Gigs - Natalie Merchant - The Lowry, Salford

Star rating 8/10

First a bit of a confession – I adore Natalie Merchant. I’m not sure just how many times I have seen her live now but suffice it to say that for me she has the voice of an angel and she could sing the phone book and I would fall under her spell. So I need to try to be objective about my review here.

This tour, her first in the UK for seven years, is to promote her new epic album ‘Leave Your Sleep’, which is the culmination of a six year project to set children’s poetry from British and American poets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to music. And the first chunk of the show (over one and a quarter hours of it) are devoted to performances of some of the poems and a bit of a back story with slide show from Natalie about the writers and their lives. (Be warned she comes on stage at 8pm and stays on for 2 and a quarter hours so don’t arrive late to miss the support act!)There are interesting tales of bigamists and pioneers, of soldiers and businessmen, who were all poets on the sly. Many of them did not actually get their works published in their lifetime – so this has been an obvious labour of love by Ms Merchant.

And some of the songs are lovely, undoubtedly. Many are very dark and bleak – surprisingly so for children’s verses. I have to admit that maybe half an hour of them would have been enough for me. But this is Natalie so I will let her off almost anything.

When she did get to the older songs from her back catalogue she enchanted as ever with her warm and powerful voice, telling tales of sorry, joy, and injustice. She performed songs from Tiger Lily, Ophelia and Motherland – all fabulous albums. She performed her tribute to the late River Phoenix, ‘River’, which is haunting in its sadness. Her version of ‘Motherland’ was tonight peppered with a few references to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the behaviour of BP. ‘Tell Yourself’ raged against the beauty industry brainwashing young girls into feeling dissatisfied with their appearance. Always angry, always fighting for justice, and just a little bit barking mad. And we rightly love her for it.

Her beautiful voice was as usual accompanied by strange and mesmerising dancing and gesticulations on stage. A couple of uplifting moments came in the form of ‘Life is Sweet’, and a grateful finale of ‘Kind and Generous’ - the crowd were grateful for another fabulous performance, and Natalie was grateful to them back. Bit of a love in really. But I did warn you. Just hope she doesn't leave it another seven years before coming back.

Exhibition - High Kicks and Low Life: Toulouse Lautrec - Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Star rating 6/10

Henri de Toulouse Lautrec was born in 1864, and lived for much of his life until his death in 1901 in Paris. This interesting exhibition shows his depictions of the Montmartre district of the city, distinct with its bars, cafes and music halls.

His prints and posters remain popular to this day, with his depiction of prostitutes in everyday rather than erotic poses. His pictures of one woman having her hair combed by another; and one with her breakfast being brought to her in bed by the madame, with her tousled hair showing after a hard nights work, are both very sympathetic images. His ‘Elles – The Seated Clownesse’, is lovely in shades of pink and yellow, whilst she look sad and removed from the people around her.

But my favourites are the vivid scenes of the music halls, with the erotic can can dancers, and glamour of the music hall. Divan Japona’s 1893 picture of a sophisticated woman in black sitting at a café amongst an orchestra playing behind here is very evocative. And his wealthy couple in a box at the theatre are lovely. So overall an interesting if not mind blowingly beautiful collection.

Exhibition - Picasso - Peace + Freedom - Tate Liverpool

Star rating – 8/10

This new exhibition featuring hundreds of pieces by Picasso gives a different focus to the great man than perhaps we are used to thinking about – that of the political radical. The obvious elephant in the room here though, is his magnificent Guernica, showing the destruction and massacre of the Basque town by Franco’s forces.

Picasso was quite the radical, as well as the womaniser we are perhaps more familiar with, joining the French Communist Party in 1944, and remaining a member until his death in 1973. This fascinating collection shows just how strong his desire was for peace and freedom. He clearly viewed art as a means of liberation.

The exhibition begins with some tributes by him to the Spanish republicans who died fighting in the French resistance. The shocking ‘Charnel House’ of 1944 represents the murder of Spanish republican families in their own homes, and his mass of tangled bodies remains unfinished. But then he was not particularly worried about that and said that ‘only death finishes something’.

His many still life drawings feature disturbing skulls in amongst everyday objects such as leeks and pitchers. And his iconic and beautifully simple depiction of a dove was taken up as a powerful campaigning symbol by the world peace movement. Apparently the original dove was actually a pigeon, given to Picasso by his friend Matisse. His dove was taken up and used by the first World Congress of the Partisans for World Peace in Paris in 1949 (the second was in Sheffield of all places in 1950 in case you were wondering).

