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Nick Hasted
Thursday, 23 May 2019
Rokia Traoré’s passage through this year’s Brighton Festival has been central, binding it to her Malian identity in a series of gigs. This hands-on Guest Director’s pulsing Afro-...
Boyd Tonkin
Thursday, 23 May 2019
You seldom hear a Champions League-level roar of approval at the Wigmore Hall. Last night, though, Igor Levit drew a throaty collective bark of appreciation from the audience...
Joseph Walsh
Thursday, 23 May 2019
Moments before Quentin Tarantino’s blistering, outrageous work screened at Cannes, a message was delivered on behalf of the director, asking reviewers to avoid spoilers. It’s easy...
Rachel Halliburton
Thursday, 23 May 2019
Mammon and Yahweh are the presiding deities over an epic enterprise that tells the story not just of three brothers who founded a bank but of modern America. Virgil asked his Muse...
Tom Baily
Thursday, 23 May 2019
Next up in Disney’s parade of live-action revamps is: yes, Aladdin. The other recent re-dos – Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo – just about managed to overcome the remake...
Katherine Waters
Thursday, 23 May 2019
Manga, the Japanese art of the graphic novel, took its modern form in the 1800s. Illustrated stories already had a long heritage in Japan — encompassing woodblock prints and...
Thomas H Green
Thursday, 23 May 2019
Unfortunately, it’s now reached the point where it’s impossible to mention Morrissey without politics overshadowing music....
Katie Colombus
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Maya Angelou’s iconic poem Still I Rise is a good starting point for many things in life. But it’s a particularly good...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Hallelujah! At last the BBC have commissioned a Stephen Poliakoff series that makes you want to come back for episode two (...
Thomas H Green
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Tonight comes with a caveat, delivered before proceedings begin by the one-woman show’s writer and performer Nicôle Lecky,...
Peter Quantrill
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
What happens on the stage of Stockhausen’s first opera would fill a book – quite a bad novel – but the plot is simple enough...
Liz Thomson
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Prufrock might have measured his life in coffee spoons but for many of us it’s rock albums, the money to buy them way back...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Persistent depression is debilitating and terrifying, as Alastair Campbell illustrated vividly in this punchily-argued film...
Aleks Sierz
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Stasiland is a fascinating mental space. As a historical location, the former East Germany, or GDR, is the archetypal...
Veronica Lee
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Film buffs who are also tennis fans (there must be quite a few of us who fit in that particular Venn diagram) will love this...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
It’s remarkable that this meandering observational documentary about the five square mile airport west of London has...
Steve O'Rourke
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Rage 2 is a wacky Dayglo-infused post-apocalyptic world filled with various different factions who, for one reason or...
Katie Colombus
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
It’s no surprise that Wim Vandekeybus is trying something new at Brighton Festival. The Belgian choreographer has a...
Lisa-Marie Ferla
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
At its best, the music of Glasgow band Honeyblood often sounded like a girl gang you weren’t cool enough to be a part of -...
disc of the day
CD: Morrissey - California Son
An often ear-pleasing covers album, but from a singer who urgently needs an artistic statement that clarifies his worldview
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tv
Summer of Rockets, BBC Two review - pride and prejudice in 1950s Britain
Real-life experiences make Stephen Poliakoff's Cold War drama ring true
Alastair Campbell: Depression and Me, BBC Two review - is there an alternative to a life on anti-depressants?
Former spin doctor explores solutions to his mental health issues
Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport, ITV review - 80 million passengers but not much action
Fifth season of meandering documentary gets off to an uneventful start
film
Cannes 2019: Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood review - sun-soaked black comedy
25 years after Pulp Fiction's Cannes premiere, Tarantino wrestles with one of Hollywood's most notorious moments
Aladdin review - live-action remake in classic Disney mould
Will Smith has the only magic in update of 1992 animation
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection review - a fascinating oddity
Love movies, love tennis, love this
new music
Rokia Traoré: Dream Mandé: Djata, Brighton Festival 2019 review – resonant griot wisdom
Home truths as Malian tales transfix the South Coast
CD: Morrissey - California Son
An often ear-pleasing covers album, but from a singer who urgently needs an artistic statement that clarifies his worldview
Mark Knopfler, Royal Albert Hall review - the Sultan's return
Dire Straits' frontman hits the road for what he says will be his last tour.
classical
Igor Levit, Wigmore Hall review – full-spectrum Bach from a prodigious talent
The Russian-born Berliner delivers gripping pianistic theatre
First Person: Liam Byrne on bringing Versailles to the City's 'Culture Mile'
The viola da gamba player on pleasures at the Barbican's free Sound Unbound festival
Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Schumann, Tamara Stefanovich
Austro-German symphonies and a multinational piano recital
opera
Donnerstag aus Licht, Pascal, RFH review – indulgent genius at work
Me, myself and I on stage: the trinity of Stockhausen, Michael and Jesus
First Person: Conductor Maxime Pascal on Stockhausen at the Southbank Centre
The man in control of a cosmic opera tonight on its visionary German composer
La Damnation de Faust, Glyndebourne review – bleak and compelling makeover
Berlioz's Romantic Everyman seen in a sobering light
theatre
The Lehman Trilogy, Piccadilly Theatre review - stunning chronicle of determination and dollars
A simultaneously sweeping and intimately human production
Superhoe, Brighton Festival 2019 review - a darkly vital one-woman show
Nicôle Lecky's raw, persuasive play about sex work, social media and female empowerment
ANNA, National Theatre review - great thriller, shame about the tone
Intriguing Cold War thriller is thoroughly immersive, but lacks a convincing sense of history
dance
Tribe//Still I Rise, Brighton Festival 2019 review - an evening of poetic movement
Convincing choreography based on the poetry of Maya Angelou
Traptown, Wim Vandekeybus/Ultima Vez, Brighton Festival 2019 review - obscure to the point of ridiculous
An uneasy and inaccessible evening of performance that searches for abstraction but gets lost in its own concept
Within the Golden Hour/Medusa/Flight Pattern, Royal Ballet review - the company shows its contemporary face
Osipova is astonishing as ever, but Medusa the ballet misses its mark
comedy
Al Murray as the Pub Landlord, Embassy Theatre Skegness review - comic pulls his punches
Ageing character has little new to say on Brexit
Ruby Wax, Brighton Festival 2019 review - how to be human
An evening of laughs alongside real lessons in mindfulness and neurology
Andy Hamilton, Brighton Festival 2019 review - gently amusing night of reminiscence
Comedy writing perennial spends an evening answering audience questions
gaming
Rage 2 review – garish but great post-apocalyptic shooter
Challenge The Authority in this 'Mad Max on mushrooms' renegade romp
Win a Luxury Weekend for Two to Celebrate Brighton Festival!
An eclectic line-up spanning music, theatre, dance, visual art, film, comedy, literature and spoken word could be yours with boutique hotel and exquisite meals included
World War Z review - bloodthirsty fun with the zombie apocalypse
Chainsawing the brain-eaters as you battle against the tide of the undead
visual arts
Manga, British Museum review - stories for outsiders
Enormous exhibition on the Japanese art of graphic stories
Anish Kapoor, Lisson Gallery review - naïve vulgarity and otherworldly onyx
Duds and gems in mixed show of paintings and sculptures
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