fri 02/06/2023

theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews

Jonathan Geddes
Friday, 02 June 2023
There are a few perils to saying supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, as Janette Manrara discovered on this opening night of Disney’s anniversary arena jaunt. Trying to divide the...
Cheri Amour
Friday, 02 June 2023
Five years ago, breaking dry January a few days early, I joined a throng of folks amongst the merch boxes and strip lights of Rough Trade East to see Dream Wife. The London-based...
Helen Hawkins
Thursday, 01 June 2023
Devoted fans may not learn anything that new about Noel Coward from Barnaby Thompson’s documentary Mad About the Boy, but they will doubtless see some new things. And those...
Helen Hawkins
Thursday, 01 June 2023
Lip-syncing has become the hobby of many a young TikToker, but only an intrepid professional would contemplate using the technique to play Hamlet. Or rather, to “play” some of the...
Kathryn Reilly
Thursday, 01 June 2023
This is a slight album in terms of length (under half an hour) but not in emotional insight. It’s absolutely haunting. Here we have the characteristic all-consuming melancholy...
Alexandra Coghlan
Wednesday, 31 May 2023
“I am a poor student,” the Duke tells a smitten Gilda, in music that can barely keep a straight face, so plush is its melody, so oozing with confidence and privilege.It’s a short...
David Nice
Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Conversation just before this concert started concerned Verdi’s Il trovatore and the truism that it needs “the four greatest...
Robert Beale
Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Innovation is always a risky business. Opera North’s vision and ambition for this production is to create, in effect, a new...
Lia Rockey
Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Sophia Giovannitti begins selling sex because it promises to make her the most amount of money in the shortest amount of...
Liz Thomson
Wednesday, 31 May 2023
"This album is almost like a recorded birthday party and birthday present to myself. I just invited all the singers that I...
Helen Hawkins
Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Hey-hey! Alright! The standard greeting of Kendall Roy will be much missed, along with all the other regular joys of...
Stephen Walsh
Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Götterdämmerung is not only the grandest of Wagner’s Ring operas, it is also the most varied. Siegfried’s journey down the...
Thomas H Green
Tuesday, 30 May 2023
VINYL OF THE MONTHRahill Flowers at Your Feet (Big Dada)Rahill Jamalifard’s debut solo album somehow transmutes...
Helen Hawkins
Tuesday, 30 May 2023
The Bond film theme plays and the lights go up at the Bush’s Studio space to reveal, not a tuxedoed superspy, but a slim...
Mark Kidel
Tuesday, 30 May 2023
The circular form of the large turf-roofed round house at the Ancient Technology Centre in Cranborne, Dorset, is tailor-made...
Graham Rickson
Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Studio Canal’s restored print of the 1953 documentary The Conquest of Everest is so sharp, so clear that initially it’s hard...
Miranda Heggie
Monday, 29 May 2023
Sometimes a production which isn’t trying to do anything too clever can be quite refreshing. Sinéad O’Neill's revival of...
Simon Thompson
Monday, 29 May 2023
What’s better than having a star soloist on the billing for a concert? Three star soloists! The Royal Scottish National...
Veronica Lee
Monday, 29 May 2023
John Kearns' comedy is what you might call niche; absurdist, surrealist, poetic – they all apply, underlined by his onstage...
 

★★★★ BLU-RAY: THE CONQUEST OF EVEREST Post-war heroics, still impressive 70 years on

THE ARTS DESK ON VINYL 77 Scuba, Dannii Minogue, Tito Puente, ABBA, The Undertones & more

★★★ GOTTERDAMMERUNG, LONGBOROUGH From the hieratic to the mundane and back

★★★★★ SUCCESSION FINALE, SKY ATLANTIC A glorious bonfire of the vanities

★★★ ASPECTS OF LOVE, LYRIC THEATRE Not much has actually changed 

disc of the day

Album: Dream Wife - Social Lubrication

The London-based trio make the political playful, powered by punk

tv

Succession Season Four finale, Sky Atlantic review - a glorious bonfire of the vanities

The Roy family saga comes to a satisfyingly bruising end

Hannah Gadsby, Netflix special review - shaggy dog story of marital bliss

Tasmanian talks about marriage, cultural differences and autism

film

Disney 100 - The Concert, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - a slick tour of the Magic Kingdom

This was a breezy and entertaining trip to the house of Mouse

Blu-ray: The Conquest of Everest

Post-war heroics, still impressive 70 years on

new music

Disney 100 - The Concert, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - a slick tour of the Magic Kingdom

This was a breezy and entertaining trip to the house of Mouse

Album: Dream Wife - Social Lubrication

The London-based trio make the political playful, powered by punk

Album: Baxter Dury - I Thought I Was Better Than You

Sad-funny, brilliant and worth playing on repeat

classical

Jerusalem Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - singing to make the heart leap

Peerless interpretations of quartets by Mozart, Prokofiev and Brahms

Requiem, Opera North review - partnership and diversity

Choral-orchestral performance meets contemporary dance in cross-cultural fusion

Benedetti, Kanneh-Mason, Grosvenor, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - gorgeous textures, starry soloists

'All Star Gala' shines as much in the contributions of the regulars as in its guests

opera

Rigoletto, Opera Holland Park review - Verdi's Duke gets the Oxbridge treatment

A handsome season opener doesn't quite stab where it counts

Requiem, Opera North review - partnership and diversity

Choral-orchestral performance meets contemporary dance in cross-cultural fusion

theatre

Re-Member Me, Hampstead Theatre review - wittily staged but poignant lip-syncing
Dickie Beau creates a tribute to past Hamlets, one in particular
Invisible, Bush Studio review - engaging monologue about Brown cultural identity
Nikhil Parmar delivers his play with passion and wit

dance

Requiem, Opera North review - partnership and diversity

Choral-orchestral performance meets contemporary dance in cross-cultural fusion

Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT1), Sadler's Wells review - an extinction rebellion in dance

A rare visit from Europe's No.1 contemporary troupe makes a powerful eco-protest

Hunting legendary treasure with ballet's Indiana Jones - Pierre Lacotte 1932-2023

The prolific recreator of early ballets has died, leaving a lively argument

comedy

Phil Wang, RFH review - smut and smarts

Nicely curated show that covers lots of topics

Dear Billy, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh review - powerful tribute to Scottish pride

Celebration of Scotland's iconic comedy legend Billy Connolly is a moving portrait of a nation

Books

Kieran Yates: All the Houses I've Ever Lived In, Brighton Festival 2023 review - home as comfort, and cruelty

A book talk becomes an enraged, engaged meeting about property and social division

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