London
First Aid Kit, Eventim Apollo review - joyful folk rockSunday, 11 December 2022
Growing up in Sweden, sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg developed ways of combatting the biting cold and bleak darkness of winter. As well as writing during wintertime, they turned to the open landscapes and pervasive desert heat of the USA to... Read more... |
Harry & Meghan, Netflix review - at home with the HarklesFriday, 09 December 2022
There’s no stopping Harry and Meghan. Logic, reason and facts can’t stand in the way of their “war on oppression and injustice” and determination to become “advocates of healing”. Even though their notorious interview with Oprah Winfrey was littered... Read more... |
Mandela, Young Vic review - baffling bio-musicalFriday, 09 December 2022
As bio-musicals continue to have their heyday, it makes sense for the Young Vic to throw its hat in the ring and champion a work about the hugely influential Nelson Mandela. But this new musical about the South African anti-apartheid activist and... Read more... |
Orlando, Garrick Theatre review - Emma Corrin is incandescent in an underwhelming adaptationTuesday, 06 December 2022
Identity is thorny business. This was the parting thought of Anna X, the play that marked Emma Corrin’s West End debut in the summer of 2021. The same credo governs Corrin’s return to London theatre with Orlando, in Neil Bartlett’s adaptation of... Read more... |
Baghdaddy, Royal Court review - Middle-Eastern magic realismMonday, 28 November 2022
What is the best way of talking about the Middle East? Should plays take a documentary or verbatim approach, all the better to educate and inform, or is there another path, with includes entertainment, and that magic ingredient called theatricality?... Read more... |
Mary Gauthier, Union Chapel review - a living room concert in all but nameSunday, 27 November 2022
Mary Gauthier’s first tour in more than three years landed at London’s Union Chapel on Saturday, concluding with another sold-out gig. The venue is perfect for unplugged acts – intimate, architecturally pleasing and acoustically spot on. But cold,... Read more... |
Basel Saleh, Sansara, United Strings of Europe, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - music of sanctuary and solidaritySaturday, 26 November 2022
This collaboration between two young and exciting ensembles, the choir Sansara and the United Strings of Europe, had its heart in a good place. It explored notions of sanctuary and solidarity with those suffering displacement, through a diverse... Read more... |
Elf, Dominion Theatre review - hit musical revival slays it againSaturday, 26 November 2022
Just about the three toughest tricks to pull off in the theatre are making a musical, making a family show and making characters so charming that even the most cynical in the house are pulling for the little guy (or not so little in this case). So... Read more... |
The Manhattan Transfer, Queen Elizabeth Hall review - a class actSaturday, 26 November 2022
On a dreary evening in our dark winter of discontent, a couple of hours spent in the company of The Manhattan Transfer was a joyous uplift. The sell-out audience at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall clearly agreed, happily engaging in a sort-of call-and... Read more... |
Kristian Bezuidenhout, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Wigmore Hall review - fires of LondonWednesday, 23 November 2022
A dream pairing of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and early-keyboard wizard Kristian Bezuidenhout marked St Cecilia’s Day at the Wigmore Hall with a programme that celebrated music made not in the Black Forest but beside the Thames.Both halves of... Read more... |
The Rake's Progress, Royal Academy of Music review - Hogarth's Rake enters the digital ageWednesday, 23 November 2022
Paris, Vienna, Rome – all have their operatic homages. But London (and I mean real London, not the slightly-grey Italy of Donizetti’s Tudor Queens) only rarely makes it into the opera house. Curiously, on the rare occasions it does, it’s the seedy... Read more... |
EFG London Jazz Festival round-up review - great moments in London's tiny clubsTuesday, 22 November 2022
There are moments when a very great jazz musician makes her or his ideas flow naturally, unstoppably and with complete conviction. And when one is in a tiny venue and can feel the joyous intensity with which every single person in the room is... Read more... |
