wed 16/05/2012

First with arts reviews, news & interviews

Falstaff, Royal Opera House

Igor Toronyi-Lalic

I didn't know whether to sigh or to yawn. Another opera. Another 50s set. At least it started well. In an obsessively wood-panelled hunting lodge, fat Falstaff (Ambrogio Maestri)...

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Detroit, National Theatre

David Benedict

The competition for best dramatic use of a coffee table is won hands down by the wagon-wheel one that prompts a major argument in When Harry Met Sally. Runner-up is the one that...

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Silk, Series Two, BBC One

Adam Sweeting

How delightful to welcome the return of Peter Moffat's skilful legal series. Yes alright, sceptics may contend that the law firm drama has already been road-tested to destruction...

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Interview: 10 Questions for Spoek Mathambo

Peter Culshaw

Spoek Mathambo is one the year's brightest new hopes. From Johannesburg but based in Sweden, Spoek (real name Nthato Mokgata) plays with genres like few others. He makes radical,...

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The Dictator

Bruce Dessau

Is this a sophisticated satire or a dumb, laugh-out-loud, nothing-is-sacred comedy? That is the question which pings around your head Sacha Baron Cohen's latest. The title is...

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Cannes 2012: Heavyweights on La Croisette

Demetrios Matheou

The 65th edition of the Festival de Cannes opens today, with Wes Anderson’s latest slice of leftfield whimsy, Moonrise Kingdom, and continues for almost two weeks of frantic film-...

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56 Up, ITV1

Jasper Rees

For most of us, life is what happens to you when you’re looking the other way. For the participants in 7 Up it’s what...

The Raid

Emma Simmonds

If action speaks louder than words, then The Raid is positively deafening. The third feature from Welshman Gareth Evans is...

Q&A Special: Matthew Bourne and the making of Swan Lake 3D

Ismene Brown

A boy alone in his vast white bedroom has a recurrent haunting dream, frightening yet somehow comforting - a swan invades...

Jean Vigo: Celebrating the father of French New Wave

Kieron Tyler

The release of Jean Vigo’s wonderful L’Atalante on DVD is cause enough to celebrate, but the arrival of everything he...

Globe to Globe: Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, Shakespeare's Globe

Igor Toronyi-Lalic

There was always going to be one Borat moment in this festival. And it came courtesy of the Albanians, who, for comic effect...

Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands, British Library

Jasper Rees

Wordsworth would not be happy. The bard of Grasmere once wrote a poem deploring the new-fangled habit of tourists wandering...

George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door

Graeme Thomson

My, what strange and wondrous treasures await the record producer given exclusive access to the private vaults of a Beatle....

Little Dogs, National Theatre Wales/Frantic Assembly

Dylan Moore

Ever since the Polish photographer Maciej Dakowicz documented the debauchery of South Wales nightlife in a series called...

Brighton Festival 2012: Interiors, Motor Show, Land's End

Bella Todd

From theatre viewed through peepholes and camera obscuras to a dance piece you watch across a wasteland while wearing...

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Jansons, Barbican Hall

Geoff Brown

I half expected to hear someone on the platform call out “Is there a doctor in the house?” For Mariss Jansons, principal...

Brigham Young University Singers, St John's Smith Square

Alexandra Coghlan

Brigham Young University in Utah is the largest private university in America, and is probably best known for its...

Exposed: The Late Flowering of Ana Tzarev

Jasper Rees

“It was a beautiful sunny day and we were just doing our work. All of a sudden the double doors opened of this gorgeous...

