The Times Saturday Review - UK (2020-11-14)

the times | Saturday November 14 2020 1GR saturday review 3

Madalen Mills and Forest Whitaker in the wonderfully gaudy Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. Below: Emilia at the Globe

the talents of Britain’s biggest ballet com-

pany, mostly in the form of duets. From

19th-century bonbons such as Swan Lake

and Le Corsaire to 20th-century favourites

such as Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, Fred-

erick Ashton’s Monotones II and George

Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, the

dancers perform on the stage of the Royal

Opera House — without an audience, nat-

urally. The programme closes with a full

performance of Christopher Wheeldon’s

lovely Within the Golden Hour. Available

until December 11 at stream.roh.org.uk

Debra Craine

Pop

Burna Boy

Born Damini Ogulu in Nigeria, Burna Boy

combines Fela Kuti-style Afrobeat with

modern American rap and R&B, complete

with autotuned vocals and processed

beats, best represented on his

laid-back breakout hit Ye. In

the cavernous Brixton Aca-

demy on his own, he will

have the chance to re-

enact a famously elabo-

rate stage show — previ-

ously he has emerged

from the mouth of a goril-

la and floated above the

crowd. Livestream on

Wednesday, 8pm, universe.com

Will Hodgkinson

Visual art

Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock made the delights and

duplicities of the process of looking the

subject of his classic film Rear Window.

Curators at the White Cube gallery take

the same title for a group show of works by

contemporary artists — the luscious pho-

tographs of Jeff Wall, the starker designs of

Julie Curtiss among them — who play

with similar themes. Watchers are invited

to consider the seductions and dangers of

the gaze in images that invite us to ques-

tion how scenes are constructed and

narratives created. Is the human gaze

merely an imaginative guess? Streaming at

whitecube.com until January 19

Rachel Campbell-Johnston

who makes the case for greater sensitivity

in public discourse. Sky Arts, Tuesday, 10pm

Ben Dowell

Opera

Ariodante

Lockdown 2 has stopped putting any more

bums on the plush Covent Garden seats,

but the company is pressing on with this

streamed performance of Handel’s opera,

which was written for the theatre that

stood where the Royal Opera House is

now. Including one of the most haunting

arias the composer wrote, the lament

Scherza Infida, the score is full of hits even

if the plot is typically byzantine. The cast

includes strong British-based talent —

Sophie Bevan, Iestyn Davies and Gerald

Finley — joined by the rising Israeli sopra-

no Chen Reiss, who sings the role of Gin-

evra. Christian Curnyn conducts.

Friday, November 20 (7.30pm)

and on demand to December

20 at stream.roh.org.uk

Neil Fisher

Theatre

Emilia

Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s

high-spirited portrait of

the poet Emilia Bassano —

depicted here as the figure for

ever known to history as Shake-

speare’s mysterious “dark lady” — is

the kind of thing that gives scholars heart-

burn. But if it tinkers with history and

doesn’t mind striking a stridently feminist

note, the piece won a following after its

first outing at, appropriately, Shake-

speare’s Globe. This production was taped

at the Vaudeville in 2019. Ticket prices

aren’t fixed: you pay what you can afford.

Proceeds go to the all-female production

team who are struggling with the fallout of

the theatre closures during the pandemic.

At emilialive.com until November 24

Clive Davis

Dance

Royal Ballet

A selection of highlights from the reper-

toire, both modern and classic, shows off

Film

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
Forest Whitaker is mesmerising in this
gaudy and hyperactive Christmas musical
about a Victorian-era toymaker called
Jeronicus Jangle who has lost his mojo and
been estranged from his family. A quietly
spoken Whitaker rarely shifts gears,
despite a plethora of narrative incidents
building up (he’s about to be evicted, his
new invention doesn’t work, his former
employee has stolen from him). But when
the little cracks of emotion shine the effect
is dazzling. By the time David E Talbert’s
film ends, you feel that a small-screen
Christmas staple has arrived. Netflix
Kevin Maher

Television

Small Axe
Tomorrow brings the first of five eagerly
anticipated films from the director Steve
McQueen (12 Years a Slave) tackling British
racial injustices since the 1960s. Mangrove
centres on a 1968 court case that marked a
juncture in race relations. Shaun Parkes
plays Frank Crichlow, the owner of a Car-
ibbean restaurant in Notting Hill, London
— the heart and soul of the community —
that is targeted by the police. As hostilities
escalate, the battle moves to the Old Bailey
in sledgehammer fashion. The film has a
mantle of importance and the era is brilliant-
ly evoked, taking in shots of the half-built
Westway flyover. BBC One, Sunday, 9pm
James Jackson

Offended by Irvine Welsh
The 62-year-old Scottish novelist Irvine
Welsh steps into the minefield that is the
debate over wokeism and cancel culture
with this thoughtful film. The fearless
chronicler of many of society’s less politi-
cally correct corners is opposed to censor-
ship, but still proves himself a thoughtful,
open-minded guide and sharp interviewer
as he challenges artists such as Jake Chap-
man, who managed to offend both the
right and Jewish groups when he drew
rainbows on paintings by Adolf Hitler.
Also taking part are the Tory comedian
Geoff Norcott and the Oxford-educated
Somali-British writer Nadifa Mohamed,

Cover story 4-

Will Hodgkinson talks to

Boy George about his love life

and friendships turning sour

What the critics are watching and listening to

streaming this week

Contents

My culture fix 6

The comedian Richard Herring

lets us into his cultural life

Interview 10

Róisín Murphy tells Ed Potton

about her new album and

streaming extravaganza

Books 12-

The gay MPs who stood up

to Hitler; Cary Grant’s demons;

and an attempt on Everest

TV & radio 23-

Series four of The Crown is

released on Netflix

Puzzles 52-

Sudoku, crossword and all your

favourite brainteasers

Cover photograph

Dean Stockings

GARETH GATRELL/NETFLIX

Ben Dowell 7

“An anthology of all the worst

stories rolled up into one horror

show”: Industry reviewed

Book

extract

8-

In an

exclusive

extract from

a new book

Leonard Cohen remembers his

love life and his childhood

Music 11

Clive Davis on a new album of

folk music from the people who

live and work on the Thames