theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Katherine Waters
Thursday, 25 April 2019
Paper is traditionally the medium though which artists think. Stray thoughts and experiments can be quickly tried out, pushed further or jettisoned. There are no penalties for...
Owen Richards
Thursday, 25 April 2019
The Earth’s mightiest defenders are back in a triumphant climax, 11 years in the making. Despite a three hour runtime and an overstuffed preceding chapter, the Russo Brothers pull...
Marianka Swain
Thursday, 25 April 2019
The joint is jumpin’ at Southwark Playhouse, now hosting an irresistible Fats Waller-inspired, Manhattan-set musical revue (a co-production with Colchester’s Mercury Theatre...
Mitten wir im Leben sind, De Keersmaeker, Queyras, Rosas, Sadler's Wells review - Bach-worthy genius
David Nice
Thursday, 25 April 2019
All Bach is dance, a teacher once told me. The justifiable exaggeration switched on a light; leaping to the Brandenburg Concertos followed. This great work of kinetic art is of a...
Ellie Porter
Thursday, 25 April 2019
When you’re off to Islington’s beautiful Assembly Hall for an evening of slinky French bossa nova, it’s something of a surprise to find the Gallic groovers preceded by a droll...
Katherine Waters
Thursday, 25 April 2019
It was in the early 2000s in a tiny, gritty Camden bar that I first saw Rodrigo y Gabriela live. Camden was less pretty then - a look was close to a glare, and there were more...
Veronica Lee
Thursday, 25 April 2019
Mark Thomas issues a health warning for Check-Up: Our NHS at 70 at Battersea Arts Centre – “This show...
Lisa-Marie Ferla
Thursday, 25 April 2019
Look behind the lyrics of some of P!nk’s biggest hits, and you’ll see that those powerhouse vocals and big pop-rock choruses...
David Nice
Wednesday, 24 April 2019
On one level, it's about Biblically informed good and evil at sea, in both the literal and the metaphorical sense. On...
Thomas H Green
Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Suede finish “Sabotage”. It’s a mid-paced, elegant number set off by swirling, circling central guitar. Frontman Brett...
Thomas H Green
Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Nicôle Lecky’s one woman show Superhoe has added fire to the reputation of an already fast-rising actress and writer. Based...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 24 April 2019
With the knife crime epidemic seemingly raging out of control, and the government at its clueless worst as it stumbles...
Aleks Sierz
Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Superstar Sally Field has come to town. With two academy awards and countless other accolades, the actor who played Forrest...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 24 April 2019
This final episode of BBC Four's Looking for Rembrandt, exploring the life and work of the Netherlands’ greatest painter,...
Guy Oddy
Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Bad Religion have been making politically aware, high-speed, melodic punk rock for throwing yourself around with glorious...
David Thompson
Tuesday, 23 April 2019
"One talks, the other doesn’t" is about as crude a description as could be of the Swedish masterpiece, Persona. Profoundly...
Florence Hallett
Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Either side of a doorway, framing a view of Turner’s The Evening Star, c. 1830 (Main picture), Sean Scully’s Landline Star,...
Thomas H Green
Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Pet Shop Boys are never shy of producing stylishly conceived fan mementos. Coming not long after Faber & Faber’s...
Kathryn Reilly
Monday, 22 April 2019
Sleaford Mods are livid. About everything. But then, aren’t we all? If any single voice could represent this particularly...
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 10,000 pieces, we're asking for £3.95 per month or £30 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take an annual 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
Run for Your Life, ITV review - giving the nation's youth a sporting chance
Can sport be a secret weapon in the battle against gangs and knife crime?
Looking for Rembrandt, BBC Four review - painter's biog is a mini-masterpiece
Tim Niel's three-part series delivers a richly rewarding climax
Climate Change: The Facts, BBC One review - how much reality can humankind bear?
What's driving climate change and how long we have to do something about it
film
Avengers: Endgame review - Marvel save the biggest and best for last
Iron Man and co. round off with a crowd-pleasing extravaganza
Obituary: Bibi Andersson 1935-2019
David Thompson pays tribute to one of cinema's most enduring icons
new music
Nouvelle Vague, Islington Assembly Hall review - the dreamy bossa nova collective return
Producers Olivier Libaux and Marc Collin's French phenomenon gives the audience what it wants
Rodrigo y Gabriela, Roundhouse - sound and (new) noise
Mexican guitar duo suggest conceptual direction but still stun with energy
classical
Mitten wir im Leben sind, De Keersmaeker, Queyras, Rosas, Sadler's Wells review - Bach-worthy genius
Outwardly austere, inwardly vibrant life-and-death journey through the six Cello Suites
Brockes-Passion, AAM, Egarr, Barbican review - fleshly Handel for our earthbound times
Neglected oratorio offers a seasonal alternative to Bach
St Matthew Passion, Ex Cathedra, Skidmore, Symphony Hall Birmingham - powerful, poignant Bach
Simple and nuanced performance of a supreme masterpiece
opera
Billy Budd, Royal Opera review - Britten's drama of good and evil too much at sea
Peerless protagonist among a crew sometimes lost on an infinite stage
SS Mendi: Dancing the Death Drill, Isango Ensemble, Linbury Theatre - evocative and essential lyric theatre
Compelling fantasia about black South Africans drowned in a World War One disaster
Faust, Royal Opera review - fusty Gounod still dances
Lively conducting and a last-minute replacement keep this hellish cabaret on its toes
theatre
Ain't Misbehavin', Southwark Playhouse review - a jazz-hot musical revue
Dancing, singing and plenty of swinging in this joyful tribute to Fats Waller
10 Questions for actress and playwright Nicôle Lecky
The rising star of stage and screen talks grime, feminism, sex work, Nicki Minaj and SENSE8
All My Sons, Old Vic review - starry but disappointingly uneven
Arthur Miller's classic family drama has one outstanding performance - and one dud
dance
Mitten wir im Leben sind, De Keersmaeker, Queyras, Rosas, Sadler's Wells review - Bach-worthy genius
Outwardly austere, inwardly vibrant life-and-death journey through the six Cello Suites
She Persisted, English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells review - a must-see triple bill
ENB hit another high with a storming Rite of Spring
Victoria, Northern Ballet, Sadler's Wells - A queen re-instated, once again
The real Empress of India leaps from page to stage
comedy
Britney, Soho Theatre review - finding the funny in a brain tumour
Duo tell a true story with invention and verve
Tommy Tiernan, Shepherd's Bush Empire review - playful and poetic
Star of Derry Girls on sex, religion and politics
gaming
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
Anthem review - singing praises? More like a cautious nod
A rocky start for a new franchise that offers potential and problems in equal measure
visual arts
Who’s Afraid of Drawing? Works on Paper from the Ramo Collection, Estorick Collection review - surprising and rewarding
Getting up close to the skin of an artist's thinking
Sea Star: Sean Scully, National Gallery review - analysing past masters
The latest encounter between a living artist and the national collection
Visions of the Self: Rembrandt and Now, Gagosian Gallery review - old master, new ways
One of the most mysterious paintings ever made inspires an exploration of the self-portrait
latest comments
My thoughts exactly, even if I didn't make them...
Don't forget that The Composer and Octavian were...
"In his latest programme, Climate Change: The...
Great translation.
Does the Arts Desk have vacancies for a Copy...
Obviously individuals think only of themselves....
Well , what I saw yesterday was so beautiful....
Thank you for that memory, Mr. Jones. Especially...