religion
Poor Clare, Orange Tree Theatre review - saints cajole us sinnersFriday, 18 July 2025What am I, a philosophical if not political Marxist whose hero is Antonio Gramsci, doing in Harvey Nichols buying Comme des Garçons linen jackets, Church brogues and Mulberry shades? It’s 1987 and I do wear it well though…Chiara Atik’s comedy... Read more... |
Album: Alex Warren - You'll Be Alright, KidFriday, 18 July 2025![]() The best-selling single so far this year in the UK is Californian singer Alex Warren’s “Ordinary”. It stayed at the top of the charts longer than any song this decade. If you’re not familiar, imagine the lyrical mood and production of Hosier’s “Take... Read more... |
Sir Brian Clarke (1953-2025) - a personal tributeWednesday, 16 July 2025![]() Brian Clarke died on 1 July 2025, after a long illness. He was one of the most original British artists of our time – wide-ranging, ground-breaking and influential. His painting was first-class, but it was in the field of architectural stained... Read more... |
Album: Nick Mulvey - Dark Harvest Pt.1Saturday, 31 May 2025![]() Nick Mulvey’s first two albums, First Mind in 2014 and Wake Up Now in 2017, are among the loveliest singer-songwriter fare released this century. With his last album, 2022’s New Mythology, his ayahuasca-fuelled search for spiritual meaning went full... Read more... |
This is My Family, Southwark Playhouse - London debut of 2013 Sheffield hit is feeling its ageFriday, 30 May 2025![]() MOR. Twee. Unashamedly crowdpleasing. Are such descriptors indicative of a tedious night in the stalls? For your reviewer, who has become jaded very quickly with a myriad of searing examinations of mental health crises and wake up calls about the... Read more... |
Stiletto, Charing Cross Theatre review - new musical excessWednesday, 02 April 2025![]() That friend you have who hates musicals – probably male, probably straight, probably not seen one since The Sound of Music on BBC 1 after the Queen’s Speech in 1978 – well, don’t send them to Charing Cross Theatre for this show. But that other... Read more... |
Verdi Requiem, Philharmonia, Muti, RFH review - new sparks from an old flameFriday, 28 March 2025![]() Forget, for a moment, the legend and the lustre. If you knew nothing about Riccardo Muti’s half-century of history with Verdi’s Messa da Requiem for the writer-patriot Alessandro Manzoni – he first gave it with the Philharmonia back in 1974 – and... Read more... |
Bonhoeffer review - flawed biopic of a saintly man of courageSaturday, 08 March 2025![]() The German theologian, pastor and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a saintly, courageous figure, of major historical significance. Those are good reasons to ensure that his story gets told and becomes better known. At a time... Read more... |
Conclave review - secrets and lies in the Vatican's inner sanctumSaturday, 30 November 2024![]() “You either got faith or you got unbelief, and there ain’t no neutral ground,” as Bob Dylan sang, but Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) isn’t finding it quite that simple.The Pope (Bruno Novelli) has died, and in his last act in this world he... Read more... |
ARK: United States V by Laurie Anderson, Aviva Studios, Manchester review - a vessel for the thoughts and imaginings of a lifetimeSaturday, 16 November 2024![]() Picture this: framing the stage are two pearlescent clouds which, throughout the performance, gently pulsate with flickering light. Behind them on a giant screen is a spinning globe, its seas twinkling like a million stars.Suddenly, this magical... Read more... |
The Lehman Trilogy, Gillian Lynne Theatre review - three brothers, two crashes, one American DreamFriday, 11 October 2024![]() Merchant bankers then eh? It’s not a slang term of abuse for nothing, as the middlemen collecting the crumbs off the cake (in Sherman McCoy’’s analogy from The Bonfire of the Vanities) have a reputation for living high on the hog off the ideas and... Read more... |
Prom 40, St John Passion, Bach Collegium Japan, Suzuki review - finesse and feelingWednesday, 21 August 2024Bach’s St John Passion came into the world just three centuries ago, in Leipzig at Easter 1724. This year’s Proms shower of manna from musical heaven continued with a consummately polished, sensitive and – ultimately – very moving birthday... Read more... |
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