theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Tutuguri, BBCSO, Nagano, Barbican
Sunday, 01 February 2015
If what you wanted to do was go out to the middle of the Mexican desert, invert the Cross and dip it in blood, screaming obscenities all the while, surrounded by a sunburnt band...
The Secret World of Lewis Carroll, BBC Two
Sunday, 01 February 2015
Alice is always with us; the most quoted work of literature, after the Bible and Shakespeare. In fact, Desert Island Discs should probably add Alice to the mandatory Bible and...
Konono Nº1, Café Oto
Sunday, 01 February 2015
Rarely in London do the lights rise up after a live gig to reveal eyeballs glistening with euphoria, total body sweat and a communal stitch gradually dying down among the water-...
Reissue CDs Weekly: Motorpsycho
Sunday, 01 February 2015
Motorpsycho: Demon BoxAfter a burst of guitar feedback, heavy, snail’s-pace drums pound. A massive, churning riff kicks in. The agitated singer tells of bad dreams and blisters on...
Alice Russell, Jazz Café
Saturday, 31 January 2015
You know what really grinds my gears? Bands that only have one. One gear, one level of intensity. For a good hour of last night’s set, diminutive diva Alice Russell, the voice...
Nicola Conte, Ronnie Scott's
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Gloriously feel-good, unashamedly retro, uniformly urbane, the Nicola Conte Combo presented a set that was bursting with fantastic melodies last night at Ronnie Scott's....
theartsdesk Q&A: Actress Liz Fraser
Saturday, 31 January 2015
One of the tacit jokes in John and Roy Boulting’s I’m All Right, Jack concerns the parentage of Liz Fraser’s Cynthia. How...
Classical CDs Weekly: Jürg Frey, Janáček, Trio Mediaeval
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Jürg Frey: pianist, alone R. Andrew Lee (piano) (Irritable Hedgehog Music)The Irritable Hedgehog label's signature...
Kraftwerk: Pop Art, BBC Four
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Some documentaries can feel like trying to view a desert landscape through a telescope. The need for tight focus on too...
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 2
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Did you know that Jack White’s Lazaretto album sold nearly 87,000 copies on vinyl last year? Sales continue to rise all over...
Fortitude, Sky Atlantic
Friday, 30 January 2015
If you can't beat 'em, steal brazenly from 'em. Instead of importing another Scandinavian drama series and slapping on some...
Jessie J, Eventim Apollo
Friday, 30 January 2015
The echoes of last summer’s number one hit “Bang Bang” had hardly faded when Jessie J’s third album Sweet Talker was...
Timeshift: Battle for the Himalayas, BBC Four
Friday, 30 January 2015
When people talk about the Heroic Age of exploration, the heroes are generally agreed to be the explorers. But we’d know a...
Trash
Friday, 30 January 2015
The director Stephen Daldry has always worked beautifully with young actors, whether on film or stage, so it's not difficult...
Di and Viv and Rose, Vaudeville Theatre
Friday, 30 January 2015
Is there any bond more powerful than shared history? If life is the sum total of our experiences, then those who experienced...
Florian Boesch, Roger Vignoles, Wigmore Hall
Friday, 30 January 2015
Ernst Krenek is probably best remembered nowadays as the composer of Jonny Spielt Auf – the quintessential Zeitoper of...
Grim Fandango Remastered
Friday, 30 January 2015
The recent glut of reboots, remasters and HD updates for classic videogames is not a sign of a fatigued industry, out of...
The Hard Problem, National Theatre
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Here's the genuine hard problem facing commentators confronted with Tom Stoppard's new play of the same name: how do you...
Onegin, Royal Ballet
Thursday, 29 January 2015
The habit among ballet critics of being simultaneously down on John Cranko's 1965 Onegin and up on Kenneth MacMillan's 1974...
Hannigan, LPO, Jurowski, Festival Hall
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Barbara Hannigan, we all know, is game for anything. This Canadian soprano with the pearliest tones and the dramatic...
The Ruling Class, Trafalgar Studios
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Now that the national self-delusion of the classless society has been laid to rest by the double whammy of economic crisis...
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the saying goes – and Kingsman: The Secret Service is a cracking part-...
Inherent Vice
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Thomas Pynchon and PT Anderson: too good to be true? News that the director of There Will Be Blood and The Master was...
Dara, National Theatre
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
The history play has roots that go deep into our culture. We love to see stories that are kitted out in fancy dress, and...
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Listed
Listed: The Very Best of 2015
theartsdesk's writers recommend the one thing above all to look forward to in each art form
Listed: The Facts about Factual TV in 2014
This year's documentaries climbed high and swung low on Britain's social ladder
Listed: Science Fiction in Videogames
Nearly all videogames are fantastical, but few are interestingly fantasticalWe Made It
We Made It: Factum Arte
Recreating a facsimile of Tutankhamun’s tomb and a painting by Veronese is all part of revolutionising our experience of art
We Made It: Publisher and Curator Amelia Gregory
Gold leaf and alchemical processes feed into a unique view of publishing
We Made It: Bex Burch, Dagaare Xylophone-Maker
Percussionist explains how the unique craft and culture of a north-Ghanaian people shapes her music
film
theartsdesk Q&A: Actress Liz Fraser
She put the come-hither in Brit comedies, but has done her finest work in dramas
tv
The Secret World of Lewis Carroll, BBC Two
150 years on, Carroll’s surreal, truthful masterpiece under the magnifying glass
new music
Tutuguri, BBCSO, Nagano, Barbican
The UK premiere of a fearsome beast in the jungle of late 20th-century music
classical
Tutuguri, BBCSO, Nagano, Barbican
The UK premiere of a fearsome beast in the jungle of late 20th-century music
Classical CDs Weekly: Jürg Frey, Janáček, Trio Mediaeval
Minimalist piano music, rousing Czech fanfares and a vocal journey from Iceland to Italy
Florian Boesch, Roger Vignoles, Wigmore Hall
An extraordinary musical adventure in the Austrian Alps
opera
Orfeo, Royal Opera, Roundhouse
Austerely beautiful retelling of mythic Orpheus's grief and trials, with sounds to match
theatre
Di and Viv and Rose, Vaudeville Theatre
A frank, funny and deeply felt meditation on defining friendships
The Ruling Class, Trafalgar Studios
James McAvoy gives a stellar performance as the mad earl, in a revival that falls short
visual arts
Rubens and His Legacy, Royal Academy
Study of the Old Master's reputation visits a neglected corner of artistic practice
PJ Harvey: Recording in Progress, Artangel at Somerset House
The musician in full creative swing: a voyeur’s delight
dance
Richard Alston Dance Company 20th Anniversary Performances, Sadler's Wells
Two gems and two duds in celebratory mixed bill with live music
comedy
Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2015 launch
Starry line-up for Europe's biggest festival of its kind
gaming
Grim Fandango Remastered
A classic point-and-click adventure returns – but is the past another country?
latest comments
Dear Buddy, thanks so much for your comment on...
Oh well Mark you make it all sound as though...
Schlock-jock rubbish transposed to a jazz academy...
that should read ....NOT at all appropriate. ; ))
Similarly excellent show in London last night -...
Funny how we can all see and hear the same thing...