‘Better late than never’, as some may say or in my case, better to find out for yourself than depend on two-star reviews. The time came to see Ivo van Hove‘s production of Obsession with its lead protagonist performed by film and stage actor Jude Law, and one would think that given Hove’s international reputation and Law’s virtuoso acting the show would be a big hit, yet instead this is perhaps one production that meets a degree of anti-climax.

At the main stage of the Barbican Centre, theatrical technicalities and marvellous acting are worth the bite, yet the writing is basic, dry and stale. Yet, what creative device or person(s) do we blame for the production’s flaws?

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☆☆☆☆

Shakespeare wrote many plays – 38 to be exact – and only now can I confess that I’ve seen his psychological, semi-comedic drama, The Winter’s Tale. That may sound pretty shocking for a theatre enthusiast, but I am glad I waited for Cheek by Jowl’s production, presented at the Silk Street Theatre of The Barbican, for a brilliant and insightful undertaking.

Declan Donnellan has directed Shakespeare’s imagined world of jealous kings, angry gods and unconditional love at the kingdoms of Sicily and Bohemia and transferred them onto a contemporary platform. Cleverly done, I managed to understand the threads of each plot without having studied the sophisticated dialogues, previously. It is to the masterful cast, too, that brought their characters to life and made every moment engaging and entertaining.

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The mighty Jonas Kaufmann and leading lieder pianist Helmut Deutsch performed at The Barbican this weekend for the first in three concerts of their Kaufmann Residency programme. The concert was a long-awaited return for Kaufmann who had spent months away from the stage due to a vocal illness – seeing him last night just proved how healthy the man was, and how prepared he was to perform again.

This is not the first time that Kaufmann and Deutsch have performed together. In fact, they have recorded CDs (including works by Richard Strauss and Schubert) and performed at international concert halls; New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Wigmore Hall, to name a few. Their musical partnership and long-term friendship was visible last night, including their remarkable synergy working and performing together.

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First, I must admit that I am more familiar with Schubert’s Wintereisse through the voice of Ian Bostridge, but sung ‘straight’ with nothing else but a piano to accompany the tenor. Last year, I was completely absorbed by Bostridge and international pianist, Thomas Adès’s intimate concert at the Barbican (click here for review), when it was performed to coincide with Bostridge’s book, Schubert’s Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession. Bostridge’s take on this landmark piece encapsulates the literary movement, Romanticism, which also inspired many cultural icons including Samuel Beckett.

Wintereisse is regarded as one of the greatest song-cycles ever written. The emotional impact, the sense of longing and loss, which also influenced German poet, Wilhelm Müller who was known by his contemporaries as the ‘German Bryon.’ Schubert’s music and German poetry stirs and captivates audiences, and gets them to ask, ‘who is this young man in despair? Why does he depart and wander into the cold? And why does he lament lost love? Schubert – who died at the young age of 32 – has written a work that hones in on the darker reflections of man, the meaning of existence and the human condition.

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