overnight reviews

The Bombing of Pan Am 103, BBC One review - new dramatisation of the horrific Lockerbie terror attack

★★★ THE BOMBING OF PAN AM 103, BBC ONE New dramatisation of the Lockerbie terror attack

Six-part series focuses on the families and friends of the victims

The appalling destruction of Pan Am’s flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 was put under the spotlight in January this year in Sky Atlantic’s Lockerbie: A Search for Truth. This focused on the dogged and agonising search for truth by Jim Swire (played by Colin Firth), whose daughter Flora was killed in the attack, and raised a host of possibilities and theories about who did it and why.

Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works, Royal Ballet review - the impressive range and reach of Christopher Wheeldon's craft

★★★ BALLET TO BROADWAY: WHEELDON WORKS, ROYAL BALLET Impressive range and reach

The title says it: as dancemaker, as creative magnet, the man clearly works his socks off

Ballet is hardly a stranger to Broadway. Until the late 1950s every other musical had its fantasy ballet sequence – think Cyd Charisse in Singin’ in the Rain, or Laurey’s dream in Oklahoma!, whose first interpreter was its choreographer Agnes de Mille.

Music Reissues Weekly: Chapterhouse - White House Demos

CHAPTERHOUSE: WHITE HOUSE DEMOS Garage rockers or shoegazers?

What the shoegazers were up to before they were categorised as shoegazers

Quoted in an early music press article on his band Chapterhouse, singer-guitarist Stephen Patman said their ambition was “to have our records on sale in 20 years’ time. To leave something behind when we die." That was September 1990, in a piece tied-in to their soon-to-be-issued debut single.

Songlines Encounters, Kings Place review - West African and Anatolian magic

★★★★ SONGLINES ENCOUNTERS, KINGS PLACE West African and Anatolian magic

Setting the scene for a weekend of close musical encounters from across the globe

Songlines Encounters is your round-the-world ticket to great world music and performances, a chance to travel widely in music and culture without the burden of check-ins, passport control, flight delays, or transfers. 

The Deep Blue Sea, Theatre Royal Haymarket review - Tamsin Greig honours Terence Rattigan

★★★★ THE DEEP BLUE SEA, THEATRE ROYAL Tamsin Greig honours Terence Rattigan

The 1952 classic lives to see another day in notably name-heavy revival

The water proves newly inviting in The Deep Blue Sea, Terence Rattigan's mournful 1952 play that some while ago established its status as an English classic. Lindsay Posner's production, first seen in Bath with one major change of cast since then, takes its time, and leading lady Tamsin Greig often speaks in a stage whisper requiring you to lean into the words. (This is that rare production that, praise be, is unamplified.) 

The Brightening Air, Old Vic review - Chekhov jostles Conor McPherson in writer-director's latest

★★★ THE BRIGHTENING AIR, OLD VIC Chekhov jostles Conor McPherson in writer's latest

The Irishman's first new play in over a decade is engaging but overstuffed

It's one thing to be indebted to a playwright, as Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter have been at different times to Beckett, or Sondheim's latest musical is to Sartre. But Conor McPherson's The Brightening Air – the title itself is derived from Yeats – comes so fully steeped in Chekhov that you may wonder whether this portrait of rural Ireland in 1980s County Sligo hasn't bled into provincial Russia from nearly a century before, or vice-versa.

Magic Farm review - numpties from the Nineties

A comedy about youth TV putting trends above truth

There’s nothing more healthy than dissing your own dad, and filmmaker Amalia Ulman says that her old man was “a Gen X deadbeat edgelord skater” when she was growing up in the 1990s. The phrase brings the half-forgotten world of Generation X back to us from the mists of time, with its slackers and Douglas Coupland books and mumbling evasions.

The Great Escape Festival 2025, Brighton review - a dip into Thursday

★★★★ THE GREAT ESCAPE FESTIVAL 2025, BRIGHTON A dip into Thursday

Running the gamut from Japanese hip-house to Welsh LGBT stadium pop

As every social space in Brighton once again transforms into a mire of self-important music biz sorts loudly bellowing about “waterfalling on Spotify”, it’s also a great time for those who relish gigs by new talent from all over the world. For three days (four, if you count warm-up Wednesday), every nook and cranny has half-hour showcases running from lunchtime until close. And on top of that are the freebie Alternative Escape fringe events.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Wigmore Hall review - too big a splash in complete Ravel

★★★ JEAN-EFFLAM BAVOUZET, WIGMORE HALL Too big a splash in complete Ravel

Panache but little inner serenity in a risky three-part marathon

It was a daring idea to mark Ravel’s 150th birthday year with a single concert packing in all his works for solo piano. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet knows them by heart, has bags of charisma and energy, so why not? I could give more than one reason, but the main problem was that while Bavouzet perfectly embodied Scarbo, the monster-Puck of Gaspard de la nuit, and other nocturnal flitters, he seemed careless with Undine and her watery companions, of which there were many.

Good One review - a life lesson in the wild with her dad and his pal

★★★★★ GOOD ONE A wise-beyond-her-years teen discovers male limitations in a deft indie drama

A wise-beyond-her-years teen discovers male limitations in a deft indie drama

Good One is a generation-and-gender gap drama that mostly unfolds during a weekend hiking and camping trip in the Catskills Forest Preserve in upstate New York. A putative indie classic, writer-director India Donaldson’s psychologically acute feature debut focuses on a self-contained, observant young woman, Sam (Lily Collias), whose skepticism about hard-wired male attitudes grows exponentially over the weekend.