the winning review - an inside culture guide

The Luna Cinema – Pop up outdoor cinema this summer

laurawinningham — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:09:21 +0000

The Luna Cinema is known for its open air cinema events in prestigious venues and the line up this summer is a good one!

Kensington Gardens

Top Gun August 1st

Skyfall August 2nd

Casablanca August 3rd

Battersea park

The Goonies August 17

Top Gun August 18th

Holland Park

ET August 8th

Breakfast at Tiffany’ August 9th

West Side Story August 10th

A night of silent films – with live orchestra August 11t

Regents Park

Shakespeare in Love August 25

The Birds September 1st

Hampton Court

Grease July 27

Some Like it hot July 28th

LesMiserables September 28th

Kew Gardens

Cinema Paradiso September 12

Rocky Horror Picture Show FRIDAY THE 13th!

Dirty Dancing Saturday September 14th

Luna Cinema

A Doll’s House transfers to the West End, August 8th – October 26th

laurawinningham — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:59:17 +0000

If you missed the highly acclaimed A Doll’s House at the Young Vic, you have another chance to see it when it transfers to the Duke of York Theatre this August. Hattie Morahan reprises her role as Nora, the performance that won her the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress at last year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

You can read the reviews of the Young Vic Production here

The theatre will be offering over 29,000 West End tickets at Young Vic prices.

Tickets

Hatchards Bloomsbury Book Club with Patrick McGrath on May 30th

laurawinningham — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:40:43 +0000

Today’s Financial Times had a great review of Patrick McGrath‘s “superb” new book Constance and McGrath will appear at theHatchards Bloomsbury Book Club this month to discuss this “masterful novel of psychological suspense and marriage n 1960s America.

Hatchards Bloomsbury Book Club with Patrick McGrath.

Patrick McGrath: In the shadow of Broadmoor (telegraph.co.uk)
Blasted love lives and a family adrift in bedlam (standard.co.uk)

Servants and Bedfellows author event at Bloomsbury Institute, June 4th

laurawinningham — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:19:46 +0000

The Bloomsbury Institute & Salon aims to let you inside the world of publishing in the heart of literary London with Bloomsbury Publishing’s new series of author events, hosted at their offices in Georgian Bedford Square.

June 4th lecture with With Lucy Lethbridge, Anna Whitelock & Kate Worsley

From maids-of-all-work to the ladies who waited on Elizabeth I, there is a fascinating hidden history of the serving classes. Lucy Lethbridge, Anna Whitelock and Kate Worsley explore the relationship between the servers and the served and the fictionalisation of their stories.

Lucy Lethbridge’s Servants: A Downstairs View of Twentieth-century Britain
is a sweeping history of the household staff who toiled in kitchens, parlours and country houses. Lucy gives us an intimate insight into the invisible lives of those who ironed shoelaces, blackened grates and stirred eggs so the yolks would be perfectly centred. The stories of the below-stairs are the untold history of the last century, their fortunes a barometer of the twilight years of the landed estates, the changing place of both men and women and the radical shifts in domestic life.

‘Humane, perceptive and dispassionate, Servants takes us more deeply and comprehensively than any previous account into the real world of Upstairs, Downstairs’ David Kynaston

Elizabeth’s Bedfellows: An Intimate History of the Queen’s Court is Anna Whitelock’s riveting and intimate history of the heart of the Elizabethan court: Elizabeth’s bedchamber. Elizabeth’s bedfellows closely guarded the Queen, helped her dress, washed her clothing, looked after her jewels and shared her bed. They were the guardians of the truth about her health, chastity and fertility. Their presence was both for propriety and for security, tasting each dish before it was served, and making nightly security searches of the chamber for poisons or gunpowder for fear of assassination attempts.

‘Anna Whitelock’s skilful and detailed history will bring you closer than seems possible to this glittering, infuriating, fascinating woman’ Hilary Mantel

Kate Worsley’s historical fiction, She Rises, is a tale of drunken sailors, press gangs and smugglers intertwined with a love story set in the eighteenth century told in part by Louise, a young dairymaid who becomes a lady’s maid in the bustling naval port of Harwich. She’ll reveal how she turned the everyday life of a young lady’s maid into a spell-binding tale set against the backbone of solid historical research.

‘A beguiling historical tale of love and adventure’ Stylist

Servants & Bedfellows.

