theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Tom Birchenough
Friday, 14 November 2025
We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the...
James Saynor
Thursday, 03 July 2025
“Dying is an act of eroticism,” suggested one of the many disposable characters in David Cronenberg’s first full-length feature, Shivers (1975), and that slippery adage could sum...
Thomas H Green
Thursday, 03 July 2025
German singer Claudia Brücken has had a long and busy career, initially defined by her role in Propaganda. They were a cult 1980s band on ZTT Records who laced their opulent synth...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 02 July 2025
The first Jurassic Park movie now seems virtually Jurassic itself, having been released in the sepia-tinged year of 1993. Directed with pizzazz by Steven Spielberg, it was ground-...
Joe Muggs
Wednesday, 02 July 2025
Dominic “Mocky” Salole has had a long career in which the tension between authenticity and pastiche has been a constant. Toronto-born, of English and Yemeni heritage, he came of...
David Nice
Tuesday, 01 July 2025
Poor, slightly silly Semele fries at the sight of lover Jupiter casting off his mortal form, but in Congreve’s and Handel’s supposedly happy ending, everyone else rejoices that...
Hugh Barnes
Tuesday, 01 July 2025
In 2019, French-Tunisian journalist and documentary filmmaker Hind Meddeb flew to Sudan after the overthrow of hated...
David Nice
Tuesday, 01 July 2025
Over 100 years ago, John Christie envisaged Wagner’s Parsifal with limited forces in the Organ Room at Glyndebourne. He...
Helen Hawkins
Monday, 30 June 2025
The red, white and blue bull’s-eye on the front curtain at Sadler’s Wells tells us we are in the familiar territory of Pete...
Boyd Tonkin
Monday, 30 June 2025
Sometimes, as the first act of Beethoven’s Fidelio closes, the chorus of prisoners discreetly fade away backstage as their...
Veronica Lee
Monday, 30 June 2025
Appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe has long been an expensive gig for comics. But while stand-ups may need only a microphone...
Kieron Tyler
Monday, 30 June 2025
The first five-and-a-half minutes of Sunwise’s opening track “Dùsgadh / Waking" are taken up by a drone. Played on the...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 29 June 2025
Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” was an instant phenomenon. Recorded in April 1967 and issued as a single on 12 May...
Helen Hawkins
Saturday, 28 June 2025
The corset is an unlikely star of the latest Lynn Nottage play to arrive at the Donmar Warehouse, 2003’s Intimate Apparel....
Pamela Jahn
Saturday, 28 June 2025
Andreas Dresen directs socially engaged realist films that invariably relay personal and political messages; the result can...
Gary Naylor
Saturday, 28 June 2025
Many years ago, reviewing pantomime for the first time, I recall looking around in the stalls. My brain was saying, “This is...
Thomas H Green
Saturday, 28 June 2025
Around eight years ago, London singer-songwriter Lail Arad started releasing one-off tracks with Canadian singer JF...
Mark Kidel
Friday, 27 June 2025
Alfred Brendel’s death earlier this month came as a shock, but it wasn’t unexpected. His health had gradually deteriorated...
Helen Hawkins
Friday, 27 June 2025
Fans of the character comedian Graham Fellows will possibly turn up for this British film starring the man who created the...
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disc of the day
Album: Claudia Brücken - Night Mirror
The Propaganda singer returns with an album of elegant, varied grown-up pop
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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
Outrageous, U&Drama review - skilfully-executed depiction of the notorious Mitford sisters
A crack cast, clever script and smart direction serve this story well
Prost, BBC 4 review - life and times of the driver they called 'The Professor'
Alain Prost liked being world champion so much he did it four times
The Buccaneers, Apple TV+, Season 2 review - American adventuresses run riot in Cornwall
Second helping of frothy Edith Wharton adaptation
film
The Shrouds review - he wouldn't let it lie
More from the gruesome internal affairs department of David Cronenberg
Jurassic World Rebirth review - prehistoric franchise gets a new lease of life
Scarlett Johansson shines in roller-coaster dino-romp
Sudan, Remember Us review - the revolution will be memorised
Gonzo documentary shines light on a lost opportunity in the Arab spring
new music
Album: Claudia Brücken - Night Mirror
The Propaganda singer returns with an album of elegant, varied grown-up pop
Album: Mocky - Music Will Explain (Choir Music Vol. 1)
Is the Canadian polymath hiding behind his exquisite production and arrangement skill?
classical
Aldeburgh Festival, Weekend 2 review - nine premieres, three young ensembles - and Allan Clayton
A solstice sunrise swim crowned the best of times at this phoenix of a festival
Schubertiade 3 at the Ragged Music Festival, Mile End review - five great musicians keep spirits soaring
Kolesnikov, Tsoy, Leonskaja, Ibragimova and Hecker in spellbinding performances
opera
Semele, Royal Opera review - unholy smoke
Style comes and goes in a justifiably dark treatment of Handelian myth
Le nozze di Figaro, Glyndebourne review - perceptive humanity in period setting
Mostly glorious cast, sharp ideas, fussy conducting
Fidelio, Garsington Opera review - a battle of sunshine and shadows
Intimacy yields to spectacle as Beethoven's light of freedom triumphs
theatre
Intimate Apparel, Donmar Warehouse review - stirring story of Black survival in 1905 New York
An early Lynn Nottage work gets a superb cast and production
Hercules, Theatre Royal Drury Lane review - new Disney stage musical is no 'Lion King'
Big West End crowdpleaser lacks punch and poignancy with join-the-dots plotting and cookie-cutter characters
Showmanism, Hampstead Theatre review - lip-synced investigation of words, theatricality and performance
Technically accomplished production with Dickie Beau never settles into a coherent whole
dance
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Quadrophenia, Sadler's Wells review - missed opportunity to give new stage life to a Who classic
The brilliant cast need a tighter score and a stronger narrative
The Midnight Bell, Sadler's Wells review - a first reprise for one of Matthew Bourne's most compelling shows to date
The after-hours lives of the sad and lonely are drawn with compassion, originality and skill
comedy
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Kieran Hodgson, Soho Theatre review - a love affair soured by Trump
Can America be great again for the comic?
Books
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Ian Leslie: John and Paul - A Love Story in Songs review - help!
Ian Leslie loses himself in amateur psychology, and fatally misreads The Beatles
Samuel Arbesman: The Magic of Code review - the spark ages
A wide-eyed take on our digital world can’t quite dispel the dangers
visual arts
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Abstract Erotic, Courtauld Gallery review - sculpture that is sensuous, funny and subversive
Testing the boundaries of good taste, and winning
latest comments
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Why is the opening song "infamous"?
The Beach Boys finally retired from touring as it...
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