Reviews
Poet in da Corner, Royal Court review - mind-blowing energy plus plus plus
Tuesday, 25 September 2018
There was once a time when grime music was very angry, and very threatening, but that seems a long time ago now. Today, Dizzee Rascal is less a herald of riot and revolt, and more of a national treasure, exuding charm from every pore, even if his music has become increasing predictable and safe. But, as wordsmith and dancer Debris Stevenson proves in her debut play, Poet in da Corner, Dizzee Rascal still can change minds and influence people.
Queen of the World, ITV review - born to run and run
Tuesday, 25 September 2018
Awesome numbers: over a million miles, the equivalent of 42 times around the globe, have been traversed by Her Majesty the Queen, enabling visits over the past seven decades or so to 117 different countries. No one has reigned longer nor travelled further.
Das Rheingold, Royal Opera review - high drama...
Tuesday, 25 September 2018
Keith Warner’s production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen was first seen at Covent Garden between 2004 and 2006, and is now back for a third and...
Turner Prize 2018, Tate Britain review - a...
Tuesday, 25 September 2018
I’ve just spent four hours in the Turner Prize exhibition at Tate Britain. The shortlisted artists all show films or videos, which means that you...
Bodyguard, BBC One, series finale review -...
Monday, 24 September 2018
And breathe. Bodyguard – not, as even some careless BBC broadcasters keep calling it, "The Bodyguard" – careered to a conclusion as if hurtling...
Lammermuir Festival 2018 review - a bigger buzz
East Lothian's award-winning festival continues to challenge, provoke and illuminate |
Courtauld Impressionists: From Manet to Cézanne review - much loved treasures, seen afresh
Favourite paintings from the Courtauld Gallery reveal the collector's eye |
Neil MacGregor: Living with the Gods review - focuses of belief
Understanding the impulses behind faith, at a time when faith is being distorted |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Bobbie Gentry
‘The Girl From Chickasaw County’ is an enlightening box set dedicated to the ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ hitmaker |
Lavinia Greenlaw: In the City of Love’s Sleep review - curated lives
Falling in love in middle age and the complexities of responsible lives |
The Little Stranger review - the wrong sort of chills
Sarah Waters' haunted-house yarn from the maker of Room will leave you cold |
Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. review - not your average popstar
From asylum-seeker to Grammy-winner, documentary reveals the activist behind the music |
I object, British Museum review - censorship, accidental?
Exhibition on dissidence and subversion doesn't allow objects to speak for themselves |
Eyam, Shakespeare's Globe review - plague drama, dark and loose
Back to the 17th century: the village that cut itself off to die |
A Discovery of Witches, episode 2, Sky 1 review - when the sorceress met the vampire
Supernatural chills and thrills in TV version of the 'All Souls Trilogy' |
Henry V, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol review - the pity of war
A strikingly contemporary take on a humanity's addiction to conflict |
Katherine Ryan, Garrick Theatre review - feminism with extra sass
A laugh-heavy hour from the Canadian |
Faces Places review - Agnès Varda's enchanted journey
With photographer JR, the great French documentarist journeys through her homeland |
The Outsider, Print Room at the Coronet review - power in restraint
The spirit of Magritte pervades this brand of existentialism |
Heathers The Musical, Theatre Royal Haymarket review - a sardonic take on teen angst
Death and all his frenemies descend on a vicious American high school |
David Crosby & Friends, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, review - still spine-tingling at 77
The singer-songwriter rifles through a long back catalogue from the Byrds through CSN to his new output |
Never Here review - conceptual art may damage your health
Echoes of Hitchcock haunt debut feature about voyeurism and obsession |
Isouard's Cendrillon, Bampton Classical Opera review - stepsisters shine in fairy-tale bagatelle
Maltese-French composer's Cinders opera is mostly routine, but performed with esprit |
The Human Voice, Gate Theatre review - unrelenting and sad
The end of the line at the end of a telephone line |
Ian Bostridge, Thomas Adès, Wigmore Hall review - haunting, brutal Schubert
A Winterreise of psychological intensity, but too often taken to ghoulish extremes |
Strangers, episode 2, ITV review - conspiracy theories multiply
Hong Kong locations may be the real stars of this tortuous thriller |
The Prisoner, National Theatre review - Peter Brook's latest falls sadly flat
The British master-director settles for vaguely Beckett-inflected bafflement |
Parsifal, Saffron Opera Group review - drama and focus
Amateur company continues its run of dramatically compelling Wagner |
War and Peace, Welsh National Opera review - an Operation Barbarossa that comes off
Not quite a masterpiece but a great aural and visual spectacle |
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Poet in da Corner, Royal Court review - mind-blowing energy...
There was once a time when grime music was very angry, and very threatening, but that seems a long time ago now. Today, Dizzee Rascal is less a...
Queen of the World, ITV review - born to run and run
Awesome numbers: over a million miles, the equivalent of 42 times around the globe, have been traversed by Her Majesty...
Das Rheingold, Royal Opera review - high drama and dark come...
Keith Warner’s production of Wagner's Der Ring des...
Turner Prize 2018, Tate Britain review - a shortlist dominat...
I’ve just spent four hours in the Turner Prize...
Bodyguard, BBC One, series finale review - gripping entertai...
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Lammermuir Festival 2018 review - a bigger buzz
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