There is also a large selection of drawings from his preparation for his large murals ‘War and Peace’. His depictions of the women of Algiers show his empathy for the nationalist uprising there in 1954. One charcoal drawing in particular of the 22 year old Djamila Boupasha, who was arrested and subjugated to brutality at the hands of the French troops whilst accused of planting a bomb, is particularly moving.

Picasso shows how strongly he felt about all the major works conflicts, from the threat of a nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis, to his variations on the iconic Spanish masterpiece Las Meninas, which show his hatred of Franco’s dictatorship. And this is a very interesting exhibition, but when you have been lucky enough to see his masterpiece of the condemnation of war and brutality in the guise of the Guernica in Madrid, as I have, then anything else is just second best – although Picasso’s second best beats most of the rest hands down.

Books - Britain's Lost Cities:A Chronical of Architectural Destruction by Gavin Stamp

Star rating – 9/10

This beautiful and somewhat depressing book by Gavin Stamp, first published in 2007 but available now in paperback for the first time and will there fore hopefully reach a wider audience, is a love letter to the lost cities of Britain, and a salutary lesson for today planners and developers.

It contains hundreds of photographs of beautiful buildings that have been destroyed either by the German Luftwaffe, or by the misguided dreams of town planners. It is strange to think that successive generations have held a sort of self loathing of their heritage and past, and want to rush headlong into obliterating it with all things shiny and new.

The book takes us through this haunting and sad tale city by city, through streets which I am very familiar with, such as Manchester, Bradford and London; and through all the great cities of the country such as Glasgow, Birmingham and Liverpool. Each photo tells of destruction and a constant craving for modernity.

Of course much of the heritage was lost after the World War II bombings – as in Coventry, Plymouth and Exeter, although Stamp feels that some of the damaged buildings were needlessly pulled down rather than being rebuilt.

But Coventry‘s historic city centre was already doomed before the Luftwaffe dropped their bombs, the new creation a dream of the planners which the war conveniently speeded up. So this is also a tale of modern planners and their dreams of sparkling, new utopian city centres which brushed away the traces of the dingy past.

One of the most famous acts of wanton vandalism was the destruction of the Euston Arch, the great gateway to the railway heading north, which was pulled down in the 1960’s and replaced with the current monstrosity that is Euston station, and predictably undergoing plans for wholesale redevelopment.

Some of the building mourned here are not so great and you can see why they went. And there is no doubt that the slum dwellings which played such a part in the poor health and living conditions of the working people who helped to make our cities so prosperous were truly shocking and needed to go. But most of the demolition does seem to be nothing more than acts of vandalism such as in Bradford, where the 1960’s shopping centre and redeveloped business district that the Victorian splendor was destroyed to make way for, is currently being pulled down as a total disaster that did not work and ruined the heart of the city.

On a personal level I do know that sometimes disaster brings opportunity, such as the 1996 IRA bomb in Manchester which triggered a rejuvenation of this magnificent city which has in the main preserved its fantastic heritage rather than destroying it in the name of regeneration. (if only they had put the bomb a bit nearer to the heart of the dreadful Arndale centre we might have got rid of it altogether…). But maybe I am a bit biased.

This is a great book and a remarkable record of error and misguided judgment. So do we learn the lessons from the past and avoid repeating the mistakes of our ancestors? – sadly I think not in every case.

Theatre - Henry VIII - The Globe

Star rating – 7/10

The Globe have put on a little performed later Shakespearean play as part of their ‘Kings & Rogues’ season, Henry VIII. And it was also my first taste of standing in the courtyard for the three hour performance, so I am sure my enjoyment of the play was tempered by my aching legs by the end of the night.

The story of how Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn, divorced Katherine of Aragon, and was prepared to split from Rome and the Catholic Church to do so is a familiar one of course. But this play also centres on Cardinal Wolsey and his own part in the plotting and subsequent downfall. Indeed it is Wolsey and Katherine, rather than Henry and Anne, who are the central characters here.

There is much conspiracy, corruption and power hungry goings on involved – some of which I confess were a little hard to follow completely. And I do wonder just how much time has to elapse before we can be objective enough about historical events to do them justice in a piece of theatre. After all, Elizabeth I had only died 10 years before this play was first performed at the original Globe in 1613 (the old theatre actually burnt down whilst it was being performed – no such high drama this evening). And it is about her mother, so maybe the bard and his alleged co-author John Fletcher struggled to bring as much perspective as was achieved with acclaimed masterpieces such as Henry V or Julius Caesar (although these were not particularly historically accurate plays either).

