The Creative Identity

To Look Forward To In 2016

It's really difficult to live in London without feeling at the very centre of the cultural universe. I know that New York suffers from a similar sense of superiority and yet, when I think of London, I really do think that everything happens here all the time, a feeling that is compounded by the good fortune of living in Chelsea which, itself, is regarded as the pinnacle of London living. I couldn't wait to leave behind 2015 because, even though I rightly claim that my own year starts on 1st September, my birthday, there's no escaping that it is January which heralds a new, big number on calendars, diaries and computers everywhere. 2016. Gosh, 16 years since the millennium, I cannot quite believe it. When the London Olympics were announced in the distant 2005, 2012 seemed such a far, far, far away year and look at us now... The past twelve months have been full of disappointment for me, from every which angle. I sincerely hope that 2016 won't be any way near as hard-nosed as its predecessor. I am very much looking forward to Monet to Matisse, which will be the first super-exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts this year and is due to open imminently. I also cannot wait for a celebration of Vogue's 100 years, which will open in February at The National Portrait Gallery. There's also Delacroix coming up at The National Gallery as well as Georgia O'Keffee at Tate Modern. The V&A will also... Read more →

Letters Live 2015

On Thursday, I kicked off the Easter week-end with one of the Letters Live performances of 2015. The day before, an electrical fire raged underneath Kingsway, virtually next door to the Freemasons' Hall, and that evening's performance was cancelled. Too bad for the Wednesday ticket-holders and too good for us; the line-up was carried over for a show that clocked up at 3 hours and 45 minutes (with a 15-minute interval) and included Ben Kingsley, Clarke Peters, Danny Huston, Ian McKellen, Sophie Hunter, Ferdinand Kingsley, Simon Callow, Louise Brealey, Andrew Scott, Greta Scacchi, Dominic West, Joss Ackland, Andrew O'Hagan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Rusbridger plus the musical performances of Kelvin Jones and Natalie Calvin. I've always loved reading letters, both the ones I receive and even the ones I re-read before I send them, and in fact, I have an illustrious past (ahem, allow me) as a letter-writer that started when I was eight, and I wrote to Barbie Magazine enquiring after pen friends (these were the 1980s and no, I am not joking, just ask my mum). They published my letter with my address and I received tons and tons of replies and cost my parents a fortune in stamps because, even though many of these pen-friends dropped away as time passed, a few did not. One of them has stuck around all this time, and even though we now only catch up at Christmas and for our birthdays, this year we celebrate thirty years of correspondence without ever having... Read more →

To Look Forward to in 2015

There is a lot I am looking forward to in 2015 but I've now lived in London for long enough to know that unless you book way, way, waaay in advance, you don't get anywhere. And that includes restaurants as it does plays and exhibitions. So here's my round-up for this year in no order whatsoever. If you haven't got tickets for this... well, good luck my friend. I bought mine in August 2014, a full year and a few days before the first preview. And I've bought two nights as well, just to be on the safe side. My favourite play and my favourite man of the moment, can you think of anything better? I cannot. Cumberbitch alert level 5. Opens August. Silver screen, fashion and humanitarian icon, this wonderful lady comes to life in an exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery that is expected to trace her entire career. I cannot wait already. Opens July. A bigger and, it is rumoured already, better retrospective than the one which graced the Met in 2011. You are still very much missed bro! Opens March at the V&A. The 4 copies displayed side-by-side on the 800th birthday of the charter of civil liberties. Thrilling stuff. Opens March. Movies I am really looking forward to: Inherent Vice Terminator: Genisys Victor Frankenstein High Rise Everest Crimson Peak Inside Out Birdman The Theory of Everything but the one I am looking forward to the very most is The Walk, written and directed by Robert... Read more →