Reviews
Dealer's Choice, Donmar Warehouse review - fresh take on a classic about male self-destruction
Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Patrick Marber’s powerful debut about gambling men is 30 years old, born as the Eighties entrepreneurial boom was starting to sour but before poker become a game for mathematical whizz kids. What it reveals as it maps the male psyche seems as pertinent as ever.
La Serenissima, Wigmore Hall review - a convivial guide to 18th century Bologna
Wednesday, 30 April 2025
When Giuseppe Torelli made the journey from his birthplace of Verona to Bologna in the late 17th century, the trumpet was still seen as something of a brash outsider, suitable for military displays but not for sophisticated music ensembles. Within decades, it would seem perfectly natural for both Vivaldi and Bach to write major works featuring the trumpet.
Much Ado About Nothing, RSC, Stratford - Messina...
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Fragile egos abound. An older person (usually a man) has to bring the best out of the stars, but mustn’t neglect the team ethic. Picking the right...
Zsuzsanna Gahse: Mountainish review - seeking...
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Mountainish by Zsuzsanna Gahse is a collection of 515 notes, each contributing to an expansive kaleidoscope of mountain encounters. Translated from...
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Wigmore...
Monday, 28 April 2025
I came to Isata and Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s Wigmore Hall recital on Saturday armed with a certain degree of scepticism. Not about the siblings’...
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Simon Boccanegra, Opera North review - ‘dramatic staging’ proves its worth
Verdi’s political tragedy - and plea for peace - has impact in a grand Yorkshire setting |
Mahler 8, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - lights on high
Perfect pacing allows climaxes to make their mark - and the visuals aren’t bad, either |
Music Reissues Weekly: The Hamburg Repertoire
Perplexing compendium of songs The Beatles covered while playing the German port city |
Philharmonia, Alsop, RFH / Levit, Abramović, QEH review - misalliance and magical marathon
Kentridge’s film for Shostakovich 10 goes its own way, but a master compels in his 13th hour of Satie |
Ben and Imo, Orange Tree Theatre review - vibrant, strongly acted fiction about Britten and Imogen Holst
Let’s make a coronation opera, with bags of dramatic licence |
The Accountant 2 review - belated return of Ben Affleck's lethal bean-counter
Horror, humour and mind games combine in Gavin O'Connor's sequel |
The Inseparables, Finborough Theatre review - uneven portrait of a close female friendship
De Beauvoir's novel gets an often charming but undemanding staging |
The Ugly Stepsister review - gleeful Grimm revamp
A cutting Norwegian take on Cinderella and her adversaries |
Flintoff, Disney+ review - tumultuous life and times of the great all-rounder
John Dower's documentary is gritty, gruelling and uplifting |
Personal Values, Hampstead Theatre review - deep grief that's too brief
New play about two sisters, death and hoarding is well written, but feels incomplete |
Album: Jenny Hval - Iris Silver Mist
A challenging yet rewarding experimental album |
April review - powerfully acted portrait of a conflicted doctor in eastern Georgia
Dea Kukumbegashvili's second film is stylistically striking and emotionally raw |
Greg Davies, Brighton Dome review - chocolate bars and errant bumholes
Taskmaster's first tour in seven years is a joy |
Bach St John Passion, Academy of Ancient Music, Cummings, Barbican review - conscience against conformism
In an age of hate-fuelled pile-ons, Bach's gospel tragedy strikes even deeper |
Music Reissues Weekly: 1001 Est Crémazie
Privately pressed Canadian jazz album resurfaces for its 50th anniversary |
MacMillan St John Passion, Boylan, National Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Hill, NCH Dublin review - flares around a fine Christ
Young Irish baritone pulls focus in blazing performance of a 21st century classic |
Neil Young: Coastal review - the old campaigner gets back on the trail
Young's first post-Covid tour documented by Daryl Hannah |
Album: Maria Somerville - Luster
Irish musical impressionist embraces shoegazing |
The Penguin Lessons review - Steve Coogan and his flippered friend
P-p-p-pick up a penguin... few surprises in this boarding school comedy set in Argentina during the coup |
Ghosts, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre - turns out, they do fuck you up
Ten years on, Gary Owen and Rachel O'Riordan top their triumphant Iphigenia in Splott |
Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story - compelling portrait of the ground-breaking Irish writer
Glitz and hard graft: Sinéad O'Shea writes and directs this excellent documentary |
Donohoe, RPO, Brabbins, Cadogan Hall review - rarely heard British piano concerto
Welcome chance to hear a Bliss rarity alongside better-known British classics |
All the Happy Things, Soho Theatre review - deep feelings, but little drama
New play about a sibling’s death is well imagined and deeply felt, but a bit slender |
London Choral Sinfonia, Waldron, Smith Square Hall review - contemporary choral classics alongside an ambitious premiere
An impassioned response to the climate crisis was slightly hamstrung by its text |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Dealer's Choice, Donmar Warehouse review - fresh take o...
Patrick Marber’s powerful debut about gambling men is 30 years old, born as the Eighties entrepreneurial boom was starting to sour but...
La Serenissima, Wigmore Hall review - a convivial guide to 1...
When Giuseppe Torelli made the journey from his birthplace of Verona to Bologna in the late 17th century, the trumpet was still seen as something...
theartsdesk Q&A: director Leonardo Van Dijl discusses hi...
"Julie's story takes place everywhere", says the writer-director Leonardo Van Dijl, whose psychological drama Julie Keeps Quiet has...
Album: Lael Neale - Altogether Stranger
Over its crisp 32 minutes and nine songs, Altogether Stranger embraces electropop, lo-fi terrain and gothic solo contemplation. By...
Much Ado About Nothing, RSC, Stratford - Messina FC scores o...
Fragile egos abound. An older person (usually a man) has to bring the best out of the stars, but mustn’t neglect the team ethic....
Zsuzsanna Gahse: Mountainish review - seeking refuge
Mountainish by Zsuzsanna Gahse is a collection of 515 notes, each contributing to an expansive kaleidoscope of mountain encounters....
DVD/Blu-ray: All We Imagine as Light
All We Imagine as Light focuses on the lives of three women in contemporary...
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Wigmore Hall review...
I came to Isata and Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s Wigmore Hall recital on Saturday armed with a certain degree of scepticism. Not about the siblings’...
Simon Boccanegra, Opera North review - ‘dramatic staging’ pr...
Opera North have recently pioneered a way of presenting some big works which they call “dramatic concert stagings”, performing in concert halls as...