theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
theartsdesk |
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…
Cathi Unsworth |
I got my contract to write Season of The Witch: The Book of Goth just as the first Covid lockdown began in March 2020. During that time of plague and alienation, I time-travelled…
Kieron Tyler |
Shadows opens with “The Lone West,” a short, desolate instrumental featuring a simple keyboard refrain with a flute-like quality and what may be an early Seventies drum machine.…
Boyd Tonkin |
During the calm evening before an apocalyptic London storm, trumpet virtuoso Håkan Hardenberger delighted the Barbican audience with not only the advertised two showcases for his…
Rachel Halliburton |
King Charles I famously declared that Much Ado About Nothing should be renamed the "Beatrice and Benedick play". So it’s not difficult to imagine him – or indeed any fan of…
Jonathan Bank |
I first became aware of the playwright Teresa Deevy, the Irish author of the Jermyn Street's imminent A Wife to James Whelan, while leafing through a production history of the…
Helen Hawkins
How much more can Jeremy Clarkson’s body take? The fifth season of his reality show about his Oxfordshire spread, Diddly Squat Farm and pendant pub, could have been borrowed from…
David Nice
Bloomsday doesn't just celebrate James Joyce's odyssey through so many parts of Dublin that still teem with character; it's also putatively about the same 16 June 1904 when the…
Liz Thomson
“I guess you could call it a lost album. I stumbled upon it in my vault at home. I’d forgotten about it completely,” explained Rodney Crowell as he geared up for the release of an…
Kieron Tyler
Between June 1964 and September 1966, London-area R&B band Downliners Sect issued ten singles, one EP and three albums on EMI’s Columbia imprint. A lot of records. Especially…
David Nice
The conundrum of five women, three of them men, is the same as it was in the last Serse I witnessed, in the more intimate surroundings of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Paula Murrihy…
Matt Wolf
O Glengarry, where is thy sting? That's likely to be one response to the bewildering Old Vic revival of David Mamet's defining (and remarkable) Glengarry Glen Ross, which I saw in…
Graham Rickson
Bach: The Complete Keyboard Concertos Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord/director), Britten Sinfonia, leader Jacqueline Shave (Hyperion)
Image…
Tim Cumming
Beginning with “The Ground Above” and closing with “Otherside”, there’s an ambient, otherwordly, disembodied feel to Beth Orton’s new album on Partisan Records, a follow-up to…
Rachel Halliburton
William Kentridge’s production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo marks a double début at Glyndebourne – neither the director nor the opera, considered by many to be the first proper example…
James Saynor
Nineteen-ninety-five was the dawn of the internet for most people, and the same year saw the release of the first Toy Story movie. Yet cyberspace and “tech” has rarely intruded…
Sarah Kent
Currently on show at the Barbican is a video that makes your hackles rise. Two “savages” are on display in a cage surrounded by punters who happily pay a dollar to pose for…
Aleks Sierz
The best playwrights create word magic – and when that happens, you can’t miss it. Other writers produce journalism, or teaching materials. Sadly, for me, Christine Bacon is one…
johncarvill
Fans of classic Hollywood movies are liable to suffer a stab of frustration these days, when polls or vox pops canvas people’s favourite films. Selections seem to skew towards the…
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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
A cancer operation is just one of the trials ahead for Diddly Squat in a moving new season
theartsdesk Q&A: actor Damien Molony on 'Bergerac', 'Two Weeks in August' and returning to the stage
The 'Bergerac' star discusses his detective skills, playing troubled men and taking on his first theatre role after a nine-year hiatus
Ten years later, the Euro-controversy still rages
film
The evergreen animation franchise in a below-par new romp
Revived for Monroe's centenary, Billy Wilder's classic reminds us how great film can be
A visually pleasing film with a somewhat patchy plot
new music
As her collection of music by goth divas appears, the writer reveals the appeal of the dark side
Intriguing second album from Los Angeles musical auteur
Box-set tribute to the idiosyncratic - frequently fantastic - London R&B band
classical
A brass hero blows through favourite pieces - and a bluesy newcomer
Baroque concertos, opera arias on solo horn and new music for contrabass flute
Subtle, introspective 'Harold in Italy' followed by over-punchy 'Symphonie fantastique'
opera
Paula Murrihy is a majestic Persian king, though the orchestra is more flouncy than fiery
William Kentridge's vision subtly blends his political experiences with mythology
Fine music-making illuminates Debussy's sinister blend of realism and romance
theatre
Pippa Nixon's Beatrice and Ken Nwosu's Benedick strike sparks from the off
A onetime Abbey Theatre reject is reintroduced at London's Jermyn Street Theatre
Fine theatre events ensure there's more to 16 June than Edwardian costumes
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
A company that is alive and kicking - literally
Double bill takes the Royal Ballet dancers to unusual new heights
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Comic revisits her alma mater to talk politics
Absurdist comic's most personal show yet
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
As her collection of music by goth divas appears, the writer reveals the appeal of the dark side
Joyce lurks in the margins of his own biography in a detailed history of Irish politics
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Celebrating chutzpah on a grand scale
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