Top culture moments of the decade

The Corner Shop

20th December 2019

As the curtain falls on the 2010s, we’ve taken the chance to reflect on some of our top culture moments of the decade, featuring some of the fantastic theatre shows we’ve seen across the past few years.

Take a look at some of our highlights here before we step into 2020!

THEATRE

Ben: Watching David Byrne’s American Utopia with a stupid grin on my face for 90 minutes was about as good as it gets.

Alice: Follies at the NT – Imelda Staunton’s fierce performance, from ‘I’m so glad I came’ and peaking at ‘Losing My Mind’ was a masterclass. So pleased this production is being adapted into a film!

Hannah O: Come From Away transferring to the West End. I have never before seen such a unanimous, quick, and well-deserved standing ovation for a live event.

Chloe: Jesse Armstrong and Lucy Prebble’s Succession has been my absolute stand out fave show this year. The Guardian put it perfectly: ‘a brilliant dissection of a dysfunctional dynasty with Machiavellian characters and sharp dialogue.’ The characters are all sorts of awful and the clever twists and turns of story and the performances just keep you completely glued. I. LOVED. IT.

Hannah O: Legally Blonde opening with Sheridan Smith. One of the best musicals, and I still play the soundtrack on an embarrassingly regular basis.

Deepa: It has to be said – Hamilton arriving in London blew us all away (pun intended) and was the first time I’ve ever seen musical theatre really become a part of modern mainstream society. I’ve seen it twice and can’t wait to go again!

Alice: Jerusalem at the Royal Court and Apollo Theatre – both peaceful and raucous, idyllic and unnerving, this amazing production had you believing giants, fairies and Girls Aloud could appear any moment on stage.

MUSIC

Sam: Whitney’s version of Star Spangled Banner on Youtube. Iconic. Yes, it’s from the 90s but I found it in the 2010s…so.

Hannah O: Watching Barbra Streisand sing live. Ok, she had an auto-cue for the entire performance, and she forgot half of a song. But she’s still a legend.

Deepa: Beyoncé’s Lemonade… I loved her in her ‘Love On Top’ days, but I really hope this goes down as one of the most important albums of the past few years. Visually stunning if you watch it in full, and the range of genres and artists she worked with makes it my favourite to listen to start to finish.

Will (our intern): Kanye at the Brit Awards, and David Bowie’s Black Star Album just before his death.

PEOPLE

Will (our intern): The video of the women saying ‘not another one’ in response to hearing about the last election – it’s Brenda from Bristol!

Nikola: The royal weddings! From the Alexander McQueen Dress that Kate wore to the American choir at Meghan and Harry’s wedding, to the endless hats, fascinators and fashion choices, I feel the world collectively joined in to feel a part of something special.

Clair: Greta Thunberg’s speech at the UN Climate Summit this year. Quite simply the most impactful cultural/political act I’ve witnessed this past decade. I know it’s not a show, or a performance, but it is phenomenal and she is a phenomenon and the ripple effect of this speech will continue to be felt for at least another decade. She makes people care, yes, but also she makes people take action and she leads by example.

SPORT

Ben: Finding out that England had beaten New Zealand in the Rugby World cup semi-final whilst wandering round the Vatican Galleries was a moment of almost divine joy!

Charlotte: The 2019 Women’s World Cup cultivated a newly found love of women’s football for the country, and gave us new heroes in the Lionesses, so seeing them play to a sold out Wembley was pretty special.

Hannah O: Tottenham Hotspur getting through to the Champions League Final. Let’s just not mention what happened during the game…

Alice: England winning the Netball in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia – the English Roses’ first victory in the Commonwealth Games was even more triumphant as they beat the Aussie Diamonds on home soil. It was worth getting up at 4am to watch the game, 100%.

Hannah BL: Everyone I know tuned in to watch the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony – it seemed that the whole of the UK, and Londoners in particular, swelled with supportive pride of the Paralympic athletes on home turf back in 2012.

SCREEN

Hannah O: Breaking Bad. There are no words.

Alice: Fleabag – when Andrew Scott looked down the camera and into our souls… shivers.

Deepa: The Marvel films! They may not be cinematic masterpieces (although Black Panther definitely was, no debate), but they’re definitely entertaining. Who doesn’t want to watch a gazillion Hollywood stars team up against a big CGI purple villain? My other favourite was Pokemon Go – I don’t actually play it anymore, but that summer I spent walking around London searching for little digital creatures? Bliss.

Alice: Rocketman – the perfect combo of fantasy and reality, and incredible arrangements of timeless songs. Taron Egerton and Jamie Bell told the story of Elton John and Bernie Taupin perfectly.

Asher: John Wick – I don’t think you can talk about this decade without mentioning John Wick. Never has a film had so little storyline or dialogue (part 3 especially) and yet been so entertaining. Keanu Reeves is somehow both incredibly uncool and yet the coolest man of the decade.