wed 02/04/2025

theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews

Theartsdesk
Wednesday, 01 October 2025
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...
Gary Naylor
Wednesday, 02 April 2025
That friend you have who hates musicals – probably male, probably straight, probably not seen one since The Sound of Music on BBC 1 after the Queen’s Speech in 1978 – well, don’t...
Aleks Sierz
Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Motherhood is a high stress job. Ask any woman and they will tell you the same: sleepless nights, feeding problems and worry. Lots of worry. Lots and lots. Writer John Donnelly,...
Liz Thomson
Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Spring may have sprung, but there’s little in life to truly raise the sprits, so this week’s release of Who Believes in Angels? the much-anticipated album from Elton...
Helen Hawkins
Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Is the Royal Ballet a “Balanchine company”? The question was posed at a recent Insight evening to Patricia Neary, the tireless dancer who has helped keep the choreographer’s...
Pamela Jahn
Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Joshua Oppenheimer made his name directing two disturbing documentaries, The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014), that dealt with the aftermath of the brutal anti...
India Lewis
Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Russia Starts Here: Real Lives in the Ruin of Empire, the journalist Howard Amos’ first book, is a prescient and fascinating...
Markie Robson-Scott
Tuesday, 01 April 2025
“I knew I wanted all the effects practical and made for real. The movie is about flesh and bones, about women’s bodies.”...
Justine Elias
Monday, 31 March 2025
The typical Jason Statham movie character – muscular, resourceful, drily humorous – could probably carve an army into...
Robert Beale
Monday, 31 March 2025
The BBC Philharmonic took its Saturday night audience on a journey into French sonic luxuriance – in reverse order of...
Adam Sweeting
Monday, 31 March 2025
The dramatic allure of families neck-deep in organised crime never seems to falter, and Stephen Butchard’s new series...
Rachel Halliburton
Monday, 31 March 2025
Over the last three years of the London Handel Festival, two experimental productions have proved to be highlights – not...
Kieron Tyler
Monday, 31 March 2025
A pizzicato violin opens Song Over Støv. Gradually, other instruments arrive: bowed violin, a fluttering flute, pattering...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 30 March 2025
The sticker on the front cover says “The heaviest proto-metal compilation ever released.” And considering the label behind...
Graham Fuller
Sunday, 30 March 2025
On the spoken word LP Loose Talk, Amelia Barratt reflects on her or other women’s experiences, real or imagined, over tunes...
David Nice
Saturday, 29 March 2025
On paper, it was a standard programme with no stars to explain how this came to be a sellout concert. But packed it was, an...
Gary Naylor
Saturday, 29 March 2025
In Italy, they did it differently. Their pulp fiction tales of suburban transgression appeared between yellow covers on new...
Ibi Keita
Saturday, 29 March 2025
Will Smith’s new album, Based on a True Story, is a prime example of why some comebacks should remain hypothetical. After...
Boyd Tonkin
Friday, 28 March 2025
Forget, for a moment, the legend and the lustre. If you knew nothing about Riccardo Muti’s half-century of history with...

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★★★★ LA FINTA GIARDINIERA, THE MOZARTISTS, CADOGAN HALL Blooms in the wild garden

★★★★ THIS CITY IS OURS, BBC ONE Civil war rocks family cocaine racket

★★★★ VERDI REQUIEM, PHILHARMONIA, MUTI, RFH New sparks from an old flame

★★★ ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: THE MUSICAL, BATH Not a screaming success

★★★★ THE END Unsettling musical shows the lengths we go to avoid the truth

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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.

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

This City is Ours, BBC One review - civil war rocks family cocaine racket

Terrific cast powers Stephen Butchard's Liverpool drug-ring saga

The Potato Lab, Netflix review - a K-drama with heart and wit

Love among Korean potato-researchers is surprisingly funny and ideal for Janeites

film

theartsdesk Q&A: filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer on his apocalyptic musical 'The End'

The documentary director talks about his ominous first fiction film and why its characters break into song

DVD/Blu-ray: The Substance

French director Coralie Fargeat on the making of her award-winning body-horror movie

A Working Man - Jason Statham deconstructs villains again

A meandering vehicle for the action thriller star

new music

Album: Elton John and Brandi Carlile - Who Believes in Angels?

Elton John & Brandi Carlile step out in style

Album: Erlend Apneseth - Song Over Støv

Norwegian musical impressionist’s journey into the centre of a vortex

Music Reissues Weekly: Yeah Man, It's Bloody Heavy

The ne plus ultra of British heavy rock

theatre

Stiletto, Charing Cross Theatre review - new musical excess
Quirky, operatic show won't please everyone, but will delight many
Apex Predator, Hampstead Theatre review - poor writing turns horror into silliness
New play about motherhood and vampirism is disappointingly incoherent
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Musical, Theatre Royal Bath review - not a screaming success
1950s America feels a lot like 2020s America in this portmanteau show

comedy

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Matt Forde, Touring review - politics, poo and Viagra

The personal and political collide

Harry Hill, Wilton's Music Hall review - madcap comic on terrific form

Utterly daft mix of new material and favourite old characters

Books

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Howard Amos: Russia Starts Here review - East meets West, via the Pskov region

A journalist looks beyond borders in this searching account of the Russian mind

latest comments

One of the greatest experiences of my life. Muti...

Finally, someone with some taste. This movie was...

Thank you for this fantastic review. While I...

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