Arts & Culture

Anna Nicole story made into opera

Anna Nicole Smith

The Royal Opera House (ROH) is to stage the world premiere of an opera about the life of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, who died in 2007.

The work, by composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and writer Richard Thomas, will be "a major event in the UK arts calendar" the ROH said.

Thomas was a co-creator of the controversial production Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Smith died aged 39 of an accidental prescription drug overdose in Florida.

Oil tycoon

At the time of her death, Smith – a stripper who went on to find fame as a model and actress – was embroiled in a long-running legal battle to claim a share of the estate of her late husband.

Billionaire oil tycoon J Howard Marshall was 89 years old – 63 years her senior – when they married.

Thomas said the opera would end with Smith’s death rather than the court battle over the disposal of her remains and custody of her daughter that followed.

Anna Nicole will have its world premiere at the Covent Garden venue on 17 February 2011 with Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek in the lead role.

Other highlights in the ROH 2010/11 season includes the Royal Ballet’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a co-production with the National Ballet of Canada, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon.

The UK premiere of Philip Glass’s In The Penal Colony, based on a short story by Franz Kafka about an execution machine, will be seen in September.

And world renowned soprano Angela Gheorghiou will star in the title role of Adriana Lecouvreur, based on the life of the tragic French actress, in November.</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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Weiwei to take over Turbine Hall

Ai Weiwei. Â© Ai Weiwei

Artist Ai Weiwei, considered "one of China’s greatest living artists", has been chosen to take over Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.

Ai, who helped create the Olympic Bird’s Nest stadium in Bejing, has been selected to undertake the 11th commission in Tate’s Unilever Series.

It will be open to the public from October until April next year.

The space is currently occupied by a big "black hole", entitled How It Is, by Polish artist Miroslaw Balka.

The cavernous space has previously been occupied by a giant crack, a series of spiralling slides and bunk beds.

Human rights

Ai is the first artist living and working in the Asia-Pacific region to be commissioned for the series.

He has played a key role in contemporary Chinese art over the last two decades, and has been highly vocal about human rights issues in the country.

Template. Â© Ai Weiwei

His work includes Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995), which shows the artist dropping an ancient ceramic vase, and Template (2007) in which he used 1,001 wooden doors and windows from destroyed Chinese buildings to create a huge sculpture.

To commemorate the 2008 Sichuan earthquake he produced Remembering 2009, a wall of Chinese text that covered the facade of the Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany, made up of thousands of children’s backpacks.

Vicente Todoli, director of London’s Tate Modern said: "As Tate continues to widen its representation of art from all parts of the globe, we are delighted to be commissioning one of China’s greatest living artists for the Unilever Series.

"Frequently conceived on a grand scale, Ai Weiwei’s compelling installations are among the most socially engaged works of art being made today, so it will be thrilling to see how he responds to the vast, public environment of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern this October."

The artist’s creation will be unveiled to the public on 12 October.</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

McQueen wins fashion design award

Alexander McQueen

Fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who died last month aged 40, has won a top design award.

McQueen was named one of seven category winners at the Brit Insurance Design Awards 2010 for his latest spring/summer catwalk show.

Paula Reed, judge and style director of Grazia magazine, said the show emphasised the "enormity of his loss".

Other category winners included Monterrey Housing, a new model for social housing in Mexico.

BRIT INSURANCE DESIGN WINNERS

Architecture: Monterrey Housing, Mexico
Fashion: Alexander McQueen
Furniture: Grassworks
Graphic: The Newspaper Club
Interactive: The EyeWriter
Product: Folding Plug
Transport: E430 Electric Aircraft

Product: Folding Plug

Grassworks, a flat pack furniture kit made of sustainable bamboo which requires no drills or glue, won the Product category, while the zero-emission E430 Electric Aircraft won the Transport award.

McQueen beat other fashion collections, including Beth Ditto’s clothing label at Evans, to take the award.

Ms Reed stressed the jury did not give the award to McQueen, who was found dead at his London home on 11 February, for "sentimental reasons".

She said the video presentation of McQueen’s last show was one of the most "compelling" pieces in the awards exhibition at the Design Museum.

"Among the fashion nominees, Alexander McQueen was a clear winner," she said.

"The designer had been working for years on developing fabrics that could blend the hard into soft and had pretty much come close to achieving that in this collection.

"Then there was the way the prints had been worked, taking one image across an entire piece of fabric and fit by hand to the body to make a dress: something seemingly random was minutely thought through. But there was also the sheer spectacle of it.

"The impressiveness simply compounds the enormity of his loss."

McQueen’s winning designs will now compete for the overall Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2010, to be announced at the ceremony at the Design Museum on 16 March.

