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...
Thomas H Green
Thursday, 16 October 2025
Before we get into it, reader, can you accept that The Last Dinner Party are a band born of privilege and high academic study? Of poshness, classical composition, private...
Helen Hawkins
Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Film festivals are a bran tub: what you find in them may be unexpected, and not always in a good way. Here are six I pulled out in my first week (minus one of my favourites, The...
Robert Beale
Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Dennis Russell Davies and his musicians from the Czech Republic’s second city began a UK tour last night with an enterprising programme and a large and appreciative audience in...
Tim Cumming
Wednesday, 15 October 2025
A mix of tradition and Afrofuturism, acoustic and electronic, east and west fumigating in a cauldron of rhythms, chants, solo explorations and full ensemble blow-outs, Saha Gnawa...
David Nice
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Britten’s Albert Herring is one of the great 20th century comic operas; only Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest draw such whole-hearted laughter...
Justine Elias
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
The enduring image of the 1984-1985 Miners' Strike is that of men standing arm in arm against police and of mass protests...
Graham Rickson
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
The best Ealing comedies are surely the three darkest: specifically Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Ladykillers and The Man in...
David Nice
Monday, 13 October 2025
Forty years ago, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born, and I heard Handel’s Solomon in concert for the first...
Justine Elias
Monday, 13 October 2025
A fizzy mystery cocktail with a twist and a splash, The Woman in Cabin 10, based on Ruth Ware’s bestseller, sails along like...
Guy Oddy
Monday, 13 October 2025
It’s seven years since the Belgian brothers Dewaele unleashed their fine, largely instrumental and foot-stomping Essential...
David Nice
Sunday, 12 October 2025
Never mind the permutations (anything up to eight hands on the two pianos); feel the unwavering quality of the eight...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 12 October 2025
A month after Soft Cell’s "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" single peaked at number three in the UK charts, Marc Almond issued a...
Gary Naylor
Saturday, 11 October 2025
The Globe’s authenticity is its USP, so don’t expect the air-conditioning, the plush seats and the expectant hush of the...
Ibi Keita
Saturday, 11 October 2025
Eight years after Prodigy’s untimely passing, Mobb Deep are gracing our sound systems once again with unreleased vocals and...
Adam Sweeting
Friday, 10 October 2025
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out MysteryThe third of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out mysteries finds Daniel Craig reprising his...
James Saynor
Friday, 10 October 2025
People sometimes go to the movies for the violence and maybe even for the sex. Until recently they didn’t particularly buy a...
Gary Naylor
Friday, 10 October 2025
If you’re a Gen Zer, you’ve probably heard of Heartstopper’s Joe Locke. I’m pretty sure ATG’s Gen Xers in the back office...
Mark Kidel
Friday, 10 October 2025
Boz Scaggs rarely does a less than wonderful album. His latest is an exemplary collection of smooth and soulful standards...
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The Last Dinner Party's 'From the Pyre' is as enjoyable as it is over-the-top
Musically sophisticated five-piece ramp up the excesses but remain contagiously pop
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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
Murder Before Evensong, Acorn TV review - death comes to the picturesque village of Champton
The Rev Richard Coles's sleuthing cleric hits the screen
Black Rabbit, Netflix review - grime and punishment in New York City
Jude Law and Jason Bateman tread the thin line between love and hate
The Hack, ITV review - plodding anatomy of twin UK scandals
Jack Thorne's skill can't disguise the bagginess of his double-headed material
film
Iron Ladies review - working-class heroines of the Miners' Strike
Documentary salutes the staunch women who fought Thatcher's pit closures
The Woman in Cabin 10 review - Scandi noir meets Agatha Christie on a superyacht
Reason goes overboard on a seagoing mystery thriller
new music
The Last Dinner Party's 'From the Pyre' is as enjoyable as it is over-the-top
Musically sophisticated five-piece ramp up the excesses but remain contagiously pop
Moroccan Gnawa comes to Manhattan with 'Saha Gnawa'
Trance and tradition meet Afrofuturism in Manhattan
Soulwax’s 'All Systems Are Lying' lays down some tasty yet gritty electro-pop
Belgian dancefloor veterans return to the fray with a dark, pop-orientated sound
classical
Kempf, Brno Philharmonic, Davies, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - European tradition meets American jazz
Bouncing Czechs enjoy their Gershwin and Brubeck alongside Janáček and Dvořák
Solomon, OAE, Butt, QEH review - daft Biblical whitewashing with great choruses
Even a top soprano and mezzo can’t make this Handel paean wholly convincing
Two-Piano Gala, Kings Place review - shining constellations
London Piano Festival curators and illustrious friends entertain and enlighten
opera
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
Giustino, Linbury Theatre review - a stylish account of a slight opera
Gods, mortals and monsters do battle in Handel's charming drama
theatre
Troilus and Cressida, Globe Theatre review - a 'problem play' with added problems
Raucous and carnivalesque, but also ugly and incomprehensible
Clarkston, Trafalgar Theatre review - two lads on a road to nowhere
Netflix star, Joe Locke, is the selling point of a production that needs one
Ghost Stories, Peacock Theatre review - spirited staging but short on scares
Impressive spectacle saves an ageing show in an unsuitable venue
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
Nick Helm, Touring review - brash comic shows his vulnerable side
Matters of the heart and heavy metal
Kerry Godliman, G-Live review - she's livid but delivers the laughs
Perimenopause provides rich seam of gags
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
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
Joanna Pocock: Greyhound review - on the road again
A writer retraces her steps to furrow a deeper path through modern America
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
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?
Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, Royal Academy review - a triumphant celebration of blackness
Room after room of glorious paintings
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