Reviews
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Friday, 14 November 2025
We are bowled over!
Presteigne Festival 2025 review - new music is centre stage in the Welsh Marches
Friday, 12 September 2025
If you were a devotee of Dmitri Shostakovich whose only opportunity to attend some live performances marking this year’s 50th anniversary of his death was spending the weekend of 21 - 25 August at the Presteigne Festival, you probably wouldn’t have felt short-changed.
Islands review - sunshine noir serves an ace
Friday, 12 September 2025
From its ambiguous opening shot onwards, writer/director Jan-Ole Gerster’s Islands is a tricksy animal, which doesn’t just keep you...
A Single Man, Linbury Theatre review - an anatomy...
Friday, 12 September 2025
Mind, body, body, mind. Medical science confirms the powerful two-way traffic between emotional and physical health. Nonetheless the idea of...
Cow | Deer, Royal Court review - paradox-rich...
Thursday, 11 September 2025
I love irony. Especially beautiful irony. So I’m very excited about the ironic gesture of staging a show with no words at the Royal Court, a venue...
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Lammermuir Festival 2025 review - music with soul from the heart of East Lothian
Baroque splendour, and chamber-ensemble drama, amid history-haunted lands |
Album: Yasmine Hamdan - I Remember I Forget بنسى وبتذكر
Paris-based Lebanese electronica stylist reacts to current-day world affairs |
BBC Proms: Steinbacher, RPO, Petrenko / Sternath, BBCSO, Oramo review - double-bill mixed bag
Young pianist shines in Grieg but Bliss’s portentous cantata disappoints |
Honey Don’t! review - film noir in the bright sun
A Coen brother with a blood-simple gumshoe caper |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 92: Marianne Faithful, Crayola Lectern, UK Subs, Black Lips, Stax, Dennis Bovell and more
The biggest, best record reviews in the known universe |
Blondshell, Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow review - woozy rock with an air of nonchalance
The singer's set dripped with cool, if not always individuality |
Ganavya, Barbican review - low-key spirituality
Communion and intimacy with diminishing returns |
Music Reissues Weekly: Chiswick Records 1975-1982 - Seven Years at 45 RPM
Triple-album 50th-anniversary celebration of the mould-breaking British independent label |
I Fought the Law, ITVX review - how an 800-year-old law was challenged and changed
Sheridan Smith's raw performance dominates ITV's new docudrama about injustice |
theartsdesk at the Lahti Sibelius Festival - early epics by the Finnish master in context
Finnish heroes meet their Austro-German counterparts in breathtaking interpretations |
Deaf Republic, Royal Court review - beautiful images, shame about the words
Staging of Ukrainian-American Ilya Kaminsky’s anti-war poems is too meta-theatrical |
Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, Underbelly Boulevard Soho review - Tony winner makes charming, cheeky London debut
Broadway's acclaimed Cinderella, Louise, and Amalia reaches Soho for a welcome one-night stand |
Waley-Cohen, Manchester Camerata, Pether, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester review - premiere of no ordinary violin concerto
Images of maternal care inspired by Hepworth and played in a gallery setting |
The Courageous review - Ophélia Kolb excels as a single mother on the edge
Jasmin Gordon's directorial debut features strong performances but leaves too much unexplained |
The Paper, Sky Max review - a spinoff of the US Office worth waiting 20 years for
Perfectly judged recycling of the original's key elements, with a star turn at its heart |
Edinburgh Psych Fest 2025 review - eclectic and experimental
Underground gems and established acts in this multi-genre, multi-venue day long festival |
The Pitchfork Disney, King's Head Theatre review - blazing with dark energy
Thrilling revival of Philip Ridley’s cult classic confirms its legendary status |
Supersonic Festival 2025, Birmingham review - a deep dive into the spectacularly weird and very wonderful
Festival season comes to an end with a celebration of the freakiest of the musical underground |
The Guest, BBC One review - be careful what you wish for
A terrific Eve Myles stars in addictive Welsh mystery |
Born with Teeth, Wyndham's Theatre review - electric sparring match between Shakespeare and Marlowe
Rival Elizabethan playwrights in an up-to-the-minute encounter |
Album: Saint Etienne - International
British pop institution’s final communiqué is an unalloyed winner |
BBC Proms: Barruk, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Kuusisto review - vague incantations, precise laments
First-half mix of Sámi songs and string things falters, but Shostakovich scours the soul |
BBC Proms: Alexander’s Feast, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan review - rapturous Handel fills the space
Pure joy, with a touch of introspection, from a great ensemble and three superb soloists |
Music Reissues Weekly: The Outer Limits - Just One More Chance
Exhaustive anthology unearths the full story of the Sixties mod-pop band from Leeds |
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