Arts
The master returns
There’s a scene in 887, Robert Lepage’s latest show, which opened at the Edinburgh International Festival last week, in which…
The greatest pianist you’ve never heard of
William Kapell was an American concert pianist with the looks of a male model and the fingers of a wizard.…
The greatest pianist you’ve never heard of
William Kapell was an American concert pianist with the looks of a male model and the fingers of a wizard.…
Ai Weiwei
In September, the Royal Academy of Arts will present a solo exhibition of works by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.…
Ai Weiwei
In September, the Royal Academy of Arts will present a solo exhibition of works by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.…
Summer listening
Just back from a few nights in Sweden to find the perfect programme on Radio 3. It was one of…
Poldark porn
My favourite moment in The Scandalous Lady W (BBC2, Monday) was when the heroine played by Natalie Dormer was shown…
Summer listening
Just back from a few nights in Sweden to find the perfect programme on Radio 3. It was one of…
What I learned from reshooting the dullest film ever made
Stephen Smith finally sees the point of Empire, one of the dullest films in cinema history
Sylvie Guillem’s better than ever in her final, final Coliseum farewell
The blackness that sweeps along the stage behind Sylvie Guillem’s disappearing figure in the Russell Maliphant piece on her farewell…
Glyndebourne’s Ravel double bill comes close to perfection
When I saw the first performance of this production of Ravel’s two operas at Glyndebourne three years ago, I thought…
Trainwreck wastes Amy Schumer’s talents
Trainwreck is a romcom as written and directed by Amy Schumer, the American comedy prodigy whose Comedy Central sketch show…
I can’t stop thinking about the Courtauld’s Unfinished exhibition
A while ago, David Hockney mused on a proposal to tax the works of art stored in artists’ studios. ‘You’d…
The stars of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe: Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage
Propaganda is said to work best when based upon a grain of truth. Ukip! The Musical assumes that most electors…
Is medical screening bad for your health? Michael Mosley dons a pair of ‘dignity shorts’ to find out
When the link between tobacco and lung cancer was first established in the early 1950s, one obvious question arose: should…
As the Hindenburg burned, you could hear radio news being born
It’s really hard to imagine now a world before 24-hour news, continually and constantly accessible in a never-ending stream of…
Culture buff
‘I Love a Piano’ sang Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, courtesy of Irving Berlin, in Easter Parade. So do most…
Great expectations
Trainwreck is a romcom as written and directed by Amy Schumer, the American comedy prodigy whose Comedy Central sketch show…
I reshot Andy Warhol
It’s one thing to make the most boring film in cinema history — at least you can kid yourself at…
Afterthoughts
The blackness that sweeps along the stage behind Sylvie Guillem’s disappearing figure in the Russell Maliphant piece on her farewell…
Sick and tired
When the link between tobacco and lung cancer was first established in the early 1950s, one obvious question arose: should…
Richard Long interview: ‘I was always an artist, even when I was two years old’
William Cook explores the elemental art and Olympian walks of Richard Long
Four of the best albums to write books by
I have been writing a book this summer, in the usual mad tearing hurry. (Much as I admire those who…
The forgotten Swiss portraitist and his extraordinary pastels: Jean-Etienne Liotard at the Scottish National Gallery reviewed
This is not the biggest exhibition at Edinburgh and it will not be the best attended but it may be…
Why is the garden absent in English painting?
One of the default settings of garden journalists is the adjective ‘painterly’ — applied to careful colour harmonies within a…
