'Sweet Charity' at the Donmar Warehouse

'Sweet Charity' is on at the Donmar Warehouse at the moment so we went along to see what was to be seen and what was to be seen was the stage and all the props spray painted silver. How strange, I thought, starting to look forward to what else what might be strange about the production.

Of course, we all know the story of Charity Hope Valentine, the hapless dance-hall hostess who just wants to find love and who finds it quite easily, it's just a shame the men she falls in love with don't love her in return. What's a girl to do, just keep on trying I suppose. Then she meets a man when a lift breaks down and could it really happen, could they both love each other? Well, know knows, there's a lot of story to get through before we find out what happens. I've always liked the story of 'Sweet Charity', with some great songs and characters and a lot of optimism. Maybe next time she'll find the right man.

Anyway, back to the silver production. To signal the show is about to start one of the dancers comes on with a record player and begins to play 'Venus in Furs' by the Velvet Underground ' shiny shiny, shiny boots of leather... OK, the show is set in 1966 so the Velvets were contemporary but there's no music in the show even vaguely like this, what's going on? Then some of the cast walk round with signs saying 'The Park' to let us know we're in Central Park in New York and a giant tub of silver balls is wheeled on the be the lake that poor Charity is pushed into when her boyfriend steals her bag. That giant tub of balls must take up a lot of space in the rather small backstage area and it's only used for a couple of minutes. A few songs and some exposition later and we're into 'The Rich Man's Frugg' with all the dancers in black with Andy Warhol wigs and sunglasses and I'm wondering what's going on.

I don't want to be overly critical of the show since I really liked it, but it sometimes felt like I had to work to like it. 'Sweet Charity' is a standard musical that could, really, have been written at any time in the last 70 years or so, with only a couple of songs pointing to the '60s, so starting out with the radical sound of the Velvet Underground send very strange signals. The sparkly silver set and Frugg dancers point to Andy Warhol's Factory but Charity lives a million miles from that world, in a grubby dance-hall in a cheap part of town and that's her life. I suppose it's the mixed messaging I'm questioning. Why? What does it add to a basically sound show that can be adapted in many ways? Something that just irritated me was using the cast to hold up placards or letters to spell out words every so often - very unnecessary and just filled up space. I also got bored quite quickly with the use of ladders in the dance scenes - why?

Yes, I have criticisms of the show but, overall, I really liked it. I liked Anne-Marie Duff as Charity and I liked her throaty singing voice. Theres nothing in the rule book that says Charity has to be a good, conventional singer, and I thought Anne-Marie was just right as a dance-hall hostess that spends most of her time in a smoky environment with a rasp to her voice. I also liked Arthur Darvell as Oscar, the man Charity falls for and expects to marry. I didn't realise it was him at first but he was quite engaging.

Overall, I enjoyed it and it's nice to have 'Sweet Charity' back on the stage. I've only seen the show twice - here and at the Menier Chocolate Factory a few years ago - both in small venues. It would be good to see it on a larger stage one day with more money spent on it. My view is to go and see it if you can - you might be critical of some of it but I suspect you'll also love other bits of the show.

'Ain't Misbehavin' at Southwark Playhouse

We caught 'Ain't Misbehavin' in it's final week at Southwark Playhouse. It's subtitled 'The Fats Waller musical' and that's exactly what it is, a collection of his songs loosely strung together to tell tales of life in and around the nightclubs of Harlem in New York in the 1920s. There's no story as such but the songs tell the tales of people in the clubs, of racism, domestic abuse, love and the joy of the dance.

Southwark Playhouse is a small space and uses that to its advantage with imaginative staging, moving the seating around to accommodate the action. The 'stage' is just the floor of the theatre but this time it was covered in some shiny, gold material and the focal point was the bandstand at one end with all it's glitter and lights, gold and orange/red - it immediately pulled the eye.

The cast were all excellent singer/dancers, rarely still, belting out the songs with gusto, living the reality of the songs and, every now and then, a slower song to calm things down to allow another build up later.

