My Favourite Things from 2017

Well, I went to a lot of films and art in 2017. I also saw about 20 plays and 2 operas, although I left half-way through one of them, Jane Eyre at the National Theatre. I also managed to attend two plays in a week that failed to reach their end - Insignificance at the Arcola Theatre and Coriolanus at the Barbican - which has to be an unusual event.

So, my Top Ten Theatre/Opera were:

Salome, National Theatre
Incident at Vichy, King's Head Theatre
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Harold Pinter Theatre
The Seagull, Lyric Hammersmith
Kiss Me, Trafalgar Studio
Coriolanus, RSC at The Barbican
Art, The Old Vic
The Life of Galileo, The Young Vic
Richard III, Arcola Theatre
Aida, ENO

Salome, which was a new version by Yaël Farber. It took a little while for me to get into but it eventually blew my mind. A real example of what theatre can do with a story you think you know. Incident at Vichy is a Miller play that doesn't get performed often but seemed to be a play for 2017. The cast was astonishing and if a play had deserved a West End transfer then this was it. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf featured probably the best performance I saw from anyone in 2017, which was Imelda Staunton's Martha, although Greg Hick's Richard III was pretty astonishing. 

I saw a terrible Romeo & Juliet at The Globe, which managed to make one of my least favourite Shakespeare plays utterly awful. And as I said about we left Jane Eyre at the National Theatre at the interval. The less said about this the better. 

I wish I could go to more theatre as at its best I don't think there's anything as absorbing or as moving, even film. If I had the money and the time I'd go to the theatre every night. Almost. 

I saw 61 films in 2017. My Top Ten is

The Death of Stalin
Dunkirk
In Between
Logan
I Am Not Your Negro
After The Storm
Wonder Woman
A Ghost Story
My Life As A Courgette
The Road to Mandalay


Now that Top Ten is 2017 films. I also saw a number of films that were made before 2017. That included probably my favourite film of all time, A Matter of Life and Death, which I got to see in its new digital print. I finally got to see Le Samouraï on the big screen and found that sometimes the memory doesn't cheat. I saw Lawrence of Arabia again, which is as impressive this time as it was when I saw it last year. I can see a Lawrence of Arabia re-watch becoming an annual thing if I can find a cinema showing it because you really do need to see it on the big screen. That was the same with Abel Gance's Napoléon, which I saw last night. So here is my Top Ten Films I Saw in 2017 regardless of when they were made:

A Matter of Life & Death
The Death of Stalin
Dunkirk
In Between
Le Samouraï
Lawrence of Arabia
I Am Not Your Negro
A Star Is Born (Mason/Garland-obviously)
Logan
Cabaret

So, well done Carrie Dunn whose work on exposing me to musicals seems to have finally succeeded. That's two musicals in the Top Ten. Five films of 2017 itself still made the list. The Death of Stalin was darkly funny, superbly acted and was absolutely the best film from 2017 that I saw. It even nudged Dunkirk off the Top Spot, even though that is an astonishing film that had to be seen on the big screen. In Between was the film that surprised me most and probably moved me most if truth be told. I Am Not Your Negro was a stonkingly well-made documentary, which in the age of Donald Trump needed to be made. That's a fucking tragic thing to have to write.

I saw a lot of exhibitions at various galleries and museums in 2017. It helps to have lots of memberships courtesy of relatives and Christmas. (Thanks, Mum, Dad and Uncle Robin and Aunty Sue.) My Top Ten Exhibitions were:

David Hockney, Tate Britain
Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave, British Museum
Australia's Impressionists, National Gallery
Gillian Wearing & Claude Cahun: Behind the Mask, Another Mask, NPG
Giacometti, Tate Modern
Fahreinessa Zahid, Tate Modern
Drawn in Colour: Degas from the Burrell Collection, National Gallery
Jasper Johns, Royal Academy
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern
Opera: Power, Passion & Politics, V&A

But this list is utterly arbitrary really as there was so much good art to see in London in 2017. Obviously, the advantage of living in London (and having an income to afford these things) is that there are galleries, museums, cinemas and theatres everywhere. If I had a 2018 wish it would be to visit a few more of the smaller theatres and galleries. If I had the money. 

I should also put in a word here for the day I spent at the Royal Festival Hall watching a live reading of Primo Levi's 'Is This A Man', which you can find an audio version of here. It is worth a listen. 

I saw a handful of live music. All of which I loved. Gretchen Peters was fantastic as always, as were Depeche Mode and The Unthanks. I also saw a couple of classical music concerts, Yuja Wang and Benjamin Grove at The Royal Festival Hall. Both of which were amazing. 

So, there you have it. The only thing left is books, but that's a whole other column of its own. 

Thanks to everyone who came with me, bought tickets and/or memberships. So that'll be Aya, Emma, Mark, Chris, Leslie and Carrie. It's been a good year. It wouldn't have been so good without you all.