Reviews
Uncle Vanya, Harold Pinter Theatre review - a superlative company achievement
Friday, 24 January 2020
Uncle Vanya must surely be the closest, the most essential of Chekhov’s plays, its cast – just four main players who are caught up in its fraught emotional action, and four who are essentially support – a concentrated unit even by the playwright's lean standards.
The Personal History of David Copperfield review – top-drawer Dickens
Friday, 24 January 2020
Armando Iannucci’s move away from the contemporary political satires that made his name, first signalled by his bold, uproariously brilliant Death of Stalin, continues apace with a Dickens adaptation that feels quietly radical.
Matt Forde, Soho Theatre review - Brexit and...
Friday, 24 January 2020
Matt Forde sets out his stall in Brexit: Pursued by a Bear from the first line: “We meet in diabolical circumstances.” These aren't good times, he...
The Welkin, National Theatre review - women'...
Thursday, 23 January 2020
History plays should perform a delicate balancing act: they have to tell us something worth knowing about the past, that foreign country where they...
The Grudge review - non-stop shocks wear out...
Thursday, 23 January 2020
The 18-year-old Japanese horror hit Ju-On (The Grudge) was remade once before, as – yes – The Grudge (2004), with Sarah Michelle Gellar. Now it's re-...
Scenes with Girls, Royal Court review - feminist separatism 2.0
New play about female friendship is refreshingly original and dazzlingly exciting |
Miloš Karadaglić, Birmingham Town Hall review - flashy and fierce, with exquisite detail
Triumphant solo performance from virtuoso guitarist |
Chris Packham: 7.7 Billion People and Counting, BBC Two review - is it too late to get population growth under control?
Campaiging naturalist surveys the damage we're inflicting on our overcrowded planet |
Crazy Delicious, Channel 4 review - the most ridiculous cooking programme on TV ?
Heston Blumenthal's culinary deities encourage crackpot foodism |
Album: Ruby Turner – Love Was Here
Go and hear Ruby Turner perform live |
You Stupid Darkness!, Southwark Playhouse review - an intriguing muddle
Overlong Sam Steiner play needs clarity to go with its compassion |
English National Ballet 70th Anniversary Gala, Coliseum review - a fine celebration
ENB raises a toast to its past and future in an evening of nostalgia and high style |
Bach Sunday with the Suzukis, RAM / Appl, AAM, Milton Court review - father, son and Holy Ghost
From the grandest beginnings of the B Minor Mass at lunchtime to solo cantatas at night |
The Outsider, Sky Atlantic review - double trouble in small-town Georgia
The terror mounts in gripping Stephen King adaptation |
Blomfield, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - sounds of a troubled truce
Three idiosyncratic works tell one story of the world in 1945 |
Celtic Connections 2020, Glasgow review - fine feast of Scottish music
Global traditions come together in Scotland's annual musical melting pot |
Beethoven Discovery Day, Batiashvili, LSO, Rattle, Barbican review – reassessing a rarity
Soloists, chorus and orchestra shine in a rarely heard oratorio |
Onegin, Royal Ballet review - vivid and intelligent dance drama
The production may feel old-fashioned, but Cranko's graphic dance images still have power to startle |
Rags: The Musical, Park Theatre review - a timely, if predictable, immigrant tale
Current events lend urgency to this historical work |
Mahler's Eighth, CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - a symphony of 600
A rite of spring as a great orchestra launches its centenary year in epic style |
Flo & Joan, Soho Theatre review - entertaining wit and whimsy
Musical duo say Bros 'inspired' the show |
Ilya Kaminsky: Deaf Republic - silence as 'a soul's noise'
Deafness as dissent deftly entangles with commentary on our collective failures to speak and act |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Beloved - Where It Is
Charming collection of what the electro house-popsters were up to before the hits |
Jeet Thayil: Low – grief’s seedy distractions
Fine writing on low living but where’s the outsider appeal? |
A Hidden Life review - Nazism stoically refused
Terrence Malick's raptures find solid ground in a forgotten stand against fascism |
Cobra, Sky 1 review - entertaining mix of political mischief and cosmic chaos
Robert Carlyle's Tory prime minister battles internal and external crises |
Currie, Jordan, NCO, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - major marimba music
Tales of mystery and imagination from the 21st century and beyond |
Deborah Orr: Motherwell review - memoir, but so much more
A complex study of a family, childhood, and a town transformed |
Les Misérables, Sondheim Theatre review - join in our crusade
New blood courses through the West End's longest-running musical |
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latest in today
Uncle Vanya, Harold Pinter Theatre review - a superlative co...
Uncle Vanya must surely be the closest, the most essential of...
The Personal History of David Copperfield review – top-drawe...
Armando Iannucci’s move away from the contemporary political satires that made his name, first signalled by his bold, uproariously brilliant...
The Welkin, National Theatre review - women's labour is...
History plays should perform a delicate balancing act: they have to...
The Grudge review - non-stop shocks wear out their welcome
The 18-year-old Japanese horror hit Ju-On (The Grudge)...
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Miloš Karadaglić, Birmingham Town Hall review - flashy and f...
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Chris Packham: 7.7 Billion People and Counting, BBC Two revi...
We hear plenty of debate about climate change and its disastrous potential, but the ballooning growth of the world’s population may be the most...
Crazy Delicious, Channel 4 review - the most ridiculous cook...
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