The energetic cast were Adrian Hansel, Renée Lamb, Carly Mercedes Dyer, Landi Oshinowo, Wayne Robinson and all were on top form. It was quite nice to be able to relax into the show without having to keep track of the plot or what a character might do next because there is no plot, it's a collection of songs telling multiple stories and you never know if the next one will be a ballad, a social commentary or an out-and-out fun-fest with arms and legs flung in every direction. I think I smiled and grinned throughout the whole show, tapping my foot and eager for the next song.

I'm really pleased that I saw this production and was introduced to these dynamic actors who brought it all to life. And great thanks to director Tyrone Huntley, choreographer Oti Mabuse (yes, the dancer from 'Strictly') and the amazing set designed by Takis. Well done all, and well done to Southwark Playhouse for putting it on in the first place.

Favourite Paintings: Sonia Delaunay 'Le Bal Bullier'

One of my favourite paintings is 'Le Bal Bullier' by Sonia Delaunay. It was painted in 1913 and is inspired by the tango craze that swept across Paris in the early 1910s. Sonia used to go to the Bal Bullier dancehall in Paris and sketched the dancers that ended up in this painting.

The painting is 12 feet long and the eye can't help but sweep from left to right as the dancers swirl across the painting. It's often cited as an example of the colour theory of Orphism, using primary colours against secondary colours - Sonia was very hot on colour theories and used them and experimented with them throughout her life in various media. I tend to respond to paintings on a more emotional rather than intellectual level. I don't see the theory, I see life and joy and movement and colour. I see the effect of that theory.

I saw this painting as part of the exhibition of Sonia's works at Tate Modern in 2015 and I visited it many times - I like colour. Each time I saw it I was drawn further into the dance. I stopped seeing blocks of colour and shapes and started to see couples dancing, enjoying the movement and the music and being together, and then started seeing movement as the couples danced across the dance floor. That's one of the magical things about painting - the painter doesn't dictate what you see. We all respond to art in different ways and that's a good thing.

I especially like that Sonia not only used the Bal Bullier dancehall as inspiration but she was part of it and designed her own dress to wear when she went there. That was included in the Tate exhibition.

'Le Bal Bullaire' is part of the collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris so I'll have to pay it a visit on my next trip to Paris.

New Loans at the National Gallery, London

The National Gallery has two new loans on show: ‘Flora’ by Francesco Melzi, one of Leonardo da Vinci’s favourite pupils, on loan from the Hermitage in St Petersburg; and ‘Tbe Sea at L’Estaque’ by Paul Cezanne, on loan from a private collection. Both are pretty fab so see them if you can.

'Flora' has recently been cleaned and this is its first outing from Russia in its newly-cleaned form. It was thought to be by Leonardo for many years but experts now attribute it to Melzi who is also credited with keeping Leonardo's notebooks safe for posterity (Vasari comments that Melzi treated them like sacred relics). The young Melzi followed his master to France and, when Leonardo died, returned to Milan with the notebooks. Just looking at that face it's easy to see how people might think it's by Leonardo.

Flora sits in a grotto surrounded by plants and has one breast on show, a symbol of fecundity, while she gazes at a flower. I wonder who commissioned this and first hung it on his/her wall? The blue of the cloak is gorgeous as are the purple spots that make up the small flowers. I'm not sure about the frame which seems to be a bit over-powering to me.

'Flora' is part of a small exhibition of the Leonardeschi, the pupils and followers of Leonardo da Vinci, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death. There are about 10 paintings in all, including a couple by Bernardo Luini that are very influenced by his master's style. The paintings are hung down one side of Room 12 and well worth a look.

The other new loan is a lovely landscape by Cezanne of 'The Sea at L'Estaque', with all the foliage and house roofs as Cezanne looked towards the sea.

It's a lovely little painting and that's what surprised me most - how small it is. He sent this to the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877 which shows that he considered it a worthy painting and I have to agree, with it's lovely colours and simplicity - a few daubs here for a tree and a few daubs there for a roof - and the lovely, clear light of the south of France. The painting is almost lost in one of the Impressionist rooms (Room 41 I think?) but it's well worth hunting out and taking a gaze at it.

'Identity! A Poly Styrene Retrospective' at 198 Gallery

This afternoon I went to the new exhibition about and by Poly Styrene at the 198 Gallery (the 198 Contemporary Art and Learning Centre) at Herne Hill, up Railton Road from Brixton. Poly grew up in Brixton so the location is appropriate. The exhibition is small but contains some fascinating works by Poly herself from different stages of her life and career. I was particularly pleased to see her little red typewriter that she used to type up her lyrics and, in the typewriter, were the lyrics to 'Plastic Bag' after which this blog is named.

