theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Demetrios Matheou
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Two elderly men meet in the park while walking their dogs, and become friends. Even when friendship turns to love, the hounds tend to dominate the conversation. It’s hardly the...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Now that earnings from the John Wick movie franchise have topped a billion dollars, it’s no surprise that there should be moves afoot to cash in by developing a “John Wick...
Jenny Gilbert
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Dance lovers with no access to a major city could feel genuinely hard done by were it not for Dance Consortium. This sainted organisation works to bring a company from overseas...
Sir David Pountney
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Purcell came very early to me. When I was a chorister at St. John’s Cambridge “Jehova quam multi sunt” was a perennial favourite and we were thrilled by the evenings when George...
Gary Naylor
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Seldom can a title have given so much away about the play to follow, not just in terms of the subject matter but also in terms of the sledgehammer approach to driving home its...
Markie Robson-Scott
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
The misty streets and lofty spires of Oxford star in this adaptation of Carolyn Weber’s 2011 memoir, Surprised by Oxford, in which she finds God while studying for an MPhil in...
Graham Fuller
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Steven Wilson has merged various genres – metal, shoegaze, pop, dance, jazz – in his solo career without shrugging off the...
Hugh Barnes
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Less is more, except when it isn’t. Among the latest batch of overlong Oscar-tipped movies by celebrated auteurs such as...
Aleks Sierz
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
How many hearts does an octopus have? Answer: three. This pub quiz clincher is just one of the many fascinating facts that...
Jonathan Geddes
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
There remains something disconcerting about seeing the National as arena rockers. Perhaps it’s the nonchalant stage entrance...
India Lewis
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
The latest translation of Annie Ernaux’s Shame – a text most closely akin to a long-form essay – is an absorbing examination...
Graham Rickson
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Gregory’s Girl stands alongside Kes as one of the few films offering a realistic depiction of state school life. Director...
Rachel Halliburton
Monday, 25 September 2023
Epic and intimate, philosophically anguished and rhapsodically transcendent, Mahler’s "Resurrection" Symphony remains one of...
David Nice
Monday, 25 September 2023
Big Ben was chiming the quarter-hour as I hit the South Bank side of the river after a not terribly inspiring Remain rally...
Sarah Kent
Monday, 25 September 2023
Lasting just over an hour, The Nettle Dress is like a fairy story. It builds very slowly, each beautifully framed shot...
Miranda Heggie
Monday, 25 September 2023
To coincide with the National Library of Scotland’s first bi-lingual exhibition Sguel/Story, an exhibition in English and...
Harry Thorfinn-George
Monday, 25 September 2023
It felt inevitable that Doja Cat would turn her back on being a popstar. The Californian rapper’s career has been shaped by...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 24 September 2023
In September 1955, the grandly named London Skiffle Centre set up for business each Thursday in a room above the Round House...
Sarah Kent
Saturday, 23 September 2023
One of the most cherished memories of my 40 plus years as an art critic is of easing my way between Marina Abramović and her...
disc of the day
Album: Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex
A shimmering blend of electronica and prog inspired by a dystopian parable
tv
The Continental, Prime Video - welcome to the expanding John Wick universe
Origin story of the hitman's hotel makes a sluggish start
Wilderness, Prime Video review - twisty thriller that leaves a nasty aftertaste
Gilded couple explore the barren lands of their blighted marriage
Top Boy, Season 5, Netflix review - grime and punishment
Ronan Bennett's Hackney crime epic reaches a fiery conclusion
film
Surprised by Oxford review - wishy-washy romance ticks the sightseeing boxes
Ryan Whitaker's film of Carolyn Weber's memoir of Christian conversion pulls its religious punches
Strange Way of Life review - Pedro Almodóvar's queer Western
A sheriff and his old lover spark again in a thin frontier drama
new music
Album: Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex
A shimmering blend of electronica and prog inspired by a dystopian parable
The National, OVO Hydro, Glasgow, review - commanding arenas with ease
A lengthy show served as a thrilling reminder of the Ohio band's rich catalogue
classical
Mahler 2, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - an interpretation of superlative resonance and clarity
LPO Principal Conductor's spiritually open, intellectually rigorous approach pays off
Mad Rush, Carol Williams, RFH review - a rainbow of organ colours
A born entertainer at the highest level takes on the Royal Festival Hall's refurbished giant
The Ossianic Ballads, Edinburgh Quartet, Màiri MacMillan, National Library of Scotland review - good ingredients get lost in the mix
New life given to ancient Gaelic songs results in a less than lively performance
opera
First Person: Director Sir David Pountney on creating a new 'Masque of Might' from the music of Purcell
Launching Opera North’s Green Season with a climate sceptic as villain
La Traviata, Welsh National Opera review - memorable revival, unforgettable lead
Stacey Alleaume has an astonishing feeling for the stage, her Violetta one in a thousand
Peter Grimes, English National Opera review - not quite the pity or the truth
Strong sounds, but the tension sometimes flags in this hit-and-miss revival
theatre
Frank and Percy, The Other Palace review - two-hander fails to escape a very short leash
Ian McKellen and Roger Allam as the lonely men who bond over their dogs
Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play, Young Vic review - committed and important play let down by heavy-handed writing
Satirical comedy-drama labours its points across an uninterrupted two hours
Octopolis, Hampstead Theatre review - blue, blue, electric blue
New play about the relations between humans and other life forms has profound depths
dance
Ailey 2, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury review - young, black and fabulous
The younger sibling of the Alvin Ailey family visits for the first time in 12 years
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Sadler's Wells review - exhilarating display of a full deck of dance styles
From stately to sexy, these fabulously physical dancers engage every emotion
Matthew Bourne's Romeo + Juliet, Sadler's Wells review - exhilarating dancing, inventive moves
New Adventures creates lovers with tender appeal for a younger generation
comedy
Peter Kay, O2 Arena review - comeback show is worth the wait
Nostalgia-fest delivers an emotional punch
Kate Berlant Is KATE, Soho Theatre review - glorious spoof of actory types
US comic brings her off-Broadway hit to the UK
Books
Annie Ernaux: Shame review - the translation of pain
Tanya Leslie gracefully translates the Nobel Prize winner’s treatise on the traumas that make us
Warhol, Velázquez, and leaving things out: an interview with Lynne Tillman
Allongside its British re-release, the author of Motion Sickness discusses the state of fiction and her ways of writing
Celia Dale: Sheep's Clothing review - unsettling, mundane, and right on-trend
Daunt Books continues its mission to bring Dale’s witty amorality to modern light
visual arts
Marina Abramović, Royal Academy review - young performers stand in for the absent artist
This pioneer of performance art is the first woman to show in the main galleries
Beatriz Milhazes: Maresias, Turner Contemporary review - the taste and sight of Brazil
A retrospective of the Brazilian artist's career transports us to Rio de Janeiro
Differently Various, The Curve, Barbican review - a step in a shared direction
Richly engaging exhibition by artists who have experienced brain injuries
latest comments
Hi Dimitri. I almost never google my own name, as...
What an amazing review. I wish I had been there,...
I totally agree. The eloquence, and the time he...
fascinating & profound, Gardner should be an...
Look very closely and you will see the chorus was...
I have admired Colin for a very long time. ...
Perhaps you could enlarge on that? There was...
Promising start to a new cycle and more...