Latest news with #Barbican
Time Out
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Brutalist cinema is coming back to London's iconic Barbican this summer – and the line-up rocks
If you couldn't get tickets to The Odyssey in IMAX, the Barbican has something to take your mind off the disappointment. The City of London landmark's Sculpture Court is hosting another season of outdoor cinema in August – and this unique setting will be witnessing a unique array of movies and filmmakers. On the slate are films by auteurs like David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Claire Denis, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Koji Hashimoto. The season opens on Wednesday August 20 with David Lynch's Dune and runs for 11 days, closing on Sunday August 31 with cult musical Little Shop of Horrors. Look out for a rare screening of Caribbean dancehall drama Babymother, a film considered to be the first Black British musical, and Prince-Bythewood's influential 2000 romance Love & Basketball. Here's the line-up in full: - Dune (1984) Wed 20 Aug, 8.45pm - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)Thu 21 Aug, 8.30pm - Love & Basketball (2000) Fri 22 Aug, 8.30pm - The Return of Godzilla (1984) Sat 23 Aug, 8.30pm - Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) Sun 24 Aug, 8.30pm - Babymother (1998) Tue 26 Aug, 8.30pm - Grave of the Fireflies (1988) Wed 27 Aug, 8.30pm - Fire of Love (2022) Thu 28 Aug, 8.30pm - Beau Travail (1998) Fri 29 Aug, 8.30pm - Björk's Cornucopia (2025) Sat 30 Aug, 8.30pm - Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Sun 31 Aug, 8.30pm Tickets are on sale now from the Barbican site, with standard seats priced £18 or £14.40 for Barbican a whole host of outdoor cinemas in (and around) London this summer, from Everyman's canal-side screen in King's Cross to . Head to our list for all the options.
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Salome, LSO: This take on Wilde is truly sensational
Great operas in concert have now become a regular feature of the LSO's seasons at the Barbican, but none can have made quite as much noise as this searing performance of Richard Strauss's Salome under conductor Antonio Pappano. The overwhelming sonorities of Strauss's score, so outrageous when they were first performed in 1905 – and still terrifying today – pulverised us into submission. At times it seemed that all the voices could do was surf along on the top of this torrential instrumental sound, only sometimes coming up for air. But at the crucial moments they cut through, thanks to a world-class cast. The grisly story derives from Oscar Wilde's one-act play, which Strauss saw in 1902: Salome, the stepdaughter of Herod, forms a sensual obsession with Jochanaan (John the Baptist) and asks Herod, who is in thrall to her, to receive his head on a silver platter. The holy Jochanaan has rejected her in life; now she only wants to kiss his lips in death. There's something compelling about not having any staging – no Dance of the Seven Veils for Salome; no black cistern in which Jochanaan lurks (unless you count the Barbican's backstage, from which he sang); no head of Jochanaan for Salome to embrace. It enabled our imaginations to roam freely. Pappano conducted Strauss's Elektra as his final, new production at Covent Garden, and so Salome was perhaps a natural choice for an opera at the end of his first season with the LSO. He also had support from the Royal Opera's director of casting, Peter Katona, who ensured an experienced, A-list lineup: some used scores, others had no need in shorter roles they knew well. As Salome, Asmik Grigorian was phenomenal, capturing perfectly the role's dissonance between girlish charm and brutal eroticism; her voice mixed purity with power in a way that demolished any idea that wayward vibrato is necessary to express passion, and her E-major arpeggio as she asked for Jokanaan's head chilled the blood. Matching her in defiance, but with a stentorian command that overrode the orchestra, Michael Volle's Jochanaan tremendously portrayed religious fanaticism. Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke struggled to make the fussy, manic writing for Herod register, but Violetta Urmana as his wife Herodias soared in support of her daughter. John Findon as Narraboth and Niamh O'Sullivan as the Page were both sharp-edged and clear, while the two fluent Nazarenes and ensemble of five Jews crowded onto the already teemingly full stage, struggling to make their presence felt. Pappano had one basic decision to make in this performance: whether to suppress the orchestra as if they were buried in a theatre pit, or to unleash them with their full sonic potential on the open stage. He chose the latter, accepting all the issues of balance that created, but delved deep into the score, in control of every detail; and the result was both astonishingly accurate and emotionally draining.