That’s my bus!

laurawinningham — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:58:33 +0000

As long as I’m writing about things completely unrelated to London, like the International Space Station, I thought I’d add something brought to my attention by loyal reader AEW who spotted this on her way to school yesterday.

Apparently Coke launched the campaign Share a Coca-Cola, across Europe on May 1 and plans to produce 800 million personalized labels in 32 countries. It substitutes the iconic Coca-Cola logo on bottles of Coke with 150 of the most popular first names, nicknames and terms of affection in each country.

I wasn’t aware of this campaign, despite being an avid (original, calorie-filled, caffeine-filled) Coke drinker. But I did find out within minutes of AEW sending me this photo that people have gotten their feathers ruffled over this campaign. There is considerable angst out there!!

Someone on Twitter made the analogy of being a child who can’t find his or her name on the keyrings sold at tourist destinations, a childhood trauma also felt by Bart Simpson

OTHER TWITTER RANTS

SimplyRemm ‏@remi_sarg 2 May Feeling left out, because you’re one of those people with a name too weird to get on a coke bottle..

Caz ‏@caronmarr 3 May These new coke bottles bringing unpleasant childhood memories back. Ultimate rage that I won’t find my name on anything. #weirdoname

Ross Fraser ‏@RossAdamFraser 7 May Here if they don’t have your name for the coke bottle thing how about you buy a marker pen write it on and shove the bottle up your arse

JORDAN ‏@lucoz4de 8 May life goal: find a coke bottle with my name on

☽ yvie ☾ ‏@acidicrauhl 8 May it’s hard accepting the fact that my name will never appear on a coke can

Jon Bradfield ‏@JonBradfield 9 May It’s a cheaply-printed Coke bottle, whores. It’s not like Coke went out and got your name tattooed on its bicep. #shareacoke

What a relief for me! If my name is on a bus, i assume it’s on a bottle somewhere in London.

Space Oddity

laurawinningham — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:32:22 +0000

David Bowie is currently being honored in London with an exhibit at the Victoria And Albert Museum, but he’s also being honored by having Chris Hadfield, the commander of the International Space Station, broadcast his own amazing rendition of Bowie’s song from far far above London.

The American Plan transfers to the St James Theatre July 2nd to August 10th

laurawinningham — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:36:25 +0000

Michael Billington in the Guardian gives 5 stars and calls the American Plan staging in Bath as “an absolute cracker” and says “it also cries out to transfer immediately to a suitable London space” And so it will – the play will be at the St James Theatre this July

According to the St James Theatre this is “A tangle of ravaged dreams, broken souls, twisted motives and deceit, The American Plan takes place against a backdrop of the Catskill Mountains during a 1960s summer.

Lili Adler, the beautiful, fragile daughter of a wealthy German-Jewish refugee, meets Nick Lockridge, a handsome young stranger, and finds herself falling in love. But when her overbearing mother learns of their relationship, she proceeds to poison the young man’s affection and Lili’s one chance to escape her mother’s control looks like being lost forever”

The American Plan | St James Theatre.

Goat Sample Sale May 16th

laurawinningham — Sun, 12 May 2013 11:01:08 +0000

I love Goat Fashion’s simple timeless clothes which are all perfect for a London lifestyle –and especially like to go to their sample sales like the upcoming one on Thursday at 9:30 am – 5:00pm

Catherine House, 76 Gloucester Place, W1U 6HJ

Goat Fashion

The New York Skyline has a new high point

laurawinningham — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:01:15 +0000

Just a brief jump from my London guide, to mention an important moment in New York City. 4,259 days after I witnessed the ashes of the World Trade Center, One World Trade Center has been rebuilt to its final height of 1,776 feet.

According to Time’s newsfeed: “For many of the construction workers gathered this morning, it was an emotional threshold, with cheers erupting as the lengthy spire was secured into place atop the soaring facade.”

Spire Completes World Trade Center:

George Saunders at Southbank Centre May 29th

laurawinningham — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:14:28 +0000

I’ve read excellent reviews about George Saunders‘ Tenth of December and my trusted book advisers have concurred that he’s one of the best short story writers around.

As part of the London Lit Festival, he will discuss his new collection ‘The Tenth of December’ with fan Jon McGregor, the IMPAC Award-winning author of ‘Even the Dogs’ and ‘If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things’.

George Saunders | Southbank Centre.