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Adam Sweeting
Monday, 18 February 2019
It’s 1945 and World War Two is nearly over. Somewhere in England, Fiona Symonds (“Feef” to her friends) is training to be a spy and be dropped behind enemy lines. Her training...
David Nice
Monday, 18 February 2019
British concert audiences now know and love a great Lithuanian, one of the most communicative and individual conductors in the world today (note I don't even need to prefix "...
Katherine Waters
Monday, 18 February 2019
Ellida (Pia Tjelta) has a choice to make, the outcome of which will bind her future to her past or her present, each represented by a man. On the one hand, there is the...
Saskia Baron
Monday, 18 February 2019
Is there an algorithm for writing this review? There seems to have been one used to create Baptiste, a spin-off from The Missing, and even the staunchest fans...
Owen Richards
Monday, 18 February 2019
Compared to Scotland, Welsh independence has yet to hit the mainstream. The idea has been mostly supported by the Welsh-speaking population, with opinion polls hovering around 19...
Guy Oddy
Monday, 18 February 2019
Beth Jeans Horton’s world seems to have been characterised by an over-supply of half-empty, small glasses of late – especially when it comes to romantic relationships with men....
Marina Vaizey
Sunday, 17 February 2019
This is an astonishing book: in its breadth, depth and detail and also in its almost palpable, and sometimes unpalatable,...
Graham Rickson
Sunday, 17 February 2019
Stravinsky acknowledged that his orchestra for The Rite of Spring was a large one because Diaghilev had promised him extra...
Markie Robson-Scott
Sunday, 17 February 2019
A Tana French crime novel is never just a thriller. Probably more acclaimed in the USA than the UK (she gets rave reviews in...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 17 February 2019
Full marks for shoehorning-in the names of city’s two major football teams into the title of Manchester - A City United In...
Jasper Rees
Saturday, 16 February 2019
There is nothing quite like the Iffland-Ring in this country. The property of the Austrian state, for two centuries it has...
Matt Wolf
Saturday, 16 February 2019
The Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin lived such a fearless life that it's a shame this celluloid biopic isn't...
Bernard Hughes
Saturday, 16 February 2019
The Venezuelan pianist and composer Gabriela Montero is an outspoken advocate for political change in her country, using her...
Mark Kidel
Saturday, 16 February 2019
Abdellatif Kechiche, the Tunisian-French director, is perhaps best known for the lengthy and explicit sex scenes in La vie d...
Stephen Walsh
Saturday, 16 February 2019
I last saw this Magic Flute, directed by Dominic Cooke, when it was new, some 14 years ago, and I remember it mainly, I’m...
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 16 February 2019
Mahler: Symphony No 6 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle (Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings)This lavish...
Katie Colombus
Saturday, 16 February 2019
Avril Lavigne was the original Punk Pop Queen. Fearless, feisty and perfectly fitting for the early noughties as the...
Rachel Halliburton
Friday, 15 February 2019
Two men called "Massimo" face the audience, one very tall, one very, well, minimo. The tall Massimo (Tom Espiner, pictured...
Nick Hasted
Friday, 15 February 2019
The Arthurian legend’s tight fit as a Brexit allegory perhaps proves how timeless it is as, buried and bound in the earth by...
disc of the day
CD: Du Blonde - Lung Bread for Daddy
Beth Jeans Horton gets some rotten relationships out of her system
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tv
Traitors, Channel 4 review - Cold War thriller fails to reach room temperature
Battling Stalin's secret infiltration of Whitehall
Baptiste, BBC One review - detective from 'The Missing' gets his own hand-me-down show
Middle-aged policier drama gets off to a slow start
Catastrophe, Channel 4, series 4 finale review - sitcom saves the best till last
Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney go out on a grief-stricken, hope-filled cliffhanger
film
Q&A Special: Actor Bruno Ganz on playing Hitler
The Swiss actor, who has died aged 77, was the first to play the Führer in a lead role in German
A Private War review - Rosamund Pike burns with passion in well-meaning biopic
A risk-loving journalist is remembered via a safe-seeming film
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno review - cold carnal overdose from Kechiche
Eroticism does best when less is more
new music
Yes is More: Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon, Tramshed - utterly convincing
Welsh independence gig brings positivity and power to a growing movement
CD: Du Blonde - Lung Bread for Daddy
Beth Jeans Horton gets some rotten relationships out of her system
Reissue CDs Weekly: Manchester - A City United In Music
Thought-provoking compendium dedicated to the northern musical powerhouse
classical
Ek, CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - epics of sea and land
Mirga pairs a Lithuanian late-romantic tone poem and familiar Grieg in an unusual context
Montero, Scottish Ensemble, Kings Place review - new music with a political edge
Imaginative programming but the message sometimes overwhelmed the music
Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Saint-Saëns, Danish National Vocal Ensemble
Romantic orchestral music and Danish songs
opera
The Rite of Spring/Gianni Schicchi, Opera North review - unlikely but musically satisfying pairing
Odd-couple double bill of Stravinsky and Puccini with plenty to delight ear and eye
The Magic Flute, Welsh National Opera review - charming to hear, charmless to look at
Mozart's pantomime about Nature and Reason stuck in a box
Brighton Festival 2019 launches with Guest Director Rokia Traoré
The south-coast's arts extravaganza reveals its 2019 line-up
theatre
The Lady from the Sea, Print Room at the Coronet review - freedom to choose?
Engrossing Anglo-Norwegian production has some strong performances
Agnes Colander: An Attempt at Life, Jermyn Street Theatre review - Naomi Frederick shines in 'new' Granville Barker
A rediscovered early work by one of the giants of Twentieth Century theatre focuses on a woman's struggle for independence
Berberian Sound Studio, Donmar Warehouse review – improves the original
This dark comedy raises disturbing questions about sound and intimacy
dance
The Rite of Spring/Gianni Schicchi, Opera North review - unlikely but musically satisfying pairing
Odd-couple double bill of Stravinsky and Puccini with plenty to delight ear and eye
Brighton Festival 2019 launches with Guest Director Rokia Traoré
The south-coast's arts extravaganza reveals its 2019 line-up
Swan Lake, English National Ballet, London Coliseum review - a solid, go-to production
Traditional stagings don't come much more satisfying than Derek Deane's for ENB
comedy
Brighton Festival 2019 launches with Guest Director Rokia Traoré
The south-coast's arts extravaganza reveals its 2019 line-up
Adam Riches Is The Guy Who..., Drink, Shop & Do review - super-suave Lothario on the prowl
Immersive show examines male-female engagement in the #MeToo era
Lost Voice Guy, Soho Theatre review - Britain's Got Talent winner finds the funny in disability
Material moves easily between the political and the personal
gaming
Battlefield V review - WWII on an epic scale
The veteran series returns for another ambitious tour of duty
Fallout 76 review - how to wreck a perfectly good legacy with one messy game
When home runs go horribly wrong
Red Dead Redemption 2 review - the cowboy drama makes a triumphant return
An ambitious Wild West odyssey that matches epic scale with benchmark skill
visual arts
Don McCullin, Tate Britain review - beastliness made beautiful
The darkest, most compelling exhibition you are ever likely to see
Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory review, Tate Modern - plenty but empty
A major retrospective of the French post-impressionist is huge, but unilluminating
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams, Victoria & Albert Museum - sumptuous
Daring, flair and elegance over 80 years
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