theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Steve Burns |
Hi. I’m Steve, creator of the solo show bearing my name on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and I’d like to make something perfectly clear: I’m alive. I’m not dead.I’m nearly…
Thomas H. Green |
At the Dot To Dot Festival in Nottingham, back in May, I noticed some of the most exciting bands I caught were marinated in grunge. One of them was Grandmas House. Their debut…
Sebastian Scotney |
Miles Davis’s centenary this year has led to some fascinating work. The MILES play with Jay Phelps at Southwark Playhouse Borough in February – reviewed here – has been the most…
Simon Thompson |
It has taken until halfway through this year’s Edinburgh International Festival before we got to the first string quartet in the Queen’s Hall’s chamber music series, but when it…
David Kettle |
Linus Karp Was Hit With An Umbrella, Underbelly, Bristo Square ★★★★From hectic Princess Di parody Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story (back at the Fringe next week) to wicked…
Veronica Lee |
Max Olesker: Making the Cut ★★★★Pleasance DomeMost Fringe fans will know Max Olesker as one half of sketch duo Max and Ivan, but this is his Fringe debut as a solo performer…
Joe Muggs
Jorja Smith’s performance at the recent Radio 1 Big Weekend shebang is really worth tracking down if you want a lesson in high functioning nonchalance. Dressed down in denim,…
Aleks Sierz
Populist theatre really is a terrible flirt. You know the type of thing I mean: cheeky pursed lips, making eyes at the audience, strutting with a provocative wiggle. No need for…
Boyd Tonkin
“How easily one thing grows into another,” sings abandoned Ariadne on her desert island before the advent of Bacchus quells her morbidity and rekindles her lust for life. In…
James Saynor
Anyone who’s ever been to a movie set can’t help but struggle to reconcile the utter dismembered chaos of these workplaces with the smooth joined-up pseudo reality of the finished…
Bernard Hughes
Jonn Elledge has two main virtues as a writer of general interest non-fiction: an insatiable curiosity about the world, and an ability to share the fruits of this curiosity like…
Thomas H. Green
Almost 20 years ago, Late Of The Pier were an exciting post-nu-rave band who injected synthesizer sparkiness into indie. They even had a Top 30 album. They were a breath of fresh…
David Kettle
Supposing: ★★★★★Sally fell down a hole outside the local theatre. Since then, things have changed. She just… knows things that other people don’t. But rather than being a…
Veronica Lee
Tom Read Wilson ★★★★Gilded Balloon MuseumTom Read Wilson has been plying his trade as an actor and singer for while but reality TV is where he has made his biggest impact –…
Kieron Tyler
“My Lost One”, Materia’s second track, is remarkable. Exemplifying the Julia Holter ethos to the max, it begins wispily with interweaving rippling electric piano figures, a…
Boyd Tonkin
After a century of trail-blazing Black musicians across every genre, it’s dumbfounding to discover that clarinettist Anthony McGill is the first African-American principal in the…
David Kettle
It’s been 35 years since Tony Kushner’s two-play, multi-hour epic gay soap opera-cum-spiritual meditation was first unleashed on the world in Los Angeles and San Francisco. And it…
Peter Culshaw
The latest in Peter Culshaw’s occasional radio shows with a global music bent is a post-WOMAD chat with one of its originators, who suggested the idea to his pal Peter Gabriel at…
David Nice
It's a reviewer's unkind luxury to moan about having to sit through yet another performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto simply to hear a rarer work; there will always be audience…
disc of the day
Snappy guitar four-piece are ready for bigger things
tv
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
John Hannah stars in smart and sun-drenched whodunnit
film
A knowing American horror parody that’s all-self-consuming
Dinosaurs hunt Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor through suburbia
Vicky Krieps fights to see her son and find herself in a defining role
new music
Snappy guitar four-piece are ready for bigger things
Glorious soundpainting from Ambrose Akinmusire and arrangements by Miho Hazama
The deep blues of Black British soundsystem music explored in elegant ways
classical
Strings with two guest artists, and a tribute to Alfred Brendel
A virtuoso clarinettist shines between two murder-ballets
Spanish cellist's Elgar goes deep, while Walton's Second Symphony glows and throbs
opera
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
Michael Gallen's riveting music-theatre piece has committed performances all round
theatre
The onetime 'Blue's Clues' TV host on doing battle with reports of his own demise
Homophobic hate crime and affectionate celeb capers in two memorable shows
Becoming Jewish; a nautical tale
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
latest comments