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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…
David Nice |
After the myriad intricacies and moodswings of Janáček's The Makropulos Case on Tuesday and Thursday - I was lucky to catch both performance, the second even more electrifying…
Veronica Lee |
What a journey Jamie Eastlake’s play has had: his stage adaptation (which he also directs) of Jonathan Tulloch’s book The Season Ticket began life as a three-hander in 2022, when…
Robert Beale |
Marketed as “City Noir” to begin with, this programme title was switched to “Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 4” closer to the off, perhaps because the more familiar of the two main…
Rachel Halliburton |
Director Bill Barclay’s new collaboration with the Gesualdo Six – commissioned by St Martin-In-The Fields for its 300th anniversary – brings an opulent intensity to its depiction…
Gary Naylor |
In the long slide from its imperial economic might, it’s hard to make a case for finding a place for “The UK” and ‘“World-leading” in the same sentence. But we’re pretty good at…
Ibi Keita
I’ve grown apart from trap as a genre over the years, which is exactly why DON’T BE DUMB caught me off guard in the best way. This album feels like the kind that rewards time and…
Nick Hasted
The last GP in Britain tries to heal his Rage virus-ravaged country in this sequel not only to Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later but his Olympics NHS tribute. Dr Ian Kelson (Ralph…
Adam Sweeting
The pitch for this movie might have been “Heat meets Miami Vice”, and it’s to the credit of writer/director Joe Carnahan that the finished result can stand toe to toe with those…
Kieron Tyler
The opening track – “Ālibek’agnimi” (“አልበቃኝም” in its original title) – is a cool, close-to six-minute soul instrumental on which the organ suggests an at-least passing…
aleks.sierz
Humour is a good way of defusing tense situations. You know, social embarrassments, personal difficulties and existential puzzles. In the wonderfully titled Eat The Rich (but…
Adam Sweeting
Brendan Fraser’s mournful, basset-hound face finds a loving home in this affecting fable from director/writer Hikari. Fraser plays Phillip Vanderploeg, an American actor…
Sarah Kent
State of Statelessness is the brainchild of the Drung Tibetan Filmmakers’ Collective based in Dharamshala, home to the Dalai Lama and spiritual heart of the Tibetan community in…
Sebastian Scotney
I have enjoyed Scenes From Above (Blue Note) more than any other album from Julian Lage since Modern Lore (Mack Avenue, 2018). There are many reasons for that, but the simplest is…
David Nice
Our most adventurous guitarist never does anything twice, at least not in quite the same form. Days after a recital in Dublin's Royal Irish Academy of Music, he included several…
James Saynor
We might simply call it a dilemma, but Hollywood screenwriters call it a “crisis decision”, or maybe sometimes a “swivel”. It’s when there’s an impossible choice, in movies…
Gary Naylor
Such is the USA administration’s overwhelming saturation of the news cycle that, even with the comforting presence of an ocean between, it’s hard not to find Talking Heads’…
Robert Beale
Anna Lapwood may not be the only virtuoso organist to celebrate the centenary of Joseph Jongen’s Symphonie concertante this year, but with her performance with the Hallé under…
Thomas H. Green
Thrash metal’s “big four”, the ones who originally set the genre rolling, are, famously, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. These are American bands. In Europe, another band…
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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
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reunite in fierce Miami crime drama
Sleek production of one of the author's lesser works
It's not so much who's guilty, but who isn't
film
Ralph Fiennes seeks a cure for Rage in a ferocious and timely horror sequel
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reunite in fierce Miami crime drama
Artifice imitates life in touching Tokyo-based tale
new music
Spellbinding Ethiopian jazz-inflected soul
classical
A live-wire violinist in top form, and a programme contrasting mystery with good humour
Clear and crystalline pianism in contrast with Ives and Adams
A ravishingly beautiful depiction of the composer's life in tableaux vivants
opera
Marlis Petersen captures the infinite variety of Janáček's 337-year-old heroine
Emily D'Angelo shines as Handel's impetuous, besotted protagonist
theatre
Football and fractious families collide
Evergreen songs lift somewhat formulaic musical
Edinburgh Fringe banger about class in Liverpool and Cambridge arrives in London
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
On its second time out, ENB's production is a winner where it counts
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Some hits among the misfires
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Writer Barry Joseph recounts his moments of clarity and connection with Stephen Sondheim’s lifelong love of puzzles
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
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