Arts
In praise of French brothels
In the days of the Belle Époque and Jazz Age, a trip to Paris would have included, for the discerning…
Baton of iron
The Choral Directed by Nicholas Hytner Starring Taylor Uttley, Ralph Fiennes, Mark Addy, Carolyn Pickles. If it were in a…
Celluloid nostalgia for lost worlds
There’s a poignancy in turning back the clock to the Fifties and early-Sixties. Everyone remembers Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Happy Birthday,…
The depressed duck detective is back
Grade: B– It’s a duck, except he’s a detective. Or a detective, except he’s a duck. Anyway he wears a…
Why is this low-grade Ayckbourn play in the West End?
Woman in Mind is a dyspeptic sitcom set in 1986 starring Sheridan Smith as Susan, a moaning Home Counties housewife…
The worst Agatha Christie adaptation I can remember
When it comes to Agatha Christie adaptations, there are normally two possible responses to the denouement. One is a deep…
Three cheers for Poems on the Underground
The idea for Poems on the Underground was thought up by a New Yorker 40 years ago this month. This…
Why I will always have time for Bernard Butler
Bernard Butler has popped up a couple of times in this column, but not alone – once, with two fellow…
The cruelty of H is for Hawk
The cruelty of H is for Hawk
Rattle’s glorious Janacek
The Czech author Karel Capek is probably best known for his plays: high-concept speculative dramas such as R.U.R. and The…
Dazzling: Hawaii, at the British Museum, reviewed
Climb the Reading Room steps to reach the British Museum’s dazzling Hawaii exhibition, and you perform an obeisance. At the…
What drama gets right and wrong about science
A few days after Tom Stoppard’s death last month, Michael Baum, a distinguished surgeon, wrote a letter to the Times.…
Call me Ishmael, or Viola
When To Kill a Mockingbird was published, Flannery O’Connor, the author of those unholy and tragic fables born of intense…
Oh, Mary!’s climax is an inspirational bit of comedy
High Noon, directed by Thea Sharrock, is a perfectly decent version of a trusty western which celebrates its 74th birthday…
Zach Bryan is no Springsteen
There would, on the surface, appear to be little common ground between the wife of stuffy old Malcolm Muggeridge and…
The rise and fall of the football presenter
What does it mean to be a ‘good’ sports presenter? Really, it should mean nothing. They aren’t important. They should…
Why has it all gone wrong for The Night Manager?
The Night Manager is finally back after ten years with three major drawbacks: no Elizabeth Debicki for the sex scenes;…
Brendan Fraser is the king of the everyman: Rental Family reviewed
Rental Family stars Brendan Fraser as an out-of-work American actor living in Tokyo. He accepts employment with an agency that…
This Royal Opera Traviata is no ordinary revival
First opera of the year, first night back in London, and the jolly old metrop was already springing surprises. A…
Does Tate’s director care about art?
I met the Tate’s outgoing director Maria Balshaw only once, back when she was in Manchester running both the Whitworth…
The art of the transatlantic liner
Some time in the next few weeks, a great ocean liner will be lost at sea. One of the greatest,…
Being Hermann Göring
Nuremberg Directed by James Vanderbilt Starring Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, Rami Malek, Leo Woodall Before last Monday, the most recent…
Remembrance of things past
It’s easy to forget the artistic range of people who have died recently. Susie Figgis, in charge of casting the…
What has happened to the Paris Opéra Ballet?
Freighted by a 350-year history, the Paris Opéra Ballet is a behemoth of an institution – lavishly subsidised by the…
Ruthlessly manipulative: Hamnet reviewed
Hamnet is an imagined account of William Shakespeare’s marriage to Agnes (Anne) Hathaway, their unspeakable grief at the death of…
