Reviews
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
Friday, 14 November 2025
We are bowled over!
The Shrouds review - he wouldn't let it lie
Thursday, 03 July 2025
“Dying is an act of eroticism,” suggested one of the many disposable characters in David Cronenberg’s first full-length feature, Shivers (1975), and that slippery adage could sum up more than a few of the Canadian sensationalist’s movies in the past 50 years – not least his latest, The Shrouds, which was in competition at Cannes last year.
Jurassic World Rebirth review - prehistoric...
Wednesday, 02 July 2025
The first Jurassic Park movie now seems virtually Jurassic itself, having been released in the sepia-tinged year of 1993. Directed with pizzazz by...
Semele, Royal Opera review - unholy smoke
Tuesday, 01 July 2025
Poor, slightly silly Semele fries at the sight of lover Jupiter casting off his mortal form, but in Congreve’s and Handel’s supposedly happy ending,...
Sudan, Remember Us review - the revolution will...
Tuesday, 01 July 2025
In 2019, French-Tunisian journalist and documentary filmmaker Hind Meddeb flew to Sudan after the overthrow of hated dictator Omar al-Bashir, hoping...
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Le nozze di Figaro, Glyndebourne review - perceptive humanity in period setting
Mostly glorious cast, sharp ideas, fussy conducting |
Quadrophenia, Sadler's Wells review - missed opportunity to give new stage life to a Who classic
The brilliant cast need a tighter score and a stronger narrative |
Fidelio, Garsington Opera review - a battle of sunshine and shadows
Intimacy yields to spectacle as Beethoven's light of freedom triumphs |
Summer Laugh review - five comics gear up for the Fringe
Terrific initiative by Scottish stand-ups |
Album: Brìghde Chaimbeul - Sunwise
A singular sonic auteur reshapes traditional Celtic music |
Music Reissues Weekly: Rupert’s People - Dream In My Mind
How ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ transformed a London mod-pop band |
Intimate Apparel, Donmar Warehouse review - stirring story of Black survival in 1905 New York
An early Lynn Nottage work gets a superb cast and production |
Hercules, Theatre Royal Drury Lane review - new Disney stage musical is no 'Lion King'
Big West End crowdpleaser lacks punch and poignancy with join-the-dots plotting and cookie-cutter characters |
Chicken Town review - sluggish rural comedy with few laughs (and one chicken)
A comedy great gets lost in an English backwater |
Aldeburgh Festival, Weekend 2 review - nine premieres, three young ensembles - and Allan Clayton
A solstice sunrise swim crowned the best of times at this phoenix of a festival |
F1: The Movie review - Brad Pitt rolls back the years as maverick racer Sonny Hayes
Joseph Kosinski's motorsport spectacle delivers bang for your buck |
Brad Mehldau Trio, St George's Bristol review - exquisite intelligence
A brilliant trio in scintillating conversation |
Dangerous Matter, RNCM, Manchester review - opera meets science in an 18th century tale
Big doses of history and didaction are injected into 50 minutes of music theatre |
Ian Leslie: John and Paul - A Love Story in Songs review - help!
Ian Leslie loses himself in amateur psychology, and fatally misreads The Beatles |
Album: BC Camplight - A Sober Conversation
Brian Christinzio exorcises childhood trauma |
Schubertiade 3 at the Ragged Music Festival, Mile End review - five great musicians keep spirits soaring
Kolesnikov, Tsoy, Leonskaja, Ibragimova and Hecker in spellbinding performances |
Showmanism, Hampstead Theatre review - lip-synced investigation of words, theatricality and performance
Technically accomplished production with Dickie Beau never settles into a coherent whole |
Immersive Night Music Show, Makita, Londinium Ensemble, World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens - multimedia musings on a midsummer night
This intriguing musical/visual collaboration was best when it was boldest |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 91: Sex Pistols, Pink Floyd, Tropical Fuck Storm, Sparks, The Sisters of Mercy and more
The vastest regular record reviews in the galaxy |
Abstract Erotic, Courtauld Gallery review - sculpture that is sensuous, funny and subversive
Testing the boundaries of good taste, and winning |
Kieran Hodgson, Soho Theatre review - a love affair soured by Trump
Can America be great again for the comic? |
Outrageous, U&Drama review - skilfully-executed depiction of the notorious Mitford sisters
A crack cast, clever script and smart direction serve this story well |
Music Reissues Weekly: The Sonics - High Time
Handsome box set of seven-inchers celebrating the ferocious Sixties rockers |
Album: Benson Boone - American Heart
Retro-Americana, pop-rock sheen, and big-hearted ballads - all with a wink |
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