book reviews and features
Sarah Langford: In Your Defence review - messy lives
Sunday, 24 June 2018
When Sarah Langford goes to work, she puts on warpaint and wig and acts. But she is not an actor. She defends those who might or might not be guilty of the crimes with with they’ve been charged,... Read more... |
Enter theartsdesk / h Club Young Influencer of the Year award
Tuesday, 19 June 2018
Are you a young blogger, vlogger or writer in the field of the arts, books and culture? If so, we've a competition for you to enter. The Hospital Club’s annual h Club100... Read more... |
Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott: Swan Song review - Capote redux
Sunday, 17 June 2018
Here you will find Babe Paley, Slim Keith, CZ Guest, Gloria Guinness, Lee Radziwill, Marella Agnelli, the stylish leaders of society, gorgeous, gilded, well-married ladies: the men they were with... Read more... |
Robert Gordon: Memphis Rent Party review - a fast-moving Mississippi anthology
Sunday, 10 June 2018
“There’s a rhythm in the air around Memphis, there always has been,” Carl Perkins once said. "I don't know what it is, but it's magic." The city on the Mississippi lives up to its... Read more... |
Meg Wolitzer: The Female Persuasion review - the many faces of feminism
Sunday, 03 June 2018
Meg Wolitzer’s 10th novel has been hailed as a breakthrough, a feminist blockbuster, an embodiment of the zeitgeist. (Nicole Kidman has bought the film rights, which goes to show.) But... Read more... |
Frank Gardner: Ultimatum review - topical terrorism
Sunday, 03 June 2018
The journalist Frank Gardner has turned to fiction to illuminate with imagination the world that he knows inside out from years of reporting. His biographical trajectory, from scholar of the... Read more... |
Sophie Mackintosh: The Water Cure review - on the discipline of survival
Sunday, 27 May 2018
A body can be pushed to the brink, to the point where thoughts flatten to a line of light, and come back from death, but the heart is complex and the damage it wreaks barely controllable. For... Read more... |
The World Of Moominvalley, Brighton Festival review - a fascinating insight into the world of Tove Jansson
Monday, 21 May 2018
It was no matter that journalist Daniel Hahn dropped out ill at the 11th hour of this "audience with" event. Author Philip Ardagh's deep knowledge and unflappable demeanour comfortably carried the... Read more... |
William Trevor: Last Stories review - final intimations
Sunday, 20 May 2018
An Irishman who spent more than half a century in London and then Devon, and a prolific writer – nearly 20 novels... Read more... |
Clancy Sigal: The London Lover review - a merry prankster's very long weekend
Sunday, 20 May 2018
To readers of newspapers and magazines, the name Clancy Sigal will be very familiar, probably as a film reviewer. Addicted to... Read more... |
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A Christmas Carol, The Old Vic review - older, wiser, and ye...
Familiarity has bred something quite fantastic with the Old Vic Christmas Carol, which is back for a seventh season and merits ringing...
Boat Story, BBC One review - once upon a time in Yorkshire
It was as long ago as January last year that the prolific Williams brothers,...
Dariescu, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Man...
John Storgårds found himself literally facing both ways for the third item on the BBC Philharmonic’s programme on Saturday: towards the audience,...
Mark Rothko, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris review - a show...
The vast and various spaces of Frank Gehry’s monumental Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris suit the needs of the thrilling Mark Rothko exhibition...
Blu-ray: King and Country
British anti-war films inspired by “the war that” failed “to end all wars” include Oh! What a Lovely War, The Return of the Soldier...
The Witches, National Theatre review - fun and lively but wh...
The National Theatre these days seems to be...
The Dante Project, Royal Ballet review - brave but flawed ta...
Singular in its variousness, this is a three-act ballet that need some unpicking. No wonder those hooked on first acquaintance in 2021, like t...
CMAT, Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow review - an evening of ex...
There was a moment towards the end of this exuberant evening when Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson compared the show to a pantomime. This was an...
MacMillan's Christmas Oratorio, Lois, Williams, RSNO, M...
It is not every day that a new choral work by a living composer can confidently be labelled a masterpiece. Yet this is what we have here. James...
Oh What A Lovely War, Southwark Playhouse review - 60 years...
In Annus Mirabilis, Philip Larkin wrote,
"So life was never...