Reviews
Ariadne auf Naxos, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Sunday, 19 May 2013
The Major-Domo promises fireworks during the Prologue of Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s Ariadne auf Naxos. Katharina Thoma, the director of Glyndebourne’s new staging, drops a bombshell - actually several bombshells. Glyndebourne’s wartime history (as a refuge for evacuees) would seem to have chimed with the darker implications of the opera within - namely, the Composer’s opera seria of the title. So here we are, in these darkest of days, occupying the house of a wealthy nobleman for sure but not...
Reissue CDs Weekly: Scott Walker
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Scott Walker: The Collection 1967-1970Few pop records possess a beauty taking them into the otherworldly, inexplicable realm where it’s impossible to understand the magic which coalesced in their creation. The Four Tops’ “Seven Rooms of Gloom”, Joy Division’s “Atmosphere”, Billy Fury’s “Halfway to Paradise”, ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”, Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream”, Sigur Rós’ "Hoppípolla”: all channel something other, rapturously embracing the listener.Another such is Scott Walker’s “Boy Child”,...
Say It With Flowers, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff
Sunday, 19 May 2013
There is a glaring irony in that a play about an all-consuming obsession with one thing (fame) has no real idea of what it itself is supposed to be....
Read more...Mariele Neudecker, Regency Town House, Brighton
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Mariele Neudecker is the lead artist of this year’s HOUSE, a festival for the visual arts which is now in its sixth year and which runs parallel with...
Read more...CD: Jamie Cullum - Momentum
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Jamie Cullum's sixth studio album is about as good a pop record as you'll hear all year. Newly signed to Island Records, the singer-songwriter has...
Read more...
The Liability
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Brit crime caper hits new lows, despite strong cast Read more... |
La donna del lago, Royal Opera
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez and Michael Spyres triumph over adversity Read more... |
Rock ‘n’ Roll Britannia, BBC Four
Saturday, 18 May 2013
The entertaining tale of the protracted birth of a British rock scene which took America on at its own game Read more... |
Bullet Catch, Spiegeltent, Brighton
Friday, 17 May 2013
The classic shock trick provides the core for a surprisingly philosophical show Read more... |
Propaganda: Power and Persuasion, British Library
Friday, 17 May 2013
A thought-provoking exhibition looking at ways in which the state seeks to wield its influence Read more... |
The Victorian in the Wall, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs
Friday, 17 May 2013
Will Adamsdale's new musical comedy-drama is touching, quirky and deliciously daft Read more... |
The Stoker
Friday, 17 May 2013
Nihilism stared down in Alexei Balabanov's bleak look-back to Russia in the Nineties Read more... |
Carmageddon
Friday, 17 May 2013
A car crash of a racing game Read more... |
The Great Gatsby
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Baz Luhrmann's Fitzgerald-spawned epic is busy and brash and big - but great? No, except for Leo Read more... |
Albert Herring, Opera North
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Britten in the round is a comic treat fit for a May Fair Read more... |
Knee Deep, Theatre Royal, Brighton
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Australian acrobatic circus troupe are truly thrilling Read more... |
These Shining Lives, Park Theatre
Thursday, 16 May 2013
London's new theatre makes a thrilling debut, albeit with a play a little less shiny Read more... |
The Pirates of Penzance, Scottish Opera, Theatre Royal, Glasgow
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Gilbert and Sullivan need a lighter director's touch in this musically strong new production Read more... |
Nina Conti, Soho Theatre
Thursday, 16 May 2013
The ventriloquist gives a fresh take on an old art form Read more... |
Tomorrow's World, ICA
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Good things happen when one of Air collaborates with New Young Pony Clubber Read more... |
Frankie, BBC One
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
New primetime district nurse dispenses a spoonful of sugar Read more... |
Public Enemy, Young Vic
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
The horrors of local politics still chime in Richard Jones's queasy production of an Ibsen masterpiece Read more... |
The Fall, BBC Two
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
There's a serial killer on the loose. Do try to curb your enthusiasm Read more... |
An Evening for Hospices of Hope, Sadler's Wells Theatre
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Nine leading men answer the call to ballerina Alina Cojocaru's gala Read more... |
Beware of Mr Baker
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Documentary paints the legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker as an irresponsible genius Read more... |
Daniel Kitson, Theatre Royal, Brighton
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Comedian who eschews the usual routes to fame proves to be both incisive and decidedly different Read more... |
The Jim Jones Revue, The Sebright Arms
Monday, 13 May 2013
Old school rockers mix Little Richard and The Cramps to pack a ferocious punch Read more... |
Eddie Izzard, Wembley Arena
Monday, 13 May 2013
A witty and surreal deconstruction of history from the scatty stand-up Read more... |
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Murder in Angel Lane, ITV
Monday, 13 May 2013
Could ITV be setting up a series with its returning 19th-century detective? Read more... |
latest in today
Ariadne auf Naxos, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Strauss's opera reluctantly enters the Battle of Britain courtesy of a...
theartsdesk in Warsaw: A New Jewish Museum
Although only 7,500 Jews live in Poland, a space dedicated to their history...
Reissue CDs Weekly: Scott Walker
Easy listening and continental European intellectualism combine on the earl...
Say It With Flowers, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff
New play about tragic Welsh diva Dorothy Squires misses the real story
Extract: England My England - Anglophilia Explained
Why are some Americans so seduced by the land of Downton? A native explores
Mariele Neudecker, Regency Town House, Brighton
The German artist plays with notions of the Romantic sublime
La donna del lago, Royal Opera
Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez and Michael Spyres triumph over adversity
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Rock ‘n’ Roll Britannia, BBC Four
The entertaining tale of the protracted birth of a British rock scene which...
theartsdesk Q&A: Kate Lindsey and Katharina Th...
A director and a 'composer' discuss the riches of Richard Strauss...
Reissue CDs Weekly: Scott Walker
Easy listening and continental European intellectualism combine on the earl...
Propaganda: Power and Persuasion, British Library
A thought-provoking exhibition looking at ways in which the state seeks to...
from the archives
Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me, BBC Four
Arena and Clint Eastwood's superb evocation of the multi-talented song...
Dance GB, ENB/ NDCWales/ Scottish Ballet, Royal Na...
GB's three countries get together balletically and surprise everybody
The Black Keys, Corn Exchange, Edinburgh
Primitive US blues-rock duo reach the peak of their powers on UK tour
Louise Bourgeois & Tracey Emin, Do Not Abandon...
A great double act, or two sides that don't quite cohere?
The Duchess of Malfi, Old Vic
Eve Best gives a memorable and moving performance as John Webster's do...
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