Time Out
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The RSC has just announced its winter season at the Barbican
Like the Ross and Rachel of major British theatre institutions, the RSC and the Barbican are obviously made for each other but have a complicated relationship. The Barbican was the Stratford-upon-Avon-based theatre company's permanent London home until the RSC flounced out a couple of decades back, declaring it wanted to spend time with other theatres. In recent times, however, they've settled into a seasonal situationship with the RSC typically taking over the Barbican's theatre for the winter months - with its most memorable recent show being blockbuster Studio Ghibli adaptation My Neighbour Totoro (now in the West End). The RSC still sees other London theatres: its Ncuti Gatwa-starring newie Born w ith Teeth premieres at Wyndham's Theatre this summer and its Simon Russell-Beale-fronted Stratford production of Titus Andronicus is headed for Hampstead Theatre. But it's been announced today that its seasonal stand at the Barbican is back on with two shows – one Shakespeare, one not – taking us through the late autumn and early winter months. First up it's the London premiere of Ella Hickson's Wendy & Peter Pan (Oct 22-Nov 21), which was a big seasonal hit in Stratford in 2013 and again in 2015 but never previously made it to London. It's a fresh spin on JM Barrie's Peter Pan that firmly puts Wendy front and centre as the main character, though all yer old faves are in there – Toby Stephens will make his first stage appearance in yonks to star as Captain Hook. Next up, a newer production of a much older play: Prasanna Puwanarajah's music-heavy take on Twelfth Night (Dec 8-Jan 17 2026) got fine Stratford reviews at the start of this year and will head to the Barbican for the end of it with its lead cast of Freema Agyeman (Olivia), Sam West (Malvolio) and Michael Grady-Hall (Feste) intact.
Time Out
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Three massive hit London plays will be screened in cinemas later this year
Three major London theatre productions have been announced to make their screen debuts in cinemas later this year, as they enter the repertoire of the National Theatre 's NT Live programme. If the previous sentence means nothing to you, then basically NT Live involves high quality, multi-camera recordings of live theatre performances that are subsequently broadcast into cinemas the world over, often for years to come. Sometimes the first screening will literally be live, more often they will be recorded in front of a live audience but broadcast at a later date. Although most of the filmed shows are staged in the National Theatre, NT Live stretches to a lot of other venues too. Without further ado then, the new shows being screened are Mrs Warren's Profession, The Fifth Step, and Hamlet. The legendary Imelda Staunton will make her latest of many NT Live entries with the current West End run of the Bernard Shaw classic Mrs Warren's Profession, which hits cinemas October 23. Dominic Cooke's revival of the decades-ahead-of-its-time morality drama also stars Staunton's actual daughter Bessie Carter, who plays the estranged daughter of Staunton's eponymous brothel madame. Hitting cinemas on November 27, The Fifth Step is just wrapping up its run at @sohoplace in the West End. Written by endlessly provocative playwright David Ireland, the sell-out hit stars big names Martin Freeman and Jack Lowden as two men who become friends and then bitter enemies via the Alcoholics Anonymous programme. Finally, Hamlet, a play that needs no introduction, not least to NT Live viewers: the 2015 Barbican production starring Benedict Cumberbatch has been a mainstay of the cinema streaming service for a decade now, and will doubtless continue to be so for years to come. Nonetheless, a single version of Shakespeare's masterpiece doesn't reflect how many major productions it gets – so this will be a welcome chance to get a new one in the system. Starring Olivier-winner Hiran Abeysekera, the production will be the first National Theatre show of new artistic director Indhu Rubasingham's tenure to get the cinema treatment. Hamlet will be in cinemas from January 22, 2026. Head here for full NT Live listings, with other previously announced shows coming up including a live broadcast on September 4 of the much anticipated, Rosamund Pike-starring Inter Alia.
BBC News
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Cate Blanchett and Adrian Dunbar awarded Freedom of the City of London
Actors Cate Blanchett and Adrian Dunbar will receive the Freedom of the City of London for their work in the 56-year-old Australian, who won Oscars for her roles in The Aviator and Blue Jasmine, has long been an advocate for action on climate change and a range of humanitarian Irishman Dunbar, 66, is best known for his time as Supt Ted Hastings in the award-winning TV series Line of Duty and has written and directed have performed at the Barbican over the past year, and Mr Dunbar is an alumnus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. One of the City of London's ancient traditions, freedoms are believed to have been handed out since give thanks to individuals for their contribution to London or public life - or to celebrate a very significant achievement, the City of London Corporation (CLC) Blanchett's and Mr Dunbar's names were included on a list of more than 50 people nominated to receive the Freedom, which was approved at a Court of Common Council. Alderman Russell, chair of the CLC's Freedom applications committee, said Freedom is "offered as a way of paying tribute to their outstanding contribution to London or public life, or to celebrate a very significant achievement".Representatives for Blanchett and Dunbar have been approached for comment.
