Interviews with leading figures from the arts
theartsdesk Q&A: Bananarama
Thursday, 18 April 2019
Bananarama are one of the most successful girl groups of all time. Consisting of Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward, the band’s third original member Siobhan Fahey left in 1988 to form Shakespears Sister. The trio reunited in 2017 for a tour but new album, In Stereo, sees them back as the long-standing duo. The pair have been friends since their school days.
Director Jason Barker: ‘Trans lives are often portrayed so bleakly’
Thursday, 04 April 2019
When Jason and Tracey were trying for a baby, the worst happened. Tracey was diagnosed with breast cancer, and although she eventually recovered, was unable to carry a child. For Jason, the answer was clear - as a trans man, he would become pregnant instead.
Interview with director Agnès Varda, who has died...
Friday, 29 March 2019
I met Agnès Varda, who died today aged 90, just once, for the interview that’s reproduced below. It was in Paris in January 2018, shortly before the...
10 Questions for Brighton Festival CEO Andrew...
Thursday, 28 March 2019
The Brighton Festival begins in May. Since 2014 theartsdesk has had a media partnership with this lively, multi-faceted event which takes place over...
Q&A special: The making of Local Hero
Thursday, 21 March 2019
Local Hero, released in 1983, has been adapted into a musical, with a book by playwright David Greig and more songs from the soundtrack's original...
An encounter with John Richardson, Picasso's biographer who has died at 95
Picasso's definitive biographer recalls the artist he knew |
10 Questions for Candice Edmunds of Theatre Company Vox Motus
The Glasgow-based artistic director talks theatre with a difference |
Director Toby Macdonald: 'Comedy is something people need at the moment'
Old Boys director talks about adapting Cyrano de Bergerac into a boarding school |
Q&A Special: Actor Bruno Ganz on playing Hitler
The Swiss actor, who has died aged 77, was the first to play the Führer in a lead role in German |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician, writer and performance artist Cosey Fanni Tutti
The “Wrecker of Civilisation” on artistic independence, magick and motherhood |
theartsdesk Q&A: Robert MacFarlane's Spell Songs
The nature writer discusses a stage version of The Lost Words, featuring musicians including Julie Fowlis and Seckou Keita |
theartsdesk Q&A: Matthew Heineman on directing 'A Private War'
Getting inside the mind of Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin |
theartsdesk Q&A: Composer Michel Legrand
He worked with everyone: the veteran composer tells his life story |
Screenwriter Adam Price on 'Ride Upon the Storm' - 'If we discuss faith, we will possibly not kill each other'
Lars Mikkelsen stars in new Channel 4 drama Ride Upon the Storm about a flawed priest battling his many demons |
'I'll show the lot of you!' Richard E Grant's Oscar nomination
The Withnail star celebrates his Academy Award nod for 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?' |
Director Alexandria Bombach: 'I feel like a completely different person'
Director of On Her Shoulders on filming Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad |
theartsdesk Q&A: Hedvig Mollestad, Norway's bridge between heavy metal and jazz
The genre-busting guitarist talks about new album 'Smells Funny', a rotting eyeball and more |
theartsdesk Q&A: concert pianist Lucy Parham
Sixth Composer Portrait marks the Clara Schumann bicentenary |
Tim Wardle: 'A documentary director has huge power over the interview subject'
Director of Three Identical Strangers on the most successful UK-made documentary in American box office history |
Laurent Cantet: 'Young people have different preoccupations nowadays' – interview
The award-winning director discusses his new film, The Workshop, in which some newbie writers get in a tizz over the fine line between fact and fiction |
Robert Hastie: 'a seam of love runs through the play' - interview
The director talks about Macbeth in the candle-lit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, cross-gender casting and the director's role |
theartsdesk Q&A: Theatre Producer Elyse Dodgson
Remembering the unsung heroine of new theatre in translation, who has died aged 73 |
Erik Poppe and Andrea Berntzen: 'When white young men do stuff like this, we just shake our heads'
Director and lead actor of Utoya: July 22 on working with survivors to recreate the Norwegian terror attack |
Matthew Holness: 'I wanted to make a modern silent horror film'
Footlights alumnus leaves comedy behind in disturbing debut feature Possum |
theartsdesk Q&A: guitarist Sean Shibe
A wise head on young shoulders questions the nature of expression and programming |
theartsdesk Q&A: Soft Cell
Prior to their O2 show the Eighties synth-pop icons talk new music, old music, 'Top of the Pops', 'Sex Dwarf', drugs, and Dennis Waterman |
theartsdesk Q&A: Chas and Dave
A memorial interview with the lovable rockney duo following the death of Chas Hodges |
'It’s more fun to dance in a tutu': Tory Dobrin of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
The artistic director of the Trocks explains how he keeps his ballet parodists on their toes |
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 |
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