theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
David Nice
Friday, 05 June 2020
As more musicians emerge from lockdown to conduct, play and sing in audience-less venues - ongoing kudos to the Wigmore Hall for its weekday lunchtime concerts, a fixure for so...
Rachel Halliburton
Friday, 05 June 2020
An arrogant leader contemptuous of his people. Could there be a more perfect timing for Josie Rourke’s taut, visceral production of Coriolanus? As opinion polls reveal that...
Boyd Tonkin
Friday, 05 June 2020
Rustles of renewal are stirring in the Surrey woods where Grange Park Opera has built the splendid theatre that remains, for this summer, sadly out of bounds. Faced with the...
Adam Sweeting
Friday, 05 June 2020
Reese Witherspoon has evolved into a growth industry on the new frontier of Big Television. Her production company Hello Sunshine has a heap of projects on the go with a range of...
Graham Fuller
Friday, 05 June 2020
A master at bringing neurotics to bilious life on screen, David Thewlis shines as a peevish, corrupt health inspector in Guest of Honour. There’s a perverse pleasure to be had in...
Guy Oddy
Friday, 05 June 2020
The Prettiest Curse is the third album by Spain’s indie-foursome Hinds and sees them take a substantial step up from the lo-fi, C86/Pastels’ like sound of their previous discs...
Matt Wolf
Thursday, 04 June 2020
As we continue into a third month in lockdown, the arts continue to suggest ever-changing worlds beyond. The invaluable...
Nick Hasted
Thursday, 04 June 2020
Woody Allen’s filmography, like Michael Caine’s, is remorseless, accepting mediocre work to mine more gems than most. Even...
Joseph Walsh
Thursday, 04 June 2020
It’s impossible to deny the sincerity with which Todd Robinson has approached the true story of William H. Pitsenbarger, a...
Liz Thomson
Thursday, 04 June 2020
As news bulletins compare events in America to 1968, the mental jukebox spins almost inevitably to “Abraham, Martin and John...
Thomas H Green
Wednesday, 03 June 2020
For better or worse, the lockdown may be easing in the UK but there’s no sign of any gig action, even on the far distant...
Florence Hallett
Wednesday, 03 June 2020
The death of Christo, aged 84, was announced on Sunday, marking the end of a visionary and flamboyant artistic career. Best...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 03 June 2020
It’s impossible to tell whether this reality-doc series (C4) came to praise Best Western hotels or kill it off entirely....
Richard Bratby
Wednesday, 03 June 2020
After a devastating drought, even a light shower can feel like something of a miracle. Under normal circumstances, a 60...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 03 June 2020
It’s too early for a definitive account of the Covid-19 pandemic, and this was very much a Sky News version of what we’ve...
Joe Muggs
Wednesday, 03 June 2020
Will Westerman is not afraid of sounding retro. It's clear his influences are diverse, from jazz fusion to the bedroom proto...
Gabriel Prokofiev
Tuesday, 02 June 2020
For most people a turntable, or record player is used to play back old vinyls bought from a market or second hand store, or...
Kathryn Reilly
Tuesday, 02 June 2020
So what exactly is all the fuss about? For those of us from a cinema-deprived area, it’s been a long wait for the homevideo...
Adam Sweeting
Monday, 01 June 2020
Great idea to use a symphony orchestra as the basis for a TV drama, because all of human life is there. Not to mention death...
tv
Little Fires Everywhere, Amazon Prime review - in every dream home a heartache
Mother and daughter duo shatter the calm of affluent Ohio
A Very British Hotel Chain: Inside Best Western, Series Finale, Channel 4 review - let's hear it for Alasdair the hotel inspector
Inexplicable fly-on-the-wall doc throws caution to the winds
Shutdown: The Virus That Changed Our World, Sky Documentaries review - a chaotic response and an uncertain future
The Covid-19 story so far through the eyes of Sky News correspondents
film
A Rainy Day in New York review - one of Woody's later, patchy ones
Chalamet and other young stars keep Allen's latest Manhattan fantasy afloat
The Last Full Measure review - exceptional performances elevate middling Vietnam war drama
Peter Fonda's final performance bolsters true tale of heroism in conflict
new music
New Music Lockdown 9: Chic, Laura Marling, Billy Bragg, Steel Panther, Wendy James and more
From Los Angeles to Wakefield, the latest guide to new music events you can enjoy from home
classical
Stephen Hough/Lucy Crowe, Anna Tilbrook, Wigmore Hall online/BBC Radio 3 review - the end of the beginning
Comfort and joy as live performance returns to top chamber music venue - at a distance
First Person: Gabriel Prokofiev on 14 years of his Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra
The composer reflects on a 21st century classic, newly recorded
Philharmonia, Channel 4 review - death on the podium
Music, mayhem and madness as Parisian orchestra gets a new conductor
opera
Classical music/Opera direct to home 14 - sound and vision at the highest level
Esoteric Berlin delights, two fine UK concerts, vivid Puccini and classical awards for all
La voix humaine, Grange Park Opera online review – hanging on the telephone
Poulenc's technological tragedy proves eerily apt for lockdown lives
Classical Music/Opera direct to home 12 - partying at a distance
Festivals cope with live online events and past fare
theatre
Coriolanus, National Theatre at Home review – gritty 21st century update
The power of the mob still resonates in a production that speaks powerfully to our times
Theatre Lockdown Special 8: A film star plays tough, and several familiar titles are examined anew
Tom Hiddleston reminds us of his stage roots, as does Christopher Walken as Captain Hook
This House, National Theatre at Home review – timely revival of brilliant House of Commons drama
James Graham acutely perceives the obsessions and motivations of our times
dance
'If they had been any closer my face would have misted up': filming 'Men at the Barre'
The director Richard Macer had exclusive access to the male stars of the Royal Ballet. He describes what he discovered
The Thread, Sadler's Wells Digital Stage review - Greek folk and contemporary unite
Russell Maliphant breathes fresh life into Hellenic tradition
Palermo, Palermo review - free to view Pina
The Pina Bausch Foundation releases the first in a projected series of digital recordings
comedy
Desiree Burch, Soho Theatre On Demand review - fantastical storytelling
California comic on Burning Man, sex, race – and LSD
Jerry Seinfeld, Netflix review - not bad for a swansong
US comic says this may be his last stand-up show
gaming
Rage 2 review – garish but great post-apocalyptic shooter
Challenge The Authority in this 'Mad Max on mushrooms' renegade romp
World War Z review - bloodthirsty fun with the zombie apocalypse
Chainsawing the brain-eaters as you battle against the tide of the undead
The Lego Movie 2 Videogame review - everything is not awesome
Few fresh ideas means this movie adaptation treads the same old ground
visual arts
Christo (1935-2020) - 'Beauty, science and art will always triumph'
One of the great visionaries of our era, Christo believed absolutely in art for art's sake
Dalí Theatre-Museum, Figueres, virtual tour review - tantalising but unsatisfactory
The magic of Dalí's private world is lost in its virtual form
Visual Arts Lockdown Special 3: gigapixel Rembrandt, magic mushrooms, and more
The best art online this week
latest comments
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Gillian Anderson's portrayal of Blanche is a tour...