Reviews
Magic Farm review - numpties from the Nineties
Saturday, 17 May 2025
There’s nothing more healthy than dissing your own dad, and filmmaker Amalia Ulman says that her old man was “a Gen X deadbeat edgelord skater” when she was growing up in the 1990s. The phrase brings the half-forgotten world of Generation X back to us from the mists of time, with its slackers and Douglas Coupland books and mumbling evasions.
The Great Escape Festival 2025, Brighton review - a dip into Thursday
Friday, 16 May 2025
As every social space in Brighton once again transforms into a mire of self-important music biz sorts loudly bellowing about “waterfalling on Spotify”, it’s also a great time for those who relish gigs by new talent from all over the world. For three days (four, if you count warm-up Wednesday), every nook and cranny has half-hour showcases running from lunchtime until close. And on top of that are the freebie Alternative Escape fringe events.
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Wigmore Hall review - too...
Friday, 16 May 2025
It was a daring idea to mark Ravel’s 150th birthday year with a single concert packing in all his works for solo piano. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet knows...
Good One review - a life lesson in the wild with...
Friday, 16 May 2025
Good One is a generation-and-gender gap drama that mostly unfolds during a weekend hiking and camping trip in the Catskills Forest Preserve in...
E.1027 - Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea...
Friday, 16 May 2025
It’s hard to say who is going to enjoy E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea. Admirers of the modernist designer-architect will be frustrated...
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The Marching Band review - what's the French for 'Brassed Off'?
Brothers suddenly united in blood kinship – and music |
Lucy Farrell, Catherine MacLellan, The Green Note review - sublime frequencies
Two singer songwriters in their prime deliver a double header showcase in Camden |
The Comedy About Spies, Noel Coward Theatre review - 'Goes Wrong' team hit the spot again
More mayhem from the Mischief company |
House of Games, Hampstead Theatre review - adapted Mamet screenplay entertains but is defanged
Richard Bean has turned Mamet's steel trap into an amusing puzzle |
Karim Said, Leighton House review - adventures from Byrd to Schoenberg
The Jordanian pianist presents a magic carpet of dizzyingly contrasting styles |
Stile Antico, Wigmore Hall review - a glorious birthday celebration
Early music group passes a milestone still at the top of its game |
PUP, SWG3, Glasgow review - controlled chaos from Canadian punks
A no-frills set demonstrated the Toronto quartet's skill with a chorus and a mosh pit |
Zoe Lyons, Touring - midlife, without the crisis
Warm and witty take on finding contentment |
The Last Musician of Auschwitz review - a haunting testament
When fine music was played in a death factory |
Giulio Cesare, The English Concert, Bicket, Barbican review - 10s across the board in perfect Handel
When you get total musicality from everyone involved, there’s nothing better |
Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - premiere of new Huw Watkins work
Craftsmanship and appeal in this 'Concerto for Orchestra' - and game-playing with genre |
Music Reissues Weekly: Roots Rocking Zimbabwe
Exhaustive guide to how and why a music scene evolved |
Supergrass, Barrowland, Glasgow review - nostalgia played with youthful energy
The Oxford group's revival of their debut album fizzed with excitement |
Louis Cole, Roundhouse review - nothing is everything
Telepathic grooves and Mahlerian beauty collide in Camden |
Here We Are, National Theatre review - Sondheim's sensational swan song
The late composer bids farewell with a show made-to-order for now |
Riefenstahl review - fascinating fascism? Portrait of the Nazis' favourite film-maker
A new documentary unlocks the archive of the woman who directed 'Triumph of the Will' |
Giant, Harold Pinter Theatre review - incendiary Roald Dahl drama with topical bite
John Lithgow gives a masterclass in delivering a 'human booby trap' |
The Surfer review - Nicolas Cage is relentlessly down and out in western Australia
Irish director Lorcan Finnegan's manic take on macho surfer culture |
Einkvan, Det Norske Teatret, The Coronet Theatre review - alienation times six
Estranged father, mother and son each doubled in Jon Fosse’s mesmerising meditation |
Desire: The Carl Craig Story review - a worthy, brand-conscious encomium for a techno star
Documentary on the Detroit electronic music producer borders on hagiographic |
The Trunk, Netflix review - stylish, noir-ish Korean drama wrapped around a beguiling love story
Unusual psychological study of a stranger paid to save a toxic marriage |
The Gang of Three, King's Head Theatre - three old Labour ghosts resurrected to entertain and educate
Beautifully written and equally well acted play resonates down the decades |
Words of War review - portrait of a doomed truth-seeker in Putin's Russia
Maxine Peake gives a poignant performance as the fearless reporter Anna Politkovskaya |
The Excursions of Mr Brouček, LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - sensuousness, fire and comedy in perfect balance
Janáček’s wacky space-and-time-travel opera glows and grips in every bar |
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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...
Magic Farm review - numpties from the Nineties
There’s nothing more healthy than dissing your own dad, and filmmaker Amalia Ulman says that her old man was “a Gen X deadbeat edgelord skater”...
The Great Escape Festival 2025, Brighton review - a dip into...
As every social space in Brighton once again transforms into a mire of self-important music biz sorts loudly bellowing about “waterfalling on...
theartsdesk Q&A: Zoë Telford on playing a stressed-out p...
If you compiled a list of favourite TV series from the last couple of decades, you’d find that Zoë Telford has appeared in most of them. The...
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Wigmore Hall review - too big a splash...
It was a daring idea to mark Ravel’s 150th birthday year with a single concert packing in all his works for solo piano. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet knows...
Good One review - a life lesson in the wild with her dad and...
Good One is a generation-and-gender gap drama that mostly unfolds during a weekend hiking and camping trip in the Catskills Forest...
E.1027 - Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea review - dull...
It’s hard to say who is going to enjoy E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea. Admirers of the modernist designer-architect will...
Album: Rico Nasty - LETHAL
Rico Nasty’s new album LETHAL signals a shift in direction, but whether it is a bold evolution or a step towards something less distinct...
The Marching Band review - what's the French for '...
In Emmanuel Courcol’s drama The Marching Band (En Fanfare in French, and also released as My Brother's Band), a...
Lucy Farrell, Catherine MacLellan, The Green Note review - s...
Lucy Farrell, one quarter of the brilliant, award-winning Anglo-Scots band Furrow Collective, and a solo artist whose stunning debut album, We...