reviews

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We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the response to our appeal to help us relaunch and reboot has been something else.

theartsdesk at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival - from trenches terror to forest fairytale

David Nice |

Good Friday and the days before it are times to contemplate Bach's great passions - the St Matthew was performed at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival before I arrived with Klaus Mäkelä conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra - but not so much another powerful ritual.

James K, Barbican review - a little awkwardness and a lot of awe

Joe Muggs
It’s not often I feel guilty about making an assessment of a set almost instantly after making it. The support act for the first full-band live show…

The Authenticator, National Theatre review - complex post-colonial archival dive

aleks.sierz
Stories about slavery tend to be simplistic: white perpetrators are bad, black victims good. One of the more striking features of Winsome Pinnock’s…

Fuze review - daylight robbery

Nick Hasted
David Mackenzie’s second superbly marshalled thriller in a year makes an unexploded bomb the backdrop for a London heist and its chaotic aftermath.…

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Sarah Millican special review - a midlife catch-up

Veronica Lee
From bullied teen to confident stand-up

Music Reissues Weekly: Wednesday Morning 6AM - Radio Hits from the Small Hours 1970-1983

Kieron Tyler
Eye-opening tribute to BBC Radio 2’s riposte to Radio’s 1’s allegiance to the charts

Romeo & Juliet, Harold Pinter Theatre review - time waits for no man (or woman)

Matt Wolf
Robert Icke's starry production elides 'Sliding Doors' with Shakespeare

Your Friends & Neighbours, Season 2, Apple TV review - a new arrival sends shockwaves through Westmont Village

Adam Sweeting
Jon Hamm heads a rich cast of vividly-drawn characters

Lifeline, Southwark Playhouse review - science and song in South London

Gary Naylor
Wonderful singing illuminates medical musical

Les Liaisons Dangereuses, National Theatre review - liaison lite

Demetrios Matheou
Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner star as Christopher Hampton's diabolical heartbreakers

Basement Jaxx, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow review - sci-fi staging and a barrage of bangers

Jonathan Geddes
Despite a mostly seated venue, the dance veterans got fans on their feet with ease

The Stranger review - François Ozon tackles Camus

Sebastian Scotney
The prolific French director probes more than existential alienation in this deceptively beautiful film

Babies, BBC One review - poignant, funny and insightful, an exceptional drama series from Stefan Golaszewski

Helen Hawkins
The sadness of multiple miscarriages gets a tender treatment and great performances

Detective Hole, Netflix review - darkness on the edge of town

Adam Sweeting
Tobias Santelmann is perfectly cast as Jo Nesbø's hard-bitten detective

theartsdesk on Vinyl 96: Duran Duran, Vitalic, Fliptrix, Stravinsky, Happy Mondays, Miles Davis and more

Thomas H. Green
The last great bastion of regular international vinyl record reviewing

Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - gladiatorial contest brings a job

Robert Beale
Different works call for different gifts in skills and sense of musical coherence

Blu-ray: Negatives

johncarvill
S&M shenanigans turn serious in Peter Medak's complex '60s thriller

They Will Kill You review - superficial Satanist splatter offers a wild ride

Nick Hasted
Russia's Tarantino's Hollywood debut is derivative but delirious

Jaja's African Hair Braiding, Lyric Hammersmith review - perky Harlem-set comedy with a serious undertow

Helen Hawkins
Jocelyn Bioh's Tony-nominated play about the lot of modern-day Black women is a treat

Kreator, O2 Academy Brixton review - German thrash titans batter and thrill

Thomas H. Green
With a line-up that includes Exodus and Carcass, a top-notch night of the heaviest metal

The Old Ladies, Finborough Theatre review - sound, but not quite creepy enough

Helen Hawkins
Rodney Ackland's 1935 play about loneliness deserves a higher-tech treatment

Aynur Doğan, St George's Bristol review - a glorious celebration of Kurdish identity

Mark Kidel
Leading Kurdish vocalist takes tradition on an adventure

Music Reissues Weekly: Head - Blackpool Cool

Kieron Tyler
Scottish jazz rarity resurfaces

Two Prosecutors review - a warning from history

Nick Hasted
A lawyer sinks into a bureaucratic quagmire in a darkly humane Stalinist parable

The Turn of the Screw, Linbury Theatre review - sorrow drenched in darkness

Boyd Tonkin
Waterworks fail to douse the power of Britten's sinister masterpiece

St Matthew Passion, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin review - searing drama as before

David Nice
This year’s chorus of soloists has yet more revelations, but the overall vision’s the thing

Body & Soul, English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells review - a surefire hit and an absolute plonker

Jenny Gilbert
Getting it very right and very wrong in this contemporary double bill

Tom Misch drifts through ‘Full Circle’ without quite taking off

Ibi Keita
A well-crafted sound that plays it a little too safe

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latest in today

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts…
theartsdesk at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival - from trenches terror to forest fairytale
Good Friday and the days before it are times to contemplate Bach's great passions - the St Matthew was performed at the Baden-Baden Easter…
In 'The World is to Dig', even They Might Be Giants suffer disillusion
It was something of a miracle how long They Might Be Giants managed to preserve their trademark madcap optimism intact. It lasted right…
James K, Barbican review - a little awkwardness and a lot of awe
It’s not often I feel guilty about making an assessment of a set almost instantly after making it. The support act for the first full-band…
theartsdesk Q&A: François Ozon on 'The Stranger' and the absurdity of the world
François Ozon has typically filtered his version of Albert Camus's existential novella The Stranger through his cool, ironic sensibility,…
The Authenticator, National Theatre review - complex post-colonial archival dive
Stories about slavery tend to be simplistic: white perpetrators are bad, black victims good. One of the more striking features of Winsome…
Fuze review - daylight robbery
David Mackenzie’s second superbly marshalled thriller in a year makes an unexploded bomb the backdrop for a London heist and its chaotic…
Sarah Millican special review - a midlife catch-up
Sarah Millican is at an age where she is pausing to reflect and in Late Bloomer, her most recent show – shown as a special on Channel 4 and…
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Johnny Franck’s energy is palpable with the latest Bilmuri instalment, his signature comedic country metalcore style is as honed as ever…
Music Reissues Weekly: Wednesday Morning 6AM - Radio Hits from the Small Hours 1970-1983
The opening track is Hoyt Axton’s “Evangelina.” After first appearing on the 1976 album Fearless it was re-recorded and issued as a flop UK…