Arts

“Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is 100%” said R D Laing. He also said “Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be a breakthrough.” Alice Birch seems to explore these not quite perfect opposite attitudes to mental ill health in her new play Anatomy of a Suicide. During two hours of relentless dialogue and repetitions of life cycles we see three generations of women lurch back and forth between a kind of sanity...

A new and unique multi-lingual creative dance class for children has been launched at West London dance school Ballet 4 Life. The class is the only of its kind in the area and offers something a little different to other kids dance classes. Led by Spanish hailing dance teacher Ana Gurría, who trained at the esteemed Conservatory of Dance in Valencia, the class uses creative movement alongside the sounds of Spanish, English and Italian. Suitable for 18 months olds to five...

Refugee Week (19-25 June) is the UK’s largest festival celebrating the contribution of refugees. Hundreds of arts, cultural and educational events will be held nationwide in renowned venues, public squares, libraries, schools and places of worship. Venues include the British Museum, Southbank Centre, British Film Institute, Victoria & Albert Museum, Wales Millennium Centre, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Brighton Dome. Many artists performing for Refugee Week have first hand experience of forced displacement. Refugee Week Chair and Refugee Council Chief Executive...

Forty-two galleries across the capital are set to participate in London Art Week from Friday 30th June 2017.  The highly anticipated, week-long event will showcase an exceptional collection of art, attracting thousands of visitors from all over the world giving people a unique opportunity to explore the best the UK has to offer in terms of paintings, drawings and sculptures dating from antiquity to the 20th century. The participating galleries and auction houses will reveal an abundance of art with masterpieces ranging...

Stories about grief always feel unbearably pertinent to those who have lost. And those who have lost often feel an unbearable urge to document their grief. Those who are left behind can find themselves in a catch 22 of sadness. My own story is for another time, but as I sit in the audience of My World Has Exploded A Little Bit at the Ovalhouse, I completely understand why this play was written. Created and performed by Bella Heesom, with...

The Senior Artist of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Huafeng is set to exhibit 30 of his works at a private event hosted by the Clore Centre for Education in the British Museum in London. Zhang Huafeng is both a prolific and prestigious Chinese artist, integrating a Baoshi style of Chinese impressionism with heavy inks and gold dye and an academic who has organised numerous national exhibitions and programmes including the sending of 10 Chinese works of art to space...

Anarchy! Chaos! Confusion, sex, and booze. Dancing, singing, shouting, swearing, drinking. Subterfuge! Brawls! Danger, and iambic pentameter. I'm either talking about the original Globe Theatre or Shit-faced Shakespeare, and the two are arguably interchangeable; I doubt you'll see a more historically accurate rendition of Elizabethan theatre without a time machine. Shit-faced Shakespeare is a simple concept. Take one abridged play by the bard, marinade one of the actors in a vat of booze, then let them loose in front of...

I am familiar with Kings Cross in the era circa 2011 to present. It’s the station I use to visit my parents, and I actually like them so I've been there a lot. I used to swim at the Kings Cross Pond Club too, and I made an appreciative "oooh!" noise when a branch of Dishoom opened nearby. Kings Cross and I are friends. Tom Marshman is friends with Kings Cross too, although his Kings Cross and mine are very...

“Go fuck yourself” Sven Ratzke says, kindly. Ratzke has cleverly managed to be both Dutch and German, and therefore merrily walks the line of being very easy to chat to whilst taking absolutely no nonsense from anyone at any time. Ratzke has been touring the world as the creator and star of Starman for the last two years, and in June it’s finally coming to London. At this juncture a writer will normally tell you what their interviewee is wearing,...