theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Thomas H Green
Tuesday, 25 June 2024
Unless you were around when The Beatles toured America in the mid-1960s, it’s doubtful you've heard anything like this. In 40 years of extensive gig-going, I have not. Taylor...
Aleks Sierz
Tuesday, 25 June 2024
Following the huge success of Benedict Lombe’s Shifters, which transfers soon to the West End, the Bush Theatre is riding high. Now this venue’s latest exploration of the Black-...
Graham Rickson
Tuesday, 25 June 2024
One of those rare films that leaves you speechless after the closing credits, Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows (L'Armée des ombres) sounds on paper as if it shouldn’t work....
David Nice
Monday, 24 June 2024
How much better can a classic get? Sebastian Scotney more or less asked the same question on theartsdesk the last time Giulio Cesare returned in triumph to Glyndebourne. I never...
Jon Turney
Monday, 24 June 2024
For a couple of decades, the free video game America’s Army was a powerful recruitment aid for the US military. More than a shoot-em-up, players might find themselves dressing...
Thomas H Green
Monday, 24 June 2024
Madeleine Peyroux made her name with her second album, 2004’s Careless Love. It consists almost completely of cover versions, delivered in a quiet, jazz-bluesey shuffle redolent...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 23 June 2024
Liverpool’s The Cryin’ Shames were responsible for two of mid-Sixties Britain’s most striking single’s tracks. The February...
David Nice
Saturday, 22 June 2024
What did they put in the water of Czechia’s central Bohemia/Moravia borderlands? From south to north there's Mahler’s...
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 22 June 2024
Allan Pettersson: Complete Edition Various artists (BIS)That this hefty anthology (17 CDs and 4 DVDs) has been with me...
Adam Sweeting
Saturday, 22 June 2024
Helpfully, this is a film that reviews itself. Like it says on the posters, “They were making a cursed movie. They were...
Sebastian Scotney
Saturday, 22 June 2024
When Zara McFarlane sang the National Anthem at this year’s FA Cup Final, it served as a reminder of quite how adaptable she...
James Saynor
Friday, 21 June 2024
We’re used to dabs of colour splashing briefly across black-and-white movies – Spielberg’s Schindler’s List or Coppola’s...
Kieron Tyler
Friday, 21 June 2024
It kicks off with “No Easy Way Down.” First released on 1984’s mini-LP Explosions in the Glass Palace, it was an instant...
Aleks Sierz
Friday, 21 June 2024
Every day this week I’m watching a football match, and now – after April’s production of Lydia Higman, Julia Grogan and...
Thomas H Green
Friday, 21 June 2024
Out on the perimeters where there are no stars, in a void full of bong-smoke and synesthetic noise… there, in a greasy biker...
Adam Sweeting
Thursday, 20 June 2024
The best-known book about motorcycle gangs is Hunter S Thompson’s Hell’s Angels, a classic foundational text of the so-...
Helen Hawkins
Thursday, 20 June 2024
Lincoln Center’s Bartlett Sher is back in town to direct the Barbican’s latest summer blockbuster, Cole Porter’s classic...
Guy Oddy
Thursday, 20 June 2024
Pepe Deluxé are no exemplars of the puritan work ethic. Comix Sonix is only their sixth album in almost 30 years – but while...
Rachel Halliburton
Wednesday, 19 June 2024
A recent Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that 2.1 million people in the UK had been victims of domestic abuse...
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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
Presumed Innocent, Apple TV+ review - you read the book and saw the movie...
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in absorbing TV adaptation of Scott Turow's legal thriller
Eric, Netflix review - a fairytale of New York
Abi Morgan's drama is a strange mix of urban grime and magic realism
theartsdesk Q&A: Matthew Modine on 'Hard Miles', 40 years in showbusiness and safer cycling
An eventful journey from 'Full Metal Jacket' to 'Oppenheimer' and 'Stranger Things'
film
The Exorcism review - salvaged horror movie is a diabolical mess
Russell Crowe fights losing battle against booze and the devil
Green Border review - Europe's baleful boundary
A tough, brilliant spotlight on the lot of refugees from Poland's veteran, venerable Agnieszka Holland
new music
Taylor Swift, Wembley Stadium review - the Eras Tour lights up London
A vivacious and extraordinary celebration of female community and power
Album: Madeleine Peyroux - Let's Walk
Ninth album from US singer is a quietly likeable set of retro jazz-blues contemplations
Music Reissues Weekly: The Cryin’ Shames - Please Stay, Do The Strum! - Joe Meek's Girl Groups and Pop Chanteuses
The fabled Tea Chest Tapes yield more bounty
classical
Classical CDs: Bare feet, hardback books and giant snails
Epic outpourings from a Swedish maverick, a rich life narrated by saxophone and contemporary music presented in a novel way
Goldscheider, Royal Orchestral Society, Miller, SJSS review - fine horn playing from the very best
A tribute to Ukrainian music also featured a fearless take on Shostakovich
Bach's Mass in B Minor, Collegium Vocale Gent, Herreweghe, Barbican - masterful subtlety proves more intriguing than compelling
Mathematical elegance as an intrinsic part of Bach's devotion
opera
Giulio Cesare, Glyndebourne review - every number a winner from dazzling revival cast
David McVicar’s celebrated Handel returns in the highest style
theartsdesk at Smetanova Litomyšl - three fascinating operas and a masterpiece superbly vindicated
Smetana 200 celebrated with a feast on a scale only possible in his native Czechia
Il Trittico, Welsh National Opera review - another triumph for a hard-pressed company
Puccini's varied demands met con bravura
theatre
My Father's Fable, Bush Theatre review - hilarious and haunting family drama
New play about secrets from the past is both funny and profound
The Bounds, Royal Court review - soccer play scores badly
New history play about football has a flawed second half
Kiss Me, Kate, Barbican review - an entertaining, high-octane Cole Porter revival
'Brush Up Your Shakespeare' brings the house down in a strongly cast lineup
dance
Ashton Celebrated, Royal Ballet review - peerless delights from the master step-smith
A delicious triple bill kicks off a worldwide Fred-fest
Rocio Molina, Sadler's Wells Flamenco Festival review - mystery and dark magic, with a giggle
Annual Spanish showcase opens with a dancer intent on subversion by edgy games
The Winter's Tale, Royal Ballet review - what a story, and what a way to tell it!
A compelling case for ROH's ballet-friendly rebrand
comedy
Rachel Parris, Leicester Square Theatre review - smart observations and satirical songs
Late Night Mash host on tour
Punt and Dennis, The Marlowe, Canterbury review - satire and sketches
Double act back on the road after a decade
Books
Kelly Clancy: Playing with Reality - How Games Shape Our World review - how far games go back
The acclaimed neuroscientist on the world and history of games, in all their variety
Hugo Rifkind: Rabbits review - 31 wild parties and a funeral
Comic novel rides the rollercoaster of 1990s teenagerdom among the Scottish elite
Extract: Pariah Genius by Iain Sinclair
A form-defying writer explores the troubled mindscape of a Soho photographer
visual arts
Gavin Jantjes: To Be Free, Whitechapel Gallery review - a sweet and sour response to horrific circumstances
Seething anger is cradled within beautiful images
Laura Aldridge / Andrew Sim, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh review - lightness and joy
Two Scottish artists explore childhood and play
Judy Chicago: Revelations, Serpentine Gallery review - art designed to change the world
At 84, the American pioneer is a force to be reckoned with
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