theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Helen Hawkins |
What can you do with lots of big sheets of white paper, three rolls of Sellotape and a couple of torches? These are items from the “props incident room”, as he would call it, of…
Gary Naylor |
Attending the tale of Sweeney Todd was my introduction to musical theatre. I was in my early 20s and a friend of mine had invited me to the summer show at Guildford School of…
Adam Sweeting |
Is this the near-future? The premise of Ann Droid is that in place of our over-stretched social services, before long we may find ourselves being helped out around the home by…
Graham Rickson |
Saxophobia: Celebrating the Sax Craze of the 1920s Chad Smith (alto and C-melody saxophones), Sinfonia of London/John Wilson (Chandos)
Image…
Kieron Tyler |
The only break in the flow comes just before the last song, “Toppling.” There’s a need to tune the guitar, so what – until this point – is an uninterrupted, pell-mell rush through…
Guy Oddy |
These days, Alfie Agnew is a Maths professor at California State University Fullerton. Back in the 1980s, however, he was singer and guitarist with US punks the Adolescents, as…
Helen Hawkins
It’s a sobering thought that had Marianela Nuñez joined the Paris Opéra Ballet at 16 instead of the Royal Ballet, she would have been compulsorily retired by now, thanks to the…
Aleks Sierz
Sarah Kane’s Cleansed is a love story whose heart has been torn open on barbed wire. Yes, that’s what it feels like. Sounds intense? Okay, welcome, you’re already in the zone. It’…
Florence Hallett
For the current edition of the Venice Biennale, the Bulgarian Pavilion serves as the headquarters of The Federation of Minor Practices, a shady, imaginary research organisation…
James Saynor
“Ish” is the name of the lead character in this movie, but it also might be a suffix attached to adjectives describing it. Here we have a sparkish piece full of smallish moments…
Thomas H. Green
Since the release of her last album, Eternal Sunshine, in 2024, Ariana Grande, already a multi-platform superstar, has exploded to even greater fame, via the Wicked film franchise…
Sarah Kent
Richard Dadd is best known as the mad Victorian painter incarcerated in mental hospitals for 42 years for killing his father; but this Royal Academy show reveals him to be a far…
johncarvill
The pre-publication scuttlebutt on this book suggested that not only would it be David Thomson’s last, but also that it marked a dramatic reversal in his attitude to the medium he…
Joe Muggs
You can’t really understand house music without grasping the influence of the Black American church. As it coalesced from the remnants of disco in Eighties Chicago, New York and…
Katie Colombus
You can tell what a festival believes in by where the crowds crush the hardest. At Latitude, it's in the forest for the up-and-coming acts, the Listening Post for the poetry and…
Thomas H. Green
FRIDAY 24 JULY, by Guy OddyEven for a festival whose whole purpose is to platform a rich range of artists from cultures all around the world, WOMAD 2026 is seriously on top of its…
Sebastian Scotney
This album is such a remarkable document, and on so many levels. Perhaps its main "story" is that it could well be the very last studio recording by Jack DeJohnette (1942-2025),…
David Nice
Had you been at John Wilson's Respighi spectacular on Friday, or heard it on BBC Radio 3/watched it on BBC Four, you might have perceived last night's journey up and down Richard…
Gary Naylor
Growing up in Liverpool, it’s usually not long before you visit the vast golden sands of Prestatyn, still the best beach I’ve ever seen, and the dubious arcades of Rhyl to roll a…
disc of the day
Punk veterans get decidedly trippy
tv
Diane Morgan and Sarah Kendall's comedy is full of heart and soul
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time...
film
Life is sweet and sour in a closely observed film about Luton youth
The pioneering journalist E Jean Carroll's story is heartening, funny and troubling
new music
A breathless half-hour takes in screaming, stop-start song structures and the odd hint of reflectiveness
Punk veterans get decidedly trippy
The American singer's eighth album is rife with downtempo ruminations on love
classical
Czech piano trios, English choral music and an influential wind soloist celebrated
Natural scenes with birdsong fill a varied programme
The bigger the chorus, the harder to catch the words of great poetry
opera
Laurent Pelly's production proves you can have a great cast yet fail them as characters
A magnificent cast manages to master Gerald Barry's Wilde and act their crazy socks off
Two tales of magic and mystery - as TV reality show and environmental parable
theatre
Phelim McDermott, with his magic piano, pays tribute to his friend Philip Glass
Magnificent cast bring fresh energy to show approaching 50 years of age
Disappointingly literal version of Sarah Kane’s classic account of love tested to extremes
dance
Marianela Nuñez celebrates 28 years at the company
A test of stamina for the audience as well as the dancers
Aakash Odedra is superb as a tortured creature seeking freedom and transcendence
comedy
Comic looks back on his life and career
Comic revisits her alma mater to talk politics
books
David Thomson explores the dark side of cinema, but still offers a flicker of hope
Joyce lurks in the margins of his own biography in a detailed history of Irish politics
An enjoyable look at 'missingness' and how it affects the way we experience the world
visual arts
Four artist's films and a computer game speculate on societal collapse
A wild imagination outlined in miniature
Ritualistic performances and evocations of fertility goddesses
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