theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Theartsdesk
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...
Helen Hawkins
Saturday, 14 December 2024
The Young Vic has opened under a new artistic director with a puzzle play. The puzzle is, why stage this piece today?The key themes of Lillian Hellman’s 1939 play look promising...
Adam Sweeting
Friday, 13 December 2024
Judging by a Sunday Times interview last weekend, Daniel Craig now enjoys wearing brilliantly-coloured sweaters and extraordinary trousers, very much like a man running as fast as...
Aleks Sierz
Friday, 13 December 2024
I live in Brixton, south London. To get to the tube, I have to cross Windrush Square. Since 2021, I go past the Cherry Groce memorial, which honours the woman who was wrongfully...
John Carvill
Friday, 13 December 2024
What is it about Humphrey Bogart? Why does he still spark interest, still feel relevant, so many decades after his death? It’s a complex question and may be impossible to...
Matt Wolf
Friday, 13 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
disc of the day
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
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
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.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
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
Queer review - Daniel Craig meets William Burroughs
Luca Guadagnino's film is crazy but it just might work
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
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 Little Foxes, Young Vic review - timeshifted production blurs the play's focus
Lillian Hellman’s family feud set in 1900 Alabama doesn’t survive a confused updating
The Legends of Them, Royal Court review - reaching out for serenity
Gig theatre piece about the pain and redemption of a pioneer reggae artist
The Devil Wears Prada, Dominion Theatre review - efficient but rarely inspired
Relaunch of Elton John musical needs further tinkering still
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
William J. Mann: Bogie & Bacall review - beyond the screen
Why we're still in love with Bogart and Bacall, and their legendary Hollywood romance
Jeff Young: Wild Twin review - a box of tricks
Fragments cohere in this dog-eared history of an itinerant life
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
latest comments
Movie was a 10/10, clearly you dont know how to...
I would really like to see this in the cinema… to...
Cor blimey....cheer up Gaz!
70 minutes, you were lucky, it was barely 60...
Thanks so much... I suspect that slip is a typo!...
Mostly a well written and observed article. I...
"It is hard to make a case that the crop of 1976...
Loved reading your article I've been a long time...