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Theartsdesk
Wednesday, 01 October 2025
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic...
Thomas H Green
Wednesday, 07 May 2025
There’s plenty of noise out there about 24-year-old Kentish musician Victoria Walker, AKA PinkPantheress. Since being acclaimed BBC Sound of 2022, the spotlight has been on her....
Adam Sweeting
Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Following on from the first series of Malpractice in 2023, this second season again probes into issues of medical malfeasance and institutional corruption, in an environment where...
Kieron Tyler
Tuesday, 06 May 2025
After kicking off with the psychedelia-tinged “Sgt. Major,” they keep coming. A string of songs as Sixties-influenced as they are edgy and propulsive. The tempo may not be speedy...
Zlatomir Fung
Tuesday, 06 May 2025
My new album, Fantasies, recorded with pianist Richard Fu, is the culmination of my years-long fascination with the wonderful genre of instrumental opera fantasies. I first fell...
Graham Rickson
Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Eureka’s second volume of Laurel and Hardy shorts catches the pair in 1928 on the cusp of their successful transition to the sound era, two of the 10 films originally released...
Rachel Halliburton
Monday, 05 May 2025
Holsters, Stetsons and bluegrass music bring a distinctive flavour to this Wild West riff on Romeo and Juliet that flings us...
Hugh Barnes
Monday, 05 May 2025
The Ealing-like comedy heist caper Two to One is Natja Brunckhorst’s second feature as a director, after the 2002 short film...
Thomas H Green
Monday, 05 May 2025
20 years on from their first appearance on record, the seventh long-player from Canadian indie-art-rock behemoths Arcade...
Adam Sweeting
Sunday, 04 May 2025
The art of the conman is persuading their victim to fool themselves, which is the premise that lies at the core of this...
Pamela Jahn
Sunday, 04 May 2025
One of the most exciting new voices in Eastern European film, Déa Kulumbegashvili is not concerned with conventional shot...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 04 May 2025
Sixes and Sevens is a surprise. A big one. Since leaving Siouxsie and the Banshees in September 1979, John McKay has largely...
David Nice
Saturday, 03 May 2025
Full marks to the Royal Opera for good planning: one first night knocking us all sideways with the darkest German operatic...
Helen Hawkins
Saturday, 03 May 2025
In the Stygian darkness of a bare room, a table on a low platform with a light hanging overhead starts to emerge. Then a...
Adam Sweeting
Saturday, 03 May 2025
The success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive not only provoked a viewer-stampede towards the world’s most expensive sport, but...
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 03 May 2025
Jürg Frey: Voices EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble/James Weeks (Neu Records)A new CD from EXAUDI is a guaranteed treat for all...
Sarah Kent
Friday, 02 May 2025
A traditional Korean house has appeared at Tate Modern. And with its neat brickwork, beautifully carved roof beams and...
David Nice
Friday, 02 May 2025
Wagner’s universe, in the second of his Ring operas which brings semi-humans on board to challenge the gods, matches...
Sebastian Scotney
Friday, 02 May 2025
Does it spark joy? Yes, definitely...and maybe we music critics should ask the Marie Kondo question more often. London-based...
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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
Malpractice, ITV1, Series 2 review - fear and loathing in the psychiatric unit
Powerful return of Grace Ofori-Attah's scathing medical drama
Fake, ITV1 review - be careful what you wish for
Australian drama probes the terrors of middle-aged matchmaking
Formula E: Driver, Prime Video review - inside the world's first zero-carbon sport
F1's electric baby brother get its own documentary series
film
Blu-ray: Laurel & Hardy - The Silent Years (1928)
Ten more early shorts, handsomely restored and annotated
Two to One review - bank heist with a big catch
'Christiane F' star Natja Brunckhorst directs Sandra Hüller in East German crime story
theartsdesk Q&A: film director Déa Kulumbegashvili on her startling second feature, 'April'
The Georgian filmmaker talks about her award-winning abortion drama, motherhood and her relationship with the unknown
new music
Shack, Union Chapel review - the surprise return of the Liverpool legends does not run to plan
A celebration with a sting in its tail
Album: Arcade Fire - Pink Elephant
Seventh from Canadian stadium-slayers contains enough juice to convince
classical
First Person: young cellist Zlatomir Fung on operatic fantasies old and new
Fresh takes on Janáček's 'Jenůfa' and Bizet's 'Carmen' are on the menu
Classical CDs: Chinese poetry, rollercoasters and old bookshops
Swiss contemporary music, plus two cello albums and a versatile clarinettist remembered
La Serenissima, Wigmore Hall review - a convivial guide to 18th century Bologna
This showcase for baroque trumpets was riveting throughout
opera
Pimpinone, Royal Opera in the Linbury Theatre review - farce with a sting in its tail
Telemann’s comic opera hits the mark thanks to two fine, well-directed young singers
Die Walküre, Royal Opera review - total music drama
Kosky, Pappano and their singers soar on both wings of Wagner’s double tragedy
theatre
Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's Globe - swagger and vivacity cohabit with death
Sean Holmes’ Western-style production brings a flamboyant start to the summer season
Krapp's Last Tape, Barbican review - playing with the lighter side of Beckett's gloom
The Irish actor Stephen Rea is a silent-movie Krapp to treasure
My Master Builder, Wyndham's Theatre review - Ewan McGregor headlines stillborn Ibsen riff
Starry new writing premiere struggles to connect
dance
The Forsythe Programme, English National Ballet review - brains, beauty and bravura
Once again the veteran choreographer and maverick William Forsythe raises ENB's game
Sad Book, Hackney Empire review - What we feel, what we show, and the many ways we deal with sadness
A book about navigating grief feeds into unusual and compelling dance theatre
comedy
Greg Davies, Brighton Dome review - chocolate bars and errant bumholes
Taskmaster's first tour in seven years is a joy
Marcus Brigstocke, Touring review - modern manhood laid bare
Observations on what it is to be a bloke today
Books
Zsuzsanna Gahse: Mountainish review - seeking refuge
Notes on danger and dialogue in the shadow of the Swiss Alps
Patrick McGilligan: Woody Allen - A Travesty of a Mockery of a Sham review - New York stories
Fair-minded Woody Allen biography covers all bases
visual arts
Do Ho Suh: Walk the House, Tate Modern review - memories are made of this
Home sweet home preserved as exquisite replicas
Ed Atkins, Tate Britain review - hiding behind computer generated doppelgängers
Emotions too raw to explore
latest comments
A heavier touch wouldn't have worked (though the...
"Vespetta has her way, of course, but in these...
Seen it last night in NYC, was a bit of a let...
I think the series portrays a parallel vision...
Corrected, with thanks.
Yep. It's an incredible album.
Hi Robert,If I may make a correction to your...
the review doesn't match the score. you only have...