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Rachel Halliburton
Tuesday, 22 January 2019
How does an unassuming 36-year-old with a terrifyingly sensible haircut and a mildly flamboyant taste in jumpers become the political playwright par excellence of his generation?...
Marianka Swain
Tuesday, 22 January 2019
Following Caroline, or Change and Fun Home, the UK is blessed with another work from American composer Jeanine Tesori; this is the British premiere of her 1997 musical Violet,...
Boyd Tonkin
Tuesday, 22 January 2019
The Endellion Quartet first rehearsed on 20 January 1979, deep in the throes of Britain’s so-called “Winter of Discontent”. That longevity – with three of the original players...
Graham Rickson
Tuesday, 22 January 2019
Keda’s already in trouble for not living up to his father’s expectations. And then there’s an unfortunate clash with an angry bison which sends him careering down a vertiginous...
Marina Vaizey
Monday, 21 January 2019
Reckless, unstoppable, one step ahead of everyone else, a hell of a lot of fun, utterly charming, street smart – descriptions of the artist Sidney Nolan (1917-1992) poured out...
Robert Beale
Monday, 21 January 2019
In contrast to a classic film soundtrack played live with the film, the idea in "symphonic cinema" is that the music, and its interpretation, come first. So the conductor is...
Veronica Lee
Monday, 21 January 2019
Daniel Sloss's latest show is called X, to denote his 10th show. The Scottish comic started in comedy as a teenager in 2009...
Thomas H Green
Monday, 21 January 2019
Russian trio Gnoomes have created small waves over the last couple of years with their woozy psychedelia. One of its...
Adam Sweeting
Sunday, 20 January 2019
A bunch of young-ish people stuck in a rambling house in the middle of nowhere, a hatchet-faced senior citizen guarding a...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 20 January 2019
Releases dedicated to previously unisssued live recordings can be tricky. The variables at play don’t necessarily ensure...
Lisa-Marie Ferla
Sunday, 20 January 2019
The disappearance of a band for a while calls for a re-set. A reminder, perhaps, of why you fell for them in the first place...
Graham Fuller
Saturday, 19 January 2019
Very much a woman of today, the Catholic Stuart heroine (Saoirse Ronan) of Mary Queen of Scots frequently hacks her way out...
David Nice
Saturday, 19 January 2019
Julia Wolfe, Caroline Shaw, Anna Þorvaldsdóttir: three names on quite a list I reeled off earlier this week when someone...
Kieron Tyler
Saturday, 19 January 2019
Norway’s Hedvig Mollestad Trio reset the dial to what jazz fusion sought to do when it emerged, and do so in such a way that...
Nick Hasted
Saturday, 19 January 2019
M Night Shyamalan is the Orson Welles of twist-ending fantasy, forever condemned to reach back to his first two successes....
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 19 January 2019
Mia Brentano’s Hidden Sea – 20 Songs for 2 Pianos Benyamin Nuss & Max Nyberg (pianos) (Mons Records)Hiddensee is a...
Gavin Dixon
Saturday, 19 January 2019
The big news on this programme was Schoenberg’s Pelleas and Melisande. This early score, completed in 1903, is a sprawling...
Saskia Baron
Saturday, 19 January 2019
This well-crafted addition to the films inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement is subtler and less commercial than last...
Guy Oddy
Saturday, 19 January 2019
Why You So Crazy is a woozy, disorientating and spaced-out affair with a similar understated production to the Dandy Warhols...
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tv
Imagine... James Graham, BBC One review - deft analysis of a working life
The playwright of UK politics on catching the cliff-edge moments of history
Nolan: Australia's Maverick Artist, BBC Four review – a lust for life in all its aspects
The gifted painter from Down Under who rocked the art world
Black Lake, Series 2 Finale, BBC Four review - Swedish chiller fails to thrill
After an intriguing start, spooky sequel goes nowhere fast
film
Van Woerkum, BBCPO, Gernon, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a symphony of cinema
How an ‘image soloist’ makes film dance to music’s beat
Mary Queen of Scots review - Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie excel
A worthy historical drama that sinks under its own weight
new music
Reissue CDs Weekly: Charles Mingus
‘Jazz in Detroit’ captures the legendary bass-man with a hitherto unheard band at a 1973 show
CD: The Twilight Sad - It Won/t Be Like This All the Time
Scottish miserabilists remind you why you fell for them in the first place
classical
Endellion Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - four decades of excellence
Britain's premier string quartet celebrate in - serious - style
Van Woerkum, BBCPO, Gernon, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a symphony of cinema
How an ‘image soloist’ makes film dance to music’s beat
Bang on a Can All-Stars, Kings Place review - a kaleidoscope of vibrant sound and vision
The six New York-based players showcase a range of eclectic commissions
opera
'Bringing things to life is what opera is all about': Robert Howarth on a 'Magic Flute' with a difference
Opera North's Mozart conductor on taking a careful look at a masterpiece
The Queen of Spades, Royal Opera review - uneven cast prey to overthought concept
Two stories painstakingly interwoven, but the dark heart of Tchaikovsky/Pushkin falters
Best of 2018: Opera
A year more remarkable for high musical values than any wealth of great UK productions
theatre
Violet, Charing Cross Theatre review - Jeanine Tesori's faith musical is a gentle pleasure
This intimate work unveils the miracle of acceptance
The Unreturning, Theatre Royal Stratford East review - hymn to home
Frantic Assembly's latest is a moving meditation on war and masculinity
The Daughter-in-Law, Arcola Theatre review - searing simplicity
DH Lawrence's tragically inflected 1913 tale of family relationships powerfully told
dance
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
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Sadler's Wells - vivid, enchanting
Refreshed classic production delights with energy, storytelling and live Tchaikovsky
The Nutcracker, Royal Ballet review - a still-magical tale of two couples
Peter Wright's balance of story-telling and classical dance lacks only elan from the pit
comedy
Daniel Sloss, Leicester Square Theatre review - toxic masculinity examined
Male attitudes in the #MeToo age
James Acaster, Phoenix Theatre review - a masterclass in comedy
The stand-up's show is his most personal yet
Leicester Comedy Festival Gala Preview Show review - an entertaining mixed bag
Curtain-raiser to next month's offerings
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
Best of 2018: Art
Reputations restored and revised: a look back at some of this year's best art shows
Edwin Landseer / Rachel Maclean, National Gallery review - a juxtaposition of opposites
The Monarch of the Glen refreshed by a Scottish political satirist
Māris Briežkalns Quintet, EFG London Jazz Festival 2018 review - a Rothko symphony
Latvian players and composers homage a great artist they can call their own
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