Reviews
Cymbeline, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - pagan women fight the good fight
Saturday, 25 January 2025
There’s not much point in having three hours worth of Shakespearean text to craft and the gorgeous Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as a canvas if you merely intend to go through the motions, ticking off one of the canon’s less performed works. The question for Jennifer Tang, making her Globe directorial debut, is what to do with this beautifully wrapped gift. The question for us is does it work.
An Interrogation, Hampstead Theatre review - police procedural based on true crime tale fails to ring true
Saturday, 25 January 2025
In a dingy room with dilapidated furniture on a dismal Sunday evening, two detectives prepare for an interview. The old hand walks out, with just a little too much flattery hanging in the air, leaving the interrogation in the hands of the up-and-coming thruster, a young woman investigating the disappearance of a young woman. Alone, with just a camera for company (we get the video feed also from hidden cameras too) she awaits the suspect for the showdown.
Album: ALT BLK ERA - Rave Immortal
Saturday, 25 January 2025
The utopian messiness of 1990s dance music culture is now so far back in time that what remains, for those under 40, is an idea, a meta myth. It is...
The Lonely Londoners, Kiln Theatre review -...
Friday, 24 January 2025
As something of an immigrant to the capital myself in the long hot summer of 1984, I gobbled up Absolute Beginners, Colin MacInnes’s novel of an...
Gigashvili, Hallé, Cox, Bridgewater Hall,...
Friday, 24 January 2025
There was excellent music making in the Hallé concert in Manchester last night, and there was self-admitted “noise”. Briefly, the two coincided in...
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Prime Target, Apple TV+ review - the appliance of science
Boffins and baddies collide in Steve Thompson's complicated thriller |
Giltburg, Pavel Haas Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - into the labyrinth of a Martinů masterpiece
Fierce Czech first half followed by more storm but also balm in Brahms |
Amelia Coburn, Komedia, Brighton review - short set from rising Teeside folk sensation hits the sweet spot
Jim Moray tour support slot offers an undiluted snapshot of a name to watch |
The Brutalist review - we're building to something
An epic of American dreaming that baffles and mesmerises |
Album: FKA Twigs - Eusexua
A transformative electronic journey across diverse sonic and emotional landscapes |
Out There, ITV1 review - drugs and thugs disfigure the Welsh landscape
Martin Clunes stars in Ed Whitmore's smartly-written drama |
William Tell review - stirring action adventure with silly dialogue
The Swiss folk hero gets an epic update |
Tiffin Youth Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Jurowski, RFH review - perfect detachment suits public statements
Poised Haydn and John Adams in a surprising sequence |
Celtic Connections: Orchestral Qawwali Project, GRIT Orchestra review - two concerts showcasing the cross-genre power of an orchestra
Orchestral music imagined in many ways in Glasgow's global music festival |
Kyoto, Soho Place Theatre - blistering, darkly witty play raises more questions than it answers
The script turns dry-as-dust diplomatic detail into nothing less than an adrenaline sport |
A Good House, Royal Court review - provocative, but imperfect
South African satire about racism, sexism, home ownership and community politics |
Ben Elton, Duke of York's Theatre review - big subjects, big laughs
Comic is as punchy as ever |
Music Reissues Weekly: The Twilights - Twilights Time The Complete 60s Recordings
Australian pop group which recorded at Abbey Road but remained a local sensation |
Sun Rings, Sacconi Quartet, Festival Voices, Kings Place review - lift-off for an exhilarating voyage into the unknown
A suitably radiant interpretation of a Terry Riley epic |
A Complete Unknown review - how does it feel?
Timothée Chalamet brings it all back home as Bob Dylan |
Love Life, Opera North review - Lerner and Weill's blast into the past
Time-travelling tale of love and despair - the first 'concept musical' revived |
Vermiglio review - a simple tale, simply but beautifully told
Maura Delpero’s award-winner salutes the world of her childhood as it ebbs away |
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Dudamel, Barbican review - an epic journey from gossamer-like intimacy to apocalyptic rage
An orchestra on top form in Mahler's Third Symphony despite swirling controversies |
Jenůfa, Royal Opera review - electrifying details undermined by dead space
Knife-edge conducting and singing, but non-realistic production is weaker in revival |
German National Orchestra, Marshall, Cadogan Hall review - sheer youthful exuberance
Teenagers on tour bring effusive music-making |
Chris McCausland, Winchester Theatre Royal review - Strictly winner as cheerfully cynical as ever
Back to the day job telling gags |
Album: The Weather Station - Humanhood
Canadian singer-songwriter makes sense of a period of crisis |
Oliver!, Gielgud Theatre review - Lionel Bart's 1960 masterpiece is Bourne again
An intimate staging and superb casting make this a superior West End production |
What's the Matter with Tony Slattery?, BBC Two review - absorbing but troubling search for answers
RIP TONY SLATTERY How mental illness cut short a brilliant showbusiness career |
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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...
Cymbeline, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - pagan women figh...
There’s not much point in having three hours worth of Shakespearean text to craft and the gorgeous Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as a...
An Interrogation, Hampstead Theatre review - police procedur...
In a dingy room with dilapidated furniture on a dismal Sunday evening, two detectives prepare for an interview. The old hand walks...
Album: ALT BLK ERA - Rave Immortal
The utopian messiness of 1990s dance music culture is now so far...
The Lonely Londoners, Kiln Theatre review - Windrush Generat...
As something of an immigrant to the capital myself in the long hot summer of 1984, I gobbled up Absolute Beginners, Colin...
Gigashvili, Hallé, Cox, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review...
There was excellent music making in the Hallé concert in Manchester last night, and there was self-admitted “noise”. Briefly, the two coincided in...
Album: Ludovico Einaudi - The Summer Portraits
Nine billion streams a year. That’s the sheer scale on which the music of Ludovico Einaudi reaches audiences. The Italian, who will be 70 this...
Prime Target, Apple TV+ review - the appliance of science
An opening sequence of a drone flying over a busy street in Baghdad, followed by a huge explosion that leaves many casualties and a gaping hole...
Giltburg, Pavel Haas Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - into the...
Serious realisation of the seven often thorny Martinů string quartets is a major undertaking. When I spoke to Veronika Jarůšková and...
Amelia Coburn, Komedia, Brighton review - short set from ris...
The quandary is this. Middlesbrough singer Amelia Coburn made one of my favourite albums of last year, her debut, Between the Moon and the...