mon 02/10/2023

Reviews

I Fagiolini, Hollingworth, Kings Place review - magnificent Monteverdi Vespers

Bernard Hughes

It was great to see Kings Place full on Saturday night for I Fagiolini’s take on the Monteverdi Vespers, added, rock’n’roll style, as an “additional date due to public demand” after the Friday show sold out. And it was superb.

PJ Harvey, Roundhouse, London review - incandescent perfection

Mark Kidel

London’s Roundhouse is a very special venue. For decades the circular shed, with its elegant ironwork supporting structures has hosted a wonderful and varied series of performances. Like a great cathedral, the space has a hallowed feel about it. The culmination of a sold-out UK tour, PJ Harvey’s exquisitely paced and passionate set, as much pagan ritual as perfect entertainment, makes the most of this womb of a space.

Music Reissues Weekly: Bowes Road Band - Back in...

Kieron Tyler

The acronym “HCA” in the title stands for Hornsey College of Art, the North London college which, in late May 1968, was occupied by its students and...

James Blake, Alexandra Palace review - victory...

Harry Thorfinn-George

James Blake’s sold-out show at Ally Pally is his only UK stop this tour and it feels like a homecoming of sorts – while Blake now lives in Los...

Close-Up: The Twiggy Musical, Menier Chocolate...

Helen Hawkins

The Biba dresses are way too colourful, the shop’s interior about 10 times too bright… and did anybody really say ”happening threads” in 1965?Taking...

The Creator review - bold, beautiful, flawed sci-fi epic

Demetrios Matheou

John David Washington goes on the run with a child AI

Falstaff, Opera North review - going green and having fun

Robert Beale

Verdi’s comic masterpiece with a retro feel of its own

The Old Oak review - a searing ode to solidarity

Graham Fuller

Syrian refugees polarise Durham villagers in Ken Loach's affecting drama

Unbelievable, Criterion Theatre review - Derren Brown-directed show misses his otherworldly danger

Gary Naylor

Pantomime vibe undermines the unique frisson of the magician's art

Black Sabbath: The Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Hippodrome review - two very different art forms merge

Guy Oddy

Carlos Acosta creates shining gold from heavy metal and ballet

Fung, RPO, Schwarz, Cadogan Hall review - high style from new cellist and conductor on the block

David Nice

Classics have new life and vitality alongside a modest British rarity

Michael Peppiatt: Giacometti in Paris review - approaching the impossible

Jack Barron

The artist’s life winds along the streets of Paris in a sprawling study of influence and resistance

Frank and Percy, The Other Palace review - two-hander fails to escape a very short leash

Demetrios Matheou

Ian McKellen and Roger Allam as the lonely men who bond over their dogs

The Continental, Prime Video - welcome to the expanding John Wick universe

Adam Sweeting

Origin story of the hitman's hotel makes a sluggish start

Ailey 2, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury review - young, black and fabulous

Jenny Gilbert

The younger sibling of the Alvin Ailey family visits for the first time in 12 years

Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play, Young Vic review - committed and important play let down by heavy-handed writing

Gary Naylor

Satirical comedy-drama labours its points across an uninterrupted two hours

Surprised by Oxford review - wishy-washy romance ticks the sightseeing boxes

Markie Robson-Scott

Ryan Whitaker's film of Carolyn Weber's memoir of Christian conversion pulls its religious punches

Strange Way of Life review - Pedro Almodóvar's queer Western

Hugh Barnes

A sheriff and his old lover spark again in a thin frontier drama

Octopolis, Hampstead Theatre review - blue, blue, electric blue

Aleks Sierz

New play about the relations between humans and other life forms has profound depths

The National, OVO Hydro, Glasgow, review - commanding arenas with ease

Jonathan Geddes

A lengthy show served as a thrilling reminder of the Ohio band's rich catalogue

Annie Ernaux: Shame review - the translation of pain

India Lewis

Tanya Leslie gracefully translates the Nobel Prize winner’s treatise on the traumas that make us

Mahler 2, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - an interpretation of superlative resonance and clarity

Rachel Halliburton

LPO Principal Conductor's spiritually open, intellectually rigorous approach pays off

Mad Rush, Carol Williams, RFH review - a rainbow of organ colours

David Nice

A born entertainer at the highest level takes on the Royal Festival Hall's refurbished giant

The Nettle Dress review - a moving story exquisitely told

Sarah Kent

A widower weaves his way out of grief

The Ossianic Ballads, Edinburgh Quartet, Màiri MacMillan, National Library of Scotland review - good ingredients get lost in the mix

Miranda Heggie

New life given to ancient Gaelic songs results in a less than lively performance

Music Reissues Weekly: Shake That Thing - The Blues in Britain 1963-1973

Kieron Tyler

Box-set compendium of US-inspired Brits lacks inquisitiveness

Marina Abramović, Royal Academy review - young performers stand in for the absent artist

Sarah Kent

This pioneer of performance art is the first woman to show in the main galleries

Mlima's Tale, Kiln Theatre review - simple, powerful tale about the rape of Africa

Helen Hawkins

Lynn Nottage’s 2018 play gets an exquisite staging with moving performances

La Traviata, Welsh National Opera review - memorable revival, unforgettable lead

Stephen Walsh

Stacey Alleaume has an astonishing feeling for the stage, her Violetta one in a thousand

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The Creator review - bold, beautiful, flawed sci-fi epic

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