Reviews
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Friday, 14 November 2025
We are bowled over!
London Film Festival - from paranoia in Brazil and Iran, to light relief in New York and Tuscany
Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Film festivals are a bran tub: what you find in them may be unexpected, and not always in a good way. Here are six I pulled out in my first week (minus one of my favourites, The Mastermind, which I will review when it goes on general release next week).Jay Kelly
Albert Herring, English National Opera review - a...
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Britten’s Albert Herring is one of the great 20th century comic operas; only Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest...
Iron Ladies review - working-class heroines of...
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
The enduring image of the 1984-1985 Miners' Strike is that of men standing arm in arm against police and of mass protests devolving into mayhem –...
Solomon, OAE, Butt, QEH review - daft Biblical...
Monday, 13 October 2025
Forty years ago, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born, and I heard Handel’s Solomon in concert for the first time. Charles Mackerras’s...
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The Woman in Cabin 10 review - Scandi noir meets Agatha Christie on a superyacht
Reason goes overboard on a seagoing mystery thriller |
Two-Piano Gala, Kings Place review - shining constellations
London Piano Festival curators and illustrious friends entertain and enlighten |
Music Reissues Weekly: Marc and the Mambas - Three Black Nights Of Little Black Bites
When Marc Almond took time out from Soft Cell |
Troilus and Cressida, Globe Theatre review - a 'problem play' with added problems
Raucous and carnivalesque, but also ugly and incomprehensible |
London Film Festival 2025 - crime, punishment, pop stars and shrinks
Daniel Craig investigates, Jodie Foster speaks French and Colin Farrell has a gambling habit |
I Swear review - taking stock of Tourette's
A sharp and moving tale of cuss-words and tics |
Clarkston, Trafalgar Theatre review - two lads on a road to nowhere
Netflix star, Joe Locke, is the selling point of a production that needs one |
Carmen, English National Opera review - not quite dangerous
Hopes for Niamh O’Sullivan only partly fulfilled, though much good singing throughout |
Ghost Stories, Peacock Theatre review - spirited staging but short on scares
Impressive spectacle saves an ageing show in an unsuitable venue |
R:Evolution, English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells review - a vibrant survey of ballet in four acts
ENB set the bar high with this mixed bill, but they meet its challenges thrillingly |
Trio Da Kali, Milton Court review - Mali masters make the ancient new
Three supreme musicians from Bamako in transcendent mood |
Giustino, Linbury Theatre review - a stylish account of a slight opera
Gods, mortals and monsters do battle in Handel's charming drama |
A House of Dynamite review - the final countdown
Kathryn Bigelow's cautionary tale sets the nuclear clock ticking again |
Echo Vocal Ensemble, Latto, Union Chapel review - eclectic choral programme garlanded with dance
Beautiful singing at the heart of an imaginative and stylistically varied concert |
Susanna, Opera North review - hybrid staging of a Handel oratorio
Dance and signing complement outstanding singing in a story of virtue rewarded |
Scott, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, RIAM, Dublin review - towards a Mozart masterpiece
Characteristic joy and enlightenment from this team, but a valveless horn brings problems |
Music Reissues Weekly: The Earlies - These Were The Earlies
Lancashire and Texas unite to fashion a 2004 landmark of modern psychedelia |
Hamlet, National Theatre review - turning tragedy to comedy is no joke
Hiran Abeyeskera’s childlike prince falls flat in a mixed production |
France, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - the sound of other worlds
From a snowbound contemporary classic to Mahler's folk-tale heaven |
Like Water for Chocolate, Royal Ballet review - splendid dancing and sets, but there's too much plot
Christopher Wheeldon's version looks great but is too muddling to connect with fully |
Lee Miller, Tate Britain review - an extraordinary career that remains an enigma
Fashion photographer, artist or war reporter; will the real Lee Miller please step forward? |
Rohtko, Barbican review - postmodern meditation on fake and authentic art is less than the sum of its parts
Łukasz Twarkowski's production dazzles without illuminating |
Lee, Park Theatre review - Lee Krasner looks back on her life as an artist
Informative and interesting, the play's format limits its potential |
Ariodante, Opéra Garnier, Paris review - a blast of Baroque beauty
A near-perfect night at the opera |
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