theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Tom Birchenough
Friday, 14 November 2025
We are bowled over! 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...
Adam Sweeting
Friday, 03 October 2025
Rockin’ vicar the Rev Richard Coles is not only a C of E priest and former member of Bronski Beat and The Communards, but also a purveyor of crime fiction in the shape of his...
Bernard Hughes
Friday, 03 October 2025
Schubert’s Fifth Symphony is one of those pieces whose existence in the modern world hangs on the most tenuous of threads. After its posthumous premiere the score was lost for...
Demetrios Matheou
Friday, 03 October 2025
Urchin feels like a genuine moment in British cinema. Thematically, it offers a highly original, thoughtful, affecting account of the endless cycle of misfortune and institutional...
Robert Beale
Friday, 03 October 2025
Kahchun Wong’s second Bridgewater Hall concert of the new season was partly an introduction to the Hallé’s artist-in-residence for 2025-26, Anna Lapwood. The star organist brought...
Gary Naylor
Friday, 03 October 2025
An opening video montage presents us with a rogues' gallery of powerful men who have done bad things. Plenty of the usual suspects appear to stomach-churning effect, but no ex-...
David Nice
Friday, 03 October 2025
High on the hill of fascinating New Ross in County Wexford sits its greatest treasure, the ruined 13th century Gothic beauty...
Markie Robson-Scott
Thursday, 02 October 2025
This genial oddity – its pithier French title is Complètement Cramé, meaning something along the lines of completely burnt...
Nick Hasted
Thursday, 02 October 2025
Warren Ellis is Nick Cave’s wild-maned Bad Seeds right-hand man and The Dirty Three’s frenzied violinist. Justin Kurzel’s...
Aleks Sierz
Thursday, 02 October 2025
Star casting has, since the pandemic, done much to restore the fortunes of commercial theatre. And, when they can pull off a...
Bernard Hughes
Thursday, 02 October 2025
Into the Groove is Justin Lewis’s follow-up to 2023’s Don’t Stop the Music, in which he traced 40 years of pop history by...
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight review - vivid adaptation of a memoir about a Rhodesian childhood
Helen Hawkins
Thursday, 02 October 2025
Fans of Alexandra Fuller’s fine memoir of her childhood in Africa may be wary of this film adaptation by the actress Embeth...
Tim Cumming
Thursday, 02 October 2025
This is quite a tale: Shooter, son of Waylon Jennings, discovers a tranche of his father’s personal multitrack tapes from...
Thomas H Green
Wednesday, 01 October 2025
The backscreens pop alive. A wall of photographer’s flashguns. On cyberpunk crutches, Lady Gaga stumbles jerkily towards us...
Gary Naylor
Wednesday, 01 October 2025
In a fair few bars around the world tonight, bands will be playing “That’s The Way (I Like It)”, “Give It Up” and so many...
Veronica Lee
Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Comedy is strange old thing; it’s supposed to be funny ha-ha, but the laughs can often come from a dark place, as evidenced...
Kieron Tyler
Wednesday, 01 October 2025
The 16-minute album opener “Between the Fingers the Drops of Tomorrow's Dawn” coalesces at the 12-minute point, when...
Graham Fuller
Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Paul Thomas Anderson’s frantic One Battle After Another is a storm warning for a fascist America and both a lament and a...
Adam Sweeting
Tuesday, 30 September 2025
They say no good deed goes unpunished, so when New York restaurateur Jake Friedken (Jude Law) allowed his wayward and star-...
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disc of the day
Waylon Jennings' 'Songbird' raises this country great from the grave
The first of a trove of posthumous recordings from the 1970s and early 1980s
The future of Arts Journalism
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Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
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tv
Murder Before Evensong, Acorn TV review - death comes to the picturesque village of Champton
The Rev Richard Coles's sleuthing cleric hits the screen
Black Rabbit, Netflix review - grime and punishment in New York City
Jude Law and Jason Bateman tread the thin line between love and hate
The Hack, ITV review - plodding anatomy of twin UK scandals
Jack Thorne's skill can't disguise the bagginess of his double-headed material
film
Urchin review - superb homeless drama
Frank Dillane gives a star-making turn in Harris Dickinson’s impressive directorial debut
Mr Blake at Your Service review - John Malkovich in unlikely role as an English butler
Weird comedy directed by novelist Gilles Legardinier
theartsdesk Q&A: musician Warren Ellis recalls how jungle horror and healing broke him open
The Bad Seed explains the cost of home truths while making documentary Ellis Park
new music
theartsdesk Q&A: musician Warren Ellis recalls how jungle horror and healing broke him open
The Bad Seed explains the cost of home truths while making documentary Ellis Park
Waylon Jennings' 'Songbird' raises this country great from the grave
The first of a trove of posthumous recordings from the 1970s and early 1980s
Lady Gaga, The Mayhem Ball, O2 review - epic, eye-boggling and full of spirit
One of the year's most anticipated tours lives up to the hype
classical
Kanneh-Mason, Britten Sinfonia, Shave, Milton Court - a grin and a big beaming smile
A pair of striking contemporary pieces alongside two old favourites
Lapwood, Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - journeys into space
Star of the console takes us on a cosmic dance , while Elgar brings us back to earth
theartsdesk at the New Ross Piano Festival - Finghin Collins’ musical rainbow
From revelatory Bach played with astounding maturity by a 22 year old to four-hand jazz
opera
Cinderella/La Cenerentola, English National Opera review - the truth behind the tinsel
Appealing performances cut through hyperactive stagecraft
Tosca, Royal Opera review - Ailyn Pérez steps in as the most vivid of divas
Jakub Hrůša’s multicoloured Puccini last night found a soprano to match
Tosca, Welsh National Opera review - a great company reduced to brilliance
The old warhorse made special by the basics
theatre
Measure for Measure, RSC, Stratford review - 'problem play' has no problem with relevance
Shakespeare, in this adaptation, is at his most perceptive
The Importance of Being Earnest, Noël Coward Theatre review - dazzling and delightful queer fest
West End transfer of National Theatre hit stars Stephen Fry and Olly Alexander
Get Down Tonight, Charing Cross Theatre review - glitz and hits from the 70s
If you love the songs of KC and the Sunshine Band, Please Do Go!
dance
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
iD-Reloaded, Cirque Éloize, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury review - attitude, energy and invention
A riotous blend of urban dance music, hip hop and contemporary circus
How to be a Dancer in 72,000 Easy Lessons, Teaċ Daṁsa review - a riveting account of a life in dance
Michael Keegan-Dolan's unique hybrid of physical theatre and comic monologue
comedy
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Nick Helm, Touring review - brash comic shows his vulnerable side
Matters of the heart and heavy metal
Kerry Godliman, G-Live review - she's livid but delivers the laughs
Perimenopause provides rich seam of gags
Books
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Justin Lewis: Into the Groove review - fun and fact-filled trip through Eighties pop
Month by month journey through a decade gives insights into ordinary people’s lives
Joanna Pocock: Greyhound review - on the road again
A writer retraces her steps to furrow a deeper path through modern America
visual arts
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, Royal Academy review - a triumphant celebration of blackness
Room after room of glorious paintings
Folkestone Triennial 2025 - landscape, seascape, art lovers' escape
Locally rooted festival brings home many but not all global concerns
latest comments
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