The exhibition has a range of works from some very early photos of X-Ray Spex and Poly's designs for covers of singles to the large works of her as Marie Antoinette that she gave away as cards with her last album, 'Generation Indigo'. I like those images and they show her being playful and cheeky but I've only ever seen them small, as postcards, so it was great to see them full sized as A1 works of collage and they look great. There's also her iconic punk frock that I never guessed would be green since all the photos I've seen are in black in white.

I loved her designs for the cover of 'Transluscence', her first solo album and would never have guessed that she was playing around with the design since I've only ever thought of the record with her in bedouin garb and scarves.

There are a few letters she wrote (including a particularly sad one that shows her state of mind as a young woman), doodles of Johnny Rotten, typed lyrics sheets, screens showing the 1979 Arena documentary and a video for 'Genetic Engineering' that I've never seen before, tour posters and loads more. All of this shows what an all-round creative person Poly was, not just a great songwriter and singer in a punk band. There was clearly so much potential in her that never got to be released or realised. The beauty is in the detail.

Something I learned about Poly is that she clearly loved collages. Punk was, amongst other things, about do-it-yourself so she designed the record sleeves and posters as well as her own clothes and there are some very colourful and expressive artworks here, some with cut-out photos stuck onto newsprint and daubed with paint or ink - it would be great if these could be made into prints. I'm sure they'd raise money to complete the new documentary about Poly to be released next year.

If you get the chance go and see this exhibition. It's only in two rooms but there's a lot packed into those rooms and a lot to love if you like Poly Styrene. I couldn't help but grin as I walked round and then backtracked to look again at some of the exhibits. It's about 20 minutes walk from Brixton tube station and five minutes from Herne Hill overground train station. Ring the bell to get in and you'll be welcomed with open arms.

Thanks to Celeste for sharing so much of her mum's work, some joyous and some sad but all fascinating!

'A German Life' at the Bridge Theatre

The Bridge Theatre pulled off a coup last month when it managed to get Maggie Smth back onto the stage for the first time in over a decade to perform the one women play 'A German Life'. The play is by Christopher Hampton and is based on a documentary about the early life of Brunhilde Pomsel who was living in an old folks home in Munich and recounts the stories of her life growing up in Berlin after the First World War. A very ordinary girl who grew up to be close to the centre of very extraordinary times when she became a typist in the office of Joseph Goebells during the Second World War.

The play is basically one long monologue by Maggie, sitting in her room in the old folks home as she tries to remember what happened all those years ago. As such, it's full of pauses, of ums and ahhs as she tries to remember the past as accurately as she can but there was very little of significance for her to latch onto at the time since she wasn't interested in politics and her job was just a job. It's a very clever piece of writing. And, of course, a clever piece of acting.

She talks about her best friend Eva now and then, who was Jewish, and we hear about how her friend's life became worse with losing work, lack of food, no money for rent and other things. Towards the end of the play we hear how Brunhilde goes to the Holocaust education centre many years after the war to find out what happened to Eva to be told that she died in Auschwitz. There are lots of little tales and reminiscences, of Brunhilde going to great lengths to get back to Berlin as the Russians advanced rather than staying safely in the countryside, and that's how she was arrested and imprisoned for five years. There's very little directly said about the nazis or her job but a lot is implied and hinted at through her rambling chatting about the past.

The play was only on for a short run and has now finished but it was great to see Dame Maggie on stage again. She had a definite presence on that small stage, emphasised since she was the only one there so all eyes were on her.

'Van Gogh and Britain' at Tate Britain

The new blockbuster at Tate Britain is 'Van Gogh and Britain' and, as you'd expect, it gets very crowded but is definitely worth it. It's quite a large exhibition with around 50 paintings and drawings by Vincent with lots of others from artists in Britain he's influenced, such as Vanessa Bell, Bomberg, Epstein, Augustus John and many others.

