Theatre Reviews
Julius Caesar, BBC Four review - electrifying TV launch of all-women Shakespeare trilogyMonday, 18 June 2018
Who would have thought, when Phyllida Lloyd's Donmar Julius Caesar opened to justified fanfare, that two more Shakespeare masterpieces would be sustained no less powerfully within the women's-prison context over the following years? Read more... |
English, Festival of Voice, Wales Millennium Centre review – lost in languageMonday, 18 June 2018
Despite the Welsh repute for singing, the Festival of Voice in Cardiff has always been more than just music. Read more... |
Notes From the Field, Royal Court review - sobering report from the frontline of raceSaturday, 16 June 2018
Anna Deavere Smith contains multitudes. As the solo performance artist recounts the testimonies she has selected from the more than 250 people she interviewed for this portrait of inequality and the criminal justice system in America, it is as if each person she has talked to possesses her. Read more... |
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Donmar Warehouse review - Lia Williams makes an iconic role her ownThursday, 14 June 2018
Lia Williams can be said to have been in her prime ever since the double-whammy several decades ago when she appeared onstage in fairly quick succession in Oleanna and then the original, and unsurpassable, production of Skylight. Read more... |
Machinal, Almeida Theatre review - descending into darknessTuesday, 12 June 2018
The American playwright/journalist Sophie Treadwell's 1928 expressionist drama crops up every so often in order to allow a director to leave his or her signature upon it, so the first thing to be said about Natalie Abrahami's... Read more... |
Monogamy, Park Theatre review - Janie Dee in dark family dramaTuesday, 12 June 2018
Forget about dark alleys, deserted parks and slippery slopes: the most dangerous place in the world is likely to be your family. That’s where the traps are, the minefields and the surprise betrayals. As its title suggests, Torben Betts’s new comedy is all about failing marriages and imploding families. Read more... |
Isabelle Huppert reads Marquis de Sade, Queen Elizabeth Hall review - virtue twinned with viceMonday, 11 June 2018
In an era marked by virtue-signalling, it's perhaps no surprise that Isabelle Huppert – a woman who has always gone against the grain – has opted for a little vice-signalling. Read more... |
Julie, National Theatre review - vacuous and unilluminatingSaturday, 09 June 2018
It seems appropriate that an onstage blender features amidst Tom Scutt's sleek, streamlined set for Julie given how many times Strindberg's 1888 play has been put through the artistic magimix. Read more... |
Sancho: An Act of Remembrance, Wilton's Music Hall review - pure entertainmentFriday, 08 June 2018
One space, one person, one story, one voice – the monologue is theatre distilled, the purest form of entertainment. Read more... |
My Name is Lucy Barton, Bridge Theatre review - Laura Linney is luminous in a flawless productionThursday, 07 June 2018
In Harold Pinter’s memory play Old Times, one of the women declares, “There are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened.” Elizabeth Strout’s heroine in My Name Is Lucy Barton is in the reverse position. When it comes to the difficult childhood she has long since escaped, she’s uncertain of what she can – or wants to – remember, yet she is anything but the standard issue unreliable narrator. Read more... |
Pages
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 10,000 pieces, we're asking for £3.95 per month or £30 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take an annual subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
latest in today
CD: Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch
Concluding a trilogy of releases that began with the EPs Not the Actual Events (2016) and Add Violence (2017) – Bad...
The Rolling Stones, Twickenham Stadium review - until the ne...
Eel Pie, the tiny eyot in the Thames, is not too a long walk from Twickenham stadium – within hollering distance, almost, if you had that kind of...
theartsdesk at Leipzig's Blüthner Piano Factory - a per...
Have you ever wondered why the Steinway grand piano is invariably...
Natural World: The Super Squirrels, BBC Two review - silline...
Squirrels are a breed as diverse as they are ubiquitous: they inhabit environments as extreme as desert and tundra, and all the lush greenery,...
The Courtesan’s Gaze, Fieri Consort, Handel House review – h...
From an early age, Barbara Strozzi would have entertained the guests of her father’s Venetian academy with songs, including her own works. A...
The Best Films Out Now
There are films to meet every taste in theartsdesk's guide to the best movies currently on release. In our considered opinion, any of the titles...
The Best Plays in London
London is the theatre capital of the world, with more than 50 playhouses offering theatrical entertainment. From the mighty National Theatre to...
CD: Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Earth
It would always be difficult to follow The Epic, the 2015 release which turned LA saxophonist Kamasi Washington from leader of...
Enter theartsdesk / h Club Young Influencer of the Year awar...
Are you a young blogger, vlogger or writer in the field of the arts, books and culture? If so, we've a competition for you to enter.
The...
Ismaili a Go-Go: How the Aga Khan funded a music renaissance
Many of us recognise that rather striking modernist building in Cromwell Gardens near South Kensington tube, having seen it on the way to the V...