book reviews and features
10 Questions for Count Arthur Strong![]()
Autumn is a season of tumbling leaves, dark afternoons and of course fatuous memoirs from people off the telly. But every so often the world is taken by surprise, less by autumn itself than by the... Read more... |
Extract: George Harrison - Behind the Locked Door![]()
Following the completion of the White Album, and the conclusion of recording sessions in Los Angeles with new Apple signing Jackie Lomax, in late November 1968 George Harrison and his... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Sex researcher Shere Hite![]()
This week Channel 4 embarks on a season of programmes about sex. Real sex, it claims, in real British bedrooms. A new series called Masters of Sex dramatises the story of William Masters... Read more... |
Pages
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?
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.
latest in today
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Screenshot%202024-10-30%20at%2017-39-09%20theartsdesk.com%20%28%40the_arts_desk%29%20%E2%80%A2%20Instagram%20photos%20and%20videos.png?itok=W02US5i5)
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
For all its passing British sea shanties and folksongs, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony does Walt Whitman’s determinedly global-oriented...
Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof is now an...
![A very impressive and welcoming gig](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/uploadedimage_65b7b794bd539.jpg?itok=CPnL9T-k)
Bowling For Soup are celebrating their iconic album, A Hangover You Don’t Deserve, on a fun-filled, energetic tour for its 20th...
!['Metallo-determinist': author Philip Marsden](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Philip%20Marsden%20new%202024%20credit%20Lewis%20Jefferies.jpeg?itok=9paFaYUJ)
Working on materials was basic to human culture from the start: chipping at flint to make a hand-axe; fashioning bone or wood; drying hides....
![Listen carefully: Toshiro Mifune and Kyōko Kagawa in 'High and Low'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/1_yexeJVA4AqR4uc0NjOZusg.jpg?itok=bCsGV6VO)
Akira Kurosawa’s mastery of different genres is a given and one of High and Low’s strengths is a seamless blending of various...
![Tight-knit ensemble: Anjli Mohindra, Deborah Findlay, Gina McKee, Romola Garai, Harmony Rose-Bremner in 'The Years'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Years%201.jpg?itok=Tc5XqxSD)
Annie Ernaux’s semi-autobiographical book Les Années charts a woman’s life across time and space, history and memory, through...
![Bringing unhinged joy](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/NINA_CONTI_LIVE-07236%28Credit_Paul%20Gilbey%29.jpg?itok=G1I9o9NW)
“I really am the repository for all your shit,” Nina Conti’s famous Monkey hand puppet tells her. Monkey may have a point.
The brilliance of...
![Folk and furious: Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Plínio Fernandes, Hadewych van Gent](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/noisenight198%20braimah_plinio_hadewych-3%20%281%29.jpg?itok=0h5c1mgB)
It was the sonically adventurous, shiveringly atmospheric cello piece by Latvian composer Preteris Vasks that proved to be the first showstopper...
![Deus ex machina: Dionysus (Tommy Franzén) takes pity on grieving Ariadne (Kristen McNally) in Minotaur](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Tommy%20Franze%CC%81n%20%28Dionysus%29%20and%20Kristen%20McNally%20%28Ariadne%29%20in%20Minotaur%20%C2%A92025%20Tristram%20Kenton%20%281%29.jpg?itok=GHMuDnZY)
Greek myths are all over theatre stages at the moment, their fierce, vengeful stories offering unnerving parallels with events in our modern world...