Ismene Brown
Articles By Ismene Brown
latest in today
![The Upsetters in 1968, with Lee Perry (centre back)](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/People%20Funny%20Boy%20The%20Upsetter%20Singles%201968-1969_the%20upsetters_1000_header_0.jpg?itok=15BC7gt4)
After the March 1969 UK release of the “Return of Django” single, prospective performers of the song could buy it transcribed as sheet music. On...
![Geniality in a crisis: Simon Rattle and the magnificent violas of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Prom%2062%201.jpg?itok=pNh9IBqY)
Mahler’s Sixth is one of those apocalyptic megaliths that shouldn’t be approached too often by audiences or conductors. It’s been a constant in...
![Red peril: Royal Ballet principal Steven McRae wearing his other hat, in his self-choreographed solo tap dance, Fortitudine](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/STEVEN%20MCRAE%20in%20%27Fortitudine%27%20at%20BALLET%20NIGHTS%20CADOGAN%20HALL%20photo%20by%20Deborah%20Jaffe%20%2812%29.jpg?itok=fupIoPF1)
It’s exactly a year since Ballet Nights, the self-styled taster platform for ...
![Between three worlds: the main players of 'Kaos'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/kaos-the-new-show-on-netflix-v0-emp1zuygzuld1.jpeg?itok=Dt3ric15)
The ancient Greeks would probably have liked a lot about Charlie Covell‘s manipulation of mythic material. After all, Euripides was prepared to...
![DJs Moneyshot and Rackabeat](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Allergies.jpg?itok=Wp6QF9eA)
The Allergies kicked off their Freak the Speaker tour in Birmingham this week. However, the album that they were promoting was nowhere to...
![The cast of The Silver Cord - anyone for a game of Happy Families?](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Silver-Cord-September-03-2024-1-1.jpg?itok=Ya8G1iKM)
One of the Finborough Theatre’s Artistic Director, Neil McPherson’s, gifts is an uncanny ability to find long-forgotten...
!['As comebacks go, this takes some beating'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/204330-ll-cool-j-the-force.jpg?itok=GxKlX6Ff)
This album only has one serious flaw: LL COOL J didn’t open it with “OK you can call it a comeback”. Sorry, cheap joke (if you didn’t know, his...
![Mild, wild ride: Simon Rattle](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/br%20rat%202.jpg?itok=GbotI0SZ)
Hot on the glittering heels of the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle brought another stellar German outfit to the...
![Beth Ditto led from the front for the reformed Gossip](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Gossip.jpeg?itok=FJ4bFB1N)
Beth Ditto protests too much. 'Do you feel young" she hollered early on, before adding "I don't", one of several references during the gig...
![Divided loyalties: Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, Orson Welles as Harry Lime](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Cotton%20%20Welles%20on%20wheel%20MAIN.jpg?itok=VNjffKxk)
It was originally released in Britain 75 years ago this month, making its debut in a small cinema in Hastings on 1 September 1949, and quite a few...