Reviews
La forza del destino, Royal Opera review - generous voices, dramatic voids
Friday, 22 March 2019
When "Maestro" Riccardo Muti left the Royal Opera's previous production of Verdi's fate-laden epic, disgusted by minor changes to fit the scenery on the Covent Garden stage, no-one was sorry when Antonio Pappano, the true master of the house then only two years into his glorious reign, took over.
- Comment
Pose, BBC Two review - transgender goes mainstream
Friday, 22 March 2019
NYC, 1987. AIDS is ravaging the city, Reagan’s in power, Trump is in his tower. The American dream is available - to some. And for some of those to whom it’s not, there’s the world of balls, vogueing and competing for trophies. If your family has kicked you out for being gay or trans, the balls are a place where you can strike a pose, find acceptance and make your legendary mark.
Minding the Gap review – profound musings on life
Friday, 22 March 2019
Where would you go for a devastating study on the human condition? The home movies of teenage skaters would be very low down on that list. But most...
Emilia, Vaudeville Theatre review - shouting for...
Friday, 22 March 2019
Emilia Bassano Lanier is not a household name. But maybe she should be. Born in 1569, she was one of the first women in England to publish a book of...
Downstate, National Theatre review -...
Thursday, 21 March 2019
"Some monsters are real," notes a retribution-minded wife (Matilda Ziegler) early in Downstate, Bruce Norris's beautiful and wounding play that has...
The White Crow review - gripping depiction of the brilliance of Nureyev
A portrait of the artist as an arrogant, ruthlessly ambitious young genius |
Mike Nelson, The Asset Strippers, Tate Britain review – exhilarating reminder of industrial might
A stirring elegy to Britain's industrial past |
The Bay, ITV, review - Broadchurch goes north
Morven Christie plays a detective with a naughty secret in a Morecambe murder case |
The Bay at Nice, Menier Chocolate Factory review - David Hare talkfest takes intermittent wing
Penelope Wilton and Ophelia Lovibond face off in revival of little-known 1986 play |
Bach St John Passion, Les Arts Florissants, Christie, Barbican review – sombre but engaging
An atmospheric but unfocused reading, elevated by a fine Evangelist |
Shetland, Series 5 Finale, BBC One review - Sicario-on-Sea?
Unflappable Jimmy Perez solves murderous North Sea crime wave |
The Rubenstein Kiss, Southwark Playhouse review - slick spy drama doesn't quite come together
Excellent performances aren't enough to cover the holes in this fictionalised account of the Rosenbergs |
Schiff, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, RFH review – antique kit, modern sounds
Instrumental time-travels rejuvenate a Romantic trio |
Richard II, Sam Wanamaker Theatre review - electrifying mixed-race all-female production
Adjoa Andoh is a magnetic Richard with her hawk-like glare and vigorous swagger |
The Thread, Russell Maliphant & Vangelis, Sadler’s Wells review – an inspiring marriage of old and new
Divergent worlds made to co-exist with apparent ease |
David Hepworth: A Fabulous Creation review - how vinyl soothed our souls and defined our being
'Sgt Pepper' took us by surprise - and ushered in a revolution |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Where The Girls Are Volume Ten
The template-setting series of female-centric Sixties pop compilations bows out |
Connolly, Drake, Berrington, Wigmore Hall review – between the acts
Virginia Woolf inspires a rich if distracting mix of words and music |
Yxng Bane, Brixton Academy review - all the fam on stage
Lit gig from star on the rise |
Showbands, BBC Four review - an Irish cultural phenomenon explained
Ardal O'Hanlon plays the genial host of this illuminating archive documentary |
Girl review - Belgian art-house portrait of a teenage ballerina
Danse macabre? Cannes festival favourite runs into flak on its wider release |
Faust, Matthews, LSO, Haitink, Barbican review - glimpses of heaven
Nature relished in Dvořák and carefully observed in Mahler |
Triple Frontier, Netflix review - war-on-drugs thriller suffers identity crisis
Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck can't say no to one last big score |
Loreena McKennitt, Royal Albert Hall review - making Celtic connections
A magical musical mystery tour |
Ed Gamble, The Stand review - amiable hour touching on personal issues
Opening show of 2019 Glasgow Comedy Festival |
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Birmingham Opera Company review - searing music-theatre for all
Bloodied brides and rat-heads run amok in visceral ballroom Shostakovich |
Betrayal, Harold Pinter Theatre review - Tom Hiddleston anchors a bold, brooding revival
Jamie Lloyd locates the radical soul of a classic work |
Under the Silver Lake review - fascinating LA noir folly
An indulged director shoots for the moon in a seriously shallow conspiracy thriller |
Admissions, Trafalgar Studios review - topical and whiplash-smart
Alex Kingston stars in darkly comic Off Broadway transfer |
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latest in today
La forza del destino, Royal Opera review - generous voices,...
When "Maestro" Riccardo Muti left the Royal Opera's...
Pose, BBC Two review - transgender goes mainstream
NYC, 1987. AIDS is ravaging the city, Reagan’s in power,...
Emilia, Vaudeville Theatre review - shouting for change
Emilia Bassano Lanier is not a household name. But maybe she should be. Born in 1569, she was one of the first women in England to publish a book...
Minding the Gap review – profound musings on life
Where would you go for a devastating study on the human condition? The home ...
DVD/Blu-Ray: La Vérité
For admirers of Henri-Georges Clouzot or Brigitte Bardot, this Criterion restoration of their rarely seen 1960 collaboration is a must have. ...
Downstate, National Theatre review - controversial but also...
"Some monsters are real," notes a retribution-minded wife (Matilda Ziegler) early in Downstate, Bruce Norris's beautiful and wounding...
The White Crow review - gripping depiction of the brilliance...
Genius is as genius does, and Rudolf Nureyev made sure...
Mike Nelson, The Asset Strippers, Tate Britain review – exhi...
Mike Nelson has turned the Duveen Galleries into a museum commemorating Britain’s industrial past (pictured below right). Scruffy...
The Bay, ITV, review - Broadchurch goes north
In the 1970s, the Mancunian stand-up Colin Crompton had a famous routine about Morecambe. He characterised Morecambe as “a sort of cemetery with...