Reviews
His Dark Materials, Series 2, BBC One review – upping the ante whilst retaining the magicMonday, 09 November 2020
The first series of the BBC and HBO’s fantasy adventure His Dark Materials felt even more timely than when author Phillip Pullman first published Northern Lights twenty-five-years ago. The second season builds on the heady mix of philosophy and... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Apple, Jason CrestSunday, 08 November 2020
After their final records were released in 1969, that seemed to be it for Apple and Jason Crest. Releases by both psychedelic-leaning British bands had first hit shops the previous year, and neither oufit made any waves commercially. Of course, that... Read more... |
Words on Bathroom Walls review - well-meaning but glibSaturday, 07 November 2020
Adam (Charlie Plummer) is being tested for glaucoma at the start of Words on Bathroom Walls, the director Thor Freudenthal's adaptation of Julia Walton's 2017 Young Adult novel. In fact, the indrawn teenager is suffering from schizophrenia and will... Read more... |
The Three Kings review – saluting Busby, Shankly and SteinSaturday, 07 November 2020
If Shakespeare had lived in post-war Britain, he surely would have dramatised the careers of the three towering contemporaneous Scottish football managers whose visions of how football should be played and its importance to ordinary people left a... Read more... |
The Queen's Gambit, Netflix review - chess prodigy's story makes brilliant televisionFriday, 06 November 2020
It’s surprising, perhaps, that the dramatic potential of chess hasn’t been more widely exploited. There was a nail-biting tournament in From Russia with Love, while the knight’s chequerboard struggle with Death was the centrepiece of Ingmar Bergman’... Read more... |
Proust Night, Wigmore Hall review – the music of memoryFriday, 06 November 2020
In a bold first strike – straight to the gut, surely, for many in the audience – the Wigmore Hall’s “Proust Night” began with an old recording of the Berceuse from Fauré’s Dolly Suite. Clever. How apt that the signature tune from Listen... Read more... |
Queen of Hearts review - Trine Dyrholm stars as a stylish sexual predatorFriday, 06 November 2020
“Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what... Read more... |
Harlots, BBC Two review – sublime, ridiculous, and always entertainingThursday, 05 November 2020
Back to Georgian brothels, now – at least, for those of us who don’t have a Hulu subscription. The BBC’s airing of the second series of Harlots over the summer felt strangely timely. Barely an episode in and an angry crowd was hammering at the local... Read more... |
Death of England: Delroy, National Theatre review - a furious if fleetingly seen sequelThursday, 05 November 2020
Broadway tends to be the Darwinian environment where a show's opening night can also mark its closing. But such has been the Covid-prompted fate of the National Theatre's fiery return to the fray that Death of England: Delroy managed 11... Read more... |
Diabelli Variations, Imogen Cooper, Fidelio Orchestra Cafe review - a universe for a (temporary) farewellThursday, 05 November 2020
Beethoven anniversary year would not have been complete without witnessing a masterly live interpretation of his 33 ever more questing piano variations on a jolly waltz. This one was revelatory. Could I have afforded it, had there been more... Read more... |
Bluebeard's Castle, LSO, Rattle, LSO St Luke's online review - slow-burning magnificenceWednesday, 04 November 2020
Poulenc’s La voix humaine comes close, but Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle has to be the perfect lockdown opera, this heady tale of two mismatched souls stuck in a confined space (admittedly an enormous one) alarmingly pertinent. Simon Rattle’s London... Read more... |
Dear Joan & Jericha review - glorious wrong advice from spoof agony auntsWednesday, 04 November 2020
The Dear Joan & Jericha podcast began in 2018, and quickly became a cult hit. That was no surprise as the spoof's creators, Julia Davis (Joan) and Vicki Pepperdine (Jericha), have impressive comedy CVs behind them; Davis created and starred in... Read more... |
