Reviews
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Friday, 14 November 2025
We are bowled over!
Tornado review - samurai swordswoman takes Scotland by storm
Saturday, 14 June 2025
The opening images of Tornado are striking. A wild-haired young woman in Japanese peasant garb runs for her life through a barren forest and across burnt-orange fields. As her pursuers, a rough-looking band of thieves, draw nearer, she seeks refuge in a seemingly deserted mansion. Where are we? When are we?
Hamlet Hail to the Thief, RSC, Stratford review...
Saturday, 14 June 2025
The safe transfer of power in post-war Western democracies was once a given. The homely Pickfords Removals van outside Number Ten, a crestfallen now...
Lollipop review - a family torn apart
Saturday, 14 June 2025
On leaving prison, Lollipop’s thirtyish single mum Molly discovers that reclaiming her kids from social care is akin to doing lengths in a shark-...
Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons, Dulwich Picture...
Saturday, 14 June 2025
I first came across Rachel Jones in 2021 at the Hayward Gallery’s painting show Mixing it Up: Painting Today. I was blown away by the beauty of her...
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Jane Austen Wrecked My Life review - persuading us that the French can do you-know-who
An amiable cross-Channel literary rom com |
The King of Pangea, King's Head Theatre review - grief and hope, but no connection
Heart and soul proves insufficient in world premiere of therapeutic show |
Yoshitomo Nara, Hayward Gallery review - sickeningly cute kids
How to make millions out of kitsch |
Hespèrion XXI, Savall, QEH review - an evening filled with laughter and light
An exhilarating exploration of innovation in 16th and 17th century repertoire |
Samuel Arbesman: The Magic of Code review - the spark ages
A wide-eyed take on our digital world can’t quite dispel the dangers |
Album: Mary Halvorson - About Ghosts
Lauded US jazz guitarist strikes a balance between the composed and the improvised |
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bridge Theatre review - Nick Hytner's hit gender-bender returns refreshed
This Dream is a great night out, especially for Shakespeare first-timers |
Saul, Glyndebourne review - playful, visually ravishing descent into darkness
Ten years after it first opened Barrie Kosky's production still packs a hefty punch |
theartsdesk at the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival - musical revelations, nature beyond
Artistic director Ciara Higgins’ programming ensures plenty of surprises |
The Gold, Series 2, BBC One review - back on the trail of the Brink's-Mat bandits
Following the money to the Isle of Man, Spain and the Caribbean |
Eva Quartet, St Cyprian's review - polyphonic bliss
The first concert in 17 years from the great Bulgarian vocal quartet |
Miss Myrtle’s Garden, Bush Theatre review - flowering talent, but needs weeding
New play about loss, love, grief and gardening is humane, but flawed |
Così fan tutte, Nevill Holt Festival/Opera North review - re-writing the script
Real feeling turns the tables on stage artifice in Mozart that charms, and moves |
Music Reissues Weekly: Gather In The Mushrooms
Stylish, Saint Etienne-compiled, gateway into the world of acid folk |
Big Star: The Nick Skelton Story review - the ways of a man with his mount
Documentary about the champion showjumping duo |
Müller-Schott, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh - spectacular Shostakovich to end the season
Brilliant orchestral results, while the cellist walks a tightrope in the Second Cello Concerto |
Hamad Butt: Apprehensions, Whitechapel Gallery review - cool, calm and potentially lethal
The YBA who didn’t have time to become a household name |
Ballerina review - hollow point
Ana de Armas joins the Wick-verse to frenetic but soulless effect |
theartsdesk in Fes - world music central
A new Renaissance at this Moroccan festival of global sounds |
Songhoy Blues, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - West African crew raise the roof
Reduced Malian band take Birmingham by storm |
Goebbels and the Führer review - behind the scenes from the Nazi perpetrators' perspective
Joachim Lang's docudrama focuses on Goebbels as master of fake news |
Fiddler on the Roof, Barbican review - lean, muscular delivery ensures that every emotion rings true
This transfer from Regent's Park Open Air Theatre sustains its magic |
In Praise of Love, Orange Tree Theatre review - subdued production of Rattigan's study of loving concealment
Unspoken emotion flows through this late work |
Letters from Max, Hampstead Theatre review - inventively staged tale of two friends fighting loss with poetry
Sarah Ruhl turns her bond with a student into a lesson in how to love |
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