Arts
Lauren Mayberry is terrific – but it’s not music for middle-aged men
There are nights when one realises quite how much effort the business end of showbusiness must be. On a bitterly…
In defence of decommissioning
There’s more than a grain of truth in the popular caricature of a curator as a mother hen clucking frantically…
Regents Opera’s Ring is a formidable achievement
I saw the world end in a Bethnal Green leisure centre. Regents Opera’s Ring cycle, which began in 2022 in…
Tedious and threadbare: Unicorn, at the Garrick Theatre, reviewed
Unicorn, Mike Bartlett’s new play, involves some characters in chairs discussing a sexual threesome. That’s the entire show. Polly (Nicola…
The White Lotus is off to a shaky start
The White Lotus, now back for a third series, could perhaps be best described as Death in Paradise for posh…
Newsreader fascinates
It’s a fascinating thing that The Newsreader is back on ABC iview. This is the soap about a couple of…
If you have two hours to spare, spend it anywhere but here: The Years reviewed
The Years is a monologue spoken by a handful of actresses, some young, some old enough to carry bus passes.…
Are these performances of the Bach cantatas the best on record?
Three projects shedding light on the sacred music of J.S. Bach are nearing completion. The first consists of an epic…
Does Sadler’s Wells really need a lavish new building?
Arts Council England may be successfully clobbering the poor old genre of opera into the ground, but its sister art…
Strangely moving: Bridget Jones – Mad About the Boy reviewed
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is the fourth outing for our heroine as played by Renée Zellweger and I…
The art of war
On his deathbed, the Austrian writer Karl Kraus remarked of the Japanese attack on Manchuria: ‘None of this would have…
Tarot isn’t very old or esoteric – but it does work
Among my many fake and useless skills, I’m a reasonably decent tarot reader. I can do one for you now…
The art of the anti-love song
Tracey Thorn released an album in 2010 titled Love and Its Opposite. When it comes to songwriting, it’s the ‘opposite’…
Is work really more fun than fun?
Wouldn’t it be marvellous if instead of going to work every day we could contract out the tedium to avatars…
Sweeping exit
It will be fascinating to see what Jamie Martín, the head of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, makes of Mahler’s Second…
The problem of back-story in drama
Olga in Three Sisters, the opening speech: ‘Father died just a year ago, on this very day – the fifth…
Stylish facsimile of Carol Reed’s film: Oliver!, at the Gielgud Theatre, reviewed
Oliver! directed by Matthew Bourne is billed as a ‘fully reconceived’ version of Lionel Bart’s musical. Very little seems to…
Opera North’s Flying Dutchman scores a full house in cliché bingo
The overture to The Flying Dutchman opens at gale force. There’s nothing like it; Mendelssohn and Berlioz both painted orchestral…
A cheaper, shinier, more processed Chris Stapleton: Brothers Osborne reviewed
If you were a frequent viewer of Top Gear in its Clarkson/Hammond/May era, there is a particular laugh you will…
Extraordinary: The Seed of the Sacred Fig reviewed
The Seed of the Sacred Fig is by the Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and all you need to know is…
The thankless art of the librettist
Next week, after the première of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new opera Festen, the cast and conductor will take their bow. All…
Stately, sly and well-mannered: BBC1’s Miss Austen reviewed
It is a truth universally acknowledged that lazy journalists begin every piece about Jane Austen with the words ‘It is…
Booze now has its own Rest is History-style podcast
Intoxicating History is the perfect title for drinks expert Henry Jeffreys and food critic Tom Parker Bowles’s new podcast. Its…
FKA Twigs is the most interesting pop musician we have right now
Grade: A Hell, there’s a lot not to like, or even to be a little suspicious of, with this young…
