theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Adam Sweeting |
The man who made Interstellar, Tenet and Oppenheimer can hardly be accused of not thinking big. Now, with The Odyssey, he’s thinking epic. Clocking in at a whisker under three…
Robert Beale |
Buxton’s summer jamboree for opera lovers this year offers a brace of baroque works, written 90 years apart, with the character of sorceress as their common feature.Handel’s…
Helen Hawkins |
Dismemberment is a key motif in the writer-director Simon Stone’s The Oresteia. It reflects the treatment of two of the piece’s several dead bodies, as is hinted at when their…
Sarah Kent |
Ana Mendieta’s work gives me the creeps. This is a deeply unfashionable view, so much so that I may well be cancelled for it. Mendieta is so highly regarded that The Guardian…
Joe Muggs |
There’s a long and rich tradition of scabrous indie rock lyricism from Yorkshire. Sheffield’s Jarvis Cocker and Alex Turner tend to get the plaudits, but the particular kind of…
Justine Elias. |
The first word of The Iliad is “war”; the first word of The Odyssey is “man”. After that, the twists and turns of Homer’s epic poems veer in wildly different directions. It’s…
Kathryn Reilly
In a similar vein to 2024’s Mercury-nominated album Silence is Loud, Nia Archives' latest offering is an appealing blend of jungle and pop. It’s a strange concoction but a…
Jonathan Geddes
It is never a great sign when a local authority is forced to comment on a music festival. The opening night of the In The Park series of shows at Newcastle's Exhibition Park…
Robert Beale
Buxton International Festival, long known for its explorations of some of the less well-known parts of the opera repertoire, this year features two of the best-loved, alongside…
Ellie Roberts
Everything I Ever Saw continues The Menzingers’ tradition of heartfelt storytelling through their signature Americana punk rock style. It's an album built on consistency rather…
Kieron Tyler
Reviewing The Clash’s 27 October 1976 appearance at Birmingham’s Barbarella’s, UK music weekly Sounds detected a particular, unique, characteristic of the band. Jonh (sic) Ingham…
Gary Naylor
“Trump Arrangement Syndrome”, my propensity to see the world refracted through the lens of the omnipresent ogre’s cult, raised its head again. In watching a mad monarch, dementia…
Peter Culshaw
The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music has been peerless over the years in presenting world/global music acts in one magical place. Only WOMAD is a serious rival as a long-…
Mark Kidel
Ever since he crashed into the world with that eerie masterpiece, Maxinquaye (1995) – an album that has never aged – Bristol-born Tricky, once a maverick member of Massive Attack…
Thomas H. Green
Mould are a post-punk sounding trio from Bristol. The press release says that their debut album is “13 tracks that explore the horrors of the outside world and the internal…
Helen Hawkins
The regular scriptwriter for Yorgos Lanthimos’s films, Efthimis Filippou, has worked with another director, Karim Aïnouz, on Rosebush Pruning. It’s a film that bills itself as “…
Guy Oddy
This week saw something of a landmark gig for Birmingham’s ever-exuberant folkies, Bonfire Radicals. New album, Spaghetti Junction was revealed to a home crowd; long-time…
Helen Hawkins
A voice at the start of dancer Aakash Odedra’s performance speaks out of the darkness about the Sufi myth behind what we are going to see, one of a caged bulbul — a nightingale —…
Joe Muggs
Pyschedelic music has always encouraged intergenerational influence. Thus West Midlander Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember, in his 1980s Spacemen 3 days – with Jason Pierce of…
disc of the day
Surrealism, social observation and more muscular sound from the Leeds quartet
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tv
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time...
Harlan Coben thriller does what it says on the tin
Second series of CIA drama ratchets up the pressure
film
Matt Damon stars in Christopher Nolan's IMAX-sized recreation of Homer's epic poem
Dip your toes into these Homeric movies before Christopher Nolan’s 'The Odyssey' ties us to its mast
A Bellocchio classic is retooled as a stifllng rich-brats' revenge story
new music
Surrealism, social observation and more muscular sound from the Leeds quartet
A powerful personal outpouring of joy and pain - with a great beat
The London quartet have taken to playing large venues with ease, as this career-spanning set showed
classical
Eloquent thoughts on the wonder of 'Dichterliebe' and a new work inspired by it
O'Sullivan, Fantasia Orchestra, Fetherstonhaugh, Smith Square Hall review - the sassy airs of summer
Latest in a line of great Irish mezzos shows her versatility, and the strings swoon
A pair of much-loved cello concertos, plus percussion transcriptions and a great German song cycle
opera
Two tales of magic and mystery - as TV reality show and environmental parable
Quality take on Verdi and a pure comedy re-imagining of Léhar
Turbocharged orchestra, sometimes too much so, various approaches from the singers
theatre
Simon Stone's latest reversioning of a classic is a muddled misfire
Lots of innovative ideas, but we need to hear the line readings clearly
Eurovision star Sam Ryder is made for the title role, while Drew McOnie’s choreography makes us feel the delirium
dance
Aakash Odedra is superb as a tortured creature seeking freedom and transcendence
A company that is alive and kicking - literally
Double bill takes the Royal Ballet dancers to unusual new heights
comedy
Comic looks back on his life and career
Comic revisits her alma mater to talk politics
books
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
An enjoyable look at 'missingness' and how it affects the way we experience the world
visual arts
Ritualistic performances and evocations of fertility goddesses
Darkness reigns in powerful but competing installations
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