festivals
theartsdesk at Glastonbury Festival 2017Thursday, 29 June 2017
It’s a Tweet-age Glastonbury aftermath. It’s monsooning grey outside. The real world’s back, consensus reality fast encroaching. Everything’s moved on, spun to the next thing as we A.D.D. onto Wimbledon, Hard Brexit or whatever. Even my 14-year-old... Read more... |
Brighton Festival 2017: 12 Free EventsThursday, 06 April 2017
The Brighton Festival, which takes place every May, is renowned for its plethora of free events. The 2017 Festival is curated by Guest Director Kate Tempest, the poet, writer and performer, alongside Festival CEO Andrew Comben who’s been the event's... Read more... |
Davos in the Desert: the Global Education and Skills Forum's vision for teaching the artsSaturday, 25 March 2017
I have heard countless speeches advocating the importance of arts education, and making bold cross-curricular claims – from England’s cultural ministers and arts leaders, to the Arts Council and the Creative Industries Federation – but I have never... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Bergen: Questions upon questions at Borealis FestivalTuesday, 14 March 2017
There comes a point in any experimental music festival when you have to accept the silliness and go with it. And at Borealis, that point comes very early. Only a couple of hours off the plane in Bergen and we're in a pedestrian tunnel under the bus... Read more... |
Brighton Festival 2017 launches with Guest Director Kate TempestWednesday, 15 February 2017
This morning the Brighton Festival 2017 announced its much-anticipated programme, with guest director Kate Tempest enthusiastically leading from the front. The poet-playwright-novelist has put together a programme that responds to the strange,... Read more... |
Best (and Worst) of 2016: FilmSaturday, 31 December 2016
Prepare to disagree. 2016 has been getting bad reviews all year long, but for film it was actually pretty strong. So strong, in fact, that there are big omissions from this list of our best films from the past 12 months. Our method of selection was... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Reykjavík: Iceland Airwaves 2016Sunday, 13 November 2016
On the final night of Iceland Airwaves 2016, Polly Jean Harvey and her band are ranged in a line just inside the edge of the stage constructed inside Valshöllin, a sports hall south of Reykjavík’s city centre. The festival’s five days have climaxed... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2016: Bridget Christie/ Adam Kay/ Rachel ParrisMonday, 15 August 2016
Bridget Christie, The Stand ★★★★★When Bridget Christie planned this show, it was to be a work in progress about mortality for a tour starting later this year. But then the EU referendum happened, and everything changed. Within the space of a few... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2016: Alix in Wundergarten/4D Cinema/Bucket ListSaturday, 13 August 2016
Alix in Wundergarten ★★★★Think Alan Ayckbourn on acid: a commonplace (well, almost) set-up, exaggerated further and further beyond what we’d ever anticipate. In François Pandolfo’s wild, freewheeling and hugely entertaining satire on the acting... Read more... |
Edinburgh Festival: Bartoli, Barry Humphries, Deep TimeThursday, 11 August 2016
The big yellow banners proclaiming "Welcome, world" are out. And judging by the seething, heaving crowds, a fair portion of the world has indeed descended on Edinburgh, where the annual August festivals season has now been up and running for just... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Verbier Festival 2016Sunday, 07 August 2016
Idyllic setting, star-rated musicians, the sense of an occasion. Verbier so wholly fulfils the clichés of an international music festival that to the cynical it can seem complacent or arrogant in doing so. To the uninitiated – and this was my first... Read more... |
Campo Sancho 2016Sunday, 07 August 2016
“Ooooh, it’s gorgeous!” exclaimed my wife-to-be as we arrived at what had been described as “an oasis in Hertfordshire.” They weren’t kidding, either. The site for the inaugural festival organised by Notting Hill Carnival stalwarts Sancho Panza... Read more... |