Vincent lived in London for a few years and this exhibition aims to show how he was influenced by British culture and how he influenced British artists. So we see how he admired Charles Dickens and Constable and Millais, and then how he, in turn, influenced others following exhibitions of his works. We see paintings that he mentions in letters that have particularly inspired him in some way and see prints of paintings and engravings that he collected himself. All in all it's a fascinating exhibition and I will go again but, on this first visit, it was to see his works and what a glory they are.

It never ceases to amaze me how naive I can be about artists, how I know what their works look like and they always have done. And that is totally wrong. We're all on a journey and so are the artists we admire. Vincent didn't start off painting in glorious colours, he started trying to find his own path, his own style, his own way of painting that felt right to him. Some of his early works in this exhibition show him drawing and painting lone figures walking through an avenue of autumnal trees, rather melancholy and so not the Van Gogh we've grown to love. One of my favourites of his early works was an incredibly detailed view of an urban back yard - how on earth is it by Vincent Van Gogh? But it is. It's called 'Carpenter's Yard and Laundry' in the Hague in late May 1882. Artists evolve, few spring fully formed from the head of a god.

A drawing that I instantly recognised was 'Sorrow' that Vincent did in graphite and ink. I did a copy of this drawing in ink back in 1977 for my 'A' level art course and it unleashed a flood of memories when I saw it - suddenly I was 17 again. A seamstress model who needed the money, so much sorrow and hopelessness in that pose and, of course, Vincent found it.

He was looking for the ordinary, the everyday, and, sadly, a lot of what he was looking for involved poverty and hardship. He was a nice middle class lad himself - how could he be an international seller of art otherwise? - but he chose to look at and depict ordinary life for most of us.

We start seeing the Van Gogh we know and love with 'Starry Night' where we see the celestial night sky contrast with the articial lights along the waterfront at Arles. It's easy to see the brush-strokes in the thick oil paint , the gentle dabs of paint to show reflections in the rippling water and the rough characters in the foreground that help to give depth to the painting. You can almost feel the confidence of someone who knows what he wants to do and how he wants to paint - no-one had painted like this before but there's no hesitation in this painting. 

A painting I was really attracated to (and which I hadn't seen before) was 'Hospital at Saint Remy' from 1989, a year before he died. The hospital is very much in the background, what he's painting are the writhing trees in front of the hospital. Van Gogh painted a lot of trees - there's probably a book about it somewhere - and sometimes they seem tortured and sometimes joyful. There are lots of trees in this exhibition, including the painting of gorgeous olive trees on loan from the National Gallery of Scotland.

I'm not sure why, but I think these trees are my favourites in this exhibition. They're not tortured or ailing, as you might think for a scene of a hospital, these are vigorous and growing, reaching up to the sky, possibly reflecting how Vincent was feeling after his recuperation there? The red earth, the green leaves and blue sky make such a powerful statement that this painting attracted me from across the room to go and look at it.

Another painting I liked was what I think of as 'smart Vincent', a self-portrait from 1887. He's showing himself in a suit and tie for a change, rather the usual workaday clothes in other self-portraits. I suppose when most of us think about Van Gogh we think of poverty, ears and dying in obscurity and this self-portrait is the very opposite of that. He looks healthy, he's smart, there's still a little wildness to the eyes and hair but he is an artist after all. He knows what he's doing and where he's going with this painting. All of us can have moments of confidence in our otherwise drab and ordinary lives, moments when we're special, and this is Vincent's moment.

The sign beside the painting noted that this was in the first Van Gogh exhibition in this country in 1923 and it was the cover of the catalogue for the exhibition. It also noted that the Tate tried to buy it for the national collection but failed.

This is a very interesting exhibition, with a whole range of things from copies of books by Dickens and others to paintings that influenced Vincent and to paintings by later British artists that were influenced by him. And, of course, a grand selection of works by Vincent himself. It's well worth seeing. I'll be going again.

Within The Golden Hour/Medusa/Flight Pattern at the Royal Opera House

This week we went to see a triple bill of one act ballets danced by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House: 'Within The Golden Hour'. 'Medusa' and 'Flight Pattern'.

