barcelona Metropolitan this month click here.
WHAT’S ON? Sydney Dance Company
This is the first time that Catalan choreographer Rafael Bonachela brings Sydney Dance Company to Barcelona, then London in December, where they are performing two pieces, 6 Breaths and LANDforms, both of which are set to the original, emotive scores of Italian Ezio Bosso. LANDforms, in which dancers confront the tough, beautiful Australian landscape & climate is an… Read more »
REVIEW: Jocular’s Private Eyes
Having suffered 3 + hours of a taxidermied Edward Albee play the night before my point about actors seemed set in stone … that is, until a Jocular Theatre Company production blew it to bits. To claim that Joshua Zamrycki‘s band of five did justice to Steven Dietz’s 1996 play would be wrong. Private Eyes may be… Read more »
DANCE REVIEW: Lemi Ponifasio / MAU
On a slick black stage, stabbed through the heart by a monolithic shard, dance troupe MAU terrified me with a tense, urgent, masterful piece with a throbbing, ritualistic score. You’ll never sleep again. In Birds with Skymirrors, Samoan choreographer Lemi Ponifasio deals with the big issues: our relationship to the environment and to each other, relating… Read more »