thu 10/10/2024

theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews

Demetrios Matheou
Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Contemporary reworkings of Greek tragedy run a very particular risk, that out of context the heightened actions of the original plays – the woefully poor judgement, the copious...
Helen Hawkins
Wednesday, 09 October 2024
As hurricanes rip into the American Gulf states with increasing ferocity, Eastern Europe disappears underwater and even the gentle British rain becomes a deluge, the arrival of...
Sarah Kent
Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Like an angry teenager rejecting everything his parents stand for, American artist Mike Kelley embraced everything most despised by the art world – from popular culture to crafts...
Gary Naylor
Wednesday, 09 October 2024
It’s always fun jabbing at the permanently open wound that is Anglo-French relations, now with added snap post-Brexit, its fading, but still frothing, humourless defenders...
Joe Muggs
Wednesday, 09 October 2024
This record keeps you guessing. It starts off with “Hybrid Romance”, an ambient piece that’s very pretty but has swooping glassy synths that crack and fracture and could easily be...
Helen Hawkins
Tuesday, 08 October 2024
The latest incarnation of David Mitchell, TV actor, looks at first sight much like the familar one from Peep Show and Back. Not a pufflepant in sight. His only costume change for...
Veronica Lee
Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Hard to imagine it now, but just a few years ago Ellen DeGeneres was one of America’s biggest daytime TV stars; her chatshow...
Adam Sweeting
Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Set in Yorkshire in the 1890s, and based on the novels by CL Skelton, The Hardacres is the story of the titular family who,...
Heather Neill
Monday, 07 October 2024
"Captain" Jack Boyle is a fantasist, a mythmaker, a storyteller. He relishes an audience – usually his sidekick, Joxer....
Robert Beale
Monday, 07 October 2024
Two splendid pieces of orchestral virtuosity began and finished the second Saturday concert by the BBC Philharmonic under...
Aleks Sierz
Monday, 07 October 2024
Why should we not look back in anger? With the Oasis reunion tour in the news recently, the title of John Osborne’s seminal...
Bernard Hughes
Monday, 07 October 2024
Judith Weir’s Blond Eckbert, presented by English Touring Opera at the Hackney Empire, at the beginning of its tour (paired...
Mark Kidel
Monday, 07 October 2024
As the Middle East continues to fragment in hate and horror, a tragic unfolding of events with roots reaching back to the...
Mark Kidel
Monday, 07 October 2024
The Marriage of Figaro is undoubtedly one of the greatest operas ever written. Mozart’s masterpiece is a display of musical...
Kieron Tyler
Monday, 07 October 2024
While it does get very cold in the north of Norway, it’s likely that Permafrost’s chosen name reflects a fondness for Howard...
Nick Hasted
Sunday, 06 October 2024
Time-travel is a trap in debutante Michael Felker’s tender sf two-hander, whose title’s grim irony becomes gradually...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 06 October 2024
Just over two weeks before Christmas 1967, The Rolling Stones issued Their Satanic Majesties Request. The album’s title...
Adam Sweeting
Saturday, 05 October 2024
If you’re looking for an advertisement for how crime doesn’t pay, Joan will do very nicely. Written by Anna Symon, this six-...
Jenny Gilbert
Saturday, 05 October 2024
What to expect of the National Ballet of Canada since its last London visit 11 years ago? Dance with an eco-message, a world...

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★★★ THE HARDACRES, CHANNEL 5 Will everyday saga of Yorkshire folk strike a popular note?

★★★★ MONET AND LONDON, COURTAULD GALLERY Utterly sublime smog

★★★ JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, GIELGUD THEATRE A shockingly original centenary revival

★★★★ ANGRY AND YOUNG, ALMEIDA THEATRE Vigorous and illuminating double bill

FIRST PERSON: CONDUCTOR ROBERT HOLLINGWORTH on a four-choir rarity by Benevoli

★★★★★ HARDENBERGER, BBC PHILHARMONIC, MANCHESTER Individuality and discipline

★★ ELLEN DEGENERES, NETFLIX Former chatshow host’s bizarre take on cancellation

★★★★ BLOND ECKBERT, ENGLISH TOURING OPERA Dark deeds afoot in the woods

★★★★ JOAN, ITV1 Brilliant performance by Sophie Turner as 'The Godmother'

disc of the day

Album: Ded Hyatt - Glossy

A genuinely boggling record mangles a world's worth of pop and avant-garde influences into... something

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 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.

To take a 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

Ludwig, BBC One review - entertaining spin on the brainy detective formula

David Mitchell is a perfect fit for this super-sleuth

The Hardacres, Channel 5 review - a fishy tale of upward mobility

Will everyday saga of Yorkshire folk strike a popular note?

Joan, ITV1 review - the roller-coaster career of a 1980s jewel thief

Brilliant performance by Sophie Turner as 'The Godmother'

film

Things Will Be Different review - lost in the past

Siblings' bank-robbing reunion goes awry in an eerie time-warp

Joker: Folie à Deux review - supervillainy laid low

Joaquin Phoenix’s clown crim faces a too-long stretch in the slammer

The Battle for Lakipia review - why post-colonial Kenya is a land of unease

Tensions run high between white farmers and the indigenous people

new music

Album: Ded Hyatt - Glossy

A genuinely boggling record mangles a world's worth of pop and avant-garde influences into... something

Album: Permafrost - The Light Coming Through

A chill wind blows in from Norway

classical

First Person: conductor Robert Hollingworth on a four-choir rarity by Benevoli

I Fagiolini join with two other choirs for a spectacular in St Martin-in-the-Fields

BBC Singers, BBCSO, Jeannin, Barbican review - from stormy weather to blue skies

An uplifting centenary party for the great choral survivors

opera

Blond Eckbert, English Touring Opera review - dark deeds afoot in the woods

Judith Weir’s chamber opera explores Freudian themes through a modern lens

theatre

The Other Place, National Theatre review - searing family tragedy
Emma D’Arcy and Tobias Menzies lock horns in twisted and triumphant take on ‘Antigone’
Bellringers, Hampstead Theatre review - mordant comedy about the end of the world
Daisy Hall's astonishing debut is both darkly funny and deadly serious

dance

National Ballet of Canada, Sadler's Wells review - see this, and know what dance can do

Yet again, Crystal Pite proves herself a ferocious creative force, alongside fellow Canadian exports James Kudelka and Emma Portner

Nobodaddy, Teaċ Daṁsa, Dublin Theatre Festival review - supernatural song and dance odyssey

Michael Keegan-Dolan’s genius guides us through death, separation and loss

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Royal Ballet review - big, bold and ultimately brash

It may be box-office gold, but Christopher Wheeldon's adaptation fails to find a beating heart down the rabbit hole

Books

Stevie Smith: Not Waving But Drowning review - riding the wave

This slim and stylish new edition can't quite dispel some lurking doubts

Ellen McWilliams: Resting Places - On Wounds, War and the Irish Revolution review - finding art in the inarticulable

A violent history finds a home in this impressionistic blend of literary criticism and memoir

Claire Messud: This Strange Eventful History review - home is where the heart was

A brutally honest and epic narrative follows a family doomed to wander the earth

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