reviews
Adam Sweeting |
James Saynor |
Here’s something you don’t see every day at the cinema: a filmmaker tells a boring story, then makes the whole point of the film about telling a boring story. Pedro Almodóvar is known for busy, gymnastic storytelling that can sometimes be so heightened it borders, in his own words, on “hysteria”.
Jonathan Geddes
Geese may be the most buzz-worthy band in the world these days, but even they cannot get away with teasing a Glasgow crowd too much. After something…
David Nice
Accolades first for the deep sound in Strauss of The Met Orchestra, newcomers to the Proms, under its Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has…
Gary Naylor
Outside, this imagined world has collapsed, a few survivors of the flashes of two bombs scratching a living from a landscape that Mad Max would…
Help secure the future of arts journalism
In this era of algorithmic recommendation, opaquely sponsored content and AI slop, theartsdesk’s mission to preserve real journalistic and critical values has never been more important.
If you like what you see here, please join us in this mission.
Subscribing to the site will help us in our coming redesign and expansion.
If you do this before the 31st August this will be at our guaranteed founder’s rate:
your subs will never increase again.
Subscribe now for £5 per month.
or yearly for just £40.
Or if you simply want to support us with a one-off donation, you can do so here.
Simon Thompson
Zurich Opera production has some good singing, but its mood is monochrome
David Kettle
An ambitious Scottish-South Korean collaboration at Summerhall blends ceilidh tunes and a tender love story
Simon Thompson
Kurtág and Schubert converse across the centuries, Hollywood’s Golden Age dazzles
David Kettle
Sinister puppetry, improv mayhem and a show in a box in three memorable offerings
Bernard Hughes
Lacklustre Copland and messy, misconceived Gershwin outweigh enjoyable Bernstein
David Kettle
Two striking shows at Summerhall take oblique perspectives on Palestine
Adam Sweeting
Ron runs riot through his back pages
David Kettle
A striking collision between music and sport, and a moving exploration of care and need in two outstanding shows
Rachel Halliburton
Conductor Jonathon Heyward presided with style and élan over an uplifting programme
Simon Thompson
Arch wit and folksy strangeness from opposite ends of Europe
David Kettle
Three lynched men shoot the breeze in Zora Howard's brief but potent play
Kieron Tyler
Exhaustive box set dedicated to the North London band which briefly featured David Bowie
David Nice
Some mezzo nuances lost, though none from vivid tenor or players
David Kettle
A high-velocity storytelling show challenges us to understand a barely comprehensible world
Sebastian Scotney
Glorious soundpainting from Ambrose Akinmusire and arrangements by Miho Hazama
Simon Thompson
Strings with two guest artists, and a tribute to Alfred Brendel
David Kettle
Homophobic hate crime and affectionate celeb capers in two memorable shows
Aleks Sierz
Exaggeration central: cartoon version of Mike Leigh classic arrives in the West End
Boyd Tonkin
Singers, and players, rise above some clunky moments in Strauss's meta-opera
James Saynor
A knowing American horror parody that’s all-self-consuming
Bernard Hughes
This wide-ranging miscellany combines urban history and geography to nerdily entertaining effect
David Kettle
Ancient Greek myth and a valedictory celebration in two plays at the Traverse Theatre
Veronica Lee
Larky cabaret; smart musical comedy; and a blast of a debut
Kieron Tyler
When a new album is an adjunct of an old one
latest in today
Published by Australian author Miles Franklin (full name Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin) in April 1901, My Brilliant Career was a hit in…
Here’s something you don’t see every day at the cinema: a filmmaker tells a boring story, then makes the whole point of the film about…
Geese may be the most buzz-worthy band in the world these days, but even they cannot get away with teasing a Glasgow crowd too much. After…
Accolades first for the deep sound in Strauss of The Met Orchestra, newcomers to the Proms, under its Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin,…
Outside, this imagined world has collapsed, a few survivors of the flashes of two bombs scratching a living from a landscape that Mad Max…
A Masked Ball – note the English title given by the EIF, even though this is sung in Italian, an indication, I expect, of moves…
Take along your dancing shoes for this rousing, roof-raising collaboration between Glasgow’s Wonder Fools theatre company and South Korea’s…
So the tune we'll discuss today in the imaginary seminar that occupies a certain part of my brain is…."When Jah Come" by Devon Irons (…
As the title of her fourth album suggests, South Carolina blues-rocker Hannah Wicklund is not happy. There’s a tangled yarn behind these…
Interspersal programmes – or “mind melds”, as I like to call them – can sometimes open up new vistas of listening and sometimes be…