Dialogues des Carmélites, Glyndebourne review - faith overwhelmed by horror

★★★★★ DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES, GLYNDEBOURNE Strongest possible casting, directing and conducting sear the soul

Strongest possible casting, directing and conducting sear the soul

Harrowing and holiness alternate in Poulenc’s unique masterpiece, nominally an opera about nuns during the French revolution, at a deeper level a music-drama about the greatest disturbances in the human condition. Glyndebourne’s cast, conductor and orchestra handle the variety wth total mastery. If Barrie Kosky’s production lets horror overwhelm us, that’s justified too. If you’re not a heap at the end of it, that’s your problem.

Blu-ray: The Conquest of Everest

★★★★ BLU-RAY: THE CONQUEST OF EVEREST Post-war heroics, still impressive 70 years on

Post-war heroics, still impressive 70 years on

Studio Canal’s restored print of the 1953 documentary The Conquest of Everest is so sharp, so clear that initially it’s hard to believe that we’re not watching a studio reconstruction. Skies, snowscapes and sunlit uplands glow; it’s only in the perilous final stages that things turn murkier.

Ten Pound Poms, BBC One review - a new life in the Great Southern Land

★★★ TEN POUND POMS, BBC ONE A new life in the Great Southern Land

Sun, soap and clashing cultures in Danny Brocklehurst's emigrant drama

The Ten Pound Pom programme (or to use its official title, the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme) was devised to encourage British emigrants to Australia after World War Two. The idea was that the volunteers could escape from drab, rationing-battered Britain to the sun, sea and wide-open spaces of the Great Southern Land, while also helping to boost the Australian economy. Adults paid 10 quid and children travelled free.

Jules and Jim, Jermyn Street Theatre review - a bohemian love triangle ends badly

Classy new stage adaptation of 1950s French novel proves intellectually rewarding

It’s apt that this new play, with characters moving in and out of Paris either side of World War I, is staged at this intimate theatre, one that always has the ambience of a below-ground oubliette. These bohemians are not penniless and cold as were Puccini’s, but they still wrestle with the bittersweet complexities of a love that burns too brightly, one that fuels a ménage à trois that does not end well.

Little Richard: I am Everything review - a riveting account of 'the brightest star in the universe'

★★★★★ LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING The rise, fall, and rise of the self-proclaimed king of rock ’n' roll

The rise, fall, and rise of the self-proclaimed king of rock ’n' roll

Lisa Cortés’s fast-paced documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything opens with a TV interview made in 1971, 16 years after the rock 'n' roll pioneer became an overnight success with groundbreaking hits like "Tutti Frutti" and "Good Golly Miss Molly".

Loving Highsmith review - documentary focused on the writer's lighter side

★★★ LOVING HIGHSMITH A poignant portrait, but with most of the warts ignored

Eva Vitija presents a poignant portrait, but with most of the warts ignored

Since her death in 1995, Patricia Highsmith has prompted three biographies, screeds of often conflicting psychological analysis and now this documentary from the Swiss-born Eva Vitija. We hear the director say at the outset that by reading her then-unpublished diaries she learned to love, not just the writing, but the writer, which not all commentators have managed to do.

Magpie Murders, BBC One review - zinging TV adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's bestseller

★★★★★ MAGPIE MURDERS, BBC ONE Zinging TV adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's bestseller

Not only a whodunnit, but also a two-dunnit

Finding a fresh twist on the traditional detective mystery is virtually impossible, but Anthony Horowitz has made a bold stab at it with Magpie Murders. This TV adaptation (which appeared on the BritBox streaming platform last year) has been masterminded by Horowitz from his 2016 bestseller, which ingeniously features two interlocking stories, one set in the present day and one in the 1950s.

DVD/Blu-ray: Living

★★★★ DVD/BLU-RAY: LIVING Bill Nighy owns Oliver Hermanus' delicate Kurosawa remake

Bill Nighy owns Oliver Hermanus' delicate Kurosawa remake scripted by Kazuo Ishiguro

Mr Williams (a wonderfully restrained, Oscar-nominated Bill Nighy) is taking time off work from his job in the Public Works department at County Hall in London. It’s the early Fifties and office life is very proper, with bowler hats and a strict hierarchy that reflects the class structure of Britain.

Guys and Dolls, Bridge Theatre review - exuberant new production of the 1950 masterpiece

★★★★★ GUYS AND DOLLS, BRIDGE THEATRE Nicholas Hytner and a crack cast deliver a fresh take on the classic musical

Nicholas Hytner and a crack cast deliver a fresh take on the classic musical

It now seems an inevitability that Marisha Wallace will be a frontrunner at next year's theatre awards, not just this year’s. Having barnstormed her way to a 2023 Olivier nomination for playing Ado Annie in the Young Vic’s Oklahoma!, her Miss Adelaide, luckless fiancée of crap-game organiser Nathan Detroit, is the crowning achievement of Nicholas Hytner’s exuberant new production of Guys and Dolls at the Bridge, which itself should be a shoo-in for prizes of its own.

Music Reissues Weekly: Dave Brubeck Quartet - Debut In The Netherlands 1958

DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET - DEBUT IN THE NETHERLANDS 1958 Previously unheard Amsterdam concert enhances the existing catalogue

Previously unheard Amsterdam concert enhances the existing catalogue

For Dave Brubeck, his Quartet’s first concert in the Netherlands was memorable. Getting to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw for the 26 February 1958 booking was difficult, possibly unfeasible. The band were travelling from Berlin, and arrived at the show a half-hour after they were meant to be on stage.