Albums of the Year 2018: Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer

★★★★★ ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2018: JANELLE MONAE - DIRTY COMPUTER On a higher plane

Irresistible pop nuggets delivered a message of positivity and social change

Janelle Monáe had already established herself as pop’s next great innovator with The ArchAndroid and Electric Ladyland, two albums full of earworms, high production and retro-futuristic lyrics. This all-too-brief musical career seemed in jeopardy when Monáe successfully made the jump to film, with her debut features Hidden Figures and Moonlight winning heavily at the Oscars.

Lizzie review - murder most meticulous

★★★★ LIZZIE Historic axe-killer mystery reworked as feminist fable

Historic axe-killer mystery reworked as feminist fable

The story of Lizzie Borden, controversially acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892, has been explored many times on screen and in print (there’s even an opera and a musical version, not to mention the Los Angeles metal band Lizzy Borden).

Hole, Royal Court review - anger is not quite enough

★★★ HOLE, ROYAL COURT Anger is not quite enough

Short new play from actor Ellie Kendrick is full of ferocity, but lacks originality

Actor Ellie Kendrick is a familiar face on television, but it's only as a writer that she reveals the depth of her rage against the world. At least, that's what it feels like. After starring in the BBC's The Diary of Anne Frank while still at school, she's gone on to act in Game of Thrones, Vanity Fair and Mike Bartlett's Press, a BBC series where she played the junior reporter on the Guardian-style daily paper.

Suspiria review - kindly, slow-motion grand guignol

★★★★ SUSPIRIA Horror shocker remade with heartfelt emotion

Horror shocker remade with heartfelt emotion

The first Suspiria was a sensation, and spectacularly, monomaniacally new. Its young heroine Susie Bannon’s ride from an innately hostile airport through eldritch woods in which a panicked girl ran from her destination, the Markos Academy of Dance, as Goblin’s rock score gibbered and pounded at the senses, was hysterical, relentless film-making.

The Hoes, Hampstead Theatre review - sex and drink and grime

★★★ THE HOES, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Sex, drink & grime in a smart, funny but slender debut

Girls just wanna have fun in the sun - smart, funny but slender debut play

Because of the #MeToo movement, and the revival of feminist protest, the theme of sisterhood now has a much stronger cultural presence than at the start of the decade. It seems to be a great time to be a female playwright, and Ifeyinwa Frederick's irreverently noisy, and often hilarious, debut play is proof that there is a lot of upcoming new talent waiting to make its mark.

Stories, National Theatre review - comic conception capers

★★★ STORIES, NATIONAL THEATRE Often funny but rarely deep

Nina Raine's follow-up to her very big hit Consent is often funny but rarely deep

In 2017, playwright Nina Raine's Consent, an excellent National Theatre play about lawyers and rape victims, was hugely successful, winning a West End transfer, as well as generating a lot of discussion about gender politics.

Modern Couples, Barbican review - an absurdly ambitious survey of artist lovers

★★★ MODERN COUPLES, BARBICAN An absurdly ambitious survey of artist lovers

Exhibition revises the notion of the artist as lone genius, but reveals little else

What an ambitious project! Modern CouplesArt, Intimacy and the Avant-garde looks at over 40 couples or, in some cases, trios whose love galvanised them into creative activity either individually or in collaboration.

The Sweet Science of Bruising, Southwark Playhouse review - boxing clever

★★★★ THE SWEET SCIENCE OF BRUISING, SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE Original and timely Victorian pugilistic drama

 

Victorian pugilistic drama: thoroughly heartfelt, highly original and completely timely

There are not that many plays about sport, but, whether you gamble on results or not, you can bet that most of them are about boxing. And often set in the past.

Skate Kitchen review - sisterhood in the skate park

★★★ SKATE KITCHEN Following female skateboarders in NYC, Crystal Moselle's new film is almost a documentary

Following female skateboarders in NYC, Crystal Moselle's new film is almost a documentary

“Let’s get a clip, Long Island.” One New York skateboarder encourages another, who’s from the ‘burbs, to show off ollies, pop shuvits and kick-flips for a YouTube video. But hang on: “There are too many penises in the way.” This is a posse of young women, a rare sighting in the male world of the skate park.