Arts
The brilliance of Cicely Mary Barker
When Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies of the Spring was published in 1923, a post-first world war mass wishful belief…
Cheerless and fussy: The Tempest, at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, reviewed
The Tempest is Shakespeare’s farewell, his final masterpiece or, if you’re being cynical, the play that made him jack it…
The stupidity of the classical piano trio
It’s a right mess, the classical piano trio; the unintended consequence of one of musical history’s more frustrating twists. When…
Thrillers
It’s funny the preconceptions you have about the Christmas/New Year period. I hadn’t anticipated seeing Juror #2 the new Clint…
Playing Nice is beautifully done – but they miscalculated the opening scene
There must have been a time when slow-burn psychological thrillers didn’t start with a scene of high drama followed by…
The problem with Paul McCartney is he wrote too many good songs
Don Bradman, the greatest cricketer of all time, was once asked if he reckoned he could have maintained his batting…
What makes a good title?
Liszt’s compositions tend to have descriptive titles – ‘Wild Chase’; ‘Dreams of Love’ – whereas Chopin avoided titles. Thomas Wentworth…
Jolie good: Maria reviewed
Maria is a film by Pablo Larrain, who appears to have a soft spot for the psychodramas of legendary women…
The Natural History Museum’s new Evolution Garden is inspired
The Natural History Museum is one of the most beautiful buildings in London, but its gardens have long been a…
The architectural provocations of I.M. Pei
When first considering architects for the new Louvre in 1981, Emile Biasini, the project’s head, liked that I.M. Pei was…
Why I’m obsessed with Farming Today
Farming Today airs at an undignified hour each morning on Radio 4. On the few occasions I’ve caught it live…
Exquisite: Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed
The Invention of Love opens with death. Tom Stoppard’s play about A.E. Housman starts on the banks of the Styx,…
Summer Reading
There are a thousand ways of celebrating the Christmas holiday that are culture specific but have a universal appeal. You…
Our verdict on Pappano’s first months at the London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Antonio Pappano began 2024 as music director of the Royal Opera and ended as chief conductor of the London…
A dreamy, if overly ambitious show: Silk Roads, at the British Museum, reviewed
Towards the end of the British Museum’s Silk Roads show, there is a selection of treasures found in England. Among…
The real best album of last year
Grade: A+ In a desperate wish to avoid the appellation of a derided genre, this young man from Asheville, North…
Brutal and brilliant portrait of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
The Last Days of Liz Truss? is a one-woman show about the brief interregnum between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.…
A miracle at the RSC: genuinely funny Shakespeare
Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? Most subsidised theatres hanker for…
No one will convince me that Keira Knightley can fight: Black Doves reviewed
If your heart sinks at the prospect of a thriller series starring Keira Knightley as a highly trained undercover agent…
Fools will love it: We Live in Time reviewed
We Live in Time is a rom-com (of sorts), starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. They have terrific chemistry and…
How French absolutism powered a techno-progressive revolution
The Enlightenment is back. Despite the best efforts of the past decade of handwringing about cultural imperialism and wailing over…
Take it easy on a long, hot summer
It’s a strange time, the summer holidays in Australia. Some people have riveting memories of Boxing Day tests, of Australian…
Carols are much weirder than we think
Why, my sharp-minded colleague Tom Utley once asked after a Telegraph Christmas Carol service, should anyone think God would abhor…
Superb: Ruination, at the Linbury Theatre, reviewed
Ruination begins with an ironic prologue in which a choric figure warns the audience that what follows makes unlikely matter…
Meet the king of comic opera
John Savournin has been busy. That comes with the territory for a classical singer – things often get a little…
