Reviews
Paula Rego, Tate Britain review - the artist's inner landscape like never beforeFriday, 06 August 2021
It is conventional for artists to reflect their surroundings, experiences and inspirations, whether this be in a subliminal manner or overtly. But Paula Rego is by no means conventional. She is a rebel, a nonconformist, a freethinker. Rego doesn’t... Read more... |
CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, BBC Proms review - expectations teased, seldom fulfilledFriday, 06 August 2021
Nominally, this was a programme of three symphonies. The first, though, sounded like music re-cut and pasted from a very British film and the second was a suite, albeit impressively reworked, from an opera. The real deal, Brahms’s Third, is a very... Read more... |
Anything Goes, Barbican review - an explosion of joyFriday, 06 August 2021
"Times have changed", we're informed in the cascadingly witty title number of the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes, now in revival at the Barbican and bringing with it a pandemic-clearing tsunami of joy.Or have they? Few I am sure would dispute the... Read more... |
Zola review - high-energy comic thriller tackles sex workThursday, 05 August 2021
It’s hard to imagine a movie more of its time than Zola, as it takes on sex, race, the glamorisation of porn and the allure of the ever-online world. For 90 minutes we are embedded in the lives of two young American sex workers and it’s a wild ride... Read more... |
Wonderville, Palace Theatre review - magic and illusion family showThursday, 05 August 2021
Variety is a form of entertainment most usually seen on Saturday night television these days, but Wonderville is an attempt to bring it back into the West End. It's mostly a magic and illusion show, with a hefty slice of comedy, a bit of song and... Read more... |
Brauss, BBC Philharmonic, Gernon, BBC Proms review - surprises and miracles in storeWednesday, 04 August 2021
Two nights after the Scottish Chamber Orchestra had brought the first great E flat major symphony to the Proms – Mozart’s 39th – a serendipitous change of programme on Tuesday gave us the second: Haydn’s “Drumroll”. An equally serendipitous change... Read more... |
RhineGold, Birmingham Opera Company, Symphony Hall review - music-drama at the highest levelTuesday, 03 August 2021
The love of power corrupts, the power of love falters or fails. The essence of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung is also what Graham Vick communicated so stunningly in many of his unforgettable productions with his Birmingham Opera Company (... Read more... |
Johnston, BBCNOW, Bancroft, BBC Proms - laments and luminosityTuesday, 03 August 2021
The Proms are back, even if they don’t yet feel remotely normal. With audiences timid about mass events, and about a third of the arena roped off to protect a TV camera mounted on something vaguely resembling a diplodocus, yesterday’s seemed less of... Read more... |
Thora Hjörleifsdóttir: Magma review - love burns in debut novel from IcelandTuesday, 03 August 2021
Thora Hjörleifsdóttir’s Magma is certainly not an easy read. It describes, in short chapters, the obsessive and ultimately destructive power of an abusive relationship. It is, at times, patchily written (perhaps because we have been... Read more... |
Luisa Miller, Glyndebourne review – small-scale tragedy, big emotionsMonday, 02 August 2021
“Time-travelling” is how Enrique Mazzola, the superb first conductor of Glyndebourne’s last new production of the main season, described the slow-burn trajectory of Verdi’s semi-masterpiece Luisa Miller in his First Person here on theartsdesk.... Read more... |
Changing Destiny, Young Vic review – an epic literary discoveryMonday, 02 August 2021
The Young Vic, led by the inspiring figure of Kwame Kwei-Armah, is back. After a prolonged closure, during which this venue has passionately continued to work with young directors, the local community (including both delivering food and creative... Read more... |
Bo Burnham: Inside, Netflix review - a masterpiece about lockdown angstMonday, 02 August 2021
Some people perfected their banana loaf or sourdough bread during lockdown. Others tried to learn a new language or how to play an instrument. Bo Burnham produced this masterpiece.He is listed as the sole performer, writer, camera operator, editor... Read more... |
