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…
Robert Beale |
Harry Fehr’s directorial take on The Cunning Little Vixen is a sound one: keep it simple. Together with set and costume designer Nicky Shaw (with whom he worked on a memorable…
David Nice |
In one of the loveliest operatic scores of all time, Dvořák makes cruel demands on his eponymous water nymph and the prince for whom she acquires a mortal soul, having them soar…
Adam Sweeting |
The stern and glowering demeanour of David Morrissey’s character, Michael Polly, looms over this six-part drama like the embodiment of a malignant fate. Polly is the headmaster of…
Robert Beale |
This was a concert of music by living women composers, and I guess you could call all three of its components protest music. Cheerful or sad, smart or overwhelming, each work had…
Pamela Jahn |
In director Paolo Sorrentino’s new film La Grazia, Tony Servillo portrays a fictitious Italian president, the ageing Mariano De Santis, who – in the last six months of his…
Guy Oddy
Solo albums by musicians from established bands can be interesting beasts - not least when discovering which route they’ve decided to take with their own music. Will they be…
Nick Hasted
“Your term is about to end,” Italian president De Santis (Toni Servillo) is told, with implications which extend far past politics. Director Paolo Sorrentino is second only to old…
David Nice
Have you ever witnessed both a Tristan and an Isolde physically plausible and vocally up to everything that Wagner throws at them, from violent cursing to heartbreaking tenderness…
Kieron Tyler
Although it was released as a single in November 1968, The Goodees’ “Condition Red” could – apart from a specific quirk – have been issued four years earlier, in the wake of The…
Gary Naylor
Though there are few starry, starry nights in Stockwell these days, nor flaming flowers that brightly blaze, you can find ragged men in ragged clothes outside the Tube station.…
Nick Hasted
The Hail Mary pass is a desperate act of sporting faith when regular tactics fail, and the world’s end is faced here by constitutional optimists on both sides of the camera: The…
Guido Martin-Brandis
In preparing to direct Handel’s rarely staged Imeneo for Cambridge Handel Opera Company (CHOC), I have been fascinated to reflect on the periods of surging interest…
Joe Muggs
If you’re supposed to be in touch with pop culture as part of your professional life, there’s not much that can sharpen the lines of your ignorance like having teenage kids. Of…
aleks.sierz
Which crimes are the hardest to forgive? Violence; sexual assault; aggravated sexual assault? Yes, that kind of covers the territory. In Sarah Power’s new play, Welcome to Pemfort…
Mark Kidel
Over the years, Ronnie Scott’s, one of the premier jazz clubs in the world, has hosted some truly transcendental music. There’s something about the horseshoe layout of the seating…
Katie Colombus
There was a surreal moment in February when, scrolling through my feed, I became briefly convinced that Sting had cult-napped Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso.The evidence was a deadpan…
Markie Robson-Scott
Tony Kiritsis (the excellent Bill Skarsgård; Nosferatu) is a nervy, paranoid oddball. Well, he would be. He has an appointment with a mortgage broker and in the long cardboard box…
Liz Thomson
In this most challenging of times, we need music to lift our spirits and relieve the gloom. Step forward, in all their retro-chic, cabaret-burlesque splendour The Puppini Sisters…
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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
David Morrissey dominates a dark tale of secrets and lies
From Manhattan to Montana with the prolific Taylor Sheridan
Bringing Janice Hadlow's alternative-Austen novel to the small screen
film
The Italian star talks about his third portrayal of an Italian head of state
Sorrentino's latest political character study is cast in shades of grieving grey
Ryan Gosling fights to save Earth in a family sf epic of rare optimism
new music
Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s solo album is a great success that strays far from the day job
A one-stop showcase for the fabulous
The youthful grandaddies of K-pop are as cyborg-slick as ever
classical
Outrage and fun from women composers make their impact
Beethoven dominates a symbolic musical link
Star power sells a concert of recently written music
opera
This Vixen is a pure soul, a socialist and a survivor
Jennifer Davis is a dream nymph, not best served by Netia Jones' production
Peripheral problems, but the greatest love duet is perfectly sung, staged and conducted
theatre
Artist and landlady discover plenty in common - except their ages
New play about heritage, past crime and forgiveness is a bit tonally discordant
New play poses increasingly pressing questions
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
After 25 years and counting, Cassa Pancho's fine company remains essential
The kindly Skoog made history as a brutal Interrogator in a classic modern ballet
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Shaggy-dog story about a Hollywood party
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Saskia Vogel brings a darker than dark tale of rural grief to English for the first time
A Harvard professor presents a sprawling urban history
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
A frieze of iPad pictures that sends you hurrying for the door
Photographs of California’s queer community in the 1990s
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