Your digital diary: culture to stream this weekend: 22 - 24 January
Plays, concerts and world-class dance can all be enjoyed online from the comfort of your home. Here, we bring you day-by-day culture to stream in lockdown
Culture to stream this week (picture: Joyce DiDonato in the title role of Cendrillon. Credit: Bill Cooper)
London life as we knew it is once more on hold, but there are plenty of theatre, dance, concerts, talks and workshops taking place online – if you know where to look. Here, we bring you day-by-day culture to stream at home.
Leïla Slimani
Institut français: Night of Ideas
WHEN: Friday 22 - Friday 29 January, various times | WHERE: Institut français’ YouTube and Facebook pages
Expanded into a week-long festival, Institut français’ Night of Ideas is inviting guests to get together in the online sphere, where an eclectic programme of cultural events awaits. In the lead-up to the main event, tune in for Before the Night (22 – 25 January), a curated selection of under-the-radar French films available to screen from home. The launch event proper, on 26 January, is a chance to listen in on French Ambassador to the UK Catherine Colonna in conversation with Lullaby author and personal representative to President Macron Leïla Slimani (pictured). The rest of the festival offers a hot mix of thought-provoking and free debates, and multimedia events to inspire young minds.
Click here for access
Joyce DiDonato in the title role of Cendrillon. Photo: Bill Cooper
Royal Opera House: Cendrillon
WHEN: Friday 22 January, 7pm (on demand for a week) | WHERE: Royal Opera House online
The ugly sisters, the ghastly stepmother, the timid father, the handsome prince, the dropped glass slipper… All the elements of the Cinderella story are in Massenet's opera, staged brilliantly by the director Laurent Pelly in 2011, with superstar mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in the title role. The story unfolds as though the pages of a storybook had come to life. Enchanting visual effects, colourful music and Pelly's gift for storytelling and design make this a delight.
Click here for access
White Cube gallery: Emma Cousin
WHEN: Friday 22 January - Tuesday 9 March | WHERE: White Cube online
Ponder the ‘complex and humorous’ scenes depicted in the works of British artist Emma Cousin in this virtual solo exhibition at White Cube. Through colourful paintings of life-sized figures ‘poking and pulling’ at each other, Cousin explores the limits of the body and the tension between pain and pleasure, addressing concepts of power, sexuality, interdependence and hierarchy.
Click here for access
GILES – A Live Zoom Play
WHEN: Friday 22 - Friday 29 January, 7pm - 7:30pm / 9pm - 9:30pm | WHERE: Zoom
Frédéric Blanchette’s GILES, directed by Marianne Badrichani, is a 30-minute comedy about friendship and fantasy, devised specifically for a remote, online audience. Tune in to watch a relationship play out on the video platform which has kept us all connected this past year.
Click here for access
Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco
WHEN: Friday 22 January, 6:30pm | WHERE: Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Instagram Live
Once known primarily as the voice of 2000 hit Murder on the Dancefloor, popstar Sophie Ellis-Bextor has, since lockdown, taken on the role of DJ to the nation’s would-be clubbers, live-streaming sets from her kitchen into theirs. The next home rave is taking place this Friday – have your dancing shoes ready.
Click here for access
Ethan Hawke (left) and Raven Leilani (right) are both speaking as part of Inside Out
Southbank Centre: Inside Out
WHEN: Sunday 24 January - Sunday 28 March | WHERE: Southbank Centre website
The second instalment of the Southbank Centre’s Inside Out series features seven star-led literature and spoken word events, all of which can be streamed from home. Highlights include: the TS Eliot Prize hosted by Ian McMillan (Sunday 24 January); actor Ethan Hawke (the Before trilogy, Boyhood) on his new book A Bright Ray Of Darkness (Monday 8 February); debuting novelist Raven Leilani (Luster) in conversation with British author Diana Evans (Thursday 25 February); and Fearne Cotton on her new book Speak your Truth (Thursday 4 February). As for music, don't miss beloved group The Cinematic Orchestra performing fresh new tracks (Friday 29 January).
Click here for access
Tails from the Zoo
WHEN: Sundays until 21 February | WHERE: ZSL London Zoo Facebook page
Zoos have been hard hit during this pandemic, but they're continuing to provide inspiration for little ones. Each Sunday evening at 6:30pm, tune in to ZSL London Zoo's Facebook page for a storytime session, in the company of the zoo's glorious animals. For example, the kids can enjoy a reading of Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came to Tea against the backdrop of Sumatran tigers, while David Walliams' The Slightly Annoying Elephant will be read at Whipsnade Zoo's Centre for Elephant Care. Sure to put a smile on your child's face (and on a parent's), it's a great opportunity to kick back with a cup of tea and a snuggle with the kids.
