theartsdesk.com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Tom Birchenough |
We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the…
Jenny Gilbert |
As the new season opens, confidence is high at ENB, just as it should be given the roaring success of recent programmes featuring the latest work of iconoclast William Forsythe.…
mark.kidel |
Trio Da Kali are griots, and their traditional role in West Africa is to connect: to evoke the glories of the past and to bring communities together through mediation and…
alexandra.coghlan |
It’s a good year to be Handel-lover. No sooner have summer runs of Rodelinda (Garsington) and Saul (Glyndebourne) finished than we’re into autumn and Opera North’s Susanna,…
Thomas H. Green |
Hollie Cook was in the final line-up of post-punk groundbreakers The Slits. When singer Ari Up died in 2010 and the group ended, there was a flurry of interest in Cook for a while…
Nick Hasted |
Warren Ellis is Nick Cave’s wild-maned Bad Seeds right-hand man and The Dirty Three’s frenzied violinist. Justin Kurzel’s Australian film subjects meanwhile exist on the malign…
Nick Hasted
Armageddon is here again, as Kathryn Bigelow’s first film in eight years examines the minutes before a nuclear missile hits Chicago from multiple perspectives, finding no hope…
Pamela Jahn
Idris Elba has only just appeared as the British Prime Minister in the action comedy Heads of State (2025) – now he's portraying the American President in Kathryn Bigelow's tense…
Bernard Hughes
Echo Vocal Ensemble have their genesis in Genesis. Sarah Latto’s group were initially formed by a cohort of the Genesis Sixteen young artists’ programme – and she has turned them…
Robert Beale
Turning Handel oratorio into opera can be a rewarding enterprise. Charles Edwards’ presentation of Joshua, over 15 years ago, for instance, was very effective for Opera North in…
David Nice
One miracle of musical performance is that a work you’ve loved for years can be revealed as never before in an outstanding interpretation. That happened to me last week at the New…
Thomas H. Green
Pop Will Eat Itself deserve to be more celebrated. The Stourbridge outfit were one of the first 1980s bands to realise the potential of smashing punky indie-rockin’ into hip hop…
Kieron Tyler
The reappearance of These Were The Earlies for its 21st-anniversary is a surprise. Although The Earlies' debut LP received a maximum-marks review from NME on its 2004 release –…
Demetrios Matheou
The National’s latest production of Hamlet opens with a bang: a sureness of style, atmosphere and refreshing comedic effect, accompanied by a performer, Hiran Abeyeskera (The…
Boyd Tonkin
Even in the 21st century, it may not take that long for an outlandish literary experiment to jump genres and become an established musical classic. In 2008, I enthusiastically…
Like Water for Chocolate, Royal Ballet review - splendid dancing and sets, but there's too much plot
Helen Hawkins
Christopher Wheeldon has mined a new seam of narrative pieces for the Royal Ballet, having started out as a supreme practitioner of the abstract. After The Winter’s Tale and Alice…
Sarah Kent
Tate Britain’s Lee Miller retrospective begins with a soft focus picture of her by New York photographer Arnold Genthe dated 1927, when she was working as a fashion model. The…
Rachel Halliburton
It’s truly thrilling to see the Barbican embracing big concept long-form theatre again, seeking out productions that are as conceptually challenging as they are visually…
Gary Naylor
Like fellow New Yorker, Lee Miller, Lee Krasner changed her given name, the better to be accepted into what she called "The Boys Club" of 20th century Modern Art. Like Miller, she…
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Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
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tv
The Rev Richard Coles's sleuthing cleric hits the screen
Jude Law and Jason Bateman tread the thin line between love and hate
Jack Thorne's skill can't disguise the bagginess of his double-headed material
film
The Bad Seed explains the cost of home truths while making documentary Ellis Park
Kathryn Bigelow's cautionary tale sets the nuclear clock ticking again
The star talks about Presidential decision-making when millions of lives are imperilled
new music
Three supreme musicians from Bamako in transcendent mood
Tropical-tinted downtempo pop that's likeable if uneventful
The Bad Seed explains the cost of home truths while making documentary Ellis Park
classical
Beautiful singing at the heart of an imaginative and stylistically varied concert
Characteristic joy and enlightenment from this team, but a valveless horn brings problems
From a snowbound contemporary classic to Mahler's folk-tale heaven
opera
Gods, mortals and monsters do battle in Handel's charming drama
Dance and signing complement outstanding singing in a story of virtue rewarded
theatre
Hiran Abeyeskera’s childlike prince falls flat in a mixed production
Łukasz Twarkowski's production dazzles without illuminating
Informative and interesting, the play's format limits its potential
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
ENB set the bar high with this mixed bill, but they meet its challenges thrillingly
Like Water for Chocolate, Royal Ballet review - splendid dancing and sets, but there's too much plot
Christopher Wheeldon's version looks great but is too muddling to connect with fully
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Matters of the heart and heavy metal
Perimenopause provides rich seam of gags
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Month by month journey through a decade gives insights into ordinary people’s lives
A writer retraces her steps to furrow a deeper path through modern America
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Fashion photographer, artist or war reporter; will the real Lee Miller please step forward?
Room after room of glorious paintings
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