theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Peter Culshaw |
The latest in Peter Culshaw’s occasional radio shows with a global music bent is a post-WOMAD chat with one of its originators, who suggested the idea to his pal Peter Gabriel at…
David Nice |
It's a reviewer's unkind luxury to moan about having to sit through yet another performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto simply to hear a rarer work; there will always be audience…
Adam Sweeting |
You’re not going to catch Alan Ritchson playing King Lear at Stratford or doing Noël Coward at Chichester, but as an implacable warrior for truth, justice and the American way –…
Simon Thompson |
The clue is in the name, I suppose. Revolución diamantina – Glitter revolution – was written in 2023 by Gabriela Ortiz (pictured below) as a response to violence against women in…
Veronica Lee |
Matt FordePleasance Courtyard ★★★★Matt Forde is one of those comics Fringe-goers can rely to present a well-prepared and funny show, and Project Holy Moly is no exception. It’s…
David Nice |
So much has vanished from my memory of the time I had a half-season Arena Proms pass back in 1982, but not the performance of Berlioz's Requiem (Grande Messe des Morts) with the…
David Kettle
Andrew O’Hagan’s 2020 novel Mayflies had a memorable television treatment in 2022, and a brand new stage adaptation – to which the writer has given his blessing – is one of the…
Thomas H. Green
Like electronica, metal is an umbrella term that contains multitudes of micro-genres. How do you fancy sludge, blackened crust or funeral doom? And that’s just scraping the…
Jonathan Geddes
Just over 24 hours before Idlewild stepped out at the Kelvingrove Bandstand, the much ballyhooed solar eclipse had proved a damp squib for much of Scotland, with cloudy weather…
Kieron Tyler
The Adverts’ debut single was released by Stiff Records in late April 1977. The top side of the “One Chord Wonders” / “Quick Step” pairing was a dry humoured assessment of the…
Adam Sweeting
Ah, Benidorm… sea, sun, sand, sex, sangria and chips. In 5’s new six-part comedy drama, masterminded by Ian Jarvis, the popular Costa Blanca resort becomes the setting for a…
Nick Hasted
This is a barrel of fun, an adrenalised, old-school monster movie made with ferocious commitment by It Follows’ David Robert Mitchell. Setting dinosaurs loose in Eighties suburbia…
Nick Hasted
Vicky Krieps is a guarantor of female integrity, whose characters rail against or ride roughshod over gender restrictions. Star turns from Phantom Thread’s steely ingenue to…
Graham Rickson
The Art of David Munrow (Warner Classics)
Image
An online search tells me that the most popular gap year activity (for those…
Saskia Baron
The strongest element in Tony is the performance that Antonio Banderas gives as ‘Chef’, the owner of a seafood restaurant in the holiday resort of Provincetown in the late…
Veronica Lee
Susie McCabeAssembly George Square ★★★★Glaswegian Susie McCabe has established a loyal following at the Edinburgh Fringe over the past few years, and in Coming of Rage she…
Simon Thompson
Several years ago, after a Queen’s Hall song morning, a fellow reviewer told me it was time we rethought the song recital, and that the old format of someone standing still while…
David Nice
An Ulster playwright who insists she's British, a childish American star hung up on Irish Catholic tropes - played by a very grown up actor, Matthew Broderick - and a theatre…
Markie Robson-Scott
“How many cancer patients does it take to change a lightbulb? One and then 12 to say, ‘How inspiring.’” Bad taste jokes are all the rage among the kids at the summer camp for…
disc of the day
Super-pummelling metal that's been assembled with a refreshing sense of imagination
tv
Alan Ritchson adds brain to brawn in the title role
John Hannah stars in smart and sun-drenched whodunnit
Taylor Sheridan's female CIA team bring the Ukraine conflict back home
film
Dinosaurs hunt Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor through suburbia
Vicky Krieps fights to see her son and find herself in a defining role
Rites of passage at the kitchen pass; cooking up a coming-of-age romcom
new music
On the origins of WOMAD, music documentaries and Tarot
Super-pummelling metal that's been assembled with a refreshing sense of imagination
30 years into their career, Idlewild were on snappy form in Glasgow
classical
Spanish cellist's Elgar goes deep, while Walton's Second Symphony glows and throbs
Ortiz glitters, Adès grips, Beethoven purrs
Despite the mass percussion and four brass bands, the quieter moments register most
opera
Missy Mazzoli’s impressive new opera follows Wynton Marsalis' jazz symphony opening night
Michael Gallen's riveting music-theatre piece has committed performances all round
A joyous outing for Weber's mash-up of panto and profundity
theatre
A site-specific stage adaptation captures the fleeting brilliance of Andrew O'Hagan's novel
David Ireland's theatrical clash of three cultures is funny but forgettable
Brutal comedy and cool understatement in two Traverse Theatre shows
dance
Matthew Bourne’s 2000 hit revs up again with impressive dancers and a witty score
Marianela Nuñez celebrates 28 years at the company
A test of stamina for the audience as well as the dancers
comedy
Political gags; absurdist fun; and a personal update
Daft fun at a family show; a woman overcomes her travails
books
David Thomson explores the dark side of cinema, but still offers a flicker of hope
Joyce lurks in the margins of his own biography in a detailed history of Irish politics
An enjoyable look at 'missingness' and how it affects the way we experience the world
visual arts
Great American photographers all in one place
Four artists' films and a computer game speculate on societal collapse
A wild imagination outlined in miniature
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