Arts
A man of music
The other day saw the opening of the Peter Corrigan Collection at RMIT which comprises his personal collection of architectural…
Spielberg fumbles his final sci-fi
Steven Spielberg has said his latest film, Disclosure Day, is ‘the summation of my life in science fiction’, which began…
Michelle Terry is ferocious in Brecht’s simplistic tutorial
Bertolt Brecht’s classic, Mother Courage, is about a female war profiteer who drags a wagon of supplies through no man’s…
The liberating delights of Aldous Harding
The first thing I did after getting home from the Barbican the other week was google ‘Aldous Harding neurodivergent’. It…
Another thriller, another teenage incel
At just over two hours, Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake of Cape Fear was 20 minutes longer than the 1962 original.…
Delightful Rossini at Glyndebourne
It’s impossible to say what Rossini would have made of Glyndebourne’s production of Il turco in Italia, but you can…
This Lucian Freud belongs on the compost
From 1940, at Benton End, near Hadleigh in Suffolk, the artist Cedric Morris brought his eye to breeding irises. Eliminating…
Three cheers for the new illustration museum
In the artistic pecking order, illustration long languished behind what were seen as the fine arts, even though it was…
Such stuff as dreams are made on
When Ken Branagh took the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford for the first time in thirty years…
What a rabbit hole this film takes you down
Madfabulous is a biopic of Henry Paget, the fifth Marquess of Anglesey, who was probably mad and definitely fabulous. His…
None of McCartney’s new songs will trouble his setlist for long
On 30 May 1966, the Beatles released ‘Paperback Writer’ – a fortnight after ‘Paint It Black’ by the Rolling Stones…
Why I’m increasingly drawn to optimistic sci-fi
You know you’re getting old when you see Geena Davis from Thelma & Louise cast as a granny sex symbol…
Are we ready for the truth about Judy Garland?
End of the Rainbow feels like a prison drama set in London in 1969. Judy Garland is about to give…
A first-class production of Puccini’s Western
Nature smiled on the opening week of Opera Holland Park’s new season. There’s no better advertisement for semi-outdoor opera than…
The art of resurrecting forgotten artists
A retired priest in North Wales told me that after the war he had been asked by Billy Butlin to…
Elegance and intrigue
Anyone who knows the Sixties can easily be reminded of the beauty and the authority of Sidney Poitier. The MTC…
Gentleman Jack is Northern Ballet’s finest work
Northern Ballet commits itself almost exclusively to dance as a storytelling medium, and its weakness historically has been to home…
The perfect jazz song to play at your funeral
The prospect of the new Paul McCartney album does not set my pulses racing, still less that of the Beatles…
The appeal of doom, stoner and sludge metal
It was odd, walking around Camden Town during Desertfest – the annual weekend-long celebration of doom, stoner and sludge metal…
Haphazard and bitty but Rosie Holt is superb: Churchill’s Urinal reviewed
When Rachel Reeves became Chancellor she found a lavatory in her private suite which had been used by Churchill in…
Thoroughly entertaining: Tuner reviewed
I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t enjoy Tuner. It’s a heist caper as well as a romance and while it…
How did so many fail to appreciate Whistler?
I approached this exhibition like a conscientious critic, poring over the catalogue, the signage, making notes… And then, about halfway…
Undeniably stirring: Dear England reviewed
James Graham has said in interviews that he regards Gareth Southgate as ‘a hero for the ages’. Even if he…
The joy of Martinu’s symphonies
Grade: A– What, more Martinu? It feels like no time since the Pavel Haas Quartet was persuading us that there…
