theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Adam Sweeting |
Based on the novel by Marissa Stapley and telly-ised by screenwriter/creator Jonathan Tropper, Lucky is a rip-roaring tale of dysfunctional criminal families, enlivened by a batch…
David Nice |
You don't have to be mad to enjoy Gerald Barry's methodically berserk approach to Wilde, but your wits might have begun to turn by the interval and you'll question your sanity by…
Nick Hasted |
Mass shootings and social media combine to fry the humanity of rich New York kid Balthazar (Jaeden Martell) and poor Southern kid Solomon (Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield) in…
Aleks Sierz |
Queerness is subversive – it dissolves gender binaries. You know the kind of thing: male/female, straight/gay, married/single, fixed/fluid. Likewise, queer theatre typically calls…
Kieron Tyler |
The key track gives the album its title. “Where the Fades Meet” opens with swelling strings, which are swiftly underpinned by groovy, shuffling, percussion. The lyrics are carried…
David Nice |
Noble intentions and two talented true individuals faced a few obstacles in this admirably-planned Prom. Gianandrea Noseda looked set to reduce the Behemoth aspect of Beethoven's…
Graham Rickson
The completion of the Berlin Wall in 1961 severely damaged the East German industrial economy, the fallout soon affecting the GDR’s film industry. December 1965 saw the 11th…
Gary Naylor
Social engineering gets a bad press. The whiff of creating a eugenics-inspired master race by other means clings to it, so too agitprop induced brainwashing, the Republic of…
Thomas H. Green
I didn’t want to review Shania Twain. My sense of her is of ancient mega-selling hits I can’t stand. I didn’t even go to her Sunday afternoon set at Glastonbury 2024. But it’s…
Kieron Tyler
The title “Tone Phase 1 for 2 Guitars & 4 Oscillators” is a giveaway, clearly indicating what’s going to be heard once the LP has landed on the record player. And, indeed, the…
Rachel Halliburton
Aaron Copland’s gleaming, monumental Fanfare for the Common Man was written to mark the USA’s entry into World War II. Those thunderous drums and soaring trumpets symbolised the…
Graham Rickson
Sibelius: Symphonies 1-7 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/Jukka-Pekka Saraste (Ondine)Violin Concerto, Lemminkäinen Suite Ava Bahari (violin), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra/…
Liz Thomson
What an extraordinary band are The Punch Brothers, a bunch of conspicuously talented musicians whose six albums never fail to delight and stimulate as they push the boundaries of…
Adam Sweeting
The man who made Interstellar, Tenet and Oppenheimer can hardly be accused of not thinking big. Now, with The Odyssey, he’s thinking epic. Clocking in at a whisker under three…
Robert Beale
Buxton’s summer jamboree for opera lovers this year offers a brace of baroque works, written 90 years apart, with the character of sorceress as their common feature.Handel’s…
Helen Hawkins
Dismemberment is a key motif in the writer-director Simon Stone’s The Oresteia. It reflects the treatment of two of the piece’s several dead bodies, as is hinted at when their…
Sarah Kent
Ana Mendieta’s work gives me the creeps. This is a deeply unfashionable view, so much so that I may well be cancelled for it. Mendieta is so highly regarded that The Guardian…
Joe Muggs
There’s a long and rich tradition of scabrous indie rock lyricism from Yorkshire. Sheffield’s Jarvis Cocker and Alex Turner tend to get the plaudits, but the particular kind of…
Justine Elias.
The first word of The Iliad is “war”; the first word of The Odyssey is “man”. After that, the twists and turns of Homer’s epic poems veer in wildly different directions. It’s…
disc of the day
Andy Dragazis’ musical alter-ego offers nods to legendary arranger and producer Charles Stepney
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tv
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time...
Harlan Coben thriller does what it says on the tin
film
School shootings and social media alienation queasily satirised
Matt Damon stars in Christopher Nolan's IMAX-sized recreation of Homer's epic poem
new music
Andy Dragazis’ musical alter-ego offers nods to legendary arranger and producer Charles Stepney
The Canadian country superstar embraces her rhythm'n'blues side
The welcome return of a foundational album of electronic minimalism
classical
A rapid Beethoven 9 and a showcase for the phenomenal Abel Selaocoe
An intriguing musical exploration of shifting power dynamics in the 20th century
Finnish music from Finnish conductors, life-enhancing minimalism and massed gongs
opera
A magnificent cast manages to master Gerald Barry's Wilde and act their crazy socks off
Two tales of magic and mystery - as TV reality show and environmental parable
Quality take on Verdi and a pure comedy re-imagining of Léhar
theatre
New play about love and loneliness in London has terrific gender and genre fluidity
Not everything works but, with this unbreakable musical, it doesn't need to
Simon Stone's latest reversioning of a classic is a muddled misfire
dance
Aakash Odedra is superb as a tortured creature seeking freedom and transcendence
A company that is alive and kicking - literally
Double bill takes the Royal Ballet dancers to unusual new heights
comedy
Comic looks back on his life and career
Comic revisits her alma mater to talk politics
books
As her collection of music by goth divas appears, the writer reveals the appeal of the dark side
Joyce lurks in the margins of his own biography in a detailed history of Irish politics
An enjoyable look at 'missingness' and how it affects the way we experience the world
visual arts
Ritualistic performances and evocations of fertility goddesses
Darkness reigns in powerful but competing installations
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