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Southend Exhibition: #Standardiser, at the Focal Point Gallery, Elmer Square. Until December 20.
Hannah Sawtell’s latest work focuses on the consumption of images and objects in a globally connected society and aims to provoke debate around the technology of access, labour, capital and surplus, desire and excess. Sawtell uses “the screen as a lens,” drawing on the internet to research and shape her approach. In the process, she creates “dense digital situations” which allow her to explore the processes and materials accessible in the current culture of connectivity. Radical, subversive and recommended.
Stratford-Upon-Avon Theatre: The Christmas Truce at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Waterside. Until January 21.
Phil Porter’s new play celebrates the remarkable story Christmas Eve 1914, when British and German troops exchanged gifts on the battlefield and celebrated together. It was followed by what has now become a legendary football match, which has been appropriated by the crass seasonal advertising campaign of a supermarket who deserve to remain nameless. The Christmas Truce, according to the blurb, is inspired by real events and is a tribute to the courage and humanity of both sides. Could be worth checking out.
Leeds Theatre: White Christmas at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Quarry Hill. Until January 17.
Irving Berlin’s legendary Broadway musical White Christmas features well-known songs such as Sisters, Blue Skies, I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm and of course White Christmas. It tells the tale of Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, major stars in the glittering world of Hollywood, whose mission is to give everyone an Xmas pressie. Question is — will they, along with a few song-and-dance troupe friends — be able to pull it off? The answer might not surprise you but, hey, we’re promised “love, laughter, romance and more than a little mischief” along the way. If that’s what floats your yule log, wrap up warm and get along to WYP.
London Music: Michael Chapman & James Blackshaw at the Bishopsgate Institute, Bishopsgate, EC2. December 12
This double bill features guitarist Michael Chapman (pictured), “rediscovered” in the US, whose style and influence have been compared to that of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch. Chapman’s got a uniquely emotive sound, as has James Blackshaw, who’ll be performing guitar-led pieces which draw on contemporary classical composition, post-rock dynamics and “invisible” soundtracks as much as the US folk-guitar tradition.