The winning entries, along with all the shortlisted designs, are on show at the museum until 6 June.

Artist Antony Gormley, chair of the judges, said: "The seven winners provide a snapshot of some of the most outstanding designs from the past 12 months and reflect the important role design plays in improving people’s lives."</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Gomp/arts

Book designs: Who doesn’t judge a book by its cover?

Tudor portrait shows secret snake

Queen Elizabeth I portrait

A mysterious image of a coiled snake has appeared in a 16th century painting of Queen Elizabeth I, the National Portrait Gallery has said.

The Tudor queen was depicted with the snake clasped in her fingers in an original version of the work, but it was replaced with a bunch of roses.

The paint has deteriorated over the years to reveal the serpent’s outline.

The painting will go on display at the London gallery on 13 March for the first time since 1921.

It will form part of the Concealed and Revealed: The Changing Faces of Elizabeth I exhibition, which runs until 26 September.

Original sin

The portrait was created by an unknown artist in the 1580s or early 1590s.

The gallery suggested the snake’s removal may have been due to the ambiguity of the emblem. It may have represented wisdom, but snakes are also linked to notions of Satan and original sin.

Dr Tarnya Cooper, of the Making Art in Tudor Britain project, said: "The recent technical analysis on these remarkable portraits has been critical to our understanding of Tudor painting.

"The portrait of Elizabeth I with a hidden serpent is a really unusual survival. Yet, it is difficult to know exactly why the serpent may have been originally included, or how common this motif might have been.

"The queen certainly owned jewellery and costume including emblems of serpents, which were probably understood as a symbol of wisdom. However no other portrait of Elizabeth appears to depict her holding a snake.

"The current condition of the picture has meant it has not been on display for decades, and this display provides an exciting opportunity to present it to the public alongside other key portraits."</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Potter series tops book gift poll

J K Rowling

JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series has topped a poll of books British people would most like to pass on to the next generation to read.

The survey, commissioned to mark World Book Day, asked which best-selling book of the past decade people would give to young people.

Books turned films led the way with The Da Vinci Code in second place and Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight in fifth.

More than 1,000 people aged 16 to 64 were surveyed across Britain.

TOP 10 BOOKS TO PASS ON

1. The Harry Potter Series – JK Rowling
2. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
3. Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze: And 114 Other Questions – New Scientist
4. A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
5. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
6. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
7. 9/11 Commission Report – National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States
8. You Are What You Eat: The Plan That Will Change Your Life – Dr Gillian McKeith
9. The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins
10. Dreams From My Father – Barack Obama

Non-fiction works also made the top 10, including New Scientist book Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze: And 114 Other Questions and the 9/11 Commission Report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States.

The only memoir to make the list was US President Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father.

Three quarters of people surveyed said they had given a book as a gift during the last year.

Scots were the biggest givers of books to other adults – 64% said they had given one or more as a present in the last 12 months.

While people in Greater London were least likely to have given a book as a gift, with 28% saying they had not given a book in the last year.</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

West End theatres ‘are infested’

Rats

Many West End theatres are infested with rats, mice and fleas, a survey by the actors union Equity has found.

Three-quarters of stage managers and actors at 24 venues in London’s West End, which feature world-famous shows, report regular infestations.

Christine Payne, Equity general secretary, said she was "really shocked" by the findings and called on the theatres to take action.

Many of the theatres date back to the Victorian and Edwardian days.

The survey was circulated in February by Equity to around 850 actors and stage managers.

It was completed by nearly 350 performers and stage managers in 24 different theatres.

"I accept that many West End theatres are old and difficult buildings to manage, but this is running out of control"

Christine Payne, Equity

One respondent said: "Our floors have been eaten by mice and they leave their faeces." Another added: "Mice, mice, mice. Quite often there is an unpleasant smell which usually turns out to be a dead one!".

A third commented: "I had tiny bite marks on my lipstick recently when I left the lid off."

Ms Payne said: "I knew it was bad out there, but I am really shocked by this! These findings mean that tonight, over 600 actors and stage managers will go to work knowing that they will probably see and smell vermin, both living and decomposing, in their work-place.

"I accept that many West End theatres are old and difficult buildings to manage, but this is running out of control.

"These appalling conditions must come to an end. I want to thank all those West End actors and stage management who took part in this survey. Their union will be working with them to make sure that effective action is taken."

The survey also revealed that most of the theatres were clean and tidy, with enough dressing rooms for performers.

But stage management reported that only half of theatres provided a clean area for preparing food and drink, with a clear lack of cooking facilities.

Virginia Wilde, Equity’s West End organiser, said: "Working in a musical is hard, physical work. Performers need access to hot food – it is their fuel!" </p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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