theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Adam Sweeting |
Published by Australian author Miles Franklin (full name Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin) in April 1901, My Brilliant Career was a hit in its day, and has been reincarnated as a…
David Kettle |
Barely contained in one of the bunkers tucked alongside the Pleasance’s main Courtyard, a first-time production from three young mates blazes with more energy and dazzles with…
James Saynor |
Here’s something you don’t see every day at the cinema: a filmmaker tells a boring story, then makes the whole point of the film about telling a boring story. Pedro Almodóvar is…
David Kettle |
With its five-hour Angels in America, the International Festival has already hosted one production of epic proportions in Edinburgh this year. At getting on for three and a half…
Jonathan Geddes |
Geese may be the most buzz-worthy band in the world these days, but even they cannot get away with teasing a Glasgow crowd too much. After something politely described by singer…
David Kettle |
Ten Ways to Die Happy, Underbelly, Bristo Square ★★★★A live gameshow about life and death? Yes indeed, and host Perla Ambrosini proves the ideal guide, leading a panel of audience…
Guy Oddy
Pete Fij’s debut solo album, Up’s the New Down is a sharp set of songs that sees the former Adorable front man back in the ring for the first time in quite a while. Hip-swinging…
David Nice
Accolades first for the deep sound in Strauss of The Met Orchestra, newcomers to the Proms, under its Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has been in the Albert Hall ring…
Gary Naylor
Outside, this imagined world has collapsed, a few survivors of the flashes of two bombs scratching a living from a landscape that Mad Max would recognise from that howl of a first…
Simon Thompson
A Masked Ball – note the English title given by the EIF, even though this is sung in Italian, an indication, I expect, of moves towards further accessibility – has a…
David Kettle
Take along your dancing shoes for this rousing, roof-raising collaboration between Glasgow’s Wonder Fools theatre company and South Korea’s Theatre SAN: you may well find yourself…
Nick Manasseh
So the tune we'll discuss today in the imaginary seminar that occupies a certain part of my brain is…."When Jah Come" by Devon Irons (pictured below © Carl Finlay by kind…
Thomas H. Green
As the title of her fourth album suggests, South Carolina blues-rocker Hannah Wicklund is not happy. There’s a tangled yarn behind these songs, a tale of love, deception, and…
Simon Thompson
Interspersal programmes – or “mind melds”, as I like to call them – can sometimes open up new vistas of listening and sometimes be tokenistic piffle. Happily, Monday morning’s EIF…
David Kettle
Dracula: Lucy's Dream, Pleasance at EICC ★★★★If something’s scary, it’s usually because you know it’s a threat, and that it might cause you harm. If something’s creepy, however,…
Ellie Roberts
God Bless The Band feels like an unexpected encounter with your younger self. Compiling tracks from across Courteeners’ career, the collection revisits a period when British indie…
Bernard Hughes
Where the US President chose to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of his country with a cage fight, the BBC stuck to music in this Prom of 20th century Americana.…
David Kettle
QFWFQ, Summerhall ★★★★At first glance, an iconic post-modern novel (or, perhaps more accurately, "novel") by Italo Calvino might not seem like the most obvious starting point for…
Peter Culshaw
Squint and you could be in 1968 - although this lot are rather better dressed and healthier than most hippies. I did see a bumper sticker “The Hippies Were Right”. But though it…
disc of the day
tv
Philippa Northeast stars as Miles Franklin's girl-power heroine
The onetime 'Blue's Clues' TV host on doing battle with reports of his own demise
Alan Ritchson adds brain to brawn in the title role
film
The Spanish master asks: Can a wilfully dull film be worth watching?
A knowing American horror parody that’s all-self-consuming
new music
Geese's set was greeted by an adulation it mostly deserved.
On the eve of the release of the new Soul Revivers album, a roots reggae expert goes deep
classical
Stupendous Salome flames to the back of the hall
Kurtág and Schubert converse across the centuries, Hollywood’s Golden Age dazzles
Lacklustre Copland and messy, misconceived Gershwin outweigh enjoyable Bernstein
opera
Zurich Opera production has some good singing, but its mood is monochrome
Singers, and players, rise above some clunky moments in Strauss's meta-opera
Missy Mazzoli’s impressive new opera follows Wynton Marsalis' jazz symphony opening night
theatre
A new company's debut production blazes with youthful energy and moving insights
An 11th-century Arabic saga gets a patchy, three-hour stage adaptation
Three shows about life and death - mainly death - reveal unexpected insights
dance
Matthew Bourne’s 2000 hit revs up again with impressive dancers and a witty score
Marianela Nuñez celebrates 28 years at the company
A test of stamina for the audience as well as the dancers
comedy
Larky cabaret; smart musical comedy; and a blast of a debut
Political gags; absurdist fun; and a personal update
books
This wide-ranging miscellany combines urban history and geography to nerdily entertaining effect
David Thomson explores the dark side of cinema, but still offers a flicker of hope
Joyce lurks in the margins of his own biography in a detailed history of Irish politics
visual arts
Great American photographers all in one place
Four artists' films and a computer game speculate on societal collapse
A wild imagination outlined in miniature
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