Reviews
Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), Criterion Theatre review - rueful and funny musical gets West End upgrade
Monday, 29 April 2024
Small scale shows, nurtured in offbeat places, are becoming all the rage in the West End. Red Pitch, Operation Mincemeat, For Black Boys… have already made their mark, and now this quirky musical for just two performers joins them.
Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider, Tate Modern review - a missed opportunity
Monday, 29 April 2024
In 1903, Wassily Kandinsky painted a figure in a blue cloak galloping across a landscape on a white horse. Several years later the name of the painting, The Blue Rider (der Blaue Reiter) was adopted by a group of friends who joined forces to exhibit together and disseminate their ideas in a publication of the same name.
Orbital, O2 Institute, Birmingham review - the...
Monday, 29 April 2024
On Friday evening, dance veterans Orbital touched down in Birmingham to celebrate two of the most significant and acclaimed albums in rave culture....
Fern Brady, Netflix Special review - sex,...
Monday, 29 April 2024
An appearance on Taskmaster and the publication of her acclaimed memoir Strong Female Character have helped propel Fern Brady into the comedy big...
Album: The Lemon Twigs - A Dream Is All We Know
Monday, 29 April 2024
The Lemon Twigs aren’t shy about telegraphing their inspirations. A Dream is all we Know, their swift follow-up to last May’s Everything Harmony, is...
Götterdämmerung, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - outside looking and listening in, always with fascination
Every orchestral phrase and colour perfect, vocal drama often a notch below |
Music Reissues Weekly: Warsaw - Middlesbrough 14th September 1977, Joy Division - Manchester 28th September 1979
Thrilling live document of one of Britain’s greatest bands |
Testmatch, Orange Tree Theatre review - Raj rage, old and new, flares in cricket dramedy
Winning performances cannot overcome a scattergun approach to a ragbag of issues |
I.S.S. review - sci-fi with a sting in the tail
The imperilled space station isn't the worst place to be |
Eye to Eye: Homage to Ernst Scheidegger, MASI Lugano review - era-defining artist portraits
One of Switzerland's greatest photographers celebrated with a major retrospective |
Christian Pierre La Marca, Yaman Okur, St Martin-in-The-Fields review - engagingly subversive pairing falls short
A collaboration between a cellist and a breakdancer doesn't achieve lift off |
That They May Face The Rising Sun review - lyrical adaptation of John McGahern's novel
Pat Collins extracts the magic of country life in the west of Ireland in his third feature film |
Stephen review - a breathtakingly good first feature by a multi-media artist
Melanie Manchot's debut is strikingly intelligent and compelling |
Blue Lights Series 2, BBC One review - still our best cop show despite a slacker structure
The engaging Belfast cops are less tightly focused this time around |
Sabine Devieilhe, Mathieu Pordoy, Wigmore Hall review - enchantment in Mozart and Strauss
Leading French soprano shines beyond diva excess |
Jonn Elledge: A History of the World in 47 Borders review - a view from the boundaries
Enjoyable journey through the byways of how lines on maps have shaped the modern world |
Špaček, BBC Philharmonic, Bihlmaier, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - three flavours of Vienna
Close attention, careful balancing, flowing phrasing and clear contrast |
Banging Denmark, Finborough Theatre review - lively but confusing comedy of modern manners
Superb cast deliver Van Badham's anti-incel barbs and feminist wit with gusto |
Music Reissues Weekly: Linda Smith - I So Liked Spring, Nothing Else Matters
The reappearance of two obscure - and great - albums by the American musical auteur |
London Tide, National Theatre review - haunting moody river blues
New play-with-songs version of Dickens’s 'Our Mutual Friend' is a panoramic Victori-noir |
Watts, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Bignamini, Barbican review - blazing French masterpieces
Poulenc’s Gloria and Berlioz’s 'Symphonie fantastique' on fire |
The Songs of Joni Mitchell, Roundhouse review - fans (old and new) toast to an icon of our age
A stellar line up of artists reimagine some of Mitchell’s most magnificent works |
Fantastic Machine review - photography's story from one camera to 45 billion
Love it or hate it, the photographic image has ensnared us all |
Jonathan Pie, Duke of York's Theatre review - spoof political reporter takes no prisoners
Tom Walker in a bravura display |
Baby Reindeer, Netflix review - a misery memoir disturbingly presented
Richard Gadd's double traumas are a difficult watch but ultimately inspiring |
Machinal, The Old Vic review - note-perfect pity and terror
Sophie Treadwell's 1928 hard hitter gets full musical and choreographic treatment |
Simon Boccanegra, Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - thrilling, magnificent exploration
Verdi’s original version of the opera brought to exciting life |
All You Need Is Death review - a future folk horror classic
Irish folkies seek a cursed ancient song in Paul Duane's impressive fiction debut |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Record Store Day Special 2024
Annual edition checking out records exclusively available on this year's Record Store Day |
latest in today
Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), Criterion Thea...
Small scale shows, nurtured in offbeat places, are becoming all the rage in the...
Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider, Tate M...
In 1903, Wassily Kandinsky painted a figure in a blue cloak galloping across a landscape on a white horse. Several years later the name of the...
Orbital, O2 Institute, Birmingham review - the techno titans...
On Friday evening, dance veterans Orbital touched down in Birmingham to celebrate two of the most significant and acclaimed albums in...
Fern Brady, Netflix Special review - sex, relationships and...
An appearance on Taskmaster and the publication of her acclaimed memoir Strong Female Character have helped propel Fern Brady...
Album: The Lemon Twigs - A Dream Is All We Know
The Lemon Twigs aren’t shy about telegraphing their inspirations. A Dream is all we Know, their swift follow-up to last May’s ...
Götterdämmerung, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - outside looking...
Four years embracing pandemic, genocide and rapid environmental degradation predicted by Wagner’s grand myth have passed before the Southbank Br...
Music Reissues Weekly: Warsaw - Middlesbrough 14th September...
Edinburgh’s Rezillos were booked to play Middlesbrough’s Rock Garden on Wednesday 14 September 1977. “I Can’t Stand my Baby,” their debut single,...
theartsdesk Q&A: Marco Bellocchio - the last maestro
The last of the old maestros is standing tall. Marco...
Testmatch, Orange Tree Theatre review - Raj rage, old and ne...
Cricket has always been a lens through which to examine the legacy of the British Empire. In the 1930s, the infamous Bodyline series saw the new...
