Woodrow Wilson's attempts to forge a new international order based on principles of democracy, equal respect for sovereignty and an intergovernmental league with robust powers were futile. His namesake, John Wilson, guest conducting Ireland's National Symphony Orchestra last night, succeeded in forging the musical equivalent, ensuring that even the San Marinos of the orchestra had their full and clear say. First was Grażyna Bacewicz's Overture written in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. A brass-heavy, varied-tempo opening, a gorgeous brief flute solo accompanied by quiet strings, triangle and Read more ...

In April 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, US President Franklin D Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102, effectively confiscating privately-held gold from American citizens. This is the catalyst for Padraic McKinley’s tough and gruelling thriller, which traces the progress of a group of labour camp prisoners who have been tasked with carrying gold from the Black Hawk Gold Mine in Oregon to keep it out of the government’s clutches.The story boils down to a battle of wills and wits between corrupt camp warden JJ Clancy (Russell Crowe) and Samuel Murphy (Ethan Hawke), with Clancy Read more ...

Confession is a crazy critter. Isn’t it? I confess that the last time I saw a show at this venue was a year ago: it was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, a stage adaptation of a book whose film version memorably starred Richard Burton. Now I’m here again watching a stage play whose film version likewise starred Burton – and Elizabeth Taylor. Giving this confessional drama their all this time it’s superstars Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup, in a terrific revival directed by Marianne Elliott. No need to confess that this is an exhilarating evening, despite some mild reservations.First staged Read more ...

Living the unison curve and its attendant shimmer with which Wagner outlines a religious mystery in the Prelude to Parsifal, Jakub Hrůša tells you immediately why the Royal Opera's orchestral musicians urged him to be appointed Music Director. Haloed in front of a black drop-curtain, he visibly urges the intensity we hear, and it doesn't let up until the last chord; tempi never feel too fast or too slow, just right, and infallibly vivid. Then we see what he's up against to express the vision. Director Evgeny Titov has us in what seems like a dark, massive bunker with a bloodied figure Read more ...

Noel Coward’s youthful writing surge produced dozens of plays, the perennially popular Hay Fever, premiered in 1925, among them. A century on, this classic rep piece is back yet again, now given the A-list treatment at Wyndham’s.The production’s budget shows from the off. The Blisses’ riverside home in Cookham, Berks has become a grand mansion with chandeliers and modish Italianate furniture (set design is by Frankie Bradshaw). Oddly, though, its living-room door seems to open straight onto the driveway outside. And the house’s generous proportions are at odds with its human cargo, the sole Read more ...

I perhaps shouldn’t say too much about this film, for reasons I shouldn’t say too much about. The point is, a bit of a surprise comes along after around half an hour. Normally, you wouldn’t hold back revealing such a thing when it comes this early in a movie, but on this occasion it seems fairest to stay mum. And staying mum also has the benefit of keeping this review shorter than it otherwise could be.The movie, by the way, is exceptional – the latest sprawling and brawling dive by Alejandro G Iñárritu into the soul of some grizzly guy who’s in the midst of a teetering crisis. After Michael Read more ...

Tales of the legal profession have given us countless memorable TV moments (Silk, Damages, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Good Wife, Better Call Saul, need I go on?), but there’s always room for one more on top. War, created by George Kay backed up by a cluster of screenwriters, is a formidable addition to the list, as it tells the story of a bitter and tangled divorce battle between technology tycoon Morgan Henderson (Dominic West), creator of the Zephyr social media platform, and his movie star wife Carla Duval (Sienna Miller).As well as being a portrait of an imploding marriage, War is also a Read more ...

As the colour drains from the sky and autumn closes in, the Royal Academy is offering an antidote to London’s various shades of grey. Spanning ninety years – from the 1870s to the 1960s – Painting the French Riviera provides an overview of the artists who were inspired by the sun, the brilliant blue sky and turquoise sea of the Mediterranean to produce some of their most vibrant canvases.Ever since Cézanne began visiting L’Estaque, a fishing village near Marseille, in the 1860s, French painters have been going south to soak in the light and air of the Cote D’Azure. In the 1880s, Renoir and Read more ...

There’s a sinister edge these days to men dressed all in black, marching in step. They used to be quite funny (in this country anyway) and often still are, but the Roderick Spode aspect is fading and the Oswald Mosley element is gaining ground.So it’s no wonder that Celia joins the banished Rosalind fleeing Duke Frederick’s black-shirted fascistic court and the two cousins, always thick as thieves, make off to the Forest of Arden, in this production located in Wales, which isn't much of a stretch.(On press night, and unlike Birnham Wood, this forest refused to move, the set stuck for an hour Read more ...

This third and final instalment of Anthony Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland trilogy continues the author’s ingenious mystery-within-a-mystery formula and brings back the titular literary editor, Susan Ryeland. Once again she’s played brilliantly by Lesley Manville, bristling with shrewdness and determination, and it seems an outrage that this is the last time we’ll see her in the role.This time around, the double narrative concept features the story of legendary novelist Miriam Crace, who died decades earlier, but has left a staggeringly successful literary legacy in the shape of her myriad “Tiny Read more ...

The autumnal return of the K-Music Festival, which started in 2013, is good news for those who like their world music adventurous, surprising, challenging. Over the years we’ve heard Pansori (a form of Korean folk opera that’s on Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list), drone-drenched post-rock from bands like Jambinai, post-classical sonic meditations from Park Jiha on otherworldly looking instruments such as the piri, yanggeum, and saenghwang, as well as more conventional jazz and classical collaborations.After launching with a multi-artist showcase at Hackney’s Earth, upcoming concerts Read more ...

The title is a portmanteau word, one that hardly stretches one’s sleuthing capacity to decipher, which proves, unlike much else in a very curious two hours, to be well-chosen for what morphs into a portmanteau play about the toxicity of affluence.We open on a busy set (that gets busier and busier, with some frankly terrifying prop work required from the cast) that speaks of late 90s wealth. Charlie Corcoran’s smart decision to hang a couple of faux Rothkos either side of the living room space, is a rare nod to subtle storytelling in a production that favours the loud (literally so in its Read more ...