Culture Vulture

My long weekend with the missus didn’t get off to the best of starts. I wanted to go to Paris or Brussels and she wanted to go somewhere in the UK. Even worse she wouldn’t allow me to sulk in bed for not getting my own way on Friday morning. Some people! So we stayed in London and did stuff and it turned out pretty good…

First up was The Constant Gardener, which is an engaging film about a couple who get involved with exposing a medical company exploiting Third World citizens to test drugs. Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Wiesz are the marrieds caught up in this plot but it’s very much an ensemble piece, which even Bill Nighy camping it up as a high-profile politician can’t spoil. Brain food in movie form.

Next up was a trip to Soho Theatre (probably the most ambitious theatre in London in my humble opinion) to see a play by the ATC (Actors Touring Company) entitled A Brief History Of Helen Of Troy.

This was by an American writer called Mark Schultz and it was a rites-of-passage drama about a teenage girl coming to terms with the death of her mother, the grief of her father and her own changing world. Tightly written with razor sharp dialogue and not overly sentimental, it was the sort of play I imagine most writers would quite like to write (if they were honest). The ATC cast were also right on the money too.

Last up was a trip to see the ballet Edward Scissorhands at Sadlers Wells. Now ballet like opera hits all my inverted snobbery buttons as it's heavily subsidised and I always feel the money could be better spent on more deserving causes in the arts, but the Matthew Bourne production was stunning and won my prejudices over.

To be fair it was onto a winner from the start as I adore the Tim Burton movie and I love the gothic fairy-tale elements of the story but I wasn’t prepared for the sheer beauty and heart of it. It’s perfect first date material and I am toying with divorcing the missus just so I can start dating her again and take her to see it all over again.

But then I’m a new man – or maybe I’m just becoming a bit of an arts ponce…