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...
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
Steeltown Murders, BBC One review - eloquent true-crime drama about tracking a serial killer 30 years on
How South Wales Police used DNA testing for the first time
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
Mad About the Boy review - entertaining cradle-to-grave Noel Coward documentary
The Master's life seen close up but with no warts
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
Götterdämmerung, Longborough Festival review - from the hieratic to the mundane and back
Wagner's gallon in a pint pot with mixed results
theatre
Mad About the Boy review - entertaining cradle-to-grave Noel Coward documentary
The Master's life seen close up but with no warts
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
John Kearns, Brighton Komedia review - Van Gogh, joining the circus and pooey nappies
Reflections on fatherhood and creating art
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
Sophia Giovannitti: Working Girl - On Selling Art and Selling Sex review - portrait of the artist as sex worker
A thoughtful debut treatise that finds intimacies in surprising places
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
Matthew Shindell: For the Love of Mars: A Human History of the Red Planet review - a world of possibility
Matthew Shindell explores our celestial neighbour through the ages
visual arts
Moon Is the Oldest TV review - a fitting tribute to a visionary modern artist
Authoritative documentary that defines the genius of Nam June Paik
Sarah Sze: Metronome, Artangel at Peckham Rye station review - an installation of visual complexity and physical simplicity
The detritus that accumulates in our over-stimulated brains
Isaac Julien: What Freedom is to Me, Tate Britain review - a journey from making documentaries to making art
A film-maker goes from speaking to the street to addressing the museum
latest comments
I saw the Glasgow concert the following day and...
I largely agree with the writer about Bradley...
A beautiful evening that will stay with me for a...
An amazing evening that sadly many people left...
In fact, so moved was Gretchen P that she came...
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir performed...
Certainly the Tormis pieces were the standouts in...
What a beautiful, poetic review that perfectly...