Lydia Higman
Articles By Lydia Higman
latest in today
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Screenshot%202024-10-30%20at%2017-39-09%20theartsdesk.com%20%28%40the_arts_desk%29%20%E2%80%A2%20Instagram%20photos%20and%20videos.png?itok=W02US5i5)
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
![Ruby Thompson, Michelle Terry and Shannon Tarbet - not so weird sisters](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Ruby%20Thompson%20as%20Irina%2C%20Michelle%20Terry%20as%20Olga%2C%20and%20Shannon%20Tarbet%20as%20Masha%20in%20Three%20Sisters%20at%20Shakespeare%27s%20Globe%20%28c.%20Johan%20Persson%29.jpg?itok=xVUwb4SO)
Russia.
It’s impossible to be ambivalent towards that word, that country, indeed that idea, one so very similar to...
![Funky, fresh, and impossible to sit still to](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Rizzle-Kicks-Competition-Is-For-Losers.jpg?itok=8ik1F6u_)
After more than ten years away, Rizzle Kicks are finally back, and it feels long overdue. Their music was a huge part of my childhood -...
![Chopper squad: the Americans fly in](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Choppers%20MAIN.jpeg?itok=ZLuC_Mbq)
Ridley Scott’s 2001 film Black Hawk Down was a technically superb blockbuster bristling with thunderous action sequences and famous...
![Cheers: Peter Forbes and Roger Allam in ‘Churchill in Moscow’.](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Churchill-Moscow1.jpg?itok=HsZAYMxK)
Playwrights who work for decades often acquire a moniker. In the case of Howard Brenton, who began his career as a left-winger in the turbulent...
![In the driving seat at last: Renée Zellweger and Leo Woodall](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/2577_D060_01051.jpg?itok=3gQmAZH-)
Bridget Jones has grown up: v.v.g. Our heroine is still prone to daft pratfalls and gaffes and bursts of sensational idiot dancing....
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/FT_Suite%20of%20Rooms_artwork_front_3000a_by%20Fons%20Hickmann.png?itok=1QM66LGt)
This album is SHORT. At 27 minutes and just five tracks, one might wonder why Julienne Dessagne (this is a solo act) didn’t call it an EP. But...
![Searing confrontation: the accusation of past horror by Christian (Allan Clayton) dumbfounds parents Helge (Gerald Finley) and Else (Rosie Aldridge)](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Festen%201.jpg?itok=LnUfeyNz)
So the Royal Opera had assembled a dream cast, conductor (Edward Gardner) and director (Richard Jones). The only question until last night was...
![The Courettes’ Flávia Couri exhorts the audience at Aalborg’s Abzalon during their Northern Winter Beat 2025 show](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/THE%20COURETTES_Northern%20Winter%20Beat%202025_Andrej%20Piecka_1000.jpg?itok=aFkOzR6o)
The exhortations don’t seem necessary as the audience is already letting off the steam which has built up in anticipation of a full-bore show....
Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof is now an...