Reviews
Climate Change: The Facts, BBC One review - how much reality can humankind bear?
Friday, 19 April 2019
Peer down the glassy dark and you’ll see them. White bubbles trapped in the frozen lake which appear to be rising to the surface. Look through the permafrost this way and you’re seeing into the past: as the ice melts, gas which was captured and stored tens of thousands of years ago when woolly mammoths and sabre-toothed cats stalked Alaska is released into the atmosphere. Each slick of melt water is another decade returning to the rivers.
Tommy Tiernan, Shepherd's Bush Empire review - playful and poetic
Friday, 19 April 2019
Tommy Tiernan is something of an institution in his native Ireland, as a stand-up comic, newspaper columnist, sometime chat-show host and full-time controversialist. Now his appearance as Da Gerry in Channel 4's Derry Girls has brought him to a wider audience – both geographically and generationally – and deservedly so.
Loro review – hedonism must have an end
Friday, 19 April 2019
"Them" - the "loro" of the title (with a further play on “l’oro”, gold) - denotes the mostly sleazy opportunists willing to use and be used by "him...
Get The Blessing, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham...
Friday, 19 April 2019
Get The Blessing are a band whose music never fails to conjure up images of someone like Steve McQueen driving along a coastal Californian road,...
Chimerica, Channel 4 review - fake news, true...
Thursday, 18 April 2019
Chimerica is a stage-to-screen adaptation that has certainly kept up with the times. When it opened at the Almeida back in 2013 – a West End transfer...
Sweet Charity, Donmar Warehouse review - Sixties style over substance
Design dominates in Josie Rourke's farewell production |
Dragged Across Concrete review - Mel Gibson's hard-boiled high
S. Craig Zahler takes the Lethal Weapon buddy cop movie to hell |
Trust Me, Series 2, BBC One review - hospital killer chiller
Beware the angel of death stalking the wards |
Greta review – Isabelle Huppert goes full psycho in eccentric stalker thriller
Neil Jordan directs the great French actress, as a widow obsessed with Chloë Grace Moretz's lonely New Yorker |
Javier Perianes, QEH review - not a Spanish fire-eater but a world-class poet
Chopin and Debussy imagined afresh, Falla not quite set ablaze |
Three Sisters, Almeida Theatre review - middle of the road with flashes of magic
Chekhov classic from the team behind the West End hit Summer and Smoke |
John Mayall, Ronnie Scott's review – the legend on his own terms
Support act Jim Mullen playing better than ever |
Back to Life, BBC Three review - Daisy Haggard finds laughs in prison release
Comedy from Fleabag producers introduces another damaged woman seeking redemption |
Bebel Gilberto, Union Chapel review - less effort, more transcendence, please
The support act, Venezuelan singer Luzmira Zerpa, strongly impressive, too |
Visions of the Self: Rembrandt and Now, Gagosian Gallery review - old master, new ways
One of the most mysterious paintings ever made inspires an exploration of the self-portrait |
Terry Riley & Gyan Riley, The Old Market, Hove review - gently pleasing evening of improvisation
Familial pairing slowly move from avant-jazz to somewhere further out |
Philharmonia, Blomstedt, RFH review - gravity and grace
A masterclass in quiet authority from the veteran Swede |
The Good, the Bad & the Queen, Great Hall, Cardiff review - a jolly big knees-up
The return of Britain's most understated supergroup |
Love Supreme, Roundhouse review - Laura Mvula's defiant confidence tops the bill
An impressively broad and mostly enjoyable mix of music |
Ehnes, BBC Philharmonic, Wilson, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - contrasts from the 1930s
Walton’s Violin Concerto makes a deep impact alongside angst-ridden Vaughan Williams |
Frans de Waal: Mama's Last Hug review - animal feelings
Enlightening insight into animals' emotional and social worlds |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Marvin Gaye - You’re The Man
Essential archive trawl, but not the unreleased album it’s touted as |
A German Life, Bridge Theatre review - Maggie Smith triumphs again
This memoir of a Berlin secretary in the Nazi era is the theatre event of the year |
Rock Island Line: The Song That Made Britain Rock, BBC Four review - the early dawn of Britpop
Billy Bragg travels back through the primeval swamps of skiffle and beyond |
Oumou Sangaré, Earth review - the new Mama Africa takes her crown
For the 15th anniversary of top world music label, the Malian singer goes African classical |
Faust, Royal Opera review - fusty Gounod still dances
Lively conducting and a last-minute replacement keep this hellish cabaret on its toes |
Hellboy review - vivid monster mash
Very English, very pulpy reboot for a super-demon |
Sigrid, PRYZM Kingston review - unassuming, energetic and melodic
The Norwegian chanteuse thrills fans at an intimate venue |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Record Store Day Special 2019
RSD 2019 featuring reviews of releases U2, Desmond Dekker, Sunn O))), John Otway and more |
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latest in today
Climate Change: The Facts, BBC One review - how much reality...
Peer down the glassy dark and you’ll see them. White bubbles trapped in the frozen lake which appear to be rising to the surface. Look through the...
Tommy Tiernan, Shepherd's Bush Empire review - playful...
Tommy Tiernan is something of an institution in his native Ireland, as a stand-up comic, newspaper columnist, sometime chat-show host and full-...
Loro review – hedonism must have an end
"Them" - the "loro" of the title (with a further play on “l’oro”, gold) - denotes the mostly sleazy opportunists willing to use and be used by "...
CD: Rodrigo y Gabriela - Mettavolution
There aren’t many musicians to catch the ear of a substantial community of music lovers that includes both metalheads and world music fans, as...
Get The Blessing, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review – Wes...
Get The Blessing are a band whose music never fails to conjure up images of someone like Steve McQueen driving along a coastal Californian road,...
theartsdesk Q&A: Bananarama
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...
Sweet Charity, Donmar Warehouse review - Sixties style over...
For her swansong, departing Donmar Artistic...
Dragged Across Concrete review - Mel Gibson's hard-boil...
Mel Gibson’s vile drunken rants a decade ago, his 63 years and the price of both inform his role as...
CD: The O'Jays - The Last Word
How to put a full-stop on an over 50 year recording career? For multiple Music Hall of Fame-rs The O’Jays, the answer...