Reviews
Blithe Spirit review - cloth-eared Coward
Friday, 15 January 2021
Noel Coward's 1941 comedy was one of the theatrical casualties of the first lockdown last March in a Richard Eyre-directed West End revival that aimed to mine the pain beneath this play's abundance of bons mots.
Gillam, Hallé, Bloxham, Hallé online review - music of poetry
Friday, 15 January 2021
Jonathan Bloxham makes his debut as conductor with the Hallé Orchestra in the third of the Hallé’s Winter Season concerts on film.
Dear Comrades! review - Andrei Konchalovsky...
Thursday, 14 January 2021
Veteran Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky has gone back to his beginnings for his latest film. The real-life events on which Dear Comrades! is...
One Night in Miami review - black history come...
Wednesday, 13 January 2021
In 1964, Cassius Clay, NFL superstar Jim Nathaniel Brown, soul legend Sam Cooke and political firebrand Malcolm X gathered for one night in a dingy...
The Soldier's Tale, Scottish Chamber...
Tuesday, 12 January 2021
Born in exigency at the end of the First World War and soon kiboshed by the Spanish flu, The Soldier’s Tale as originally conceived is a tricky...
Peter Pan: The Audio Adventure review - the perfect bedtime story
Sharon D Clarke and Olivia Colman sparkle in delightful radio play in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital |
Mark Fisher: Postcapitalist Desire - The Final Lectures review - imagining the alternative
An eye-opening exploration of the relationship between capitalism and desire |
Julia Bell: Radical Attention review - a clear rendering of our withering attention spans
Bell’s essay is timely and insightful, but how radical can small acts really be? |
Dick Whittington, National Theatre at Home review - colourful and amiable entertainment
Free stream of the NT's Covid-affected pantomime |
Spiral, Series 8, BBC Four review - dark days in the City of Light
Final series of the show that's more than just a 'policier' |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Charles Mingus @ Bremen 1964 & 1975
Live recordings where the jazz great wouldn’t ‘tone down his performance to meet the audience’s tastes’ |
Pieces of a Woman review - a home birth ends in tragedy
Vanessa Kirby excels in devastating exploration of grief and loss |
Sing Me a Song review - beautiful but devastatingly sad
A lost soul personifies a society in crisis |
Gabrieli Consort, McCreesh online review - joyous Bach Christmas Oratorio
Pared-down reading makes for an immersive experience |
Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie, Sky Documentaries review - the classic motor racing film that never was
How fate conspired against the car-crazy star's Formula One movie |
George Saunders: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain review – Russian lessons in literature and life
A visionary engineer gets under the bonnet of great fiction |
Comedy podcasts round-up 2: from home and abroad
Lively chat, masterful spoofing and behind-the-scenes fun |
Courttia Newland: A River Called Time review - an ethereality check
Picturing a world without the legacies of colonialism and slavery |
The Great, Channel 4 review - Russian history gets a whirl in the fictional blender
Screenwriter Tony McNamara refuses to let the facts stand in his way |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Lost Innocence - Garpax 1960s Punk & Psych
High-octane collection of engineer-producer Gary Paxton’s excursions into garage rock |
Vienna New Year’s Day Concert, BBC Two/Radio 3 review - noble integrity and missionary zeal
Riccardo Muti brings aristocratic melancholy to a surprisingly moving, audienceless ritual |
The Serpent, BBC One review - tracking down the hippie-trail murderer
Charming psychopath Charles Sobhraj's motives remain elusive in real life and on-screen |
Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks, BBC One review - a perfectly predictable romp
Jodie Whittaker's Doctor sparks up a festive adventure with no real surprises |
Albums of the Year 2020: Joensuu 1685 - ÖB
The welcome return of Finland’s spiritual explorers |
Bevan, LPO, Jurowski, RFH online review – never-ending stories
A year of disruption ends in gusto – and doubt |
Best of 2020: Dance
In a perilous year, bright ideas and perseverance sometimes prevailed |
Best of 2020: Books
The page-turners, feverish reads and haunting tales of a turbulent year |
Best of 2020: Comedy
Outdoor venues and podcasts to the rescue |
Best of 2020: TV
A terrible year for many, but a priceless opportunity for television |
latest in today
10 Questions for Musician and Broadcaster Cerys Matthews
Cerys Matthews is a best-selling author, award winning DJ and multi-million selling musician, singer, reciter... and broadcaster, originally from...
Gillam, Hallé, Bloxham, Hallé online review - music of poetr...
Jonathan Bloxham makes his debut as conductor with the Hallé Orchestra in the third of the...
Album: Skyway Man - The World Only Ends When You Die
When the concept album first properly took flight, in the late 1960s...
Dear Comrades! review - Andrei Konchalovsky exposes the Sovi...
Veteran Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky has gone back to...
Blu-ray: The Night Porter
The Night Porter depicts the consuming sadomasochistic love affair of an...
One Night in Miami review - black history come alive
In 1964, Cassius Clay, NFL superstar Jim Nathaniel Brown, soul legend Sam Cooke and political firebrand Malcolm X gathered for one night in a...
The Soldier's Tale, Scottish Chamber Orchestra online r...
Born in exigency at the end of the First World War and soon kiboshed by the Spanish flu, The Soldier’s Tale as originally conceived is a...
Peter Pan: The Audio Adventure review - the perfect bedtime...
The blurb for Peter Pan: The Audio Adventure,...