Reviews
Macbeth, RSC, Barbican review - tense but flawed take on Shakespeare's blood-boltered tragedy
Wednesday, 24 October 2018
It has been said before: Macbeth's reputation for bad luck has more to do with the difficulty of bringing off a successful production than the supernatural elements in the play. Even those of us who have seen dozens of interpretations can count the number which "worked" on the fingers of one hand, and veterans still recall Trevor Nunn's 1976 production, starring Ian McKellen and Judi Dench, as a rare truly successful one.
Australian Chamber Orchestra, Tognetti, Milton Court review - brilliantly hyper-active Mozart
Tuesday, 23 October 2018
Think Glastonbury, not Salzburg. It struck me at Milton Court last night that the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ebullient, rock’n’roll Mozart would go down a storm at the sort of music festival renowned for canvas more than canapes.
Donkeyote review - a quiet revelation
Tuesday, 23 October 2018
It’s an undeniably quirky set-up: an elderly Spanish farmer who takes it upon himself to travel to America and walk – alone – the epic, 2,200-mile...
Juliana, Nova Music Opera, St John's Smith...
Tuesday, 23 October 2018
Joseph Phibbs is not the first composer to make an opera out of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, and it is not difficult to see the operatic appeal of this...
Cendrillon, Glyndebourne Tour review - too many...
Monday, 22 October 2018
Supernatural wonders, consciously avoided in Rossini's enlightened tale of goodness rewarded La Cenerentola and unrealised by second-rank composer...
Lawson, London Sinfonietta, Kings Place Review – diverse explorations of time
A surprise late addition from Birtwistle is the highlight of wide-ranging programme |
Julian Baggini: How the World Thinks review - a whirlwind tour of ideas
Only the world can be enough: the British thinker offers ‘A Global History of Philosophy’ |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Action
‘Shadows and Reflections’: classy box set celebration of the great, George Martin-supported Sixties band |
LFF 2018: Roma review – Alfonso Cuarón’s triumphant return to Mexico
The Gravity director comes back down to Earth with a ravishing love letter to the women in his childhood |
The Triumph of Time and Truth, Higginbottom, Kings Place review – time well spent, despite the words
Handel's music defeats plodding lyrics in a gem-studded rarity |
LFF 2018: The Favourite review - Queen Anne's bizarre love triangle
History re-wired in 'The Favourite', plus 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?', 'Destroyer' and Peter Jackson's Great War |
Wise Children, Old Vic review - Emma Rice in fun if not quite top-flight form
Angela Carter adaptation strains to sustain its high spirits |
Dogman review - Matteo Garrone takes on the mafia again
Black comedy crime caper turns very dark but never loses all its heart |
A Guide For The Homesick, Trafalgar Studios review - warmly funny and deeply moving
Ken Urban's play is a psychological thriller crossed with a love story |
LFF 2018: In Fabric review – Peter Strickland’s horror comedy is dressed to kill
Plus first looks at the revolting Scots of Outlaw King and tech dreamers in The Hummingbird Project |
Science Fair review - big on ambition, light on rigour
Engaging but somewhat slight doc on the world's biggest youth science contest |
Fröst, BBCSO, Oramo, Barbican review - blood, sweat and sweetness
Sheer heart attack in Prokofiev's Sixth Symphony crowns a rich and varied programme |
Company, Gielgud Theatre review - here's to a sensational musical rebirth
Marianne Elliott's gender-swapped Sondheim is a revelation |
Stories, National Theatre review - comic conception capers
Nina Raine's follow-up to her very big hit Consent is often funny but rarely deep |
CBSO, Leleux, Birmingham Town Hall review - oboe extraordinaire
Who needs a baton when you've got an oboe? Charisma triumphs in Haydn and Bizet |
MØ - Forever Neverland
The quirky Dane's new LP contains moments of loveliness |
Smashing Pumpkins, Wembley Arena review - Corgan and company deliver the goods
Nineties alt-rockers reconstitute to shine a light on all the hits and more |
There She Goes, BBC Four review - mining disability for family comedy?
Writer Shaun Pye's family experience makes for less than parental paradise |
LFF 2018: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs review - Wild West tales, and Redford and Jackman
The Coen brothers go west, old man Redford gets his gun, plus The Front Runner and Shadow |
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 review – less is more
Solo rations have been relegated from this benchmark war series |
Informer, BBC One review - keeping tabs on terror
Going underground with the Confidential Informant Programme |
Measure for Measure, Donmar Warehouse review - Shakespeare twice-over packs a partial sting
Double vision as Angelo and Isabella swap roles |
Barneys, Books and Bust Ups, BBC Four review - the Booker Prize at 50
The award's half-century has brought scandals aplenty, welcome publicity pay-offs, too |
The Inheritance, Noël Coward Theatre review - tangled knot of gay fairy-tale and reality
A virtuoso ensemble justifies this youthful baggy monster's West End transfer |
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latest in today
Macbeth, RSC, Barbican review - tense but flawed take on Sha...
It has been said before: Macbeth's reputation for bad luck has more to do with the difficulty of bringing off a successful production...
Australian Chamber Orchestra, Tognetti, Milton Court review...
Think Glastonbury, not Salzburg. It struck me at Milton...
Juliana, Nova Music Opera, St John's Smith Square revie...
Joseph Phibbs is not the first composer to...
Cendrillon, Glyndebourne Tour review - too many ingredients...
Supernatural wonders, consciously avoided in Rossini's enlightened tale of goodness rewarded La Cenerentola and unrealised by second-rank...
Lawson, London Sinfonietta, Kings Place Review – diverse exp...
Kings Place takes a broad and "curated" approach...
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It would seem that Micah P Hinson is a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He also gives the impression of a man who could make...
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The intrepid philosopher Julian Baggini has travelled the world, going to academic conferences, interviewing scores of practicing philosophers...
