Theatre etc.
My highlight so far this year is probably A Morte do Corvo, a Punchdrunk-inspired immersive production in Lisbon. I’ve been fortunate with a range of good immersive experiences: Phantom Peak, in London, was very silly but very fun; Heresy: 1897, in New York was a brilliantly difficult immersive escape room (with a coherent plot!); Saw: Escape Experience is too easy but has excellent production value; and The Burnt City continues to be excellent (though I think its impending closure is for the best, it is time for something new). The Grim, meanwhile, was a very unimpressive and somewhat repugnant immersive production.
On the conventional theatre front, I very much enjoyed Phaedra at the National Theatre. (Simon Stone is probably my favourite director today.) The Almeida’s Romeo and Juliet — currently playing! — was also very good. And I saw some pleasant, if not particularly memorable, other shows: The Return of Benjamin Lay, The Motive and the Cue, Women Beware The Devil and Medea. I’m excited for the upcoming theatre season, which looks quite a lot better.
There were two very different magic shows in London: Derren Brown’s Showman, which was very good but not his best; and Penn & Teller, which was fine but a little lacklustre.
Also some good dance productions: Creature by Akram Khan was quite nice but Woolf Works was stupendous. Sadly the other Wayne McGregor I saw, Untitled, was not very good. On the opera front, Akhnaten was spectacular.
Books
Nothing so far has truly blown me away. Small Things Like These came closest — it’s heartbreaking — and The Glass Hotel was also very good. Babel, Trust, and the Biography of X are all also good, but not groundbreaking. On the non-fiction side, Chip War, Parfit and The Alignment Problem are all pretty good but none are essential (though the former might be, depending on your semiconductor knowledge).
Art
Again, a rather mediocre six months. The big shows — Ai Weiwei and Cezanne in London, Yayoi Kusama and Georgia O’Keefe in NYC — were all just fine. Souls Grown Deep Like The Rivers was rather good, as was Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Tate Britain. But my highlight has to be the permanent collection at the excellent National Gallery in DC — the Rothko/Newman rooms in particular are breathtaking.
Gigs
Four Tet’s Squidsoup show was incredible — just absolutely stunning, with a gorgeous set list and genius 360-degree sound system. Rival Consoles also put on an amazing show at the Barbican — he is incredible at taking you on a lengthy journey through noise. And I’ve already written about Jamie XX’s very fun and eclectic set at Printworks.
The biggest show I went to was Beyoncé’s, having bought a last minute ticket. She was very good with a technically impressive production, though the set was designed without viewing angles being taken into consideration (a pet peeve of mine). And I continue to think she’s a bit overrated — reviews called this the most impressive arena tour ever, but I personally think Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Ball topped it over a decade ago. (Also Beyoncé uses a teleprompter, which is a bit embarrassing.) Still, I had a lot of fun despite not really being a Beyoncé fan, so credit where it’s due.
Movies
Probably the medium where I’ve had the most luck this year. I’ve been watching lots of fantastic older movies: In the Mood for Love, Hiroshima Mon Amour and Casablanca all blew me away. Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire baffled me in a very pleasing way. La Dolce Vita, Vertigo and The Seventh Seal didn’t quite connect with me, but are impressive nonetheless. When Harry Met Sally, Scream, and Legally Blonde are all a lot of fun. Some recent-ish gems, too: Ford vs. Ferrari (which I watched just before going to Le Mans) is excellent; so is Tripping With Nils Frahm, a gorgeous concert film.
Of new releases, Asteroid City is my highlight so far. I think it’s my favourite Wes Anderson, though I need to rewatch it — it moves very quickly. Across the Spider-Verse was very good, though worse than its predecessor; the same is true for John Wick: Chapter 4. I didn’t really get Decision to Leave, and M3gan didn’t quite live up to its potential.
Some of my favourites, though, were rewatches. Some movies, like Shutter Island and Saw, don’t hold up well on second viewing. Others really shine, though. Raiders of the Lost Ark is still fantastic. And rewatching The Dark Knight in IMAX was exhilarating.
Essayant 