theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Sebastian Scotney
Saturday, 27 February 2021
The clever programming of the “Unwrapped” series has been transformational for the reputation of Kings Place. Ever since the Bach series in 2013 these year-long sequences of...
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 27 February 2021
The Way of Light – The Music of Nigel Hess (Orchid Classics)You’ve probably heard Nigel Hess’s music without realising it. He’s scored multiple RSC productions and has...
Kieron Tyler
Saturday, 27 February 2021
Flock ends with “Solarised”, a glorious five-plus minutes excursion into retro-futurist pop with the artistic smarts of Saint Etienne and Stereolab. Snappy, toe-tapping drums and...
Saskia Baron
Friday, 26 February 2021
One of the sadnesses of covid is that films like Judas and the Black Messiah have been held over for release in the hope that cinemas will reopen. Immersive, intense...
Veronica Lee
Friday, 26 February 2021
Everyone (well, almost everyone) can tell a joke. But being a comic – holding an audience rapt, getting a roomful of strangers to like you and laugh at your material – takes real...
Aleks Sierz
Friday, 26 February 2021
As the events of last year made clear, the police have a problem with race on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, BAME people are more than twice as likely to die in police...
Mark Kidel
Friday, 26 February 2021
John Benjamin Power (formerly half of Fuck Buttons) opens his new opus with glittering synth arpeggios – reminiscent of the...
Daniel Lewis
Thursday, 25 February 2021
Joseph Andras wastes no time. “Not a proud and forthright rain, no. A stingy rain. Mean. Playing dirty.” This is how his...
Laura De Lisle
Thursday, 25 February 2021
I’ll admit, I’ve never been a fan of murder mysteries. Patience is not one of my virtues; if I can’t work something out in...
Thomas H Green
Thursday, 25 February 2021
A decade ago, Alice Cooper reconnected with his roots. He created a sequel to his 1975 album Welcome to my Nightmare with...
Veronica Lee
Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Lockdown has been mostly pants for live performers, comics included. There was that brief foray into open-air performances...
Miranda Heggie
Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Returning to the Wigmore Hall for another socially distanced concert, Edinburgh-born guitarist Sean Shibe brought a...
Laura De Lisle
Wednesday, 24 February 2021
In her 15-year career, Plaistow-born Andi Osho has worked in theatre, TV and stand-up, and is the only contestant to have...
Kieron Tyler
Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Frànçois Marry’s sixth album as Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains evokes warm days spent lounging in fields of clover...
Tom Birchenough
Tuesday, 23 February 2021
The four monologues that make up Barnes’ People were filmed in the grand surroundings of the Theatre Royal, Windsor, and...
David Nice
Tuesday, 23 February 2021
Young performers seeking platforms for their careers have had it especially rough over the past year, most slipping through...
Boyd Tonkin
Tuesday, 23 February 2021
Havana, 1993. Far away, the fall of the Soviet empire has suddenly stripped Fidel Castro’s Cuba of subsidy and protection,...
Tom Birchenough
Tuesday, 23 February 2021
There’s a striking interview among the extras for this Criterion edition of Russian director Larisa Shepitko’s fourth and...
Adam Sweeting
Monday, 22 February 2021
Belfast-based thriller Bloodlands comes from the pen of first-time TV writer Chris Brandon, though he may find some of his...
tv
Stand Up and Deliver, Channel 4 review - how to make a comic
Comedians teach celebrities the art of stand-up
Bloodlands, BBC One review - ghosts of the Troubles return to poison the present
James Nesbitt stars in Chris Brandon's dark and twisty thriller
Framing Britney Spears, Sky Documentaries review - the rollercoaster ride of the former teen icon
The struggle to survive the sexism and savagery of showbusiness
film
Judas and the Black Messiah review - powerful biopic
Well crafted biopic brings another key episode in America's civil rights history into the light
Blu-ray: The Ascent
Rich insights into Larisa Shepitko's final masterpiece in a new Criterion edition
new music
Album: Alice Cooper - Detroit Stories
50+ years into his career the veteran shock rocker's latest is contagiously entertaining
classical
Urioste, Aurora Orchestra, Kings Place online review - superb musicianship in compelling close-up
Energy, joy and top quality production
Classical CDs: Dusty graveyards, bell sounds on pianos and a cold Cambridgeshire fen
Contemporary piano and orchestral discs, plus a pair of Czech violin concertos
Sean Shibe, Wigmore Hall online review - persuasive and poignant
An intimate recital, despite the distance
opera
Tony and the Young Artists, Royal Opera/Liebeslieder Waltzes, Blackheath Halls online review - love and joy
Much-needed platforms for talented youth to make its way in difficult times
Der Freischütz, Bavarian State Opera online review – marksmen as marketeers
Tcherniakov’s staging heightens the psychological drama, but his feminist angle falls flat
Hansel and Gretel, Scottish Opera online - bewitching feast for ears but not eyes
Rhian Lois and Kitty Whately excel as babes in the cheap wood of a cut-price production
theatre
Typical, Soho Theatre online review - powerfully poetic and painful
Film version of 2019 monologue about institutional racism is brilliant
Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Hung Parliament review – choose-your-own whodunnit
Playful interactive show casts audience members as amateur detectives
Barnes' People, Original Theatre Company online review - intriguing quartet of monologues revived
Jemma Redgrave and Adrian Scarborough excel in Peter Barnes radio solos brought to screen
dance
The Nutcracker: an end-of-year obituary
It's been a rough ride for the seasonal cash cow. Here's how ballet companies coped
The Seven Deadly Sins, Opera North online review - viscerally thrilling
Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's indictment of capitalism in a vibrant new production
comedy
Rachel Parris and Marcus Brigstocke's Tuesday Night Club review - daft and good-hearted
Lockdown fun has taken on a life of its own
First Night Funnies, Leicester Comedy Festival review - uneven start to 2021's online gathering
Sikisa was a charming and ebullient host
Books
Joseph Andras: Tomorrow They Won't Dare to Murder Us review - injustice and tenderness in the Algerian War
This thriller-ish debut revives the only European executed in the French-Algerian conflict
Karla Suárez: Havana Year Zero review - maths, phones and mysteries in down-at-heel Cuba
A smart, romantic romp through the island's darkest days
theartsdesk Q&A: Amina Cain on her first novel and her eternal fascination with suggestion
The American writer discusses 'Indelicacy' and characters who are flawed and unfixed
visual arts
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Tate Britain review - enigmatic figures full of life
When is a painting not a portrait?
Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch, Royal Academy review - juxtapositions that confuse rather than clarify
Similar themes, different sensibilities
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