Reviews
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Ono, Barbican review - feet on the ground, eyes to the skies
Monday, 21 October 2019
We have John Eliot Gardiner to thank for an unconventional diptych of Czech masterpieces in the London Symphony Orchestra's current season. He had to withdraw from last night's concert - he conducts Dvořák's Cello Concerto and Suk's "Asrael" Symphony on Thursday - but his replacement, Kazushi Ono, was no second-best.
Pre-Raphaelite Sisters, National Portrait Gallery review – a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes
Monday, 21 October 2019
Focusing on twelve women who played a key role in the lives of Pre-Raphaelite painters like Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt, this timely exhibition begins with a whimper and ends with a bang. First up at the National Portrait Gallery is Effie Gray whose marriage to art critic, John Ruskin was annulled after six years for non-consummation.
Miklós Perényi, Dénes Várjon, Wigmore Hall review...
Monday, 21 October 2019
"Revelatory": it’s one of those words which is now completely devalued through having been carelessly dropped into a thousand press releases....
Cyrano, Bristol Old Vic review – comedy with...
Monday, 21 October 2019
Tom Morris’s production of Cyrano starts with a procession of nuns, some of them bearded, chanting verses from the medieval mystic Hildegarde of...
Lungs, Old Vic review - deluxe casting and slick...
Sunday, 20 October 2019
Playing our monarch and her husband in The Crown has made actors Claire Foy and Matt Smith into TV drama royalty, so reuniting the pair onstage...
Hot Chip, Barrowland, Glasgow review - dancefloor kings keep the party going
Londoners were in sublime form promoting their new album |
John le Carré: Agent Running in the Field review - fake news, Brexit and Cold war echoes
Masterly spy writer's latest is a sharply contemporary thriller |
Spiral, Series 7, BBC Four review - hard-hitting return of our favourite French cop show
Crime, slime and real-life issues in a de-glamourised Paris |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Kinks - Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
Box set 50th-anniversary edition is the last word on an ever-wonderful album |
Hisham Matar: A Month in Siena review – memories, framed
A brief, luminous memoir allows space and time for reflection and the acceptance of loss |
The Mask of Orpheus, English National Opera review - amorphous excess
Daniel Kramer's camp carnival defuses any focus in Birtwistle's bruising score |
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil review - fantasy follow-up falls flat
Angelina Jolie's charms aren't enough to carry Disney sequel |
Glennie, Lubbe, Ticciati, O/Modernt, Kings Place review - a Pergolesi-based dud
Expressive Schoenberg masterpiece the best of slim pickings |
Giri/Haji, BBC Two review - inspired Anglo-Japanese thriller makes compulsive viewing
Two worlds collide after synchronous murders in London and Tokyo |
[Blank], Donmar Warehouse review - strong but dispiriting
Alice Birch's new play prioritises form over content, and is depressingly reactionary |
Non-Fiction - adultery spices up digitisation drama
Sexual fidelity is as believable as the digitally derived "truth" in Olivier Assayas's latest |
Ehnes, Hallé, Gabel, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - happy unexpected discoveries
Two young conductors and a master of the violin |
Zombieland: Double Tap review - dead dull redo
Stunted sequel fails to add to the 2009 original |
Official Secrets review – powerful political thriller
Keira Knightley excels as the real-life GCHQ whistleblower |
The Struts, O2 Forum Kentish Town review - a masterclass in pleasing an audience
There's no shortage of love for the Derby glam-rockers at this wildly entertaining show |
Dariescu, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Simonov, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - Soviet fear and loathing
Brutal yet beautiful performance of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony |
Richard Hawley, Barrowland, Glasgow - black clad crooner's songs remain full of atmosphere and heart
The singer was in playful form at the Barrowland |
In the Long Run, Series 2, Sky 1 review - Idris Elba's warm-hearted comedy returns
An entertaining brew of culture clash, social commentary and belly laughs |
The Peanut Butter Falcon review - sentimental comedy is so damn heartwarming
Heart-felt picaresque adventure about a young man with Down's Syndrome runs into clichés |
Lenny Henry's Race Through Comedy, Gold review - illuminating account of TV's struggle to become multicultural
Dudley's most famous son delivers home truths about sitcom history |
Bill Frisell's Harmony, Cadogan Hall review – superb Americana
A great new project with voices takes in Lerner and Loewe and Bowie |
Zauberland, Linbury Theatre review - an adaptation that adds much and gains nothing
This topical updating of a classic song-cycle feels laboured |
Chaos in the Cockpit: Flights from Hell, Channel 5 review - do we really want to watch plane-wreck TV?
The aircraft might be ok, but there's no accounting for human error |
Solaris, Lyric Hammersmith review - moving and finely cerebral
David Greig’s dream-drama of cosmic loneliness is sci-fi at its most philosophical |
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latest in today
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Ono, Barbican review -...
We have John Eliot Gardiner to thank for an unconventional diptych of...
Pre-Raphaelite Sisters, National Portrait Gallery review – a...
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Lungs, Old Vic review - deluxe casting and slick delivery
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John le Carré: Agent Running in the Field review - fake news...
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