theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
theartsdesk |
We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the…
Markie Robson-Scott |
Julian Sklar (Ian McKellan) has, he says, painted nothing but shit in 30 years and nothing at all for 20. In the Sixties he was a major star of the British art scene. Now he’s…
Helen Hawkins |
1536, Ava Pickett’s debut play, is a tribute to women who won’t shut up, especially ones living precarious lives in Tudor England in the year of the title. But this is not really…
Rachel Halliburton |
Four storeys above Oxford Circus, the noise and bustle recedes to be replaced by a parallel universe of gleaming glass-fronted workspaces and discreet installations of modern art…
James Saynor |
If you seek a filmmaker to create the fine grain of 20th-century Europe at its most traumatised, you can’t do better than Hungary’s László Nemes. The textures of his grinding…
Guy Oddy |
Tamikrest are one of the swaths of Tuareg bands that were born out of the violent oppression of their people at the hands of the Malian Army, Kremlin-controlled paramilitaries and…
Boyd Tonkin
Sometimes operas – even immensely powerful ones – simply don’t make complete sense, and we can see why Dr Johnson dismissed the form as an “exotic and irrational entertainment”.…
Sarah Kent
Francisco Zurburán’s The Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), 1640 (main picture), must be the most compelling religious picture ever painted. Visually, it couldn’t be simpler; perhaps that’s…
Adam Sweeting
Anyone who learned to love Bob Odenkirk from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul (let alone his stints with Ben Stiller and Larry Sanders) was surely wrong-footed (but in a good way…
Joe Muggs
There’s a whole wide open area of leftfield music that belongs entirely to Chicago. The 1960s social radicalism and futurist musical experiments of the Art Ensemble of Chicago,…
Robert Beale
There are three aspects of English National Opera’s most ambitious project to date in Manchester that demand attention.One is the work itself: Royce Vavrek and Du Yun’s Pulitzer…
Helen Hawkins
In a notable case of nominative determinism, the 2025 film about a kabuki star, Kokuho – meaning “national treasure” – became just that in Japan, a box-office smash. The keening…
Claire Booth
The relationship between words and music is a long one — but not an exclusive one. Indeed, the idea of a chamber music festival with words and storytelling at its heart has…
Ellie Roberts
The All-American Rejects are back with their first album in 14 years, and their first ever independent release. At the height of their success in the early 2000s, the band had an…
Liz Thomson
First date, last dance: Emmylou Harris, possessor of one of country-rock’s most beautiful and evocative voices, opened the British leg of her farewell tour on Monday with a…
Thomas H. Green
VINYL OF THE MONTH 1Simo Cell & Abdullah Diawy Dying is the Internet EP (Dekmantel) + Simo Cell FL Louis (TEMƎT)
Image…
graham.rickson
Though set in a Czech village during the last months of World War Two, armed conflict is peripheral in Karel Kachyňa’s Long Live the Republic! (Ať žije republika). We do see the…
johncarvill
Books about The Beatles are apt to prompt questions on whether there is anything left to say about them. Depends who’s doing the saying. We will each of us have had The Beatles…
Mark Kidel
Well beyond the muscle-flexing of the manosphere, there are men who wear their hearts on their sleeves, and show much deeper courage than the macho poseurs and influencers who…
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
disc of the day
Calming and atmospheric desert blues is defiant in the face of oppression
the future of arts journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
tv
The Tony Award-winning star talks female power, sexism and becoming more Scottish with age
Sheridan Smith and Michael Sorcha prove a winning team in this unexpected treat
... as well as Ridley Scott, Jacques Audiard, Julia Ducourneau and Charles Aznavour
film
Steven Soderbergh directs Ian McKellan and Michaela Coel in virtuoso performances
Bob Odenkirk stars in a fast and furious Eastern Western
new music
Calming and atmospheric desert blues is defiant in the face of oppression
Two live, unhurried, and quietly revelatory 20-minute explorations
What starting again after 14 years looks like
classical
A very individual singer joins Ensemble 360 for eight days of superb programming
Principal cellist plays two concertante works, the orchestra glittering alongside him
French baroque music, British orchestral fireworks and an award-winning Dutch pianist
opera
World class principals can't quite fix a disjointed spectacle
Artistic achievement and production values vie for attention in a mediated experience
This first revival of Deborah Warner's production only gains in horrifying intensity
theatre
Ava Pickett’s debut transfers to the West End with a fine staging and same superb cast
Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini can't escape their pasts
David Hare's latest casts an affectionate if sometimes creaky backwards glance
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
A triptych of ambitious works by Wayne McGregor fails the sandwich test
Body & Soul, English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells review - a surefire hit and an absolute plonker
Getting it very right and very wrong in this contemporary double bill
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
The character comic looks back at his career
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Latest entry in BFI's Film Classics series offers fresh perspectives and media insights
Memoir of alcoholism is heavy on lacerating self-analysis but lighter on jokes
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Her large sculpted butterflies act both as an inspiration and a warning
The raw power of art to convince
latest comments