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EPISODES: The Golden Globe winning culture-swap comedy returns

DARK SHADOWS: Tim Burton and Johnny Depp reunite once more in gothic rib-tickler

ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW, JANSONS: The conductor looked weary, but his Amsterdam orchestra still make beautiful music

EDMUND DE WAAL: These dozen installations in an English stately home are witty and beautiful, elegant and affecting

LITTLE DOGS: The NTW's warts-and-all snapshot of Swansea nightlife is a feast of the senses

SPOT FESTIVAL: Matters of history and identity are raised by Denmark's annual musical showcase

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA: Globe to Globe continues with a funny, skillful Zimbabwean two-hander

BRIGHTON FESTIVAL 2012: Vanessa Redgrave tells the story of an Arab woman. Elsewhere it's all about voyeurism

disc of the day

CD: Squarepusher - Ufabulum

A pleasing new set of edgy electronic antics from one of Warp's finest

globe to globe

Globe to Globe: Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3, Shakespeare's Globe

A slick Serb Part 1, an effective Macedonian Part 3 and a very very Albanian Albanian Part 2

Globe to Globe: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakespeare's Globe

Two Zimbabweans people Shakespeare's Italy with a few props and a lot of comedic skill

Globe to Globe: Macbeth, Shakespeare's Globe

A druggy punk Polish version of the Scottish Play with transvestite witches wows the Globe

tv

Silk, Series Two, BBC One

Cynicism and mixed motives in return visit to Shoe Lane Chambers

56 Up, ITV1

Life is slowing down for the 7 Up generation who are still pursuing hopes and dreams

Episodes, Series 2, BBC Two

Matt LeBlanc, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig return in Golden Globe winning culture-swap comedy

film

The Dictator

Sacha Baron Cohen favours gross-out over satire as an autocrat in New York

Cannes 2012: Heavyweights on La Croisette

The doors open for the 65th edition of the world's greatest film festival

The Raid

Martial arts mayhem and majesty from Welsh director Gareth Evans

classical

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Jansons, Barbican Hall

The conductor looked exhausted, but his Amsterdam orchestra still make beautiful music

Brigham Young University Singers, St John's Smith Square

American choral classics brought to life by an all-American ensemble

Classical CDs Weekly: Bruckner, Mahler, Pärt

Orchestral heavyweights and Estonian minimalism

opera

Falstaff, Royal Opera House

Splendid cast aside, Robert Carsen's new production peaks too soon

Madam Butterfly, English National Opera

Minghella's classic production makes a stylish return to ENO

Carousel, Opera North

The greatest of musicals? Jo Davies's production makes a convincing case

new music

Interview: 10 Questions for Spoek Mathambo

The Afro-Futurist star on going from a sexed-up rap prince to post-genre bandleader

CD: Squarepusher - Ufabulum

A pleasing new set of edgy electronic antics from one of Warp's finest

George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door

Producer Giles Martin on scouring the late Beatle's private tape vaults

theatre

Detroit, National Theatre

Lisa D'Amour's lament for community set in American suburbia crackles then preaches

Little Dogs, National Theatre Wales/Frantic Assembly

Warts-and-all snapshot of Swansea nightlife is a feast of the senses lacking a beefy script

Brighton Festival 2012: Interiors, Motor Show, Land's End

Vanessa Redgrave tells the story of an Arab woman. Elsewhere it's all about voyeurism

visual arts

Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands, British Library

A splendid national narrative moves from Anglo-Saxon latitudes to platform 9 and three quarters

Exposed: The Late Flowering of Ana Tzarev

Introducing a 75-year-old artist as she holds her first show in London

Edmund de Waal, Waddesdon Manor

These dozen installations in a stately home are witty and beautiful, elegant and affecting

dance

Q&A Special: Matthew Bourne and the making of Swan Lake 3D

Exclusive discussion with the choreographer and film-makers about a vital new film technology

Einstein on the Beach, Barbican Theatre

Technical cock ups can't obscure the genius of this Glass-Wilson-Childs collaboration

Win tickets for Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake 3D premiere, plus live Q&A

Four free tickets to exclusive premiere screening and live session in Soho

comedy

Stewart Francis, Touring

Canadian quip meister with a pleasingly deadpan style

Paul Merton, Touring

TV comic returns to stand-up, but not as we know it

Benet Brandreth, Soho Theatre

Raconteur weaves a fantastical tale about saving the nation

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latest comments

no,,apparently there's no conflict of interest...

I was disturbed by this programme, the acting, as...

Could this article writer be any more RACIST?...

Igor, you are so far from the Britishness of the...

The only one here who doesn't deserve to mention...