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Rachel Halliburton
Thursday, 21 October 2021
Sebastião Salgado has carved out his career by documenting the unimaginable. He takes areas of life all too often ignored by wealthy westerners and reveals them in...
Jonathan Geddes
Thursday, 21 October 2021
Upon emerging onstage at the Barrowland, Fontaines DC took time to pass flowers into the crowd. Aside from the occasional thank-you later on, that was the only genteel note struck...
Liz Thomson
Thursday, 21 October 2021
I always thought those celebrity duets albums, recorded across the miles – or sometimes with someone who had long since passed to the great arena in the sky – were generally...
Laura De Lisle
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Grenfell: Value Engineering isn’t actually a play. It’s an edited version of the testimony heard by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, particularly Phase 2, from January 2020 to July...
Jenny Gilbert
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Ballet dancers, even the greatest, don’t expect longevity. There are no Maggie Smiths or Helen Mirrens in the ballet world – there just aren’t the roles. So the news that...
Demetrios Matheou
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
I’d venture that Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi classic is an almost perfect adaptation. It’s difficult to imagine the novel being better visualised...
Bernard Hughes
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Single-composer programmes can be a bit dicey and there was a bit of trepidation approaching this one as Steve Reich is not...
Veronica Lee
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Say what you like about Dave Chappelle, but if nothing else he's an equal-opportunities offender, as his latest Netflix...
Liz Thomson
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Rufus Wainwright believes opera to be “the greatest art form that has ever existed on the planet” and of course he’s written...
David Nice
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
So Helen of Troy arrives at a church in Fulham via Poseidon’s island palace and a pavilion at the foot of the Atlas...
Love and Other Acts of Violence, Donmar Warehouse review - snappy and tightly intelligent but flawed
Rachel Halliburton
Tuesday, 19 October 2021
This is simultaneously a love story and an archaeology of hate, a sparky, spiky encounter between two individuals whose...
Laura De Lisle
Tuesday, 19 October 2021
“Careful, there’s a hole in the floor.” The warning’s an unusual one, passed along conscientiously by the stewards at the...
Mark Kidel
Tuesday, 19 October 2021
One of those films weighed down by a considerable reputation, La Dolce Vita (1960) is rarely taken as seriously as it should...
David Nice
Monday, 18 October 2021
Neo-Nazis held a Trafalgar Square rally under the banner "Free Britain from Jewish Control" in the year of my birth; I had...
Helen Hawkins
Monday, 18 October 2021
“You can’t kick a cow in Leenane without some bastard holding a grudge for 20 years,” sighs Pato Dooley (Adam Best)...
Graham Rickson
Monday, 18 October 2021
Leonard Bernstein’s one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti enjoyed a relatively trouble-free gestation, at least compared to his...
Bernard Hughes
Monday, 18 October 2021
The Conway Hall in London has hosted chamber music concerts since it was built in 1929, and for 40 years this included a...
Harry Thorfinn-George
Monday, 18 October 2021
From underground curiosity to cult icon, now label head and superstar, Atlanta’s Young Thug has continued to reinvent...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 17 October 2021
Between August 1966 and November 1967, The Syn played 36 shows at London’s high-profile Marquee Club. In June and September...
