theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
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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…
Gary Naylor |
Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. Er… another nostalgic play about growing up in a Yorkshire post-industrial city?Hard on the heels of John Godber’s Leeds…
Matt Wolf |
There were scattered moments of genuine excitement during the 98th Academy Awards, which saw One Battle After Another emerge with six Oscars, best picture and director amongst…
Thomas H. Green |
Phil Campbell, guitarist for Motörhead from 1984 onwards, died on Friday 13th March after a "long and courageous battle in intensive care following a complex major operation". He…
Adam Sweeting |
Another day, another few million bucks for Taylor Sheridan. Hot on the heels of Marshals, his latest Yellowstone spin-off, his inexorable march through the TV schedules continues…
Boyd Tonkin |
The London Handel Festival delivered extra rations at Smith Square Hall on Saturday. A bright, crisp beginning-of-spring afternoon made a fitting backdrop – with sunlight…
Jonathan Geddes
Juanita Stein had a simple request for her bandmates. “Don’t fuck this up”, she joked, before the Australian group played a song from their new album for only the second time ever…
Robert Beale
Coinciding with Mothers' Day, and a week after International Women’s Day, Manchester Camerata gave this fascinating window into the world of lesser-known music by British women…
Guy Oddy
Once upon a time, albums of cover versions were something of a “go to” (along with hastily assembled live records or compilations with one or two new tracks) when an artist’s…
Thomas H. Green
It’s disquieting, as a bloke, to hear 2000 female voices singing about the sexual frustration caused by premature ejaculation. A noisy chorale, heartfelt, behind Lily Allen’s…
Kieron Tyler
Although the bulk of the 20 tracks collected on Eternal Journey - The Arrangements and Productions of Charles Stepney were originally issued between 1967 and 1971, the period…
Bernard Hughes
This programme – of Weir, Bartók, Finzi and Stravinsky – was right up my alley, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo delivered on its promise, with performances that…
graham.rickson
Lise Davidsen: Live at the Met Lise Davidsen (soprano) James Baillieu (piano) (Decca) Image This really is Lise Davidsen’s…
Thomas H. Green
The best of Ladytron should be on everyone’s playlists. Over 27 years, the Liverpudlian synth-pop act have established themselves as a well-loved international cult act. They’re…
Kieron Tyler
“Jazz,” exclaims an audience member just after Plantoid launch into “Ultivatum Cultivation,” tonight’s second song – also the second song on the band’s recent second LP Flare.He’s…
Thomas H. Green
It’s the first date of Manchester rockers Witch Fever’s European tour and things are off to an iffy start. Drummer Annabelle Joyce has food poisoning. It was touch’n’go whether…
David Nice
The master pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus impressed upon Elisabeth Leonskaja the maxim "don't look for yourself in the music, but find the music in you", something she…
James Saynor
Do we really care what Hitler liked to eat? Well, here’s a film that does, so I can reveal an answer. Typical meals might have included chick pea salad with marinated courgette,…
Guy Oddy
After a career of constant line-up churn, the video for recent single “Profane Prophecy” would suggest that the Black Crowes are now down to brothers Chris and Rich Robinson and…

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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

Bringing Janice Hadlow's alternative-Austen novel to the small screen
Spies, lies and surprises in gripping German thriller

film

'One Battle After Another' is the big winner over 'Sinners' amid a leaden Oscars that mixed impassioned politics with too much painful filler
A curious, cautious tale about sampling the Führer’s grub
Hlynur Pálmason creates an entrancing, novel form of film-as-memory

new music

In memory of the legendary band's riffing heartbeat for more than 30 years, we revisit this 2013 interview in which he talks Johnny Cash, Hawkwind and, of course, Lemmy
The trio have recently returned after a hiatus of more than a decade
A love letter from Portland’s favourites to the songs and bands that inspire them

opera

First-rate singing, playing and conducting, and the portable production has some impact
Biopic opera of the great Japanese artist Hokusai slightly misses its mark

theatre

New 90s nostalgia play has plenty of lessons for today
Excellent revival of Ryan Craig’s 2011 play about an British-Jewish family in crisis
Timely revival of Arthur Miller’s 1994 study of anti-Semitism, marriage and psychology

dance

Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
After 25 years and counting, Cassa Pancho's fine company remains essential
The kindly Skoog made history as a brutal Interrogator in a classic modern ballet

books

Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Saskia Vogel brings a darker than dark tale of rural grief to English for the first time
A Harvard professor presents a sprawling urban history

visual arts

Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
A frieze of iPad pictures that sends you hurrying for the door
Photographs of California’s queer community in the 1990s