19th century
The Cabinet Minister, Menier Chocolate Factory review - sparkling tour de force of a farceTuesday, 01 October 2024
The stock of the late 19th century playwright Arthur Wing Pinero has just received a significant boost, thanks to the brilliant work of the actress Nancy Carroll – not only as a superb performer but as a dab hand with an adaptor’s pen. Not seen... Read more... |
Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - declaration of thrills to comeFriday, 27 September 2024
If audience reaction is anything to go by, Kahchun Wong’s season-opening first concert officially in post as principal conductor of the Hallé was an outstanding success.And the reception was deserved. Still young enough, with a mop of hair cascading... Read more... |
Lewis, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - adding the Moon to The PlanetsTuesday, 24 September 2024
The first piece by Grace-Evangeline Mason I heard was six years ago, a simple song in a multi-composer “Manchester Peace Song Cycle” performed at the Royal Northern College of Music when she was studying there.It was striking because of its eloquent... Read more... |
Donohoe, Roscoe, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - two great pianists celebrate 50 yearsTuesday, 17 September 2024
A little piece of musical history was made last night at Manchester Chamber Concerts Society’s season-opening concert. Two of the greatest pianists of their generation, who met at the Royal Northern College of Music, celebrated the 50th anniversary... Read more... |
Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers, National Gallery review - passions translated into paintSaturday, 14 September 2024
Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers includes many of his best known pictures and, amazingly, it is the first exhibition the National Gallery has devoted to this much loved artist. Focusing mainly on paintings and drawings made in the two years he... Read more... |
Hello, Dolly!, London Palladium review - Imelda Staunton makes every line a deal-brokerFriday, 19 July 2024
Jerry Herman is the king of pep. Way too much of it in the first 20 minutes of the recent revue Jerry’s Girls had me screaming for a breather, but here the opening cavalcade, gorgeous overture included, intoxicates thanks to Dominic Cooke‘s razor-... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Buxton International Festival - power and glory in early VerdiFriday, 12 July 2024
Buxton International Festival offers one thundering success, one uneasy compromise and one surprisingly enjoyable experience, in its three mainstage operas this year.Verdi’s Ernani is the thundering success. For the first time in years, the festival... Read more... |
First Person: Katharina Kastening on directing slimline Bizet in a year rich in 'Carmen' productionsSaturday, 06 July 2024
Peter Brook's reimagining of Bizet's Carmen condenses the scale of the original into a more intimate theatrical experience. The score has been starkly cut, the orchestra reduced, and only four singing roles remain: Carmen, Don José, Escamillo and... Read more... |
Miss Julie, Park Theatre review - Strindberg's kitchen drama still packs a punchThursday, 13 June 2024
You have to tiptoe around the edge of the set just to take your seat in the Park’s studio space for Lidless Theatre’s Miss Julie. There’s a plain wooden table, a few utensils on it, wooden chairs and a small cabinet – not much, but, we’re smack... Read more... |
Being Mr Wickham, Jermyn Street Theatre review - the plausible, charming roué gives his version of events 30 years onTuesday, 11 June 2024
It is a truth universally acknowledged that an actor tends to take a sympathetic view of the character he inhabits, however morally questionable. Adrian Lukis, who played the handsome, roguish militiaman, George Wickham, in Andrew Davies's (still... Read more... |
Marie Curie, Charing Cross Theatre review - like polonium, best left undiscoveredTuesday, 11 June 2024
There are many women whose outstanding science was attributed to men or simply devalued to the point of obscurity, but recent interest in the likes of DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin and NASA’s Katherine Johnson has given credit where credit is due.... Read more... |
Rosalie review - a bride embraces her differenceMonday, 10 June 2024
Stéphanie Di Giusto, who directed the Belle Époque arts biopic La Danseuse, about the groundbreaking Paris Opera performer Loie Fuller, explores the life of another maverick – albeit a reluctant one – in Rosalie. Whereas La Danseuse embraces... Read more... |
