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Tuesday, 31 December 2024
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic...
Thomas H Green
Friday, 13 December 2024
I’ve known for some time that Ariel Sharratt & Matthias Kom’s Never Work is my Album of the Year. This lividly witty, no-filler take-down of workplace servitude arrived on...
Matt Wolf
Thursday, 12 December 2024
It's second time only quasi-lucky for The Devil Wears Prada, the stage musical adaptation of the much-loved Meryl Streep film from 2006 that nosedived in Chicago a few summers ago...
James Saynor
Thursday, 12 December 2024
Lauded by Auden, detested by Edmund Wilson, the Tolkien sagas have divided many from childhood onwards: for kids, they’re not quite pulpy enough to be the first choice for a...
Guy Oddy
Thursday, 12 December 2024
The Jesus and Mary Chain may have been around for some 40 years (albeit on and off), but the Reid brothers clearly have no intention of setting up camp in the heritage music...
Kieron Tyler
Thursday, 12 December 2024
Death of Music was created in Estonia. Despite the English lyrics, directness is absent. Take the title track. “Drop the music” exhorts Mart Avi over its pulsing five minutes. “...
Helen Hawkins
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
There is something deliciously perfect about the timing of The Producers’ arrival at the Menier Chocolate Factory. In these...
Alexandra Coghlan
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
There are no battlement leaps or murderous vows, no pistols or daggers, not so much as a slight cough disturbs the serene...
Rachel Halliburton
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Hermia is a headbutting punk with a tartan fetish, Oberon looks like Adam Ant and Lysander appears to have stumbled out of a...
Robert Beale
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Emmanuel Chabrier’s L’étoile is not exactly a French farce, but it comes from a post-Offenbach era (1877 saw its premiere)...
Bernard Hughes
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
The Christmas album is an American phenomenon that doesn’t really exist in British music. Dating back to Frank Sinatra and...
Adam Sweeting
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
It’s rare to spot Keira Knightley in a TV series, and it’s no doubt a sign of changing times that she’s starring in this six...
Jonathan Geddes
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
When Vampire Weekend arrived onstage they numbered only three and were bunched together at the front with a large curtain...
Nick Hasted
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Patriotic Italian films set during the Fascist war effort are understandably rare UK releases. Submarine commander Salvatore...
Helen Hawkins
Monday, 09 December 2024
Those with treasured battered copies of Noel Streatfield’s 1936 story of three young adopted sisters in pre-war London may...
Bernard Hughes
Monday, 09 December 2024
Connaught Brass is a quintet of twenty-something players rapidly establishing an enviable reputation, and on the evidence of...
Helen Hawkins
Monday, 09 December 2024
Romeo and Juliet or Cinderella? Prokofiev’s two great scores have provided the Royal Ballet with a pair of popular hits,...
Sarah Kent
Monday, 09 December 2024
If you suffer from lepidopterophobia, this film will either cure your fear of moths or push you over the edge. Warning:...
India Lewis
Monday, 09 December 2024
On a wet, dreary, winter evening in north London, at Islington Assembly Hall, a crowd gathered for an ethereal although not...
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Album of the Year 2024: Amelia Coburn - Between the Moon and the Milkman
An array of albums that have set 2024 alight for this writer
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Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
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
Black Doves, Netflix review - Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw battle against the implausible
Can anyone be trusted in Joe Barton's twisty London drama?
Senna, Netflix review - the life and legend of Brazil's greatest driver
You saw the movie, now watch the TV series
Landman, Paramount+ review - once upon a time in the West
Billy Bob Thornton stars in Taylor Sheridan's Texas oil drama
film
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review - a middling return to Middle-earth
J. R. R. Tolkien gets the anime treatment
Nocturnes review - the sounds of the rainforest transport you a remote region of the Himalayas
Mansi spends her nights counting moths in North East India
new music
Album of the Year 2024: Amelia Coburn - Between the Moon and the Milkman
An array of albums that have set 2024 alight for this writer
Jesus & Mary Chain, O2 Institute, Birmingham - Reid Brothers refuse to join the heritage industry
Noise veterans deck the halls with feedback and dry ice
Album: Ajukaja & Mart Avi - Death of Music
Estonian electronica duo enter a domain where nothing is explicit
classical
Christmas with Connaught Brass, Milton Court review - delightful seasonal fare from Bach to Boulanger
Young quintet dazzle with their technical accomplishment and easy charm
Giltburg, Bournemouth SO, Wigglesworth, Portsmouth Guildhall review - seemingly effortless élan
New chief conductor turns Tchaikovsky waltz king, and a Rachmaninov partnership flows
opera
La rondine, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - sumptuous orchestral playing in an underrated score
Puccini's 100th anniversary celebrated in style
L’étoile, RNCM, Manchester review - lavish and cheerful absurdity
Teamwork to the fore in a multi-credit operatic comedy
theatre
The Devil Wears Prada, Dominion Theatre review - efficient but rarely inspired
Relaunch of Elton John musical needs further tinkering still
The Producers, Menier Chocolate Factory review - liberating taboo-busting fun for grown-ups
Director Patrick Marber does Mel Brooks's musical proud
A Midsummer Night's Dream, RSC, Barbican review - visually ravishing with an undercurrent of violence
This psychedelic mashup conveys a sci-fi-style alternate reality
dance
Ballet Shoes, Olivier Theatre review - reimagined classic with a lively contemporary feel
The basics of Streatfeild's original aren't lost in this bold, inventive production
Cinderella, Royal Ballet review - inspiring dancing, but not quite casting the desired spell
A fairytale in need of a dramaturgical transformation
comedy
Kemah Bob, Soho Theatre review - Thailand, massage and mental health
Texan's full-length debut is a personal story
Books
Jeff Young: Wild Twin review - a box of tricks
Fragments cohere in this dog-eared history of an itinerant life
Interview: rising star Chloe Savage on the Arctic, outer space, and igniting children's wonder for the unknown
Beautiful books take you to worlds that are intricately imagined and a feast for the eye
visual arts
Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet, Tate Modern review - an exhaustive and exhausting show
Flashing lights, beeps and buzzes are diverting, but quickly pall
ARK: United States V by Laurie Anderson, Aviva Studios, Manchester review - a vessel for the thoughts and imaginings of a lifetime
Despite anticipating disaster, this mesmerising voyage is full of hope
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