Reviews
The White Lotus, Series 3, Sky Atlantic review - hit formula with few surprises but a new bewitching soundtrack
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
The return of Mike White’s hit series can be celebrated for one major reason: its extraordinary music. That may sound like a minor reason, but this third iteration of the show confirms that the show's sound world is key to its success.
East Is South, Hampstead Theatre review - bewildering and unconvincing
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Our humanity is defined not only by our use of language, but also by our sense of the spiritual. Whether you are a believer or not, it’s hard to deny the attractions of religion for billions around the world. Sounds portentous? Yeah. Okay, you’re now in the zone for Beau Willimon’s new play East Is South, currently at the Hampstead Theatre, a work which suggests that the digital world can also be mystical place.
Hacks, Season 3, NOW review - acerbic showbiz...
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Dying is easy, comedy is hard, according to the Georgian actor Edmund Kean. Luckily, everybody involved with the much-awarded Hacks understands...
Josienne Clarke, Across the Evening Sky, Kings...
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
On the first date of a 17-concert tour that had its preview at Celtic Connections in January, Across the Evening Sky begins with the liminal,...
Shon Faye: Love in Exile review - the greatest...
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
As Valentine’s Day crests around us, and lonely hearts come out of their winter hibernation, what better time to publish writer and journalist Shon...
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Mary, Queen of Scots, English National Opera review - heroic effort for an overcooked history lesson
Heidi Stober delivers as beleaguered regent, but Thea Musgrave's opera is limiting |
Unicorn, Garrick Theatre review - wordy and emotionless desire
New West End drama about spicing up marriage is oddly lacking in passion |
Vollmond, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch + Terrain Boris Charmatz, Sadler's Wells review - clunkily-named company shows its lighter side
A new generation of dancers brings zest, humour and playfulness to late Bausch |
Patrick Duff, The Mount Without, Bristol review - sacred music for the soul
A dilapidated Bristol church brought back to vibrant life |
Music Reissues Weekly: Sharks - Car Crash Supergroup
The early Seventies blues rockers admired by prime movers in British punk |
Fat Dog, Chalk, Brighton review - a frenetic techno-rock juggernaut
The rising London outfit deliver a sweaty Cossack-rave hoedown |
Sidorova, Philharmonia, Alsop, Royal Festival Hall review - ladies of the dance
Vitality, virtuosity and sensuality on a pan-American trip |
More Life, Royal Court review - posthuman tragedy fails to come alive
A new sci-fi gothic horror about life after death is intriguing, but flawed |
Captain America: Brave New World review - talking loud, saying nothing
Muddled filler between Avengers films which hardly deserves Harrison Ford |
Three Sisters, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - Chekhov's anatomy lesson on the human condition
Russia - but also here, there and everywhere |
MacMillan's Ordo Virtutum, BBC Singers, Jeannin, Milton Court review - dramatic journey of a medieval soul
Choral music's finest advocate runs the gamut in an epic battle of heaven and hell |
Surviving Black Hawk Down, Netflix review - the real story behind Ridley Scott's Oscar-winner
Documentary series looks at the 1993 'Battle of Mogadishu' from both sides |
To a Land Unknown review - the migrant hustle
A slick tale of two refugees striving and surviving in Athens |
Churchill in Moscow, Orange Tree Theatre review - thought-provoking language and power games
Howard Brenton’s new play about Winston and Stalin is both intelligent and fun |
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy review - older, sadder Bridget has started ditching the ditz
Michael Morris's deft direction produces a maturer kind of romcom |
Festen, Royal Opera review - firing on every front
No slack in Mark-Anthony Turnage's operatic treatment of the visceral first Dogme film |
Northern Winter Beat 2025, Aalborg review - The Courettes, Dungen and Lubomyr Melnyk confront ideas of how to play
Danish city hosts the festival imbued with a cool which doesn’t need expressing |
Gilliver, Liverman, Rangwanasha, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - a rainbow of British music
Poetic Maconchy and Walton, surging Vaughan Williams bursting its confines |
Bowling For Soup, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton review - nostalgic, celebratory fun
Texan pop-punk legends filled the sold-out Civic Hall with pure joy |
Philip Marsden: Under a Metal Sky review - rock and awe
Myths, mines, and mankind combine in this wide-eyed reading of the earth beneath our feet |
The Years, Harold Pinter Theatre review - a bravura, joyous feat of storytelling
The Almeida’s all-women hit transfers to the West End |
Nina Conti: Whose Face Is It Anyway?, Brighton Dome review - a melee of jubilant spontaneity
The ventriloquist-comedian's improvised hour-long outing is skilful and fabulously entertaining |
Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Fernandes, Gent, 229 review - a beguiling trip around the world
Engagingly humble and empathetic work from three talented musicians |
Phaedra + Minotaur, Royal Ballet and Opera, Linbury Theatre review - a double dose of Greek myth
Opera and dance companies share a theme in this terse but affecting double bill |
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East Is South, Hampstead Theatre review - bewildering and un...
Our humanity is defined not only by our use of language, but also by our sense of the spiritual. Whether you are a believer or not, it’s hard to...
Hacks, Season 3, NOW review - acerbic showbiz comedy keeps u...
Dying is easy, comedy is hard, according to the Georgian actor Edmund Kean. Luckily, everybody involved with the much-awarded Hacks...
Album: Basia Bulat - Basia's Palace
Canadian singer Basia Bulat has tried on various musical hats...
Josienne Clarke, Across the Evening Sky, Kings Place review...
On the first date of a 17-concert tour that had its preview at Celtic Connections in January, Across the Evening Sky begins with the...
Shon Faye: Love in Exile review - the greatest feeling
As Valentine’s Day crests around us, and lonely hearts come out of their winter hibernation, what better time to publish writer and journalist...
Blu-ray: Golem
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an inanimate clay figure, brought to life when a magic word is placed inside its mouth....
Mary, Queen of Scots, English National Opera review - heroic...
Genius doesn't always tally with equal opportunities, to paraphrase Doris Lessing. Opera houses have a duty to put on new works by women composers...
Unicorn, Garrick Theatre review - wordy and emotionless desi...
Since when has new writing become so passionless? Mike Bartlett is one of the country’s premiere playwrights and his new play, Unicorn,...