I've seen Christopher Wheeldon's 'Within The Golden Hour' before and this time it was just as mesmerising with its series of ensemble dances and duets, constant movement only slowing down to give you a chance to catch your breath. This time the dancers were in matching sparkly outfits which, I think, enhanced the performance. The repetitious and constant movement, the quick changes from one scene to the next and the excellent music all serve to draw you into the dance. Favourite dancers Sarah Lamb, Lauren Cuthbertson and Alexander Campbell all helped to lead the small troupe of dancers.

The second ballet was a new one and this was its third ever public performance, 'Medusa' by Sidi Larbi Cherkoui. It tells the tale of Medusa, a priestess of Athena who loves Perseus but is seduced by Neptune, cursed by Athena and then killed by Perseus. Not a happy tale. Enjoyable as it was, and with some excellent dancing, this ballet didn't quite work for me and I felt the staging and dramatic lighting sometimes seemed to over-shadow the dance. It'll be interesting to see what changes are made when it's revived in a few years time.

The final ballet was Crystal Pite's astonishing 'Flight Pattern'. I saw this ballet on its first run a couple of years ago and, when it was announced that it would feature in this season, it was the main reason for booking tickets. It's an incredibly powerful piece about forced migration, people fleeing their homes for their lives and seeking a safe haven. Virtually the whole piece is made up of a mass ensemble of dancers moving together, repetition and repetition, the huddled masses in grey all moving together, slowly but surely, with sometimes one or two dancers breaking away and taking a step forward or backwards, but always dissolving again nto the mass of dancers. The movement is relentless and powerful with messages of sorrow, hope and death and the survival of the human spirit. It's very contemporary, of course, and I think should be televised at some point to bring the tragedy of forced migration into our living rooms. There were 36 dancers on that stage led by Kristen McNally and Marcelino Sambe. Well done people.

This was a very successful evening and my favourite was 'Within The Golden Hour' for its joy and energy but 'Flight Pattern' will remain in my memory for a long time since it was staggeringly powerful and is an astonishing piece of work.

'Romeo and Juliet' at the Royal Opera House

Kenneth MacMillan's 'Romeo and Juliet' is a staple in the programme of the Royal Ballet and it's rather special to me. I saw Steven McRae and Iana Selenko dance the title roles three years ago and that production made me finally 'get' ballet and fall in love with it. O yes, it's that personal to me. I saw the John Cranko version of 'Romeo and Juliet', choreographed a few years before MacMillan's, when I was in Boston last year danced by the Boston Ballet at the Boston Opera House and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I prefer the MacMillan version.

The ballet is back in the programme for this years' season at the Royal Opera House so, naturally, I bought tickets. Steven McRae was due to dance the title role again but sadly injured his knee so our lovers were Akane Takada as Juliet and Ryoichi Hirano as Romeo. I've seen Akane dance in 'Manon', 'Mayerling' and as the swan in last summer's glorious version of 'Swan Lake' and seen Ryiochi dance in 'Nutcracker' and in 'Frankenstein'. They both have excellent track records. There aren't any production photos of them dancing the current roles, unfortunately.

We all know the story. Romeo Montague is a lad about town, stirring up trouble with the rival house of Capulet and hanging out with the Happy Strumpets in the marketplace, and then, after blagging their way into a Capulet masked ball to show off Juliet they see each other and fall in love. That starts the tragedy - how can the young lovers from rival houses possibly marry? They marry in secret and share one night of love before Romeo must run and hide since he killed Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, in revenge for the cousin killing Romeo's best friend, Mercutio. Juliet's parents press her to marry the hapless Paris so she feigns committing suicide. And Romeo, ah if only he'd waited another few minutes.

It's a tale of love and joy and tragedy and along the way we meet other characters in Verona. We meet Mercutio, Romeo's best mate and great sword-fencer. We see the Montague (white tights) and Capulet (red tights) gangs sword-fencing in the marketplace and end up with a pile of dead bodies so that the Prince of Verona has to intervene to stop them. This is proper fencing too, fully choreographed of course, but it's very exciting to see all the lads slashing at each other and jumping and bouncing all over the place! Sadly Mercutio and Tybalt also fence later in the ballet and Mercutio is slain, stabbed in the back by Tybalt so Romeo takes swift revenge.

