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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…
Guy Oddy |
This week, UK electronica originals Cabaret Voltaire hit Birmingham on their penultimate tour before they finally put their synthesizers into storage and call it quits this time…
Helen Hawkins |
The ballet world will soon run out of titles signifying a renaissance. After ENB’s recent Re:evolution comes London City Ballet’s Rebirth, following its debut programme last year…
Claudia Bull |
Strictly speaking, an epistolary novel tells more than one story. You could say, for example, that Dracula is “about” a collection of letters and diary entries and in the same…
aleks.sierz |
Obsession makes for good drama. Looking back over 30 years of in-yer-face theatre in general and female monologues in particular – anything from Fleabag to Superhoe – I’m struck…
mark.kidel |
Keaton Henson is a master of dark introspection and unashamed vulnerability, a 21st century manifestation of what used to be called bed-sit blues. There isn’t a shred of extrovert…
Kieron Tyler
Strings swirl. A flute drifts like a bird floating on warm air. The melody is subdued, its tonality evoking The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let me Get What I Want.” A wistful…
graham.rickson
Quite why this dialogue-heavy monochrome science fiction series was first broadcast in a teatime children’s slot is outlined in TV historian Jon Dear’s booklet essay…
Veronica Lee
Tim Key, besuited and wearing a baseball cap, stands on stage as the audience files in, smiling sweetly as people take their seats. He’s on stage but, in keeping with many of the…
Sebastian Scotney
Barbra Streisand has given her blessing to Where We Fall (Backwards Dog Records), an album of six covers and five original songs. She wrote to her 1.8 million Instagram followers…
Kieron Tyler
Leisure Process issued four singles between March 1982 and May 1983. Signed to Epic Records, the electropop-inclined duo was primed for success. Debut 45 “Love Cascade” was Radio…
aleks.sierz
Did you know that women watch porn? That they wank? Shock. Horror. Dismay. If you really are surprised by this non-revelation then maybe you need to get a ticket to see Sophia…
Justine Elias
It's hard to criticise a movie that opens with a shot of an Allied G.I. spitting and urinating on a Nazi insignia, but that moment of smug satisfaction (Nazi punks must die!) is…
aleks.sierz
New writing for the theatre is good at taking us into the darkest of places – and there are few more painful environments than prisons and mental institutions. Places where agony…
Boyd Tonkin
Mozart’s unfinished C Minor mass lacks a canonical completion of the sort that Süssmayr so famously – and still contentiously – imposed on the Requiem. Even without its Agnus Dei…
Sarah Kent
The title of Joy Gregory’s Whitechapel exhibition is inspired by a proverb her mother used to quote – “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar” – and her aim is to seduce…
Gary Naylor
Hamilton may have helped the West End recover from The Covid Years, but it carries its share of blame too. Perhaps that’s not strictly fair on some of its spawn, but do we get…
Kieron Tyler
The first live performance at the inaugural Riga Music Week is by Saucējas (pictured above). This seven-piece vocal ensemble is avowedly Latvian. Formed in 2003 at the Latvian…
Guy Oddy
Implosion is a purely instrumental, collaborative album of cinematic, dystopian sounds from dubstepper and extreme electronica experimentalist the Bug and his pal Ghost Dubs.…
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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.
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tv
Rebecca Miller musters a stellar roster of articulate talking heads for this thorough portrait
Mick Herron's female private investigator gets a stellar adaptation
film
How a US Army psychiatrist came face to face with evil
The formidable character actor discusses mentorship, masculinity, and the importance of 'self-persuasion'
The traumatic private life of America's top woman boxer
new music
Bleeps and beats nostalgia more than tops expectations
Dreaminess and frostiness from the Gallic singer-songwriter
classical
Drama and drive in Mozart's great unfinished mass
Music by Evelin Seppar highlights interesting intersection with Arvo Pärt’s holy minimalism
Superbly sequenced memorials balancing anger and reflection
opera
Heggie’s Death Row opera has a superb cast led by Christine Rice and Michael Mayes
Katie Mitchell sucks the strangeness from Janáček’s clash of legalese and eternal life
English National Opera's production of a 21st century milestone has been a tough journey
theatre
New one-woman show about obsessive desire could be fuller and more detailed
New play about porn addiction is rather superficially imagined and lacks drama
Cooking therapy in a secure hospital makes for an uncertain mix of comedy and cruelty
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Christopher Marney's reborn company gathers momentum with each appearance
ENB set the bar high with this mixed bill, but they meet its challenges thrillingly
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Storytelling that playfully wrongfoots the audience
Irish comic mixes sentiment and sauciness
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Bennett’s virtuosic prose returns to ponder intimacy, but treads some old ground
Broad and idiosyncratic survey of classical music is insightful but slightly indigestible
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Photography used to question who and what is worth recording
Light as a physical presence
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