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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…
Adam Sweeting |
In his illustrious career, director Michael Waldman has profiled all manner of divas, from Elizabeth Taylor and Lord Byron to Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Louboutin. So why not…
Rachel Halliburton |
To watch Deep Azure is to feel a double loss. The death of Prince Jones, the black student who was shot dead by a police officer in a case of mistaken identity, and the death of…
Miranda Heggie |
You’ll have seen the picture countless times. Gracing posters, postcards, tote bags, book and album covers, wrapping paper, phone cases and more, the iconic image of "The Great…
Bernard Hughes |
The legendary Jamaican-born bass Willard White made his New York City Opera breakthrough the year I was born, so he has been around a long time (I am no spring chicken). But any…
Hugh Barnes |
In his mesmerising 2023 novel Brian, Jeremy Cooper told the story of a reclusive middle-aged council worker who is rescued from loneliness by watching nightly screenings at the…
Ibi Keita
My first listen to Iron & Wine was only last year, when iconic Midwest Emo band American Football released a cover album of their now classic 1999 self-titled album. Keen to…
Guy Oddy
Mermaid Chunky’s music is a celebration of fun and frivolity. Combining loops of electronica, pipes, flutes and various percussion instruments with Edward Lear-like nonsense…
David Nice
It's nearly eight years since Kåre Conradi first appeared at the Coronet in a revelatory, visceral Norwegian production of Ibsen's Little Eyolf. He's in his middle years, like…
Thomas H. Green
When the debut album by ex-Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock starts, the omens are good. The opener, “Look into My Eyes”, is an electro-pop stonker with a roots reggae break at…
Jonathan Geddes
Although the Beaches may hail from Toronto, they evidently have more Scottish connections than many bands that come this way. Drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel announced early on that…
Justine Elias
When the protagonist of If I Had Legs I'd Kick You hears herself described as "stretchable, like putty”, her whole body stiffens in protest. Driven to near insanity by the demands…
Claudia Bull
Is this person dead? It’s a wise question to ask yourself when reading George Saunders. In his Booker Prize-winning Lincoln in the Bardo, the answer doesn’t arrive until page…
Boyd Tonkin
Saul has lately been occupied by opera. Lauded versions, above all Barrie Kosky’s recently-revived smash for Glyndebourne, have claimed Handel’s mighty oratorio from 1739 as a…
Ellie Roberts
Millennial icon Hilary Duff has released her first album in over a decade, and for an artist whose music career always felt more like an inevitable dabble following her success as…
Rachel Halliburton
To watch Cynthia Erivo delivering her stunning, technically complex one-woman performance of Dracula is not unlike watching a top athlete gunning for gold at the Winter Olympics…
Helen Hawkins
Somewhere in the bowels of the BBC, far away from the overheated stories of serial killers and female mutilation that clamour for the audience’s attention elsewhere on British…
Sarah Kent
Some exhibitions make you feel inspired, others perplexed. Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting at the National Portrait Gallery left me feeling battered and bruised – as if I’d…
Veronica Lee
We’ve become so used to Bridget Christie taking on big themes – sexism and the menopause among them – that a show more akin to observational comedy comes as a bit of surprise.…
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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 writing and directing in this drama series is another quiet piece of genius
Shaun Evans and Romola Garai need couples therapy
film
Mary Bronstein's second feature closes the gap between motherhood and madness
The revived cartoon franchise gets off to a big bang
Wondrous Nigerian child's view of paternal love and political upheaval
new music
Beautifully crafted, but not quite timeless
Playful West Country duo revel in fun and silliness
Despite welcome Caribbean flavours most songs lack real weight
classical
Long-time collaborators offer great singing but some wobbly playing
Handel's Biblical tragedy strikes hard without stage trickery
Moving tribute to a great centenarian
opera
Biopic opera of the great Japanese artist Hokusai slightly misses its mark
The production sags, but boasts a tireless protagonist in heroic tenor Simon O'Neill
John Findon excels in the title role of Britten’s first great opera
theatre
Chadwick Boseman's play is a feast of visual and sonic invention
Kåre Konradi distils Ibsen's great epic in a very personal mix of English and Norwegian
This one-woman show is a testament to the star's commanding versatility
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
The kindly Skoog made history as a brutal Interrogator in a classic modern ballet
The craic's 90 in Michael Keegan-Dolan's extraordinary wild ride of an evening
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Comic delves into observational material
Comic urges us to fight the machine
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Cooper turns a fine ear to music for an exploration of creative life
Booker-winner returns with a fable full of warnings, petrochemicals, ghosts – but is it too little too late?
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
A painter’s journey in the wrong direction
Seascapes in which everything is stilled into a sense of harmony
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