Reviews

Tutuguri, BBCSO, Nagano, Barbican

Peter Quantrill 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 of fellow travellers all off their heads on mescalin, Tutuguri is definitely the music you’d want to do it to. Which is OK, because those are pretty much the images conjured up by Antonin Artaud’s poem-radio play To Have Done with the Judgment of God, which prompted Wolfgang Rihm to make a two-hour instrumental setting...

The Secret World of Lewis Carroll, BBC Two

Marina Vaizey 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 Shakespeare as an automatic inclusion for the survival kit. Now 150 years after the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written by a celibate mathematics don at Christ Church, Oxford, real name Charles Lutwidge Dogdson (pictured, below right), there are translations into countless languages, including that of...

Konono Nº1, Café Oto

Heidi Goldsmith 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...

Reissue CDs Weekly: Motorpsycho

Kieron Tyler 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...

Alice Russell, Jazz Café

Thomas Rees 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...

Nicola Conte, Ronnie Scott's

Peter Quinn Saturday, 31 January 2015

The Italian DJ, producer and musician lights up Soho with feel-good retro stylings

Kraftwerk: Pop Art, BBC Four

Barney Harsent Saturday, 31 January 2015

Kraftwerk go under the microscope for this portrait of the artists

theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 2

Thomas H Green Saturday, 31 January 2015

The best of the month's records

Jessie J, Eventim Apollo

Matthew Wright Friday, 30 January 2015

Magnificently garish live show is constantly on the edge of sensory overload

Fortitude, Sky Atlantic

Adam Sweeting Friday, 30 January 2015

Love, death and monsters in the Arctic Circle

Timeshift: Battle for the Himalayas, BBC Four

Jasper Rees Friday, 30 January 2015

The remarkable story of Everest on film highlights John Noel's restored footage

Trash

Matt Wolf Friday, 30 January 2015

Director Stephen Daldry's three unknowns save the day

Di and Viv and Rose, Vaudeville Theatre

Marianka Swain Friday, 30 January 2015

A frank, funny and deeply felt meditation on defining friendships

Florian Boesch, Roger Vignoles, Wigmore Hall

Alexandra Coghlan Friday, 30 January 2015

An extraordinary musical adventure in the Austrian Alps

Grim Fandango Remastered

Simon Munk Friday, 30 January 2015

A classic point-and-click adventure returns – but is the past another country?

The Hard Problem, National Theatre

Matt Wolf Thursday, 29 January 2015

Minor Stoppard that never fully melds head and heart

Onegin, Royal Ballet

Hanna Weibye Thursday, 29 January 2015

Cranko's adaptation of Pushkin offers plenty of character and intrigue

Hannigan, LPO, Jurowski, Festival Hall

Geoff Brown Thursday, 29 January 2015

A splendid soprano gets lost in the desert of Lindberg’s new work, but there are compensations elsewhere

The Ruling Class, Trafalgar Studios

Demetrios Matheou Thursday, 29 January 2015

James McAvoy gives a stellar performance as the mad earl, in a revival that falls short

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Veronica Lee Thursday, 29 January 2015

Action-packed James Bond pastiche by Matthew Vaughn

Inherent Vice

Nick Hasted Wednesday, 28 January 2015

Paul Thomas Anderson films unfilmable Thomas Pynchon, in a stoner noir

Dara, National Theatre

Aleks Sierz Wednesday, 28 January 2015

Meandering adaptation of a Pakistani history play about Islam in Mughal India loses the plot

Touched by Auschwitz, BBC Two

Tom Birchenough Wednesday, 28 January 2015

Powerful documentary by Laurence Rees allows Auschwitz survivors full reflection

Hello/Goodbye, Hampstead Theatre

Marianka Swain Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Cupid takes the form of a property dispute in this satisfyingly soulful romcom

Richard Alston Dance Company 20th Anniversary Performances, Sadler's Wells

Hanna Weibye Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Two gems and two duds in celebratory mixed bill with live music

Taken at Midnight, Theatre Royal Haymarket

Heather Neill Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Penelope Wilton triumphs as a mother who defies the Nazis in fighting for her lawyer son

Ghostpoet, Village Underground

Katie Colombus Tuesday, 27 January 2015

New album sees this rap artist moving forward both lyrically and with his crossover sound

Big Hero 6

Emma Simmonds Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Charming Disney animation gives way to superhero spectacle

Blind Date, Jermyn Street Theatre

Marianka Swain Monday, 26 January 2015

Chirpy romcom offers big-hearted courtship, but lacks contemporary bite

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