Features & Interviews
F Off: National Youth Theatre puts social media on trial
Wednesday, 15 August 2018
F Off came about off the back of a meeting I had with Paul Roseby, the artistic director of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. I’d come in to talk to him about my writing and through complete coincidence, someone had just auditioned for Paul with a monologue from one of my plays, so we started talking about me potentially writing something for the NYT.
Greed as the keynote: Robert Carsen on the timelessness of 'The Beggar's Opera'
Tuesday, 14 August 2018
In the time of composer John Gay, greed and self-interest were the main motives for life; and his work The Beggar’s Opera is an open critique on the way that society behaved. The work’s opening number sets the tone, basically saying: “we all abuse each other, we all steal from each other, we all want to get as much as we can and to hell with everybody else.”
theartsdesk at the Pärnu Music Festival 2018 -...
Monday, 13 August 2018
Unanticipated miracles happen every summer in the quiet paradise of Estonia's seaside capital. The first this year came as a total surprise. Having...
h 100 Awards: Theatre and Performance -...
Saturday, 04 August 2018
Amidst ever-uncertain times, one thing is for sure: this country's ability to regenerate and renew itself theatrically remains alive and well. From...
theartsdesk at Camp Bestival 2018 - from Astley...
Wednesday, 01 August 2018
Gusting. It’s not a word I’ve ever given much thought. You hear it on weather forecasts but I’m not a farmer of a fisherman so when they say it’ll be...
Box office poison? Joan Crawford at BFI Southbank
Joan's back! Fierce, she most certainly was, but how about funny? |
Brian Friel, the private playwright of Ballybeg
A celebration of the Northern Irish stage craftsman whose play Aristocrats is revived at the Donmar Warehouse |
theartsdesk in Riga - 43,290 Latvians sing and dance for their country
Individual souls conjoined with a passionate belief in peace and music achieve miracles |
theartsdesk at the Ravenna Festival - Italians, Ukrainians and an American promote peace
Muti, Malkovich and friends glow in the city of transcendental mosaics |
'Stepping right out of my comfort zone': James Gilchrist on mixing Debussy with jazz
The tenor writes about working on Eddie Parker's boundary-crossing project |
Charlotte Jones: ‘Plays come from your scar tissue’
The playwright introduces 'The Meeting', her new play for Chichester Festival Theatre |
theartsdesk at the East Neuk Festival 2018 - Bach as bedrock
Music along the Fife coast at the highest level, fluidly and expertly programmed |
theartsdesk in Orkney: St Magnus Festival 2018 - choral music to the fore
No visiting orchestra, but Orkney's annual cultural celebration felt as rich as ever |
10 Questions for Trumpeter Keyon Harrold
Acclaimed trumpeter discusses crossing genres, speaking out and Miles Davis |
theartsdesk in Paris - following in the footsteps of Gounod
Two operatic rarities prove that a revival is long overdue |
theartsdesk at Leipzig's Blüthner Piano Factory - a perfect family business
From the wood to the polished final article, a living lesson in piano-making |
Ismaili a Go-Go: How the Aga Khan funded a music renaissance
Musical extravaganza focusing on enigmatic Central Asia comes to the Royal Albert Hall |
'That brick red frock with flowers everywhere': painting Katherine Mansfield
Anne Estelle Rice painted the New Zealand writer 100 years ago, spinning a tale of love, friendship and artistic kinship |
theartsdesk at the Setúbal Music Festival 2018: youth leads the way
Community spirit infusing high-level events in a Portuguese port |
Michael Chance on continuing opera in Hampshire: 'good people like to work with good people'
The countertenor turned impresario launches a second season of The Grange Festival |
Franco Fagioli on performing the Baroque: 'a challenge is to interpret beyond the musical notation'
The Argentinian countertenor on the pleasures and challenges of singing Handel and Co |
Ryuichi Sakamoto: 'Ideally I'm recording all the time, 24 hours a day' - interview
From Xenakis to Oneohtrix Point Never via Bowie and Bootsy, Sakamoto recalls an extraordinary life in music |
Michel Hazanavicius: 'Losing himself is how he found himself'
The Oscar-winning director's new film, 'Redoubtable', charts the turning point in the life and career of the legendary Jean-Luc Godard |
Jazz FM Awards 2018 - a banner year for Ezra Collective
Free jazz icons to bona fide jazz royalty are honoured at the fifth edition of the Awards |
theartsdesk in Ramallah - the music biz turns its sights on Palestine
A new music Expo aims to highlight a music culture with massive potential |
10 Questions for Courtney Pine: 'How do you express rage?'
Pioneering solo jazz artist hails the community of jazz |
theartsdesk in Bremen: 150 years of A German Requiem
Paavo Järvi conducts Brahms's dramatic masterpiece in its original cathedral location |
Helaine Blumenfeld: Britain’s most successful sculptor you’ve never heard of
The director of a new Sky Arts documentary profile of the sculptor explores her work |
theartsdesk in Kraków - Easter music with a British focus
Edinburgh’s Dunedin Consort in residence at one of Poland’s flagship music festivals |
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