disc of the day
Album: Elton John - The Lockdown Sessions
While the nation baked bread, Sir Elton called up his friends
tv
Ridley Road, BBC One review - Jewish community fights Nazi nightmare in 1960s London
Enlightenment about a resurgence of English Fascism wrapped up in a well-acted thriller
DVD/Blu-ray: Maigret - The Complete Series
Entertaining, idiomatic Simenon adaptation, brilliantly cast
Thomas Hardy: Fate, Exclusion and Tragedy, Sky Arts review – too much and not enough
Programme does its best to shine a light on the bleak Wessex writer
film
Dune review - awesome display of sci-fi world-building
Timothée Chalamet leads a sterling cast in Denis Villeneuve's sandy science fiction epic
The Velvet Underground review - Todd Haynes tunnels through band history
Ingeniously composed documentary portrait, with John Cale the definitive star
new music
Fontaines DC, Barrowland, Glasgow review - flowers and football terrace anthems from triumphant Dublin quintet
The Irish rockers deliver a fierce and furious set that sparked delirium
Album: Elton John - The Lockdown Sessions
While the nation baked bread, Sir Elton called up his friends
Rufus Wainwright, London Palladium review - superb musicianship and a warm welcome
No Grammy, but Wainwright hits a peak
classical
Colin Currie Group, RFH review - Reich premiere explores fresh territory
85th birthday tribute combines the familiar with a surprising new departure
Clements Prize, Conway Hall review - newly-written string trios in competition
Varied works by young composers get a sympathetic reading
Classical CDs: Rediscovered orchestral jazz, natural trumpets and non-seasonal chamber music
An American original, zesty classical quartets and new music for piano
opera
Die ägyptische Helena, Fulham Opera review - mythological mess impressively handled
Ambitious company works wonders on Richard Strauss's most problematic opera
Bernstein Double Bill, Opera North review - fractured relationships in song and dance
Heartbreak and strife from a pair of Leeds institutions
Don Pasquale, Glyndebourne Tour review - winning comeback for a sturdy veteran
Sweet spots abound in Donizetti's much-loved sugar-daddy romp
theatre
Grenfell: Value Engineering, The Tabernacle review - bruising, necessary theatre
Edited Inquiry transcripts expose the hypocrisy and incompetence behind the tragedy
Love and Other Acts of Violence, Donmar Warehouse review - snappy and tightly intelligent but flawed
How do traumas from former generations affect how we behave in the present?
Rice, Orange Tree Theatre review - whip-smart, but unsure where it stands
Race and belonging are interrogated unevenly in this Australian drama
dance
L'Heure Exquise, Linbury Theatre review - an exquisite tragedy in miniature
Alessandra Ferri marks her 40 years in ballet with a remarkable solo turn
Bernstein Double Bill, Opera North review - fractured relationships in song and dance
Heartbreak and strife from a pair of Leeds institutions
The Dante Project, Royal Ballet review - a towering achievement
A stupendous score by Thomas Adès powers this inspiring undertaking
comedy
Dave Chappelle: The Closer, Netflix review - race and class examined
US comic is equal opportunities offender
Jason Manford, London Palladium review - lockdown laughs and feelgood fun
Worth the wait for this Covid-affected tour
Blithe Spirit, Harold Pinter Theatre review - an amusing, if dated, revival of the Coward classic
Jennifer Saunders delivers a fine turn as the celebrated Madame Arcati
Books
Mary Wellesley: Hidden Hands review - passion in the parchment
Medieval manuscripts and their forgotten artist-authors come to life
Marcin Wicha: Things I Didn’t Throw Out review - the stories told by stacks of stuff
Connecting a mother's helpless love of things with questions of presence and personhood
Jonathan Franzen: Crossroads review - can goodness ever be its own reward?
The first volume of Franzen's new family saga leaves you wanting more
visual arts
Documenting the unimaginable: photographer Sebastião Salgado talks about climate change, dodging caimans and changing perspectives
How does Western behaviour risk turning the Amazonian paradise into a hell?
Yoko Ono, Mend Piece, Whitechapel Gallery review – funny and sad in equal measure
A sign of the times in broken crockery
Theaster Gates - A Clay Sermon, Whitechapel Gallery review - mud, mud, glorious mud
Ceramics as a religion and a way of life
latest comments
Very good review. I was only able to hear the...
Jennifer Saunders was outstanding in my opinion.
I also attended this concert. The fact is,...
Times please fact check! The word 'Choreography...
Omg, one of the best concerts I have ever seen!...
“Patti Smith has been making rabble-rousing punk...
I have just discovered that the Library Theatre...
Thank you for posting this. Woody: your...