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Jon Turney |

Two centuries ago, New York City was a tangled collection of streets on the narrowing southern end of Manhattan island. Expansion pointed only one way, and in 1807 a three-person team proposed it be organised on a grid. They sketched ranks of rectangular city blocks reaching eight miles north, up to 155th street. And with a few alterations of detail – Central Park did not appear on their map – present-day New York displays exactly that rectilinear array.

James Saynor
Cinema has a deep distrust of the devout. Even though many movie types are tied up in all sorts of personal spiritual pursuits, organised religion…
Rachel Halliburton
Famously Handel and Bach never met, despite being born in the same year in the same country. So it was fun to see the programme for the English…
James Saynor
We’ve heard of dad rock, but how about dad techno? This Spanish movie, directed by the French-born Oliver Laxe, immerses us in one of Europe’s more…

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Thomas H. Green
Despite a limited audience, an evening of whole-hearted sing-alongs
Sarah Kent
It pays to delay; how to be a great painter at 91
aleks.sierz
Alexi Kaye Campbell’s new play tells the story of George Eliot’s early struggle for independence
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Styles harmonise in music of memory and mourning
Kieron Tyler
When guitar solos are as important as the meaning of the song
Veronica Lee
Shaggy-dog story about a Hollywood party
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The widest ranging record reviews in the cosmos
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First-rate singing, playing and conducting, and the portable production has some impact
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No sex please, we're British (and Irish)
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The military dictatorship unleashed a carnival of killing and corruption, but Kleber Mendonça Filho's sprawling genre-buster shows there was hope, too
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Popular novel-turned-musical pushes the bounds of credibility to breaking point and beyond
Kieron Tyler
Stunning, originally shelved, American version of Pil’s first album resurfaces
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Phony Tony or saviour of the world?
Rachel Halliburton
Chadwick Boseman's play is a feast of visual and sonic invention
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Biopic opera of the great Japanese artist Hokusai slightly misses its mark
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Long-time collaborators offer great singing but some wobbly playing
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Cooper turns a fine ear to music for an exploration of creative life
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Playful West Country duo revel in fun and silliness
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Kåre Konradi distils Ibsen's great epic in a very personal mix of English and Norwegian
Jonathan Geddes
The band have embraced a slick, poppier sound
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Mary Bronstein's second feature closes the gap between motherhood and madness
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Booker-winner returns with a fable full of warnings, petrochemicals, ghosts – but is it too little too late?
Boyd Tonkin
Handel's Biblical tragedy strikes hard without stage trickery

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