theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Tom Birchenough
Friday, 14 November 2025
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...
Aleks Sierz
Thursday, 11 September 2025
I love irony. Especially beautiful irony. So I’m very excited about the ironic gesture of staging a show with no words at the Royal Court, a venue which boasts of being the...
Kathryn Reilly
Thursday, 11 September 2025
Quite why Baxter Dury isn't already a national treasure is a mystery to me. Not for his nepo connections but for his perfectly pitched delivery and super-dry observations. He's...
Boyd Tonkin
Wednesday, 10 September 2025
One piece that you’re unlikely to hear at the Lammermuir Festival is Lucia di Lammermoor. As co-director James Waters explained during a drive to the absurdly picturesque church...
Kieron Tyler
Wednesday, 10 September 2025
A lot is going on during Yasmine Hamdan’s third solo album. Despite all ten songs of I Remember I Forget بنسى وبتذكر drawing from the lyrics and music of Palestinian folklore,...
Bernard Hughes
Tuesday, 09 September 2025
My final visit to the Proms for this year was a Sunday double-header of the RPO playing Respighi, Milhaud and Vaughan Williams at 11am and an evening concert of the BBC Symphony...
James Saynor
Tuesday, 09 September 2025
The Coen brothers’ output has been so broad-ranging, and the duo so self-deprecating, that critics have long had difficulty...
Graham Rickson
Tuesday, 09 September 2025
You’ll have absorbed key strands of The Sweeney‘s DNA even if you’ve never watched an episode, ITV’s groundbreaking police...
Thomas H Green
Monday, 08 September 2025
VINYL OF THE MONTHBlack Lips Season of the Peach (Fire)Some of the many releases by don’t-give-a-damn southern US rockers...
Jonathan Geddes
Monday, 08 September 2025
There is such nonchalance with Sabrina Teitelbaum that even her appeals to the crowd appeared laid-back. At points during...
Mark Kidel
Monday, 08 September 2025
At the start or her show, the white-robed singer Ganavya does something unusual: while other performers usually warm their...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 07 September 2025
Chiswick Records 1975-1982 - Seven Years at 45 RPM is a triple album marking the 50th anniversary of the first release on...
Helen Hawkins
Saturday, 06 September 2025
ITV continues its passion for docudramas about injustice, which you can’t blame it for after the rip-roaring success of Mr...
David Nice
Saturday, 06 September 2025
It’s weird, if wonderful, that vibrant young composers at the end of the 19th century should have featured death so...
Aleks Sierz
Saturday, 06 September 2025
The Ukraine war is not the only place of horror in the world, but it does present a challenge to theatre makers who want to...
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 06 September 2025
Joan Sutherland: The Complete Decca Recordings - Operas 1959-1970 (Decca)The legend of "La Stupenda" was born at...
Thomas H Green
Saturday, 06 September 2025
Americana rocker Josh Ritter can write a beautiful song. He’s one of America’s premier wordsmiths of the form. He’s also...
Matt Wolf
Friday, 05 September 2025
Laura Benanti has been enchanting Broadway audiences for several decades now, and London has this week been let in on the...
Robert Beale
Friday, 05 September 2025
Manchester Camerata is enhancing its reputation for pioneering with three performances featuring Nick Martin’s new Violin...
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tv
Blu-ray: The Sweeney - Series One
Influential and entertaining 1970s police drama, handsomely restored
I Fought the Law, ITVX review - how an 800-year-old law was challenged and changed
Sheridan Smith's raw performance dominates ITV's new docudrama about injustice
The Paper, Sky Max review - a spinoff of the US Office worth waiting 20 years for
Perfectly judged recycling of the original's key elements, with a star turn at its heart
film
The Courageous review - Ophélia Kolb excels as a single mother on the edge
Jasmin Gordon's directorial debut features strong performances but leaves too much unexplained
Blu-ray: The Graduate
Post #MeToo, can Mike Nichols' second feature still lay claim to Classic Film status?
new music
Album: Yasmine Hamdan - I Remember I Forget بنسى وبتذكر
Paris-based Lebanese electronica stylist reacts to current-day world affairs
theartsdesk on Vinyl 92: Marianne Faithful, Crayola Lectern, UK Subs, Black Lips, Stax, Dennis Bovell and more
The biggest, best record reviews in the known universe
classical
Lammermuir Festival 2025 review - music with soul from the heart of East Lothian
Baroque splendour, and chamber-ensemble drama, amid history-haunted lands
BBC Proms: Steinbacher, RPO, Petrenko / Sternath, BBCSO, Oramo review - double-bill mixed bag
Young pianist shines in Grieg but Bliss’s portentous cantata disappoints
theartsdesk at the Lahti Sibelius Festival - early epics by the Finnish master in context
Finnish heroes meet their Austro-German counterparts in breathtaking interpretations
opera
BBC Proms: The Marriage of Figaro, Glyndebourne Festival review - merriment and menace
Strong Proms transfer for a robust and affecting show
BBC Proms: Suor Angelica, LSO, Pappano review - earthly passion, heavenly grief
A Sister to remember blesses Puccini's convent tragedy
Orpheus and Eurydice, Opera Queensland/SCO, Edinburgh International Festival 2025 review - dazzling, but distracting
Eye-popping acrobatics don’t always assist in Gluck’s quest for operatic truth
theatre
Cow | Deer, Royal Court review – paradox-rich account of non-human life
Experimental work about nature led by Katie Mitchell is both extraordinary and banal
Deaf Republic, Royal Court review - beautiful images, shame about the words
Staging of Ukrainian-American Ilya Kaminsky’s anti-war poems is too meta-theatrical
Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, Underbelly Boulevard Soho review - Tony winner makes charming, cheeky London debut
Broadway's acclaimed Cinderella, Louise, and Amalia reaches Soho for a welcome one-night stand
dance
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, Rambert, Sadler's Wells review - exciting dancing, if you can see it
Six TV series reduced to 100 minutes' dance time doesn't quite compute
Giselle, National Ballet of Japan review - return of a classic, refreshed and impeccably danced
First visit by Miyako Yoshida's company leaves you wanting more
comedy
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Cat Cohen / Lachlan Werner / KC Shornima
Defying a health scare; a surreal invention & a distinctive new voice
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Emmanuel Sonubi / Joz Norris
A second chance at life & a fantastical tale about artistic endeavour
Books
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Elizabeth Alker: Everything We Do is Music review - Prokofiev goes pop
A compelling journey into a surprising musical kinship
Natalia Ginzburg: The City and the House review - a dying art
Dick Davis renders this analogue love-letter in polyphonic English
visual arts
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Folkestone Triennial 2025 - landscape, seascape, art lovers' escape
Locally rooted festival brings home many but not all global concerns
Sir Brian Clarke (1953-2025) - a personal tribute
Remembering an artist with a gift for the transcendent
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