Six Minutes to Midnight review - Judi Dench retains her dignity

★★ SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT Judi Dench retains her dignity against the Nazi odds

Confused portrait of a country on the cusp of war

It can't be easy maintaining dignity when everyone in your vicinity is losing theirs. But that's the position in which the inimitable Judi Dench finds herself in Six Minutes to Midnight, a bewildering movie in which star and co-author, Eddie Izzard, spends a lot of time running hither and yon even as the film itself refuses to budge.

Hughes, Manchester Collective, Lakeside Arts online review - creating the occasion

★★★★ HUGHES, MANCHESTER COLLECTIVE, LAKESIDE ARTS ONLINE Creating the occasion

From gentle melancholy to burning conviction in a single stream

There’s an atmosphere of tender restraint through most of the programme created by Ruby Hughes and Manchester Collective for Lakeside Arts at the University of Nottingham. It was streamed live yesterday afternoon, and, as is the way with most performances just now, was in an empty hall, with its slightly strange "empty" acoustic affecting the spoken word as the artists introduced their music.

The Dig, Netflix review - a haunting exploration of time and timelessness

★★★★★ THE DIG, NETFLIX A haunting exploration of time and timelessness

Adaptation of John Preston's novel packs emotional wallop

The Sutton Hoo burial site in Suffolk has proved to be one of the most valuable archaeological finds ever made in Britain, shedding priceless light on the Anglo-Saxon period of the 6th and 7th Centuries.

The Seven Deadly Sins, Opera North online review - viscerally thrilling

★★★★ THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, OPERA NORTH Viscerally thrilling

Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's indictment of capitalism in a vibrant new production

Theatres are currently banned from moving scenery and props about on stage and you might expect this to present a major obstacle to a production of The Seven Deadly Sins. How else is the opera’s protagonist to be seen to visit seven American cities, succumbing to a different sin in each? But Opera North’s version of Kurt Weill’s 1933 “sung ballet”, in a new translation of Bertolt Brecht’s libretto, a new orchestration for 15 players and with new choreography by director Gary Clarke, has found unlikely inspiration in the restrictions.

Rebecca review - mishap at Manderley

★★ REBECCA Pointless remake of Daphne du Maurier's novel

The new film of Daphne du Maurier's novel serves no purpose

When it was announced that Ben Wheatley would be directing a new version of Rebecca, his fans must have wondered what kind of exciting damage he would do to the neo-Gothic template of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel – and how he might spin the material in a different way than did Alfred Hitchcock in his unimpeachable 1940 classic starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson.

BBC Proms live online: Viennese Night review - sophisticated pleasures

★★★★ BBC PROMS LIVE: VIENNESE NIGHT Lehar's 150th birthday bash goes retro

Lehar's 150th birthday bash goes retro, and ends up sounding fresher than ever

Viennese operetta is like that other great Central European treat, goulash. It comes in many forms. In Vienna it’s coffeehouse comfort food; in Slovenia they add bacon for a smoky tang. And in the marketplaces of Transylvania it comes in bubbling iron cauldrons, practically fluorescent with paprika. But it’s all goulash. You know it when you taste it, and all that matters is that it tastes good. And when it’s really good, it tastes even better when warmed through and dished up second time around.