book reviews and features
Great Women Artists review - the book we have been waiting for
Sunday, 13 October 2019
Every now and then a book comes out that can change lives. If a survey like this had appeared when I was a student at the Slade, the struggle to make headway as a female artist would have seemed... Read more... |
Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Friday, 11 October 2019
She has more armed guards than she has luggage. She has a sense of purpose even Magsalin admires. She rides along the coast toward a historic place and, by simply stepping on its soil, she will... Read more... |
Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Wednesday, 09 October 2019
She had clutched the envelope given by the shy messenger, but she had never opened it. The Intended. True. The message from the director was for her. A joke between... Read more... |
Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Monday, 07 October 2019
At first, what puts Magsalin off at the pastry shop is Chiara’s voice. It is nasal, and her monotone, a bored flatness, even in the most interesting parts, keeps Magsalin, or the pastry shop... Read more... |
Zadie Smith: Grand Union review – a roller coaster collection
Sunday, 06 October 2019
“Adorable cock, nothing too dramatic, suitable for many situations,” remarks Monica on the penis of her university boyfriend. She is the candid protagonist of ‘Sentimental Education’, the second... Read more... |
Joanna Cannon: Breaking and Mending review - can you feel too much?
Sunday, 06 October 2019
Joanna Cannon was a wild card. She left school at 15 with one O-level and after various jobs, including working as a barmaid, she was given a place at... Read more... |
Ben Lerner: The Topeka School review - lessons to be learned
Sunday, 06 October 2019
The Topeka School begins with a female listener getting bored of hearing her boyfriend talk. Which did not bode well, as the perspective’s was the boyfriend, and I am a... Read more... |
William Feaver: The Lives of Lucian Freud: Youth 1922-1968 review - a testament of friendship
Sunday, 29 September 2019
Lucian Freud was never an entirely willing subject, but his remark to William Feaver that his... Read more... |
Al Alvarez: 'If I drop dead this minute, I’ve had a terrific time'
Monday, 23 September 2019
We like to think of ourselves as a nation of eccentrics, but some take their patriotic duties more seriously than others. Al Alvarez –... Read more... |
Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey: She Said review – better than the movies
Sunday, 22 September 2019
October 5th in the United States is a day for righteous rage. In 2016 it marked the release of the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape in which Donald Trump made his now-infamous “grab them... Read more... |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Fake, ITV1 review - be careful what you wish for
The art of the conman is persuading their victim to fool themselves, which is the premise that lies at the core of this Australian drama series....
Music Reissues Weekly: John McKay - Sixes and Sevens
Sixes and Sevens is a surprise. A big one. Since leaving Siouxsie and the Banshees in September 1979, John McKay has...
Pimpinone, Royal Opera in the Linbury Theatre review - farce...
Full marks to the Royal Opera for good planning: one first night knocking us all sideways with the darkest German operatic tragedy followed by...
Krapp's Last Tape, Barbican review - playing with the l...
In the Stygian darkness of a bare room, a table on a low platform with a light hanging overhead starts to emerge. Then a door briefly...
Formula E: Driver, Prime Video review - inside the world...
The success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive not only provoked a viewer-stampede towards the world’s most expensive sport, but also...
Do Ho Suh: Walk the House, Tate Modern review - memories are...
A traditional Korean house has appeared at Tate Modern....
Die Walküre, Royal Opera review - total music drama
Wagner’s universe, in the second of his Ring operas which brings semi-humans on board to challenge the gods, matches exaltation and misery, terror...
Georgia Mancio, Alan Broadbent, Pizza Express Dean Street re...
Does it spark joy? Yes, definitely...and maybe we music critics should ask the Marie Kondo question more often. London-based vocalist/lyricist...