Reviews
Lohengrin, Welsh National Opera, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Friday, 24 May 2013
What is one to make of Lohengrin, Wagner’s last “opera” (as opposed to music drama), in this day and age? Is it a medieval romance, like Weber’s Freischütz but with a deus ex machina at the beginning rather than the end; or is it a nineteenth-century domestic melodrama in disguise, with the hero revealed in the bedroom scene as a Papal Nuncio travelling incognito. Why mustn’t Elsa ask his name? Is it, as Lothar Koenigs hints in the WNO programme, some echo of Wagner’s doubts about his own (...
The Tudors Season, BBC Two
Friday, 24 May 2013
Is the BBC taking dictation from the Gradgrindian brain of Michael Gove? According to the education secretary’s latest wacky diktat, what the nation’s children want is facts facts facts. Plus, in the teaching of history, lots of stuff about England/Britain giving Johnny Foreigner a bloody conk. So let’s give it up one more time for the Tudors, who are essentially our very own Nazis. This is less for the dodgy human rights record than their permanent status as a small-screen visitor...
The Hangover Part III
Friday, 24 May 2013
You don't have to be a fan of The Hangover franchise to get most of the jokes in Part III, although it certainly helps. How else would you understand...
Metro: Last Light
Friday, 24 May 2013
Man is, of course, the worst monster of all in this bleak, post-apocalyptic first-person shooter based on the best-selling "Metro" novels of Russian...
To Kill A Mockingbird, Regent’s Park Open Air...
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Every May the townspeople of Monroeville, Alabama, the home of Harper Lee, perform Christopher Sergel’s theatrical adaptation of Lee’s acclaimed,...
Steve Earle, Royal Festival Hall
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Passion and politics as country's great polymath tours a powerful new album with a powerful new band |
Rob Newman, Little Angel Theatre
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Not quite rock 'n' roll, but I like it |
Disgraced, Bush Theatre
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Pulitzer Prize-winning drama examines cultural identity with insight and intelligence |
Something in the Air
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Olivier Assayas recalls his heady, heavy days as a soixante-huitard |
The Kite Runner, Theatre Royal Brighton
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
A story-centric stage adaption of Khaled Hosseini's sentimental best-seller |
The King of Marvin Gardens
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Melancholy meets irrational optimism in Bob Rafelson's New Hollywood classic |
Relatively Speaking, Wyndham's Theatre
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Early Ayckbourn play fizzes anew 46 years on |
Sylvie Guillem, 6000 Miles Away, Sadler's Wells Theatre
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Guillem weaves her game-changing magic in Forsythe and Ek |
Limbo, Southbank Centre
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
London Wonderground's erotic circus bumps and grinds |
Lubomyr Melnyk, Village Underground
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
The pioneer of continuous music astonishes while Bon Iver’s preferred artist Gregory Euclide paints live, on stage |
Helen Chadwick, Richard Saltoun
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Her obsession with death and decay was leavened by a wicked sense of humour |
Case Histories, BBC One
Monday, 20 May 2013
The brooding private detective is back |
Falstaff, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Monday, 20 May 2013
Comedy is king in a Falstaff revival which is consistently enjoyable but could be a little less nice |
The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women, BBC Four
Monday, 20 May 2013
The welcome return of the legacy of photographer Erwin Blumenfeld |
Ariadne auf Naxos, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Strauss's opera reluctantly enters the Battle of Britain courtesy of a young German director |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Scott Walker
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Easy listening and continental European intellectualism combine on the early albums from pop’s wilful auteur |
Say It With Flowers, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff
Sunday, 19 May 2013
New play about tragic Welsh diva Dorothy Squires misses the real story |
Mariele Neudecker, Regency Town House, Brighton
Sunday, 19 May 2013
The German artist plays with notions of the Romantic sublime |
CD: Jamie Cullum - Momentum
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Stylistic mash-ups of album number six result in perfect pop |
The Liability
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Brit crime caper hits new lows, despite strong cast |
La donna del lago, Royal Opera
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez and Michael Spyres triumph over adversity |
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 |
Bullet Catch, Spiegeltent, Brighton
Friday, 17 May 2013
The classic shock trick provides the core for a surprisingly philosophical show |
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 |
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Lohengrin, Welsh National Opera, Wales Millennium Centre, Ca...
WNO in their element in wide-stage Wagner marred by vocal problems
The Tudors Season, BBC Two
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To Kill A Mockingbird, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
London ain't Alabama, but Harper Lee's attack on racial intoleran...
Steve Earle, Royal Festival Hall
Passion and politics as country's great polymath tours a powerful new...
Disgraced, Bush Theatre
Pulitzer Prize-winning drama examines cultural identity with insight and in...
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Resurrected after 22 years, does this covers project still work?
The Kite Runner, Theatre Royal Brighton
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The Tudors Season, BBC Two
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