Morning:
11°c
The Evening Standard demands an end to the practice of burying children and babies in mass paupers’ graves
More...
It’s Day’s night, and no one is going to spoil her story
A Sentimental Journey
Film
This is a shocking, replenishing film, not to be missed
Green Zone
Restaurants
It is great that Bruno Loubet is back — and at prices that are eminently fair
Bistro Bruno Loubet
The action and direction are superb and the acting good, but the plot is so pathetic it defies belief
Wonderful - beautifully acted and gloriously funny, particularly Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw
Probably the most important photography exhibition london has ever seen
London,
Nick Curtis's rating
Reader rating
Description: Blur singer Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett's 21st century-take on the ancient Chinese legend features a cast of Chinese circus acrobats, singers and martial artists performing in a specially designed theatre, Monkey's World.
Trains: Tube: North Greenwich 
Phone: 0871 230 1085
Spectacular: Fei Yang plays Monkey in Damon Albarn's show
Too briefly seen on its first appearances in Paris, Manchester and London, Damon Albarn’s cartoon opera was credited with introducing a new audience to an art form often seen as elitist. Now it’s back for an extended residency at the O2, in a specially constructed tent with its own restaurant, bar and foot-massage parlour.
Created by Albarn with his Gorillaz collaborator Jamie Hewlett and a horde of Chinese performers marshalled by director Chen Shi-Zheng, Monkey draws on a Tang Dynasty manuscript about an anthropoid king, born a mortal on earth, who decides to gatecrash heaven to demand a longer lease of life.
However, Albarn and Hewlett were equally inspired by the 1970s TV version of the story that concentrated on Monkey’s cheekily comic adventures with his companions — a Buddhist monk, a sand monster and a pig. The imagery of the opera will already be familiar to those who saw Albarn and Hewlett’s idents for the BBC coverage of the Beijing Olympics.
In terms of showmanship, Monkey promises to be another spectacular feather in the O2’s cap, with singers accompanied on stage by contortionists, acrobats and martial artists, and the orchestra augmented by weird and wonderful musical instruments, including one, the Klaxophone, of Albarn’s invention. It might upset the opera purists but, as Monkey himself would mischievously say — who cares?
8 November-5 December (0844 847 1665/0871 230 1097/0870 444 5556; www.monkeyjourneytothewest.com).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
