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…
graham.rickson |
Though set in a Czech village during the last months of World War 2, armed conflict is peripheral in Karel Kachyňa’s Long Live the Republic! (Ať žije republika). We do see the…
johncarvill |
Books about The Beatles are apt to prompt questions on whether there is anything left to say about them. Depends who’s doing the saying. We will each of us have had The Beatles…
Mark Kidel |
Well beyond the muscle-flexing of the manosphere, there are men who wear their hearts on their sleeves, and show much deeper courage than the macho poseurs and influencers who…
Nick Hasted |
Billie Eilish’s second concert film joins a newly lucrative genre, following Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’s $267 million box-office. Both are marketed as participatory filmgoing,…
Kieron Tyler |
Quicksilver Messenger Service were central to what emerged from San Francisco as 1966 unfolded – the psychedelic-dance-ballroom scene. They first played the city’s Avalon Ballroom…
Nick Hasted
Carla Simón’s latest autofiction disinters the post-Franco plague of heroin and AIDS which killed her parents and that of Marina (Llúcia Garcia), her indefatigable 18-year-old…
Simon Thompson
Concertos where the soloist is a member of the orchestra are something of a Scottish Chamber Orchestra speciality. They’re always among their best-sold concerts each season, and…
Gary Naylor
In the 1920s, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was as famous as it gets really, author of the beloved Sherlock Holmes stories, a polymath and a rare British example of that most continental…
graham.rickson
Louis Couperin: The Complete Works Jean Rondeau (harpsichord, organ and artistic direction) (Erato)
Image
Louis Couperin…
Guy Oddy
Anyone doubting Venom’s place on the highest level of the pantheon of Rock Gods might want to check out Sunn O)))’s recent, self-titled album. Their track “Does Anyone Hear Like…
Jenny Gilbert
Contrast and variety are as vital in a three-ballet programme as in a well-built sandwich. Typically that might include textural interest, a spicy element and something…
Robert Beale
The Hallé Orchestra is still in many ways the well honed, burnished instrument created by Sir Mark Elder over his near quarter-century as its music director, and his calm…
Joe Muggs
It’s not uncommon to suggest that we live in a post-genre musical era – but all too rarely does the discussion then move on to how we might find alternative coordinates to…
Matt Wolf
Those nostalgic for a time when the Haymarket offered big names in well-upholstered plays will have a field day at Grace Pervades, in which David Hare furthers his relationship…
Bernard Hughes
I’m a latecomer to John Robins and Elis James’s hugely popular podcast, having only started to listen during a period of illness last year, when I quickly became hooked. The two (…
Tom Carr
For Basement, the post-hardcore rockers hailing from Ipswich, their story is one of promise and unpredictability. With their debut, 2011’s I Wish I Could Stay Here, they took the…
Gary Naylor
For a master dramatist - even for a tyro really - The Price is a strangely uneven play, brilliant psychological insights diluted by clunking structural issues. You wonder what it…
alexandra.coghlan
“Charges that no court has made will be shouted at my head.” And so it proves. Benjamin Britten’s fisherman Peter Grimes is damned before a note is sung – condemned not by a judge…
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Magnificent Czech coming-of-age epic, set in the dying days of World War II
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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
The Tony Award-winning star talks female power, sexism and becoming more Scottish with age
Sheridan Smith and Michael Sorcha prove a winning team in this unexpected treat
... as well as Ridley Scott, Jacques Audiard, Julia Ducourneau and Charles Aznavour
film
Magnificent Czech coming-of-age epic, set in the dying days of World War II
James Cameron co-directs a sometimes bland account of an important star and her fans
A teenage girl uncovers Spanish ghosts in a lyrical tribute to a lost generation
new music
Echoes of the Fab Four in songs of love and loss
The tangled musical legacy of one of San Francisco’s great Sixties bands
Cronos and his crew are as gloriously heavy, evil and catchy as ever
classical
Principal cellist plays two concertante works, the orchestra glittering alongside him
French baroque music, British orchestral fireworks and an award-winning Dutch pianist
A Russian programme with intriguing and exciting pathways included
opera
This first revival of Deborah Warner's production only gains in horrifying intensity
Elizabeth Maconchy and Elena Langer hit their targets, Charlotte Bray falls short
Berg's queasy setting of a visionary play as you never quite heard or saw it before
theatre
Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini can't escape their pasts
David Hare's latest casts an affectionate if sometimes creaky backwards glance
Comic gives way to tragedy, as a dead father's duplicity comes between his sons
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
A triptych of ambitious works by Wayne McGregor fails the sandwich test
Body & Soul, English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells review - a surefire hit and an absolute plonker
Getting it very right and very wrong in this contemporary double bill
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
The character comic looks back at his career
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Latest entry in BFI's Film Classics series offers fresh perspectives and media insights
Memoir of alcoholism is heavy on lacerating self-analysis but lighter on jokes
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
An artist who has lost her way
Gorgeous paintings in search of belonging
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