Reviews
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Friday, 14 November 2025
We are bowled over!
Music Reissues Weekly: Joe Meek - A Curious Mind
Sunday, 26 October 2025
A curious mind, indeed. Outer space, and what may be there. Communicating with those in the hereafter. Spooks, vampires and other horror film perennials. The wild west. Deceased rock ’n’ rollers Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly.
Pop Will Eat Itself, O2 Institute, Birmingham...
Saturday, 25 October 2025
As the Poppies’ set at Birmingham’s O2 Academy drew to an end on Friday night, co-vocalist Mary Byker barked into his microphone: “Reform is on the...
Janine Harouni, Soho Theatre review - families...
Saturday, 25 October 2025
Write about what you know, they say. And just as her previous show was about imminent motherhood (she performed the show while heavily pregnant) now...
The Mastermind review - another slim but...
Friday, 24 October 2025
The clatter of cool jazz on the soundtrack announces writer-director Kelly Reichardt’s latest project, the kind of score that back in the day would...
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Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ibragimova, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - rarities, novelties and drumrolls
A pity the SCO didn't pick a better showcase for a shining guest artist |
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere review - the story of the Boss who isn't boss of his own head
A brooding trip on the Bruce Springsteen highway of hard knocks |
Little Brother, Soho Theatre review - light, bright but emotionally true
This Verity Bargate Award-winning dramedy is entertaining as well as thought provoking |
The Unbelievers, Royal Court Theatre - grimly compelling, powerfully performed
Nick Payne's new play is amongst his best |
Kilsby, Parkes, Sinfonia of London, Wilson, Barbican review - string things zing and sing in expert hands
British masterpieces for strings plus other-worldly tenor and horn - and a muscular rarity |
The Maids, Donmar Warehouse review - vibrant cast lost in a spectacular-looking fever dream
Kip Williams revises Genet, with little gained in the update except eye-popping visuals |
The Diplomat, Season 3, Netflix review - Ambassador Kate Wyler becomes America's Second Lady
Soapy transatlantic political drama keeps the Special Relationship alive |
Gilbert & George, 21st Century Pictures, Hayward Gallery review - brash, bright and not so beautiful
The couple's coloured photomontages shout louder than ever, causing sensory overload |
From Historical to Hip-Hop, Classically Black Music Festival, Kings Place review - a cluster of impressive stars for the future
From quasi-Mozartian elegance to the gritty humour of a kitchen inspection |
The Perfect Neighbor, Netflix review - Florida found-footage documentary is a harrowing watch
Sundance winner chronicles a death that should have been prevented |
Bryony Kimmings, Soho Theatre Walthamstow review - captivating tale of the cycle of life
Witty ode to Mother Nature |
La bohème, Opera North review - still young at 32
Love and separation, ecstasy and heartbreak, in masterfully updated Puccini |
Shibe, LSO, Adès, Barbican review - gaudy and glorious new music alongside serene Sibelius
Adès’s passion makes persuasive case for the music he loves, both new and old |
Frankenstein review - the Prometheus of the charnel house
Guillermo del Toro is fitfully inspired, but often lost in long-held ambitions |
Solar Eyes, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - local lads lay down some new tunes for a home crowd
Psychedelic indie dance music marinated in swirling dry ice |
The Free Association launch review - strong start for improv company
Troupe moves into permanent home |
Anja Mittermüller, Richard Fu, Wigmore Hall review - a glorious hall debut
The Austrian mezzo shines - at the age of 22 |
Music Reissues Weekly: Evie Sands - I Can’t Let Go
Diligent, treasure-packed tribute to one of Sixties’ America’s great vocal stylists |
London Film Festival 2025 - a Korean masterclass in black comedy and a Camus classic effectively realised
New films from Park Chan-wook, Gianfranco Rosi, François Ozon, Ildikó Enyedi and more |
Gesualdo Passione, Les Arts Florissants, Amala Dior Company, Barbican review - inspired collaboration excavates the music's humanity
At times it was like watching an anarchic religious procession |
After the Hunt review - muddled #MeToo provocation
Julia Roberts excels despite misfiring drama |
Cockerham, Manchester Camerata, Sheen, Martin Harris Centre, Manchester review - re-enacting the dawn of modernism
Two UK premieres added to three miniatures from a seminal event of January 1914 |
London Film Festival 2025 - Bradley Cooper channels John Bishop, the Boss goes to Nebraska, and a French pandemic
... not to mention Kristen Stewart's directing debut and a punchy prison drama |
Ballad of a Small Player review - Colin Farrell's all in as a gambler down on his luck
Conclave director Edward Berger swaps the Vatican for Asia's sin city |
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