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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…
English National Ballet: Body & Soul, Sadler's Wells review - A surefire hit and an absolute plonker
Jenny Gilbert |
If it were true, as Timothée Chalamet has said, that ballet as an art form has become a museum, the job of running a national ballet company would be easy. Ballet never ceases to…
Jonathan Geddes |
Years have passed since the early days of Gorillaz, when the real musicians behind the cartoon band remained hidden from view onstage. Yet some things never change, and while…
Rachel Halliburton |
Tamerlano, tyrannical Emperor of the Tartars, is a burger-munching boor with a golf-habit, a bulbous belly and a crashing disdain for other people’s sensitivities. In Orpha Phelan…
Tom Carr |
The premise of a four-piece rock band hailing from Bedford sounds very unassuming when compared to the reality of the eclectic rockers, Don Broco. Their journey, not just…
aleks.sierz |
Playwright David Hare is on a West End roll. Not only is his new play, Grace Pervades, about super thespians Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, making its way from Bath’s Theatre Royal…
Joe Muggs
In 1988, in The Manual: How to Have a Number 1 The Easy Way, Bill Drummond wrote: “We await the day with relish that somebody dares to make a dance record that consists of nothing…
Helen Hawkins
The Channel 5 drama Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards does what it says on the tin. We watch the fêted newsreader from initial online contact with a 17-year-old from Cardiff -…
David Nice
Are Seán O'Casey's Dublin plays good for theatre today, or just for the history of Irish drama? My limited recent experience makes it hard to be sure: Juno and the Paycock in…
Veronica Lee
Phil Ellis has been plying his trade for a while and is an established performer at the Edinburgh Fringe, where he has won awards – including the Edinburgh Comedy Award Panel…
Bernard Hughes
Rory Carroll’s previous book, Killing Thatcher, was terrific, and widely praised. It followed the IRA plot to murder the Prime Minister in 1984 and the subsequent police…
Sebastian Scotney
The title is, of course, typically British understatement. This Music May Contain Hope has not just irresistible confidence and optimism but also real originality about it. All…
David Nice
Nowhere welcomes Ukrainians (and Palestinians too, for that matter) more warmly than Ireland, and especially Dublin. A standing ovation twice over was guaranteed, and well…
Robert Beale
Harry Fehr’s directorial take on The Cunning Little Vixen is a sound one: keep it simple. Together with set and costume designer Nicky Shaw (with whom he worked on a memorable…
graham.rickson
Strongroom is a film to be endured as much as enjoyed, Vernon Sewell’s low-budget thriller almost unbearable to watch in its final stages. Released in 1962 as a supporting feature…
David Nice
In one of the loveliest operatic scores of all time, Dvořák makes cruel demands on his eponymous water nymph and the prince for whom she acquires a mortal soul, having them soar…
Adam Sweeting
The stern and glowering demeanour of David Morrissey’s character, Michael Polly, looms over this six-part drama like the embodiment of a malignant fate. Polly is the headmaster of…
Robert Beale
This was a concert of music by living women composers, and I guess you could call all three of its components protest music. Cheerful or sad, smart or overwhelming, each work had…
Pamela Jahn
In director Paolo Sorrentino’s new film La Grazia, Tony Servillo portrays a fictitious Italian president, the ageing Mariano De Santis, who – in the last six months of his…
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tv
Mark Burt's script takes a measured approach to its potentially incendiary material
David Morrissey dominates a dark tale of secrets and lies
From Manhattan to Montana with the prolific Taylor Sheridan
film
The Italian star talks about his third portrayal of an Italian head of state
Sorrentino's latest political character study is cast in shades of grieving grey
new music
Damon Albarn's animated outfit featured dazzling visuals and constant guests
A meaningful reiteration and next step of their sonic journey
While some synth pop queens fade, the Swede seems to burn ever brighter
classical
Perfectly proportioned 'Eroica' sets the seal of distinction on these visitors' tour
Outrage and fun from women composers make their impact
Beethoven dominates a symbolic musical link
opera
Orpha Phelan's multi-layered production looks at tyranny over the centuries
Janáček's protagonist is a pure soul, a socialist and a survivor
Jennifer Davis is a dream nymph, not best served by Netia Jones' production
theatre
Electric live music enlivens revival of David Hare’s elegiac gig theatre show
Some abstraction in the sets is fine, but several underpar performances mar the flow
Artist and landlady discover plenty in common - except their ages
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
English National Ballet: Body & Soul, Sadler's Wells review - A surefire hit and an absolute plonker
ENB gets it very right and very wrong in this contemporary double bill
After 25 years and counting, Cassa Pancho's fine company remains essential
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Story of the rise and fall of Sir Roger Casement works on the small and large scale
Saskia Vogel brings a darker than dark tale of rural grief to English for the first time
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
A frieze of iPad pictures that sends you hurrying for the door
Photographs of California’s queer community in the 1990s
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