theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Helen Hawkins
Wednesday, 30 October 2024
All three seasons of Industry are now on iPlayer, and after watching the most recent one and then backtracking for another look at the other two, I am still in two minds about it...
Rachel Halliburton
Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Even by Stanley Kubrick’s standards, Dr Strangelove went through an extraordinary evolutionary process. After starting it off as a serious film about nuclear war based on the 1958...
Rachel Halliburton
Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Last time I saw the lovelorn Cyclops from Handel’s richly turbulent cantata, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, he was in a warehouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf earlier this year, posturing...
Guy Oddy
Wednesday, 30 October 2024
That Peter Perrett is still alive after the decades of bad habits that he inflicted on himself must be something of a surprise to those who’ve followed his career since the mid-...
Bernard Hughes
Tuesday, 29 October 2024
Anyone who has been on a British train in the last ten years will have been irritated to distraction by the inane and ubiquitous “See it, say it, sorted” announcement that...
Hugh Barnes
Tuesday, 29 October 2024
Towards the end of the last century, the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar made a run of screwball comedies, starting with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) and...
Jim Bob
Tuesday, 29 October 2024
For a few months a couple of years ago, when you googled the name Jim Bob, although you’d get a lot of information about me...
Nick Hasted
Tuesday, 29 October 2024
This other major work by the writer of the English folk horror landmark The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), Robert Wynne-...
Robert Beale
Monday, 28 October 2024
Kahchun Wong’s third Bridgewater Hall concert with the Hallé in his inaugural season as principal conductor consisted of...
Veronica Lee
Monday, 28 October 2024
Kiri Pritchard-McLean has spoken on stage before about her interest in helping young people – including in her...
Aleks Sierz
Monday, 28 October 2024
“Don’t take a piss in the house of a woman you have made a widow.” The mixture of earthy comedy and tragic pain in this...
Ellie Roberts
Monday, 28 October 2024
The ongoing trickle of quirky rock by Pixies reassuringly continues with 2024’s offering, The Night The Zombies Came. The...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 27 October 2024
The name is so familiar it inhibits analysis. Gerry and the Pacemakers – Gerry Marsden and his band, a group with a...
Nick Hasted
Saturday, 26 October 2024
RaMell Ross’s feature debut follows his poetic documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018) in again observing...
Nick Hasted
Saturday, 26 October 2024
Justin Kurzel’s Australian film subjects are out on the malign edge, from Snowtown’s suburban serial killer and Nitram’s...
Bernard Hughes
Saturday, 26 October 2024
What’s it like to be in the middle of an orchestra, hugger-mugger with the violas, looking directly over the flautist’s...
Saskia Baron
Saturday, 26 October 2024
One of the many pleasures of the London Film Festival is the chance to see high-quality documentaries on the big screen. If...
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 26 October 2024
Schubert: Sonata in G major D. 894, Moments Musicaux D. 780, Fantasy in F minor D. 940 Maurizio Pollini, Daniele...
Gary Naylor
Saturday, 26 October 2024
The misadventures and misbehaviours of the English upper-middle class is catnip for TV executives. All those posh types on...
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disc of the day
Album: Peter Perrett - The Cleansing
Depth, humour and bucket loads of cool from the former Only One
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
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.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
tv
Industry, BBC One review - bold, addictive saga about corporate culture now
Third season of the tale of investment bankers reaches a satisfying climax
Rivals, Disney+ review - adultery, skulduggery and political incorrectness
Back to the Eighties with Jilly Cooper's tales of the rich and infamous
Disclaimer, Apple TV+ review - a misfiring revenge saga from Alfonso Cuarón
Odd casting and weak scripting aren't a temptation to keep watching
film
The Room Next Door review - Almodóvar out of his comfort zone
The Spanish director's meditation on mortality is a beautiful misfire
Documentary highlights from the 2024 London Film Festival
A close look at insightful new non-fiction films about single motherhood, visionary photographers, scam artists, legacies of colonialism, and more
new music
Album: Peter Perrett - The Cleansing
Depth, humour and bucket loads of cool from the former Only One
Book Extract: Where Songs Come From - The Lyrics and Origin Stories of 150 Solo and Carter USM Songs by Jim Bob
Jim Bob introduces a chapter from his new book, a combined autobiography, lyrical overview and love letter to London
Album: Pixies - The Night The Zombies Came
Quirky indie with a Halloween twist from legends of the genre Pixies
classical
La Nuova Musica, Crowe, Barron, De Donato, Wigmore Hall review - thrilling Handel at full throttle
This vibrant staging of Handel's 1708 "Aci, Galatea e Polifemo" was filled with passion and delight
Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - Bruckner’s Ninth completed
Kahchun Wong takes Manchester audience on an epic journey
The Orchestral Forest, Smith Square Hall review - living the orchestra from the inside
Immersive concert explores the plight of the British rainforest through music
opera
Albert Herring, Scottish Opera review - fun, frivolity, and fine music-making
A witty production of Britten's clever comedy that's bound to leave you smiling
Le nozze di Figaro, The Mozartists, Page, Cadogan Hall review - cogency, intelligence and reverence
A celebration of Mozart from the supreme stylists
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Opera North review - one of the best and funniest
Perspex and bubblewrap for a Sixties take on Britten's Shakespeare
theatre
Dr Strangelove, Noël Coward Theatre review - an evening of different parts
Kubrick’s humour doesn't always detonate as it should in Armando Iannucci's version
Reykjavik, Hampstead Theatre review - drama frozen by waves of detail
Richard Bean’s new play revisits the Hull fishing industry of the 1970s
The Forsyte Saga Parts 1 and 2, Park Theatre review - if Chekhov did soap operas
Joseph Millson leads a super cast in a classy production from Troupe Theatre Company
dance
Encounters, Royal Ballet review - exciting mixed bill with a gem of a premiere
Pam Tanowitz's latest piece is a stunner that larkily subverts the rules
National Ballet of Canada, Sadler's Wells review - see this, and know what dance can do
Yet again, Crystal Pite proves herself a ferocious creative force, alongside fellow Canadian exports James Kudelka and Emma Portner
Nobodaddy, Teaċ Daṁsa, Dublin Theatre Festival review - supernatural song and dance odyssey
Michael Keegan-Dolan’s genius guides us through death, separation and loss
comedy
Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Brighton Dome review - a foster carer's tale
Comic skilfully melds a personal story with sharp social commentary
Rose Matafeo, Arcola Theatre review - Starstruck star muses on love
Kiwi comic on dating, phone apps and Taylor Swift
Ellen DeGeneres, Netflix Special review - no mea culpa and few jokes
Former chatshow host’s bizarre take on cancellation
Books
Jonathan Coe: The Proof of My Innocence review - a whodunnit with a difference
Political satire, social observation and literary artifice elevate this ostensibly 'cosy crime' caper
theartsdesk Q&A: Anna Bogutskaya on her new book about the past decade of horror cinema
In time for Halloween, the author discusses 'Feeding the Monster' - and why she thinks horror cinema has entered a new phase
Olga Tokarczuk: The Empusium review - paranoid prose
Antonia Lloyd-Jones translates a contagious work from a Nobel Prize winner
visual arts
Vanessa Bell, MK Gallery review - diving into and out of abstraction
A variation of styles as the Bloomsbury artist breaks free from Victorian mores
Lygia Clark: The I and the You, Sonia Boyce: An Awkward Relation, Whitechapel Gallery review - breaking boundaries
Two artists, 50 years apart, invite audience participation
Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit, Tate Modern review - adolescent angst indefinitely extended
The artist who refused to grow up
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