theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Tom Birchenough
Friday, 14 November 2025
We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the...
David Nice
Sunday, 31 August 2025
Many Londoners would already have experienced the musicality incarnate of Peter Whelan and his Irish Baroque Orchestra. A smaller ensemble rocked two of Irish National Opera’s...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 31 August 2025
The Outer Limits were from Leeds. Active over 1965 to 1968, the soul-tinged mod-poppers didn’t chart but their two regular singles are now pricey collector’s items. There was also...
Sebastian Scotney
Sunday, 31 August 2025
11am concerts do take some getting used to. The BBC Proms season has no fewer than seven of them this year, three on Saturdays and four on Sundays. And yet, strangely, for this...
Boyd Tonkin
Saturday, 30 August 2025
This week Vladimir Putin tried to murder my hosts in Ukraine. He failed. In more hopeful days, I spoke at a seminar organised by the British Council’s branch in Kyiv. Its offices...
Helen Hawkins
Saturday, 30 August 2025
The cult film that director Theo van Gogh left behind when he was killed in 2004, Interview, has already been remade twice; now it’s back as a stage play, adapted and directed by...
Peter Culshaw
Saturday, 30 August 2025
This edition of Peter Culshaw’s peripatetic radio show features guest Pete Lawrence. Pete is one of the good guys –...
Ellie Roberts
Saturday, 30 August 2025
Following the success of 2024’s flirtatious Short n’ Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter has fully committed to her pin-up popstar...
Pamela Jahn
Friday, 29 August 2025
If she decided to run for election, Suranne Jones would probably stand a good chance of winning. The Chadderton-born actress...
Helen Hawkins
Friday, 29 August 2025
Taking its title from a Sonic Youth track whose lyrics describe someone who seems good on the outside but is bad inside,...
Markie Robson-Scott
Friday, 29 August 2025
“Not even an animal would do what she did.” Jessica (Babette Verbeek) is speaking about her biological mother, who abandoned...
Kathryn Reilly
Friday, 29 August 2025
Queen of the earworm Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson has had quite the summer, capturing imaginations and sparking indignation....
Boyd Tonkin
Thursday, 28 August 2025
One door closes, and another one opens. A lot. It’s extraordinary what value those two simple additions to the Royal Albert...
Gary Naylor
Thursday, 28 August 2025
$8.2B. That’s what can happen when you re-imagine Hamlet.I doubt that writer, James Ijames, had The Lion King’s box office...
Adam Sweeting
Thursday, 28 August 2025
In this strangely dreary recreation of 11th century history, it’s not just grim oop north, it’s grim everywhere. King &...
Aleks Sierz
Thursday, 28 August 2025
Playwright Mike Bartlett is, like many writers, a chronicler of both contemporary manners and of the state of the nation. In...
Guy Oddy
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
The Hives must be one of the most self-assured bands around – but not without good reason. Ever exuberant, all their tunes...
Boyd Tonkin
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Does the orchestra that sways together play together? Quite apart from their (reliably gorgeous) sound, the tight-packed...
Jon Turney
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Composers and musicians explore acoustic space. Generally, they have got by with combinations of readily accessible sounds,...
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Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
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tv
theartsdesk Q&A: Suranne Jones on 'Hostage', power pants and politics
The star and producer talks about taking on the role of Prime Minister, wearing high heels and living in the public eye
King & Conqueror, BBC One review - not many kicks in 1066
Turgid medieval drama leaves viewers in the dark
Hostage, Netflix review - entente not-too-cordiale
Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy cross swords in confused political drama
film
Little Trouble Girls review - masterful debut breathes new life into a girl's sexual awakening
Urska Dukic's study of a confused Catholic teenager is exquisitely realised
Young Mothers review - the Dardennes explore teenage motherhood in compelling drama
Life after birth: five young mothers in Liège struggle to provide for their babies
new music
Music Reissues Weekly: The Outer Limits - Just One More Chance
Exhaustive anthology unearths the full story of the Sixties mod-pop band from Leeds
theartsdesk Radio Show 37 - Pete Lawrence of the Big Chill discusses the power of protest music and his new project This Is The Fire
Talking to cultural activist Pete Lawrence – camp outs, singalongs and saving the world
classical
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
BBC Proms: Moore, LSO, Bancroft review - the freshness of morning wind and brass
English concert band music...and an outlier
Willis-Sørensen, Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, Wilson, Cadogan Hall review - romantic resilience
Passion, and polish, from Kyiv's musical warriors
opera
Orpheus and Eurydice, Opera Queensland/SCO, Edinburgh International Festival 2025 review - dazzling, but distracting
Eye-popping acrobatics don’t always assist in Gluck’s quest for operatic truth
MARS, Irish National Opera review - silly space oddity with fun stretches
Cast, orchestra and production give Jennifer Walshe’s bold collage their all
Káťa Kabanová, Glyndebourne review - emotional concentration in a salle modulable
Janáček superbly done through or in spite of the symbolism
theatre
Interview, Riverside Studios review - old media vs new in sparky scrap between generations
Robert Sean Leonard and Paten Hughes make worthy sparring partners
Fat Ham, RSC, Stratford review - it's Hamlet Jim, but not as we know it
An entertaining, positive and contemporary blast!
Juniper Blood, Donmar Warehouse review - where ideas and ideals rule the roost
Mike Bartlett’s new state-of-the-agricultural-nation play is beautifully performed
dance
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, Rambert, Sadler's Wells review - exciting dancing, if you can see it
Six TV series reduced to 100 minutes' dance time doesn't quite compute
Giselle, National Ballet of Japan review - return of a classic, refreshed and impeccably danced
First visit by Miyako Yoshida's company leaves you wanting more
comedy
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Cat Cohen / Lachlan Werner / KC Shornima
Defying a health scare; a surreal invention & a distinctive new voice
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Emmanuel Sonubi / Joz Norris
A second chance at life & a fantastical tale about artistic endeavour
Books
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Elizabeth Alker: Everything We Do is Music review - Prokofiev goes pop
A compelling journey into a surprising musical kinship
Natalia Ginzburg: The City and the House review - a dying art
Dick Davis renders this analogue love-letter in polyphonic English
visual arts
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Folkestone Triennial 2025 - landscape, seascape, art lovers' escape
Locally rooted festival brings home many but not all global concerns
Sir Brian Clarke (1953-2025) - a personal tribute
Remembering an artist with a gift for the transcendent
latest comments
Interesting. Boot I take it. CD or LP?
"Given the current rise of right-wing extremism...
Unfortunately for those of us listening on the...
I agree. I was seated just about where the first...
The review is a fair one, I was there and liked...
I was half-hoping there'd be a couple of harps in...
Thank you, indeed - corrected now
Thank you, indeed - corrected now