theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
theartsdesk |
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…
Helen Hawkins |
South Korea’s soft power isn’t restricted to K-pop and K-drama. The latest Festival of Korean Dance, hosted by venues around the UK, is a demonstration that its contemporary dance…
David Nice |
Spirit of place first: Nevill Holt, which I was visiting for the first time, is a beauty. There's an Oxford college look about the facades, from 13th century to more recent…
Guy Oddy |
“Pruning, pruning, pruning, pruning, pruning” declaims a suited and booted Robin Dallaway into his microphone on stage at Birmingham’s Castle and Falcon on Sunday night, and it’s…
graham.rickson |
Freshly-exhumed from the vaults, this latest Children's Film Foundation selection follows an established template. We get nine pacy short features taken from different eras in the…
David Nice |
If you find endless riches in Hugo von Hofmannsthal's words and Richard Strauss's score for their "Comedy for Music", as I do, you'll be very happy to catch Bruno Ravella's…
Adam Sweeting
Aptly scheduled for our Great British Heatwave, writer Catherine Shepherd’s eight-part drama whisks us away to a remote Greek island, where a band of friends (four of them having…
Jonathan Geddes
Caution is evidently needed when moving around at a Pins gig. A woman who wandered off to the bar or the toilet returned and appeared slightly startled to realise the group's…
Bernard Hughes
There’s only one thing harder than trying to get to Kings Place to see a semi-staged Dido and Aeneas on the day of Arsenal’s victory parade through north London, and that’s trying…
Tim Cumming
Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, star of The Gloaming supergroup, says of Ryan Young: “He is an up-and-coming musician who is gaining more and more well-deserved recognition. I feel…
Kieron Tyler
“Promise me delight” is a tantalising entreaty. One which – in its particular way – this captivating 17-track compliation delivers on. Promise Me Delight - Italo Disco and…
Boyd Tonkin
Benvenuti a Napoli cries the huge corny poster of the blue bay and ominous Vesuvius that looms over Neil Irish’s sets for Così fan tutte. However, we’re no longer in the…
Gary Naylor
About two hours into this big, brash Beetlejuice, the door to Hell opens up, and I felt a sudden desire to rush the stage, dash through and take my chances. Well, perhaps not on…
Bernard Hughes
Yesterday I travelled through a sweltering London in shorts and sandals to go and hear Schubert’s Winterreise, about a bleak journey through a frozen landscape. It was quite the…
Mark Kidel
To celebrate Miles Davis’s 100th anniversary this week, Fontana have released a “ Deluxe Re-issue” of one of the jazz giant’s best-known recordings, the soundtrack for Louis Malle…
Helen Hawkins
With impeccable timing, the Orange Tree in Richmond has scheduled a one-act play that’s exactly what a beleaguered public needs: 75 minutes of mind-bendingly ludicrous physical…
James Saynor
Steve Martin famously said that writing about music was like trying to dance architecture, so maybe making a movie about painting is like – I don’t know – trying to chant ceramics…
Robert Beale
Kahchun Wong ended his second season as the Hallé’s principal conductor with a blockbuster – and one from what may be seen as his personal zone of expertise: Mahler’s Sixth…
Rachel Halliburton
The psychological masterstroke of this quietly devastating work is to portray it from the point of view of an elderly woman who is convinced that she should not be in an old…
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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.
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tv
Friendships tested to destruction in Catherine Shepherd's satirical drama
Steve Coogan and Tom Burke lead a formidable cast in Neil Forsyth's drama
Gripping three-part saga is smarter than the average pop-doc
film
Life-enhancing vintage entertainment, for children of all ages
When Lucian Freud and Kate Moss brushed up against each other
Influential and colourful Italian comic book adaptation returns in a gleaming new print
new music
Robin Dallaway’s crew return to the stage after a 40-year break
The Manchester foursome's post-punk and garage rock remains danceable and rousing.
The Gloaming's Martin Hayes, and others join the Scottish fiddler on this stellar collaboration
classical
Veteran American singer in fine voice, complemented by characterful accordion
Luxurious sonic experience and tonal beauties in a moving Mahler 6
Baroque keyboard music in new colours, a celebration of a great English composer and Russian fairytales
opera
Not a huge number of laughs, but plenty of vocal charm from tenor and soprano
Niamh O'Sullivan is the perfect Knight of the Rose in classy revival
40th anniversary event overcomes disruption with exquisite music-making
theatre
Just too geared to a multiplex audience to succeed as it could on stage
Peter Schaffer's 1965 hit is still the perfect vehicle for premium physical comedy
Alexander Zeldin's play is a deeply moving meditation on mortality
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
The latest tranche of Korean contemporary dance offered a mesmerising instant classic
A handsome production in need of a stronger score and deeper characterisation
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Comic revisits her alma mater to talk politics
Absurdist comic's most personal show yet
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Latest entry in BFI's Film Classics series offers fresh perspectives and media insights
Memoir of alcoholism is heavy on lacerating self-analysis but lighter on jokes
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Her large sculpted butterflies act both as an inspiration and a warning
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