Click here for access
Leïla Slimani
Institut français: Night of Ideas
WHEN: Friday 22 - Friday 29 January, various times | WHERE: Institut français’ YouTube and Facebook pages
Expanded into a week-long festival, Institut français’ Night of Ideas is inviting guests to get together in the online sphere, where an eclectic programme of cultural events awaits. In the lead-up to the main event, tune in for Before the Night (22 – 25 January), a curated selection of under-the-radar French films available to screen from home. The launch event proper, on 26 January, is a chance to listen in on French Ambassador to the UK Catherine Colonna in conversation with Lullaby author and personal representative to President Macron Leïla Slimani (pictured). The rest of the festival offers a hot mix of thought-provoking and free debates, and multimedia events to inspire young minds.
Click here for access
Joyce DiDonato in the title role of Cendrillon. Photo: Bill Cooper
Royal Opera House: Cendrillon
WHEN: Friday 22 January, 7pm (on demand for a week) | WHERE: Royal Opera House online
The ugly sisters, the ghastly stepmother, the timid father, the handsome prince, the dropped glass slipper… All the elements of the Cinderella story are in Massenet's opera, staged brilliantly by the director Laurent Pelly in 2011, with superstar mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in the title role. The story unfolds as though the pages of a storybook had come to life. Enchanting visual effects, colourful music and Pelly's gift for storytelling and design make this a delight.
Click here for access
White Cube gallery: Emma Cousin
WHEN: Friday 22 January - Tuesday 9 March | WHERE: White Cube online
Ponder the ‘complex and humorous’ scenes depicted in the works of British artist Emma Cousin in this virtual solo exhibition at White Cube. Through colourful paintings of life-sized figures ‘poking and pulling’ at each other, Cousin explores the limits of the body and the tension between pain and pleasure, addressing concepts of power, sexuality, interdependence and hierarchy.
Click here for access
GILES – A Live Zoom Play
WHEN: Friday 22 - Friday 29 January, 7pm - 7:30pm / 9pm - 9:30pm | WHERE: Zoom
Frédéric Blanchette’s GILES, directed by Marianne Badrichani, is a 30-minute comedy about friendship and fantasy, devised specifically for a remote, online audience. Tune in to watch a relationship play out on the video platform which has kept us all connected this past year.
Click here for access
Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco
WHEN: Friday 22 January, 6:30pm | WHERE: Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Instagram Live
Once known primarily as the voice of 2000 hit Murder on the Dancefloor, popstar Sophie Ellis-Bextor has, since lockdown, taken on the role of DJ to the nation’s would-be clubbers, live-streaming sets from her kitchen into theirs. The next home rave is taking place this Friday – have your dancing shoes ready.
Click here for access
Ethan Hawke (left) and Raven Leilani (right) are both speaking as part of Inside Out
Southbank Centre: Inside Out
WHEN: Sunday 24 January - Sunday 28 March | WHERE: Southbank Centre website
The second instalment of the Southbank Centre’s Inside Out series features seven star-led literature and spoken word events, all of which can be streamed from home. Highlights include: the TS Eliot Prize hosted by Ian McMillan (Sunday 24 January); actor Ethan Hawke (the Before trilogy, Boyhood) on his new book A Bright Ray Of Darkness (Monday 8 February); debuting novelist Raven Leilani (Luster) in conversation with British author Diana Evans (Thursday 25 February); and Fearne Cotton on her new book Speak your Truth (Thursday 4 February). As for music, don't miss beloved group The Cinematic Orchestra performing fresh new tracks (Friday 29 January).
Click here for access
Tails from the Zoo
WHEN: Sundays until 21 February | WHERE: ZSL London Zoo Facebook page
Zoos have been hard hit during this pandemic, but they're continuing to provide inspiration for little ones. Each Sunday evening at 6:30pm, tune in to ZSL London Zoo's Facebook page for a storytime session, in the company of the zoo's glorious animals. For example, the kids can enjoy a reading of Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came to Tea against the backdrop of Sumatran tigers, while David Walliams' The Slightly Annoying Elephant will be read at Whipsnade Zoo's Centre for Elephant Care. Sure to put a smile on your child's face (and on a parent's), it's a great opportunity to kick back with a cup of tea and a snuggle with the kids.
Click here for access
