Cultural stuff done so far in 2017

This House [play]

Garrick Theatre, 7 January 2017

AMAZING play. Pretty much the best play I've seen. Given that I'm not at all a politics junkie this is quite a statement.

Think this was an outing for Ruth's birthday. We had lunch beforehand in the Cork & Bottle, a lovely cellar wine bar on Cranbourn Street.

Interesting set in that they had members of the audience sitting on stage in what was meant to be seating in the House of Commons. I wasn't sure whether they'd been selected/applied for this beforehand, or whether they were just nabbed on the night.

Ruth in the Cork & Bottle

Interval. Members of the audience wandering around the stage

'Scots Jews' [exhibition]

Jewish Museum London, 21 January 2017

Exhibition of photographs by Judah Passow. This was a New Year outing with Helen. Think I just came across it in a search of 'stuff on in London'. Very interesting pics, and I never even knew the Jewish Museum existed - it's dead swish.

Here's Helen by a giant screen of some sort.

Helen by a screen

The Boys in the Band [play]

Vaudeville Theatre, 10 February 2017

We got tickets for this as it was apparently a revival of a significant 1968 play, was on a very short West End run and Mark Gatiss was in it, though it was a bit extravagant to go given that it wasn’t long after This House. It was OK though both Ruth and I were a bit underwhelmed by it. Here's a Guardian review. It's probably one of those plays that hasn't aged too well.

Susan Calman: The Calman Before the Storm [comedy]

Newbury Corn Exchange, 4 March 2017

Having chuckled at Glaswegian lawyer-turned-comic Calman's performances on Radio 4's The News Quiz, I started following her on Twitter a while back and we managed to get tickets for the Newbury performance of her 2017 tour. It was amusing enough, perhaps sensibly tailored more for a middle-class/aged Radio 4-listening audience rather than a gay audience.

America after the fall: Painting in the 1930s [exhibition]

Royal Academy of Arts, 18 March 2017

Went to this with Ray. Apparently it was the first time out of the States for Grant Wood's American Gothic. The blurb said "Experience the life of 1930s America through the many masterpieces in this landmark show."

Whitney: Can I Be Me [film]

Watershed, Bristol, 11 June 2017

I was never a huge fan of Whitters – I mean a great voice, obviously, but not really the sort of singing that appeals to me. However, Ruth fancied seeing this and it was actually very interesting, particularly in the way it covered her ambiguous relationship with her friend and assistant Robyn Crawford, and the clash between Robyn and Bobby Brown that seems to have led to Robyn’s disappearance from Houston’s life.

Queer British Art: 1861 - 1967 [exhibition]

Tate Britain, 1 July 2017

Very interesting exhibition. And I bought the book, which I don't usually, but it was reasonably priced. Shortly after the exhibition we caught a TV documentary about Hannah 'Gluck' Gluckstein, whose 1942 self-portrait features on the cover of the exhibition guide, pictured below.

Giacometti [exhibition]

Tate Modern, 1 September 2017

As per mention here.

Think that's all. Must schedule in some more stuff. Perhaps a ukulele orchestra next.