We also meet the Happy Strumpets - the cast list rather casually calls them 'Three Harlots' but I prefer my name for the three lasses. Lead strumpet was a surprise to me - Itziar Mendezibal! I've seen Itziar dance several times, always with so much grace and poise and she was fabulous as Paulina in 'The Winters' Tale' a couple of years ago so it was lovely to see her in a more knock-about role teasing Romeo and the others with her undoubted charms. Romeo is no longer interested after he's met Juliet but I'm pleased he knew the Strumpets.

There is a gorgeous range of dancing in this ballet, from the energetic sword fencing scenes to the joyous pas de deux of the love scenes and our leads did themselves proud. Akane was great as Juliet, so elegant and graceful, moving from being the child at the start of the ballet to the poised young women of later scenes. Ryoichi also did great dancing, spurring on his comrades in trouble-making and worshipping Juliet. But, for me, Steven and Iana remain the definitive lovers - Akane didn't quite capture the child at the start and Ryoichi didn't have the same level of characterisation as Steven (but, to be fair, he didn't have the same time to practice the role). I also really liked James Hay as a very bouncy Mercutio and Bennet Gartside as Tybalt. It's a masterful ballet and a great production and odd to realise that this was MacMillan's first full length ballet - he was truly inspired when he choreographed it!

If you want to try out seeing a full ballet you could do a lot worse than choose this one. It's playing until June and will be broadcast live to cinemas on 11 June - try it? You never know, you might actually like it!

'Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light' at the National Gallery

Have you heard of Sorolla? I hadn't until the National Gallery announced this exhibition last year and, when I went to see it, recognised a couple of the paintings from visiting the Prado in Madrid. So, a Spanish painter in the Impressionist tradition reflecting the brightness of the Spanish sun. That was enough for me to want to see the exhibition so I popped along last week.

The first room is for portraits, mainly of his family, his children and his wife. There's a lovely portrait of his youngest daughter aged about 20 opposite a painting of her as a baby in bed with her mother. I liked that hanging. In-between was a portrait of Sorolla's wife, naked and from behind on a silk sheet. The glowing colours of the skin tones are marvellous with blue and green in there and the sheen on the silk sheets is created by great single-stroke daubs of white paint, very roughly applied when you look at it close up but gorgeous;y glowing from a distance. It shows a very confident artist knowing what he's doing.

The most gorgeous painting to my eyes is 'Sewing the Sail' from 1896 - just look at the light in that painting. There's a huge swathe of white in the centre of the painting, or rather, it's light grey with patches of bright white as highlights. Again, up close, these are daubs of white applied with a thick brush but are so effective. On the left-hand side there are wild roses crawling up the wall, adding reds to the composition and the right-hand side is full of lighter greens while the action takes place in the middle. This is a very large painting, much larger than the average Impressionist painting and you need to see it from a  distance as well as up close - good luck seeing it at a distance since it was always surrounded by crowds of viewers.

Sorolla was a successful society portrait painter and this exhibition includes his portrait of Amelia Romea. That profile is pure late Victorian and the notes beside the painting refer to him being influenced by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and that profile and face are pure Alma-Tadema. Of course, Alma-Tadema would've placed his sitter in a Roman villa or on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean. He would've added details and lots of them.

The next room is full of paintings of children on the beach and in the sea, the boys naked and the girls in simple shifts. In the sea, splashing, running, chasing each other, lots of energy and joy in the sunlight and the sea. I think my favourite was 'The White Boat, Java' from 1905,  with two lads hanging onto a boat. The light is reflected in the choppy water, again created with big, broad brush-strokes of white to create the effects of the sun. A very happy painting.

After a room of paintings of people in traditional regional dress as part of a specific commission, Corolla returns to portraits of his family and my favourite was 'My Wife and Daughters in the Garden' from 1910. Again, the emphasis is on light and shade with bright highlights on their dresses and on the pooch asleep at their feet. Clotilde, Maria and Elena are partially shaded as they sit in the garden with knees exposed to the sun. It's a large painting and dominates the room with it's powerful colours and rightly so. I can't help but wonder what his children felt about being constant models for their father throughout their lives.

It's a good exhibition with a good selection of his works - we could've done with this exhibition being held over the winter so we could go in to warm up a bit in that lovely sunlight. Here are 'The Smugglers' climbing up the cliff with their goods. It's a long way down...