THE ART OF LIVING

MARIANKA SWAIN SHARES HER CAPITALCULTURALHIGHLIGHTS

EXHIBITION THOMAS COLE: FILM THE WIFE

Glenn Close is already hotly Oscar-tipped for this the knowledge of likely infidelities, and how her EDEN TO EMPIRE adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s novel (on general own creative ambitions were eclipsed by his. release later this month). Close’s enigmatic It’s astark and timely study of that familiar female Bolton-born wanderer Thomas Cole became a character, Joan, is travelling to Stockholm with role –the supportive, self-sacrificing helpmeet – renownedAmerican landscape artist in the early herliterary titan husband, where he’ll be awarded and of the insidiousgender politics of the prestige 19th century. The self-taught painter drew on the Nobel Prize. art world. his formative years in the textile mills north of Manchester, as well as taking inspiration from But ajournalistinterrupts their trip, trying to There’s excellent work from Jonathan Pryce as the European masters he studied in London, persuade the great man to cooperate with a the narcissistic author, Max Irons as his resentful Parisand Rome. revealing biography. The accumulation of events son, and Christian Slater’s pushy journalist. causes Joan to re-examine their lives together. He applied his skill to depicting dramatic natural Björn Runge’s film balances wry satire with wilderness anddreamlike imaginative landscapes Flashbacks show how she went from Joe’s intimate tragedy, anchored by aperformance –making the case for an unspoilt land threatened flirtatious student to second wife, haunted by from Closeall themore riveting for its restraint. by an increasingly industrial age. His work is shown ‘A view near Tivoli (Morning)’, 1832, Thomas Cole here alongside contemporaries and those who influenced him, including Turner and Constable.

Visitors can also see concurrent exhibition Ed Ruscha: Course of Empire –acycle of 10 paintings by the LA artist responding to Cole’s series, and offering amore contemporary answer to his questions about how society would impact nature. rt &A y UntilU il OctoberO b 7 y Adults from £10, under-12s free r

www.nationalgallery.org.uk Histor of ‘SnowStorm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps’, 1812, Joseph Turner Institute y Albany /The y t Society orical st Hi rk Yo THEATRE THE LEHMAN TRILOGY

‘The Course of Empire: Destruction’, New Sam Mendes helms this dazzling portrait of

1836, Thomas Cole The the Lehman Brothers, whose firm’s collapse ate/ precipitated the 2008 financial crisis. Stefano Massini’s play, deftly condensed by Ben ujillo/T

Tr Power, explores Western capitalism via this one immigrant family.

Art/Juan The Bavarian brothers stepped off the boat in of the 1840s. Their fabric store grew and mutated, until they were ‘middle men’ trading the mythology of money instead of tangible goods. Museum

Just three incredibly adept actors perform every role, using the props of a modern office, like

Metropolitan ominous packing boxes – all within Es Devlin’s rotating glass cube. It cleverly links storytelling ‘View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, The with traders and their “temple of words”.

Massachusetts, after aThunderstorm - es: ‘From Nature’, 1823, Thomas Cole The Oxbow’, 1836, Thomas Cole S m n u s l B a e B n i e a d d m

Pictur i o R s e l e l , e M l s n A a Godley effortlessly evoke everyone from banking bigwigs to bewildered rabbis and Southern belles. Just as each person is introduced via akey characteristic, so too are complex financial

COMMUTER Classics ideas distilled into vivid analogies. es

CORNER PianistCandida Caldicot plays Nick Powell’s Pictur wonderfulscore live.It’s the “magical music box called America” –the Dream, and the nightmare. Inthisfollow-up to HowtoBuild aGirl –soon to

become afilm –Caitlin Moran continues revisiting her Youcan stillget Friday Rush tickets (£20) or Day Hunter/Sony Britpop past. How to Be Famous (hardback £14.99, Tickets(from £15), and it’s well worth employing Kindle £9.99) sees her fictional alter ego Johanna some Lehman-like savvy to catch this epic. writingfor aLondon music magazine, pining after Graeme singer-songwriter John Kite, and fending off her eccentric family. Howlingly funny, it’s also incisive on Douet, the mistreatment of women, whether via dismayingly UntilU til OctoberO t b 2020 Mark bad sex or contempt for female fans. National Theatre, South Bank SE1 www.nationaltheatre.org.uk es:

How are you livening up your commute? Pictur Let us know via Twitter @Move_To