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Theartsdesk
Sunday, 01 December 2024
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic...
Mark Kidel
Thursday, 21 November 2024
FaithNYC is a vehicle for the singer and songwriter Felice Rosser, an original rooted in reggae,soul, punk and the New York downtown avant-garde. She once played in an all-woman...
Rachel Halliburton
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
When the Venezuelan Rafael Payare was appointed as conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) two years ago, his first action was to blast his way through a French...
Jonathan Geddes
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Props designed like flowers were scattered across the QMU stage for English Teacher's performance. A fitting choice given the Leeds group are evidently in full bloom these days,...
Veronica Lee
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Kemah Bob is a regular on television and radio panel shows and well established on the comedy circuit, but Miss Fortunate is her full-length debut. And what a debut; a personal...
Gary Naylor
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Not just a backstage musical, a backroom musical!In the 70s, Follies and A Chorus Line took us into the rehearsal room giving us a chance to look under the bonnet to see the cogs...
Kieron Tyler
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
The word “mahashmashana” – महामशान in Sanskrit – translates as “great burying ground.” Co-opted as the title of Josh Tillman...
Boyd Tonkin
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
For 30 years, La Serenissima have re-mapped the landscape of the Italian Baroque repertoire so that its towering figures,...
Jack Barron
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Jon Fosse talks a lot about thinking. He also thinks – hard – about talking. His prolific and award-winning career in poetry...
David Nice
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Is this the same Roman Rabinovich who drew harp-like delicacy from one of Chopin’s Pleyel pianos, and seeming authenticity...
Graham Rickson
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Pharaoh (Faraon) is a state-funded superprodukcja, a 152-minute Polish epic, set, incongruously, in...
Simon Thompson
Monday, 18 November 2024
Carmina Burana isn’t a masterpiece: it’s primarily a bit of fun; fun to listen to, fun to play, really fun to sing.Few and...
Mark Kidel
Monday, 18 November 2024
Kenny Barron, revered as the best jazz pianist around, is a perfect gentleman and a master of “cool” – a quality once...
Robert Beale
Monday, 18 November 2024
Anna Clyne’s This Moment had its UK premiere at Saturday’s BBC Philharmonic concert. She’s the orchestra’s composer in...
Guy Oddy
Monday, 18 November 2024
Rapper, actor and occasional media celebrity, Ice-T’s heavy metal band, Body Count have been around since the early ‘90s and...
Sebastian Scotney
Sunday, 17 November 2024
The British writer and Africa specialist Michela Wrong recently wrote a whistle-stop summary of the upheavals that afflicted...
Adam Sweeting
Sunday, 17 November 2024
It has been nearly 25 years since Russell Crowe enjoyed his Oscar-winning finest hour as Maximus in Ridley Scott’s...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 17 November 2024
“Let's walk down memory lane the Magazine way. Let's regurgitate fifth-rate Low [the David Bowie album] period pieces. Let's...
Mark Kidel
Saturday, 16 November 2024
Will Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour ever come to an end? Two years on from the last UK tour, he’s returned, with...
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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.
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tv
Paris Has Fallen, Prime Video review - Afghan war veteran wreaks a terrible vengeance
Cynical politicians and amoral arms dealers feel the heat
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, BBC One review - handsome finale for Hilary Mantel adaptation
Mark Rylance is on top form as his Thomas Cromwell re-emerges after nine years
The Day of the Jackal, Sky Atlantic review - Frederick Forsyth's assassin gets a modern-day makeover
Eddie Redmayne shoots to kill in lavish 10-part drama
film
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat review - jazz-themed documentary on the 1960s Congo Crisis
Musicians played different roles in the struggles of the newly independent African country
Gladiator II review - can lightning strike twice?
Sir Ridley Scott makes a big, bold return to the Roman Empire
new music
English Teacher, Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow review - Mercury winners step up in size with style
The Leeds quartet's set was varied in genre but thrilling when punchy.
classical
Perianes, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Payare, Barbican review - elegance and drama but not enough bite
Often dynamic Venezuelan conductor misses the darkness of the 'Symphonie fantastique'
La Serenissima, Wigmore Hall review - an Italian menu to savour
Tasty Baroque discoveries, tastefully delivered
Roman Rabinovich, Wigmore Hall review - full tone in four styles
Fascinating Haydn, Debussy and Schumann, odd Beethoven
opera
The Elixir of Love, English National Opera review - a tale of two halves
Flat first act, livelier second, singers not always helped by conductor and director
The Sound Voice Project, Linbury Theatre review - an art installation that has strayed into an opera house
A worthy project fails to ignite as art
theatre
[title of show], Southwark Playhouse review - two guys and two girls write about writing, delightfully
Revival of New York show lifts the spirits
ARK: United States V by Laurie Anderson, Aviva Studios, Manchester review - a vessel for the thoughts and imaginings of a lifetime
Despite anticipating disaster, this mesmerising voyage is full of hope
Wolves on Road, Bush Theatre review - exciting dialogue, but flawed plotting
New play about young black men and cryptocurrency is sadly predictable
dance
Maddaddam, Royal Ballet review - superb dancing in a confusing frame
Wayne McGregor's version of Margaret Atwood's dystopia needs a clearer map
Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring/common ground[s], Sadler’s Wells review - raw and devastating
Returning dancers from 13 African countries deliver celebrated vision with blistering force
comedy
Kemah Bob, Soho Theatre review - Thailand, massage and mental health
Texan's full-length debut is a personal story
Natalie Palamides: Weer, Soho Theatre review - a romcom of two halves
Comic plays male and female roles simultaneously
Books
Jon Fosse: Morning and Evening review - after thoughts
Damion Searls thoughtfully translates the wise words of 2023’s Nobel Prize winner
Jean-Baptiste Fressoz: More and More and More review - fuel for thought
A re-reading of our complex history of energy use shows the long way we have to go
visual arts
ARK: United States V by Laurie Anderson, Aviva Studios, Manchester review - a vessel for the thoughts and imaginings of a lifetime
Despite anticipating disaster, this mesmerising voyage is full of hope
Vanessa Bell, MK Gallery review - diving into and out of abstraction
A variation of styles as the Bloomsbury artist breaks free from Victorian mores
latest comments
Did we see the same show? I was at the opening...
I felt exactly the same, I was sat facing the...
I admire your ability to interpret the lyrics,...
Excellent review, Mark! Makes me feel like I was...
Thanks for your appreciation of the concert and...
Beautifully written Mark... Had to check the...
To set the record straight, I liked the design,...
I was quite content with all the vocals, no...