But the costumes and general splendour of Henry’s court were magnificent. Ian McNeice was very convincing, if worryingly obese, as Wolsey, and Kate Duchêne was magnificent as the wronged, feisty, yet dignified and loyal Queen Katherine. The whole Globe atmosphere, with the actors freely mingling with the courtyard crowd is great, but I bet Queen Elizabeth didn’t have to stand for three hours to enjoy the original Elizabethan experience.

Theatre - Women Beware Women - National Theatre

Star rating – 8/10

I was not quite sure what to expect from this revival of a Thomas Middleton play from the time of Shakespeare directed by Marainne Elliott. And I got much more than I bargained for - in a very good way. This is play about lust, sin, corruption, revenge and wickedness. So not one for those fence sitters then.

Set in Medici Florence, the set at the Olivier Theatre is magnificent - cleverly portraying the splendour of the Duke’s palace and the poverty of a poor banker’s clerk and his widowed mother at the slight turn of the magnificent stage. The action begins with Leantio, the banker’s clerk in question, returning home to his mother to show off his beautiful new bride Bianca, who has given up her family’s wealth to be with her beloved new husband. But as ever, the course of true love does not run at all smoothly, as Leantio has to go away on business, leaving his young wife pray to the passing fancy of the great Duke.

And meanwhile at the court of the Duke, the pressing task is to find a husband for Isabella, niece of the widow Livia. Guardiano suggests that his stupid, oafish Ward might fit the bill, but Livia has inexplicably other ideas, and deceitfully persuades Isabella that her uncle, who has unnatural designs on her, is not really her uncle, and so she embarks on a passionate affair with him, whilst marrying the hapless Ward.

Harriet Walter is the undoubted star of the show, superb as the ruthless and hard, viper like Livia. She plots to get the naive Bianca into the clutches of the Duke, and proceeds to carefully and cunningly engage Bianca’s mother in law in a game of chess whilst the Duke rapes Bianca. This is one of the best scenes in the play – two women trading moves and innuendo, one so obsessed in the sport that she is totally oblivious to the outrage going on under the same roof.

The staging is superb, the costumes divine, the jazz music perfect for the plot. There is a fantastically sensuous tango between Bianca and her adulterous uncle Hippolito, which totally draws the audience in. There is great comedy between the Ward (played brilliantly for laughs by Harry Melling) and his equally crude and lewd friend Sordido. The evil Livia is herself drawn into a doomed love with the cuckolded Leantio. And the final bloodbath is a fitting climax to a fantastic treat for the senses. A sublime feast of a play.

Theatre - Auden: Truth Out of Time - National Theatre Platforms

Star rating – 8/10

What better way to spend 45 minutes than to listen to some of the finest poetry read by the likes of Damian Lewis, Jeremy Irons and Eileen Atkins? This National Theatre Platform was hosted by Josephine Hart, who is something of an Auden aficionado. (And in the audience we were accompanied by none other than John Major and his faithful wife Norma.)

I confess to not knowing much about Auden save the beautiful poem made famous (infamous for some) by the film ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. But this was a fascinating introduction to his work. Josephine Hart told how he read natural sciences at Oxford, before converting to literature, and how this scientific perspective informed his verse.

He conveyed perfectly the fear of the 1930’s that something really bad was going to happen in his poem to mark the day that Hitler invaded Poland, ‘September 1, 1939’ (which just also happens to be my birthday). Jeremy Irons read the poem beautifully, and conveyed fully both the chill and the humour of the occasion that Auden sought to convey.

‘The Unknown Citizen’ is a brilliant evocation of the ordinary, the mundane, the unquestioning attitude of much of middle England and the wonderful and gorgeous (biased- moi?) Damian Lewis conveyed these feelings to a tee. Eileen Atkins recited the haunting sad tale ‘Miss Gee’ with more than shades of Eleanor Rigby about her sad, spinster existence.

Auden was gay. He said that he just couldn’t see the attraction of women at all. And his ‘Tell me the Truth about Love’ is a very moving piece indeed. Damian Lewis was again perfect in his recital. But it was inevitably his ‘Funeral Blues’ which moved me the most. Again, the lovely Damian Lewis more than did justice to the haunting lines of loving and losing so memorably and evocatively.

Again I challenge you to spend a more profitable 45 minutes than this doing just about anything. Outstanding and beautiful.