What happens to a novel’s characters when their author abandons them? I spoke to British playwright Laura Wade about bringing “The Watsons,” an unfinished novel by Jane Austen, to the stage, in a piece for the New York Times. Continue reading “Jane Austen’s unfinished novel comes to the stage”
Latest writing
The art of the ménage à trois
Modern Couples, a new exhibition at the Barbican, features more than 40 couples, taking a wide-ranging look at how the artistic and literary experiments of the avant-garde were often also accompanied by experiments in living, and in loving. Actually, we’re often not talking about couples – but ‘throuples’. Two’s company, three’s an experiment…
Jessica Barden on Pinter and the return of ‘The End of the F***ing World’
The day I meet Jessica Barden, the first image at the top of her Instagram is a black and white photograph of Harold Pinter captioned “Bae. Harold.” Beneath that, young fans tell her how much they love her Netflix series The End of The F***ing World. For Barden, this is actually ideal.
Review: Honour, Park Theatre
A middle-aged, middle-class couple – he a towering figure in journalism, she a writer who’s not published for decades – appear to have a comfortable, rock-solid marriage. Then along comes a bright, beautiful, ambitious writer half his age, to interview him for a book. What happens next will surprise no one.
George Butler: ‘Because people are watching as I draw, it’s by permission and honest’
A reportage illustrator specialising in travel and current affairs, George Butler has worked in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2014 he helped establish the Hands Up Foundation to fund health and education services in Syria.
How LSD influenced Western culture
After its psychedelic properties of LSD were accidentally discovered in the lab by Albert Hofmann in 1943, the drug was banned in the UK in 1966. The drug is still most strongly associated with hippies who embraced its mind-expanding properties, but its after-effects have seeped through much of Western culture, from art to literature to, most obviously, music
Emma Rice on bouncing back with Wise Children: ‘This show has been my saviour’
Wise Children – an adaptation of Angela Carter’s novel – is about to open at the Old Vic in London before touring, and is the first production of Emma Rice’s new theatre company, also called Wise Children. How does it feel to be master of her own ship? “Well bloody marvellous, I suppose!”
24 hours inside the Christian Marclay installation ‘The Clock’
Christian Marclay’s video installation “The Clock” is functional: The 24-hour montage of film and TV clips featuring clocks and watches actually tells the time
Review: Mrs Dalloway, Arcola
Adapting Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel – set over one day in London, as Clarissa Dalloway prepares to throw a party – is always likely to be tricky.
Review: Six the Musical, Arts Theatre
Henry VIII’s six wives are back, bitch, to re-tell ‘her-story’ as a slick, sassy girl band. Think Euro-pop remixes of ‘Greensleeves’, Anne Boleyn spouting tweenage text-speak, and K-Howard warbling #MeToo tales of gropey employers