Mughals, Music, and Maddaddam …..

Saturday (yes, I’m very behind!)  is a far more challenging day in many ways - though it certainly has some wonderful moments! 

Whilst the capital has escaped much of the wrath of Storm Burt, it’s still a wet and fairly windy day - though for most of the time rain is limited to light drizzle.  


First port of call is the V&A’s Great Mughals exhibition necessitating facing the worst crush I’ve ever seen at Tube station. Basically, the exits can’t cope with the numbers getting off each train that arrives - it’s quite frightening, and the crowd has many toddlers and children. Thankfully there is a decision to not allow any other trains to stop until the crowd clears - but I can’t help thinking how easily a dangerous crush could happen. 

The exhibition is wonderful - as V&A’s always are, but it is sold out for the day and members like us add to the numbers so here too there are constant queues to see exhibits. My favourites are the exquisite water colours, spectacularly detailed and gloriously colourful, but of course there’s so much else. Mother of pearl inlaid chests, huge inscribed precious stones, exquisitely carved rock crystal, decorated daggers and armour. And, as always, it’s all beautifully set out. 

The intention then is to meet Simon  and Lloyd and go to the wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. We haven’t booked, and the queue to get into the Natural History Museum is huge - and apparently not moving! We decide to head up to the Serpentine Galleries instead. Simon and I are keen to see The Call at the North Gallery ‘ A collaboration between artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, and Serpentine Arts Technologies which  proposes new cultural, legal, and technical rituals for art in the age of AI.’ No, I don’t understand it either, but suffice to say there are heavenly voices of various choirs filtering through the building and a curtained where you can sing into a microphone and be answered by AI sounds sampled from the vast number of recordings made. My explanation is basically rubbish, but if you want to know more …..https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/holly-herndon-mat-dryhurst-the-call/

We also make a brief visit to the headache-inducing Lauren Halsey’s ‘Funk Garden’ - lots of very bright colours decorated with what G calls ‘tat’.  Interesting, but not somewhere we really want to stay. 

It’s now time to head back for a short afternoon rest before our evening in the ROH  - at least that’s the idea! The reality is so many stations are either closed or just too packed to enter, buses are also full to bursting and not stopping to pick up, so we end up walking to Sloane Square to eventually get a tube back, arriving just in time to change and head out again! Still, Sloane Street does give me the chance to see some very attractive window displays, and the square itself is beautifully Christmassy, even down to the close harmony trio who look as if they’ve just  stepped out of ‘White Christmas’. 

We arrive at the Opera House for our delicious pre-theatre meal with Simon and Lloyd, before watching the new McGregor ballet Maddaddam based on the writing of Margaret Atwood. It’s not received the best reviews to be honest, but we all thoroughly enjoy its three acts - fabulous dancing, wonderfully soaring music (Max Richter) and very effective lighting and scenery. I’d be lying if I said I fully understood the whole thing - it’s very dark and complex - but emotionally it’s gripping. 

Ballet over, we head back to Hoxton and a much needed rest! 

As you can imagine, there have been a great many photos taken today, so it’s hard to choose a main. In the end I’ve gone with a detailed look at a beautiful camel dagger hilt made of rock crystal and decorated with gold and precious stones. Then there are collages from the Mughal exhibition together with each of the Serpentine Galleries exhibitions.