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…
Ellie Roberts |
2025 was another year of flaunting for the ever impressive beast that is female-led pop domination. The now iconic line up of legends and future greats, and their growing class of…
Adam Sweeting |
Reviews of The Hunting Wives have been taking the line of “it’s complete trash but I love it!”, which seems a perfectly reasonable response. It’s an everyday story of deceit,…
Kieron Tyler |
“Ace tribute to The Doors” is what the poster says. And after The Fire Doors stroll on stage and blast into “Break on Through (to the Other Side),” Jim Morrison and Co’s January…
Ibi Keita |
2025 was a somewhat scarce year for fans of punk, hardcore and metal, to be honest, it was a scarce year for most genres as a whole from what I can see looking up from the…
Adam Sweeting |
If any readers can still remember 2024’s first iteration of Red Eye, they will have an approximate idea of the kind of things they can expect from this second instalment, in short…
Heather Neill
Egad, what a simply spiffing time is to be had at the Orange Tree just now! Director Tom Littler has taken Sheridan's first play, and (with his associate Rosie Tricks) pruned and…
Kieron Tyler
“This is our last concert, ever. And we’d love to do you for now on our last concert ever…” After the words peter out, a ragged, yet blistering, five-minute version of “(I Can’t…
Tom Carr
There are some years where choosing a personal album of the year is rather straightforward, something either stands above the rest, or never left the rotation throughout the year…
Adam Sweeting
Time flies. It’s 10 years since the first iteration of The Night Manager landed on BBC One (shortly before its star Tom Hiddleston had a fling with Taylor Swift, trivia fans).…
David Nice
Conducting the staple Viennese fare of New Year's Day is no easy task. Quite apart from the basic essential panache - so drearily missing from Austrian Franz Welser-Möst's 2023…
Markie Robson-Scott
“So then I go and I make another cup of coffee and two pieces of toast with raspberry jelly and now I’m going to call Allen Ginsberg at exactly noon. Because he does his…
Sebastian Scotney
John Patitucci, one of the world’s great bassists, was an irreplaceable pillar of the unsurpassable Wayne Shorter Quartet for two decades. On one level, his new, Grammy-nominated…
Sebastian Scotney
There is joy, energy – and no little irony – about the way that Hollywood stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson play and sing the parts of a working-class couple from Milwaukee with…
Jenny Gilbert
“When it comes to a dance roundup, you surely won’t be able to come up with a Top Ten, will you? Even a Top Five might be a stretch”. This from a naysayer who clearly hasn’t been…
theartsdesk
Pop music and politics, fiction and fact, debut novels and posthumous publications: TAD’s reviewers reveal their best reads of 2025.
Image…
peter.quinn
For a beautiful treatment of Matsuo Bashō's celebrated haiku “A frog jumps in”, the dreamlike stream-of-consciousness of “I am a volcano”, the delightful, multilayered vocal…
David Nice
Concert one-offs can be experiences to last a lifetime (immediately springing to mind is Jakub Hrůša’s BBC Symphony Orchestra Shostakovich 11). But this has been a year …
Veronica Lee
It wasn't exactly a stellar year for comedy but there were plenty of shows that shone brightly and have stayed with me, even if the Edinburgh Fringe – for so long the highlight of…
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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
Riotous TV adaptation of May Cobb's novel
Ominous shenanigans in second series of planes-and-politics drama
Writer David Farr gives John le Carré's characters a new lease of life
film
Ira Sachs brings Linda Rosenkrantz's taped project to life
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson on cracklin’ form as a Neil Diamond tribute band
The British 'Game of Thrones' star talks about Tourette's, tics and finding the truth
new music
Unaffected Doors homage from the most unlikely band
Never enough hype, never enough volume, never enough Turnstile
classical
A young soprano truly blossoms and the conductor cuts a dash
opera
Emily D'Angelo shines as Handel's impetuous, besotted protagonist
Playing from strength in a game where the Royal Northern has all the cards
theatre
Sheridan's comedy finds a welcome home in Richmond
From big, bold musicals to solo shows, London theatre landed again on multiple fronts
Good illusions but pacing stymies the shocks
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
On its second time out, ENB's production is a winner where it counts
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Reunion of sketch show's creators
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Writer Barry Joseph recounts his moments of clarity and connection with Stephen Sondheim’s lifelong love of puzzles
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
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