wed 19/02/2025

Reviews

The White Lotus, Series 3, Sky Atlantic review - hit formula with few surprises but a new bewitching soundtrack

Helen Hawkins

The return of Mike White’s hit series can be celebrated for one major reason: its extraordinary music. That may sound like a minor reason, but this third iteration of the show confirms that the show's sound world is key to its success.

East Is South, Hampstead Theatre review - bewildering and unconvincing

Aleks Sierz

Our humanity is defined not only by our use of language, but also by our sense of the spiritual. Whether you are a believer or not, it’s hard to deny the attractions of religion for billions around the world. Sounds portentous? Yeah. Okay, you’re now in the zone for Beau Willimon’s new play East Is South, currently at the Hampstead Theatre, a work which suggests that the digital world can also be mystical place. 

Hacks, Season 3, NOW review - acerbic showbiz...

Adam Sweeting

Dying is easy, comedy is hard, according to the Georgian actor Edmund Kean. Luckily, everybody involved with the much-awarded Hacks understands...

Josienne Clarke, Across the Evening Sky, Kings...

Tim Cumming

On the first date of a 17-concert tour that had its preview at Celtic Connections in January, Across the Evening Sky begins with the liminal,...

Shon Faye: Love in Exile review - the greatest...

India Lewis

As Valentine’s Day crests around us, and lonely hearts come out of their winter hibernation, what better time to publish writer and journalist Shon...

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Mary, Queen of Scots, English National Opera review - heroic effort for an overcooked history lesson

David Nice

Heidi Stober delivers as beleaguered regent, but Thea Musgrave's opera is limiting

Unicorn, Garrick Theatre review - wordy and emotionless desire

Aleks Sierz

New West End drama about spicing up marriage is oddly lacking in passion

Vollmond, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch + Terrain Boris Charmatz, Sadler's Wells review - clunkily-named company shows its lighter side

Florence Roberts

A new generation of dancers brings zest, humour and playfulness to late Bausch

Patrick Duff, The Mount Without, Bristol review - sacred music for the soul

Mark Kidel

A dilapidated Bristol church brought back to vibrant life

Music Reissues Weekly: Sharks - Car Crash Supergroup

Kieron Tyler

The early Seventies blues rockers admired by prime movers in British punk

Fat Dog, Chalk, Brighton review - a frenetic techno-rock juggernaut

Thomas H Green

The rising London outfit deliver a sweaty Cossack-rave hoedown

Sidorova, Philharmonia, Alsop, Royal Festival Hall review - ladies of the dance

Boyd Tonkin

Vitality, virtuosity and sensuality on a pan-American trip

More Life, Royal Court review - posthuman tragedy fails to come alive

Aleks Sierz

A new sci-fi gothic horror about life after death is intriguing, but flawed

Captain America: Brave New World review - talking loud, saying nothing

Nick Hasted

Muddled filler between Avengers films which hardly deserves Harrison Ford

Three Sisters, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - Chekhov's anatomy lesson on the human condition

Gary Naylor

Russia - but also here, there and everywhere

MacMillan's Ordo Virtutum, BBC Singers, Jeannin, Milton Court review - dramatic journey of a medieval soul

David Nice

Choral music's finest advocate runs the gamut in an epic battle of heaven and hell

Surviving Black Hawk Down, Netflix review - the real story behind Ridley Scott's Oscar-winner

Adam Sweeting

Documentary series looks at the 1993 'Battle of Mogadishu' from both sides

To a Land Unknown review - the migrant hustle

James Saynor

A slick tale of two refugees striving and surviving in Athens

Churchill in Moscow, Orange Tree Theatre review - thought-provoking language and power games

Aleks Sierz

Howard Brenton’s new play about Winston and Stalin is both intelligent and fun

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy review - older, sadder Bridget has started ditching the ditz

Helen Hawkins

Michael Morris's deft direction produces a maturer kind of romcom

Festen, Royal Opera review - firing on every front

David Nice

No slack in Mark-Anthony Turnage's operatic treatment of the visceral first Dogme film

Northern Winter Beat 2025, Aalborg review - The Courettes, Dungen and Lubomyr Melnyk confront ideas of how to play

Kieron Tyler

Danish city hosts the festival imbued with a cool which doesn’t need expressing

Gilliver, Liverman, Rangwanasha, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - a rainbow of British music

David Nice

Poetic Maconchy and Walton, surging Vaughan Williams bursting its confines

Bowling For Soup, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton review - nostalgic, celebratory fun

Ellie Roberts

Texan pop-punk legends filled the sold-out Civic Hall with pure joy

Philip Marsden: Under a Metal Sky review - rock and awe

Jon Turney

Myths, mines, and mankind combine in this wide-eyed reading of the earth beneath our feet

The Years, Harold Pinter Theatre review - a bravura, joyous feat of storytelling

Demetrios Matheou

The Almeida’s all-women hit transfers to the West End

Nina Conti: Whose Face Is It Anyway?, Brighton Dome review - a melee of jubilant spontaneity

Thomas H Green

The ventriloquist-comedian's improvised hour-long outing is skilful and fabulously entertaining

Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Fernandes, Gent, 229 review - a beguiling trip around the world

Rachel Halliburton

Engagingly humble and empathetic work from three talented musicians

Phaedra + Minotaur, Royal Ballet and Opera, Linbury Theatre review - a double dose of Greek myth

Jenny Gilbert

Opera and dance companies share a theme in this terse but affecting double bill

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East Is South, Hampstead Theatre review - bewildering and un...

Our humanity is defined not only by our use of language, but also by our sense of the spiritual. Whether you are a believer or not, it’s hard to...

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Shon Faye: Love in Exile review - the greatest feeling

As Valentine’s Day crests around us, and lonely hearts come out of their winter hibernation, what better time to publish writer and journalist...

Blu-ray: Golem

In Jewish folklore, a golem is an inanimate clay figure, brought to life when a magic word is placed inside its mouth....

Mary, Queen of Scots, English National Opera review - heroic...

Genius doesn't always tally with equal opportunities, to paraphrase Doris Lessing. Opera houses have a duty to put on new works by women composers...

Unicorn, Garrick Theatre review - wordy and emotionless desi...

Since when has new writing become so passionless? Mike Bartlett is one of the country’s premiere playwrights and his new play, Unicorn,...