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...
Helen Hawkins
Friday, 24 October 2025
The clatter of cool jazz on the soundtrack announces writer-director Kelly Reichardt’s latest project, the kind of score that back in the day would have announced a film by a...
Thomas H Green
Friday, 24 October 2025
Seven years ago, Soft Cell were about to perform at a sold-out O2, a one-off event they entitled, after 16 years apart, One Night, One Final Time. It wasn't of course. They...
Aleks Sierz
Friday, 24 October 2025
Niall is unwell. Very unwell. Very, very. There’s a lot going on in his head. He can’t really hold things together. Evidence? Well, he’s lost his job and his girlfriend Natalie...
David Nice
Thursday, 23 October 2025
It was guaranteed: string masterpieces by Vaughan Williams, Britten and Elgar would be played and conducted at the very highest level by John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London....
Helen Hawkins
Thursday, 23 October 2025
Jean Genet’s 1947 play has been quite a clothes-horse over the years, at times a glamorous confection dressed by designers, and regularly shape-shifting and gender-fluid. Cards on...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 22 October 2025
The return of this entertaining political drama is always welcome, though its soap-tinged mix of transatlantic politics and...
Gilbert & George, 21st Century Pictures, Hayward Gallery review - brash, bright and not so beautiful
Sarah Kent
Wednesday, 22 October 2025
There was a time when Gilbert & George made provocative pictures that probed the body politic for sore points that...
Joe Muggs
Wednesday, 22 October 2025
We are in – it needs to be shouted from the rooftops every day – a golden age of British soul and jazz. It isn’t just about...
Rachel Halliburton
Tuesday, 21 October 2025
To hear Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason speaking live is to hear a woman who very much recognises that her lifelong mission to...
Justine Elias
Tuesday, 21 October 2025
Another day, another shooting: this is Florida, USA, where the "Stand Your Ground" self-defence law allows people to use...
Veronica Lee
Tuesday, 21 October 2025
Bryony Kimmings’ new show – her first in five years – was created to celebrate the opening of Soho Walthamstow, the...
Miriam Figueras
Tuesday, 21 October 2025
From its opening scene, Le Quai des Brumes (Port of Shadows,1938) feels like a reverie, a period of sustained waiting,...
Robert Beale
Monday, 20 October 2025
Phyllida Lloyd’s production of La Bohème for Opera North is over 32 years old but still feels young. And for its audiences...
Bernard Hughes
Monday, 20 October 2025
Many orchestral concerts leaven two or three established classics with something new or unusual. The LSO reversed that...
Nick Hasted
Monday, 20 October 2025
Guillermo del Toro strains every sinew to bring his dream film to life, steeping it in religious symbolism and the history...
Guy Oddy
Monday, 20 October 2025
Their new album may have been born out of a deep dive into Quentin Tarantino’s cinematic reimagining of the post-Manson...
Veronica Lee
Monday, 20 October 2025
It’s always good to welcome the opening of a new arts venue, and sadly it doesn’t happen too often in the current economic...
Guy Oddy
Monday, 20 October 2025
The Lemonheads were one of the original punk-pop outfits and have been an on-off going concern for 40 years. However, singer...
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disc of the day
Yazmin Lacey confirms her place in a vital soul movement with 'Teal Dreams'
Intimacy and rich poetry on UK soul star's second LP
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
The Diplomat, Season 3, Netflix review - Ambassador Kate Wyler becomes America's Second Lady
Soapy transatlantic political drama keeps the Special Relationship alive
The Perfect Neighbor, Netflix review - Florida found-footage documentary is a harrowing watch
Sundance winner chronicles a death that should have been prevented
Murder Before Evensong, Acorn TV review - death comes to the picturesque village of Champton
The Rev Richard Coles's sleuthing cleric hits the screen
film
The Mastermind review - another slim but nourishing slice of Americana from Kelly Reichardt
Josh O'Connor is perfect casting as a cocky middle-class American adrift in the 1970s
The Perfect Neighbor, Netflix review - Florida found-footage documentary is a harrowing watch
Sundance winner chronicles a death that should have been prevented
Blu-ray: Le Quai des Brumes
Love twinkles in the gloom of Marcel Carné’s fogbound French poetic realist classic
new music
theartsdesk Q&A: Soft Cell
Upon the untimely passing of Dave Ball we revisit our September 2018 Soft Cell interview
Yazmin Lacey confirms her place in a vital soul movement with 'Teal Dreams'
Intimacy and rich poetry on UK soul star's second LP
Solar Eyes, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - local lads lay down some new tunes for a home crowd
Psychedelic indie dance music marinated in swirling dry ice
classical
Kilsby, Parkes, Sinfonia of London, Wilson, Barbican review - string things zing and sing in expert hands
British masterpieces for strings plus other-worldly tenor and horn - and a muscular rarity
From Historical to Hip-Hop, Classically Black Music Festival, Kings Place review - a cluster of impressive stars for the future
From quasi-Mozartian elegance to the gritty humour of a kitchen inspection
Shibe, LSO, Adès, Barbican review - gaudy and glorious new music alongside serene Sibelius
Adès’s passion makes persuasive case for the music he loves, both new and old
opera
La bohème, Opera North review - still young at 32
Love and separation, ecstasy and heartbreak, in masterfully updated Puccini
Albert Herring, English National Opera review - a great comedy with depths fully realised
Britten’s delight was never made for the Coliseum, but it works on its first outing there
Carmen, English National Opera review - not quite dangerous
Hopes for Niamh O’Sullivan only partly fulfilled, though much good singing throughout
theatre
Little Brother, Soho Theatre review - light, bright but emotionally true
This Verity Bargate Award-winning dramedy is both entertaining as well as thought provoking
The Maids, Donmar Warehouse review - vibrant cast lost in a spectacular-looking fever dream
Kip Williams revises Genet, with little gained in the update except eye-popping visuals
Ragdoll, Jermyn Street Theatre review - compelling and emotionally truthful
Katherine Moar returns with a Patty Hearst-inspired follow up to her debut hit 'Farm Hall'
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
R:Evolution, English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells review - a vibrant survey of ballet in four acts
ENB set the bar high with this mixed bill, but they meet its challenges thrillingly
Like Water for Chocolate, Royal Ballet review - splendid dancing and sets, but there's too much plot
Christopher Wheeldon's version looks great but is too muddling to connect with fully
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
Bryony Kimmings, Soho Theatre Walthamstow review - captivating tale of the cycle of life
Witty ode to Mother Nature
The Free Association launch review - strong start for improv company
Troupe moves into permanent home
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
Thomas Pynchon - Shadow Ticket review - pulp diction
Thomas Pynchon's latest (and possibly last) book is fun - for a while
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
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
Gilbert & George, 21st Century Pictures, Hayward Gallery review - brash, bright and not so beautiful
The couple's coloured photomontages shout louder than ever, causing sensory overload
Lee Miller, Tate Britain review - an extraordinary career that remains an enigma
Fashion photographer, artist or war reporter; will the real Lee Miller please step forward?
latest comments
This review is trash.
Great review. I was at this concert and think...
This is a review from 2022, when the production...
Thank you, addition made
It's not the London Philharmonic Orchestra, it's...
What a fine and so well thought through review!...
Thank you for those kind words.I look forward to...
Deeply grateful for this thoughtful review—it's a...