The Nutcracker | Tweet of the Week | Shape Shifters | Modern Couples | Kalifornia Kitchen...
This week our what's-on guide brings you The Nutcracker on the big screen, a chirpy podcast, eye-dazzling exhibitions at South Bank and the Barbican, and the best place to grab a cannabis-infused latte.
WATCH: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. No. You can’t escape. It’s almost here now so you might as well embrace it. #Christmasiscoming. So you might as well go all the way. And nothing will take you there like this. Disney’s remake of the Nutcracker is dizzying fantasy of lavish Victoriana, of power crazed-fairies, snowy Christmas tree forests, spinning Russian castles, moving tin soldiers and BALLET. Clara (Mackenzie Foy) has been given a slightly frustrating Christmas present. A pretty locked box with no key. And to make matters worse, she has to go to a tedious ball when she’s really not in the mood. Luckily her godfather (Morgan Freeman) has a wise old twinkle in his eye and sets her on a path to the magical Four Realms – a place where enemies become friends, friends become enemies and Clara discovers her inner soldier. Not everyone will be a fan of the giddying kitsch, but the first-class cast, touching script and feminist twist make this film actually, erm, really quite good. Tissues may be required.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is on general release at cinemas around the UK.
LISTEN: Tweet of the Week. Studies have shown that listening to birdsong is good for your health. So, what better inspiration for this heartening podcast, in which guest presenters share their stories and musings inspired by birds and birdsong. Nature-lovers, singers, theatre-makers, comedians, wildlife gardeners and wildlife photographers take turns to delve into the rich, melodic and multi-toned world of pre-digital ‘twitter’ with anecdotes, facts and speculation about some of Britain’s best-loved bird sounds and more exotic avian life from the BBC’s natural history archive. How, for example, did the sparrows and skylarks make the soldiers of the World War I feel when they encountered these familiar chirrups in a landscape of destruction? What is a wood pigeon actually saying? Can an owl’s cry easily be mistaken for a malfunctioning car alarm? These answers and more in this warm-hearted and quirky podcast series.
Listen to episodes of Tweet of the Week on the BBC website:
VISIT: Shape Shifters. If there is an exhibition which the printed page or screen could never do justice, it’s the Hayward Gallery’s Shape Shifters showcase, which opened in September and runs until 6 January. As the gallery concludes celebrations of its 50th anniversary, this new eye-bending exhibition brings together sculptures and installations that explore perception and space like never before. Featuring 20 artists with works dating right back to the year of the gallery’s opening, visitors are taken on a mesmeric journey of optical illusions, where their images are reflected and twisted, doubled and distorted, and shrunk and expanded. Richard Wilson’s crude oil room, Yayoi Kusama’s mirrored balls, Alicja Kwade maze of mirrors and rocks, and Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror on the gallery roof are among the installations which make Shape Shifters a truly unmissable highlight in London’s busy autumn art calendar.
Shape Shifters is running at the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank until 6 January 2019. For more information visit https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/hayward-gallery-art/space-shifters and follow @haywardgallery on Twitter for updates.
SEE: Modern Couples. Attempting to revise the idea that artists and writers work alone in their lofty spheres of isolated genius, this major exhibition at the Barbican looks at creative pairings and how artists, sculptors, painters and writers have often ‘co-created’ art and ideas by bringing together 40 artist couples from the first half of the twentieth century. From explosive marriages, artists and ‘muses’, bohemian arrangements and life-long soul-mates, the exhibition shows how passion, companionship, sex and competitiveness have helped shape the avant-garde. With love letters and gifts as well as artwork across different media, the personal and autobiographical are woven into the story of art and literature in an intriguing way. Frida Kahlo’s ‘The Wounded Deer’ from 1946 is a powerful portrait of the pain of love while the Surrealist photos of Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington conjure a dream world of creativity and erotic love mingled with the dark forces of the subconscious.
Modern Couples: Art, Intimacy and the Avant-garde runs until 27 Jan 2019, Barbican Art Gallery. For more information visit: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/modern-couples-art-intimacy-and-the-avant-garde. Follow @BarbicanCentre and #ModernCouples on Twitter for updates.
DINE: Kalifornia Kitchen. One man breaking down the stereotypes around vegans and making them much cooler than they used to be is Instagrammer Louis Blake with his brand of restaurants promoting plant-based foods and Cannabidiol (CBD) infused lattes, for everyone. His second restaurant, Kalifornia Kitchen, is set to be a popular hangout when it opens in Fitzrovia on 26 November. With a pink exterior, pink interior and a matching pink spiral staircase, green foliage, and plenty of neon signage with playful messages such as ‘press for kale’ and #healthissexy, the insta-friendly restaurant looks as good as the menu. You’ll find vegan burgers, burrito bowls with cashew adobo, red lentil dahl with pickled aubergine, aubergine katsu curry, rainbow beetroot carpaccio, and most importantly, CBD infused coffees that can be enhanced with immunity booster shots. We feel healthier just writing about it, and none of us are vegans.
Kalifornia Kitchen opens on 26 November. Visit https://www.kaliforniakitchen.co.uk for updates or follow them on instagram @kaliforniakitchen.
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