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Veronica Lee
Thursday, 12 December 2019
When Qdos brought back pantomime to the Palladium three years ago after an absence of nearly 30 years, it set the bar high with superb production values, a large ensemble, a live...
Robert Beale
Thursday, 12 December 2019
Omer Meir Wellber may be the first chief conductor of a major orchestra to have begun his tenure with a children's concert. But the young new chief conductor of the BBC...
Ellie Porter
Thursday, 12 December 2019
Nebraska-born singer-songwriter Josh Rouse made his name in Nashville and has spent the past 15 years living in Spain, and his latest offering gathers together elements of both...
Aleks Sierz
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
The trouble with prejudice is that you can't control how other people see you. At the start of her career, playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's work was set in her own Sikh community...
Tom Birchenough
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Inua Ellams’ Three Sisters plays Chekhov in the shadow of war, specifically the Nigerian-Biafran secessionist conflict of the late 1960s which so bitterly divided that newly...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
The first feature by Copenhagen-born director Ulaa Salim dives boldly into a cauldron of hot-button issues – terrorism, racism, nationalism and fascism. It’s set in 2025, in a...
Kieron Tyler
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
It’s not about spontaneity. Bar switching the order of a couple of songs at the beginning and during the encore, the set was...
The Duchess of Malfi, Almeida Theatre review - a radically original perspective on Webster's tragedy
Heather Neill
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
This play can be a challenge for modern audiences: a woman who is ostensibly in a position of power, "a prince" in...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Alibi is usually your one-stop shop for re-runs of Father Brown or Death in Paradise, so well done them for commissioning...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
The appalling fate of the allegedly unsinkable liner Titanic in 1912 has fuelled endless feature films and documentaries,...
Kathryn Reilly
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Here’s some Christmas cheer for you – Robbie Williams now ties Elvis for the most number ones in a solo career. Take that in...
David Nice
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
There is no mention of Marc-Antoine Charpentier in David Cairns's comprehensive Berlioz biography. It seems extraordinary...
Sebastian Scotney
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
She’s back. Dido stopped touring in 2004 and stayed away from it for 15 years. But since starting again in March of this...
Jenny Gilbert
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
A pas de deux is normally an opportunity for two dancers to express the pinnacle of their skill and the choreographer's art...
Boyd Tonkin
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
“How many times have you heard the conductor sing?” asked William Christie after the final number, but before the two...
Guy Oddy
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
Dinosaur Pile-Up may have been around for more than a decade, but it would be fair to say that their career has been...
Graham Fuller
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
British cinema has done so badly by Christmas that the revival of a film that parses the nature of the festival while mining...
Peter Quantrill
Monday, 09 December 2019
“Hieronymus!” bellowed David Wilson Johnson from the Barbican Hall’s circle on Saturday evening. “Hieronymus Bosch!”...
Aleks Sierz
Monday, 09 December 2019
Actor James McAvoy is much in demand: in the BBC's His Dark Materials he is busy saving a parallel world, while in the...
disc of the day
CD: Josh Rouse – The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse
Likeable singer-songwriter serves up an undemanding Christmas confection
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tv
Traces, Alibi review - pedigree cast battles implausible plot
Dundee-set forensic thriller has too many coincidences for its own good
How They Built the Titanic, Channel 5 review - the great liner revisited again, but why now?
It's always a great story, but this didn't tell us anything new
Elizabeth Is Missing, BBC One review - a tender but tough-minded drama about ageing and loss
Glenda Jackson makes a welcome comeback in this psychological thriller-lite
film
Sons of Denmark review - political thriller stirs cauldron of hot-button issues
Ulaa Salim's debut feature asks pointed questions about racism, terrorism and fascism
DVD/Blu-ray: The Holly and the Ivy
A repressed middle-class clan gathers for Christmas in rarely seen British gem
The Cave review - heroic Syrian hospital workers
A pediatrician's view of indiscriminate slaughter in Eastern Ghouta
new music
CD: Josh Rouse – The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse
Likeable singer-songwriter serves up an undemanding Christmas confection
Mark Lanegan Band, Roundhouse review - rocking reiteration of Mr Gruff’s persona
Goth-edged attack is offset by upper-body swaying
CD: Robbie Williams – The Christmas Present
A saccharine concoction served up with lashings of cheese
classical
'In every concert, I want to try to tell a story': Conductor Omer Meir Wellber at the BBC Philharmonic
The new man in Manchester discusses past, present and future
Charpentier Christmas settings, Solomon's Knot, St John's Smith Square review - pastoral shades
Vibrancy in excelsis for two varied and tender 17th century curiosities
Les Arts Florissants, Christie, Agnew, Barbican review – splendid Baroque knees-up
A birthday bash to relish from the French period superstars
opera
Peter Grimes, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Gardner, RFH review - more instrumental than vocal intensity
Superlative playing and conducting, some fine singing, but the protagonist is a bit peaky
Death in Venice, Royal Opera review – expansive but intimate evocations
David McVicar brings light and movement to gloomy Venice, but holds psychological focus
theatre
Goldilocks and the Three Bears, London Palladium review - joyously filthy fun
Purists may quibble at circus-themed show
A Kind of People, Royal Court review - multiculturalism falls apart
Family tragedy is emotionally powerful but incomplete and unsatisfying
Three Sisters, National Theatre review - Chekhov in time of war
Relocation from the Russian provinces to Sixties Biafra brings insight and immediacy
dance
Radio & Juliet/Faun/McGregor + Mugler, London Coliseum review - a fashion faux pas
Wayne McGregor fails to shine in ill-advised bling fest
Svetlana Zakharova, Modanse, London Coliseum review - impeccably chic but soul-less
The Bolshoi star looks great but delivers zero emotion in new ballet about Coco Chanel
comedy
Adam Kay, Bloomsbury Theatre review - festive tales from the NHS coalface
Medic-turned-comic reads from his waspish memoir
Andy Parsons, Stamford Corn Exchange review - politics and the art of persuasion
Cheering antidote to Brexit blues
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
Dora Maar, Tate Modern review - how women disappear
Stunning photographs and fabulous photomontages by overlooked and elusive artist
Charlotte Salomon: Life? or Theatre?, Jewish Museum London review - rallying against death
Set aside time to absorb the stunning work of this modernist painter murdered at Auschwitz
latest comments
Interesting comments - I was there too. To me...
I feel so sorry for this young man. I wish I was...
Thank you for that nuanced bit of info, RL...
Well written review Nick. Just one historical/...
Yes, it's a fascinating story. The female wolf...
I watched this Programme with my Wife and was...
Thank you very much, Patricia, the kind words are...
Stunning commentary, brought a tear to my eye and...