Reviews
Being Beethoven, BBC Four review – from grubby kid to grumpy genius
Tuesday, 07 July 2020
Documentaries like this one make me sentimental for a time, until about 25 years ago, when classical music was a more or less weekly presence on terrestrial TV. Now fast disappearing from view altogether, on mainstream media and in school curriculums, the genre faced the most uncertain of futures even before Covid-19 wiped it off the face of public life, for those of us still accustomed to darkening the doors of churches, concert halls and opera houses.
Bette Howland: Blue in Chicago review – the city on trial, with the writer as witness
Tuesday, 07 July 2020
You feel at times, while reading the collection Blue in Chicago, that Bette Howland might have missed her vocation. In another life, Howland – until recently almost completely lost to literary history – could have made a name for herself as a distinctly unnerving judge; one feared by criminals and lawyers alike. She has a terrifying talent for the damning sum-up.
The Kemps: All True, BBC Two review - more self-...
Monday, 06 July 2020
The spoof “rockumentary” always sounds like a great idea, but it’s hard to pull off. Largely this is because rock stars are so divorced from reality...
Terri White: Coming Undone review - a British...
Sunday, 05 July 2020
The journalistic addiction-memoir is a crowded genre these days: Details editor Dan Perez chronicles his massive intake of Vicodin and other opioids...
Reissue CDs Weekly: Philip Rambow - The Rebel Kind
Sunday, 05 July 2020
“Strange Destinies” is the first track. “Take your eyes off me Svengali” is its memorable opening phrase. Conjuring up Van Morrison, Tom Petty, Mike...
Dom Joly / Daniel Sloss, Brent Cross reviews - UK's first drive-in comedy shows
The Drive-In Club makes a little bit of history |
Homemade review - laughs, loss and madness in lockdown
Netflix showcases a collection of 17 short films that capture the isolated, but shared experiences of life during the pandemic |
Dancing at Dusk: A Moment with Pina Bausch’s 'The Rite of Spring' review - an explosive African rite
Continents collide in a film documenting an inspired re-staging of a 20th-century masterpiece |
Les Blancs, National Theatre at Home review – triumphant revival of forgotten classic
NT archive recording of Lorraine Hansberry’s last play is absolutely compelling |
Back Roads review - nice cheekbones, not much else
Alex Pettyfer's directing debut is more or less DOA |
Family Romance, LLC review - the chameleon blues
A faux-documentary about fakes mimics Herzog's virtues |
Toast, Lawrence Batley Theatre online review - pungent adaptation of Nigel Slater's autobiography
Food crimes of the Sixties and Seventies are revealed here as Michelin-starred memories |
The Opera Story: Episodes review - whimsical takes on lockdown life
Young London company offers snapshots of contemporary living |
Lynn + Lucy review - a bruising tale of female friendship
Fyzal Boulifa directorial debut is a stark, unforgiving portrait of modern Britain |
Birdsong, The Original Theatre Company online review – a gutsy experiment
Socially distanced version of Sebastian Faulks novel clips along at a fair pace |
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Sky Atlantic review - the good, the bad and the unspeakable
Shape-shifting Natalie Dormer wreaks havoc in a combustible 1930s Los Angeles |
Storyville: Welcome to Chechnya, BBC Four review - trauma, tension and resistance
David France's 'guerrilla' documentary charts brave Russian response to extreme anti-LGBTQ campaign |
Visual Arts Lockdown Special 4: half-way houses
Some galleries prepare to reopen, others remain closed; online still offers riches |
Glastonbury Festival 2020: Beyoncé, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., marijuana and time travel
With Glastonbury halted, our intrepid reporter attempts to recreate it, while dreaming of the 1990 Festival |
Das Boot, Series 2 Finale, Sky Atlantic review - deeper and darker
The casualties mount as the waters keep getting rougher |
Hamilton, Disney+ review - puts us all in the room where it happened
Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical gets another shot on screen |
Celia Paul: My Studio, Victoria Miro review - sublime isolation
One of the great painters of our time responds to life in lockdown |
The Hidden Wilds of the Motorway, BBC Four review - mysteries and marvels of the M25
Naturalist Helen Macdonald takes an imaginative journey around London's orbital motorway |
My Brilliant Friend, Season 2: The Story of a New Name, Sky Atlantic review – a troubling friendship deepens
Painstakingly vivid serialisation of Elena Ferrante’s masterpiece glows again |
Romeo and Michele Stodart Present… The Thank-You Green Note Fundraiser, YouTube review - saving Camden's go-to music venue
Musicians celebrate and support an award-winning club |
Tahar Ben Jelloun: The Punishment review - triumph over torture
Deep insight into the mechanisms of power |
Mark Padmore, Mitsuko Uchida/ Benjamin Baker, Timothy Ridout, Wigmore Hall online/BBC Radio 3 review – hail and farewell
A landmark series closes with majesty, and mischief |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Razorcuts - Storyteller, The World Keeps Turning
Definitive overview of the UK indie-popsters reveals their rapid development |
A White, White Day review - white heat
Gripping Icelandic portrait of grief, love and vengeance |
latest in today
Being Beethoven, BBC Four review – from grubby kid to grumpy...
Documentaries like this one make me sentimental for a time, until about 25 years ago, when classical music was a more or less weekly presence on...
Bette Howland: Blue in Chicago review – the city on trial, w...
You feel at times, while reading the collection Blue in Chicago, that Bette Howland might have missed her vocation. In another life,...
The Kemps: All True, BBC Two review - more self-promotion th...
The spoof “rockumentary” always sounds like a great...
Album: Rufus Wainwright - Unfollow the Rules
After Unfollow the Rules: The Paramour Session and the...
Terri White: Coming Undone review - a British journalist unr...
The journalistic addiction-memoir is a crowded genre these days: Details editor Dan Perez chronicles his massive intake of Vicodin and...
Camille Laurens: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen review - the st...
Edgar Degas is famous for his depictions of ballet dancers. His drawings, paintings and...
Reissue CDs Weekly: Philip Rambow - The Rebel Kind
“Strange Destinies” is the first track. “Take your eyes off me Svengali” is its memorable opening phrase. Conjuring up Van Morrison, Tom Petty,...
Dom Joly / Daniel Sloss, Brent Cross reviews - UK's fir...
It was a weary and frustrated Dom Joly (★★) who left the stage after performing the first drive-in...
Homemade review - laughs, loss and madness in lockdown
If COVID-19 isn’t the only topic being tackled by creative folk at the moment, it certainly feels like it. That’s perfectly understandable, when...
theartsdesk Radio Show 28 - Tony Allen tribute with guest St...
Peter Culshaw’s occasional global radio music...