theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
David Gilmour, Royal Albert Hall
Saturday, 24 September 2016
A single guitar note rang out over smouldering synth-chords. It was bent up a tone and then wavered in the air before gracefully falling. And so began the final residency of the...
Abstract Expressionism, Royal Academy
Saturday, 24 September 2016
Gorgeous, sumptuous, thrilling: here comes Abstract Expressionism riding into town, the first major overview in London since its own contemporary heyday in the 1950s. A clunky,...
Imogen, Shakespeare's Globe
Saturday, 24 September 2016
What's in a name? Imogen has a softer music to it than Cymbeline, the only one of Shakespeare's plays in which the title character is marginal – even if Hal and Falstaff just...
Pilgrims, The Yard Theatre
Saturday, 24 September 2016
At its best, theatre is great at putting resonant metaphors on stage. And, as Elinor Cook’s new play abundantly proves, the activity of mountain climbing seems very promising as a...
Benedetti, LPO, Jurowski, RFH
Saturday, 24 September 2016
Vladimir Jurowski began his latest season as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic with a typically bold and adventurous programme. At its core were the two Szymanowski...
Classical CDs Weekly: Copland, Charlemagne Palestine, Lincoln Trio
Saturday, 24 September 2016
Copland: Orchestral Works Volume 2 Jonathan Scott (organ),BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/John Wilson (Chandos)This disc is a welcome reminder that Aaron Copland’s populist, diatonic...
CD: Pixies – Head Carrier
Saturday, 24 September 2016
For a few years after their 2004 reformation, it looked like Pixies were going to be more than happy as a heritage act,...
Paranoid, ITV
Friday, 23 September 2016
They keep on coming, these crime dramas, from every direction. The Viking invasion continues, the co-productions with France...
William Kentridge: Thick Time, Whitechapel Gallery
Friday, 23 September 2016
Of all the mesmerising images in William Kentridge’s major Whitechapel show, the one that lingers most, perhaps, is that of...
Good Canary, Rose Theatre, Kingston
Friday, 23 September 2016
Very occasionally the playing of a play leaves a deeper impression than does the play itself. This is the case with Good...
Così fan tutte, Royal Opera
Friday, 23 September 2016
Prospects hadn't seemed that great for this new Covent Garden Così. Could Semyon Bychkov, powerful earth-and-fire conductor...
The Magnificent Seven
Friday, 23 September 2016
As we know, Hollywood loves a remake, and John Sturges's original Magnificent Seven from 1960 is now venerable enough to be...
Brexit: A Very British Coup?, BBC Two
Friday, 23 September 2016
This look back at the events earlier this year when the country elected to buy a car, sight unseen – and from proven liars...
Blu-ray: The Glass Key/The Blue Dahlia
Friday, 23 September 2016
In popular accounts of Hollywood history, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, the insolent real-life first couple of Warner...
Björk, Royal Albert Hall
Thursday, 22 September 2016
I'll be straight: I wasn't sure what to expect at this show, because I've never been a Björk fanatic as such. I loved – and...
Little Men
Thursday, 22 September 2016
American director Ira Sachs is becoming a master at telling the small stories of life, giving them a resonance that speaks...
Gaga for Dada: The Original Art Rebels, BBC Four
Thursday, 22 September 2016
If you’ve had half an eye on BBC Four’s conceptual art week, you’ll have noticed that the old stuff is where it’s at, with...
The Greater Game, Southwark Playhouse
Thursday, 22 September 2016
Michael Head's new play is based on the book They Took the Lead by Stephen Jenkins, which tells the true story of events at...
CD: John Prine - For Better, Or Worse
Thursday, 22 September 2016
John Prine was once touted, along with every other gravelly young huckster with a guitar, as the new Dylan. If this latest...
No Man's Land, Wyndham's Theatre
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
We are lost in the wood. In the limbo state between dream and reality, memory and present, youth and age, companionship and...
National Treasure, Channel 4
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Arresting elderly entertainers for historic sexual abuse now appears to be the primary function of the police, and here they...
The Girl with All the Gifts
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Not having read Mike Carey's source novel, I enjoyed the luxury of settling down with my bag of Warner Bros promotional...
Bricks!, BBC Four
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
The wilder shores of contemporary visual art are now ephemeral or time-based: performance, installation, general carry-on...
CD: Billy Bragg & Joe Henry - Shine a Light
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
In 1983, on the raucous punk-a-billy number “A13, Trunk Road to the Sea”, Billy Bragg affectionately sent up the parochial...
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 £2.95 per month or £25 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?
tv
Brexit: A Very British Coup?, BBC Two
A look back at recent events helps to get clarity, but not closure
Gaga for Dada: The Original Art Rebels, BBC Four
Inspiring student pranks and political satire, Dada is the lifeblood of 20th century culture
film
Blu-ray: The Glass Key/The Blue Dahlia
Two film noirs showcase the impeccable coolness of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake
new music
David Gilmour, Royal Albert Hall
The spirit of Pink Floyd lives on as the Rattle That Lock tour comes home
classical
Classical CDs Weekly: Copland, Charlemagne Palestine, Lincoln Trio
American modernism, unhinged minimalism and a vibrant disc of piano trios
opera
La Canterina, Classical Opera, Page, Wigmore Hall
Youthful elixir revives Haydn's sparkling material girl
theatre
Good Canary, Rose Theatre, Kingston
John Malkovich proves himself an ace director in addiction drama
visual arts
Abstract Expressionism, Royal Academy
Energy, alcohol and bucketloads of paint: a triumphant reunion for New York's most exciting artists
William Kentridge: Thick Time, Whitechapel Gallery
A parallel universe revealed in immersive installations and monumental tapestries
Gaga for Dada: The Original Art Rebels, BBC Four
Inspiring student pranks and political satire, Dada is the lifeblood of 20th century culture
dance
The Flames of Paris, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Opera House
Emotion and politics skilfully combine in Ratmansky's old-new ballet about the French Revolution
The Taming of the Shrew, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Opera House
Unfeminist comedy in Jean-Christophe Maillot's Shakespeare ballet
Swan Lake, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Opera House
A peerless Odette almost makes up for production's psychological shortcomings
comedy
Edinburgh Fringe 2016: Zoë Coombs Marr/ Randy/ Sarah Callaghan
Latest instalment of comedy from the world's biggest and best arts festival
Edinburgh Fringe 2016: Richard Gadd/ Kieran Hodgson/ Nazeem Hussain
Another batch of comedy highlights from the world's biggest and best arts festival
latest comments
While the review accurately reflects the tragic...
Venue was really bad choice. Her voice isnt' big...
When I saw the frighteningly furious Diana Rigg...
Amazing episode and brought back memories of...
Oops, apologies for the error, and thankyou for...
this wasn't her first UK concert with only...