Arts
David Williamson
‘That sinkhole of ambition and superficiality we call Sydney.’ That’s a direct quotation from the Melbourne Theatre Company’s promotion of…
Too edgy and clever to be wasted on kids: Netflix’s Locke & Key reviewed
One of my perpetual gnawing terrors is that I’ll recommend a series that looks initially promising but turns out to…
Every bit as well observed as Rembrandt – and often funnier: Nicolaes Maes reviewed
Nicolaes Maes (1634–93) relished the simple moments of daily life during the Dutch Golden Age. A woman peeling parsnips over…
Oracles, perverts and the Dirtbag Left
For 500 years the State Oracle of Tibet has worked as a kind of angry immortal advisor to the Dalai…
Unimpressive: The Prince of Egypt reviewed
The Prince of Egypt is a musical adapted from a 1998 Dreamworks cartoon based on the Book of Exodus. So…
An algorithmic zero-to-hero narrative: Military Wives reviewed
Military Wives is a British comedy drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan. It is based on the true…
The gloriously indecent life and art of Aubrey Beardsley
In seven short years, Aubrey Beardsley mastered the art of outrage. Laura Gascoigne on the gloriously indecent illustrations of a singular genius
If your instinct is to undermine Beethoven, you’re directing the wrong opera: Fidelio reviewed
‘People may say I can’t sing,’ said the soprano Florence Foster Jenkins, ‘but no one can ever say I didn’t…
The last great purveyors of a vanishing art form: Green Day’s Fathers of All... reviewed
Grade: B+ It is an eternal mystery to me why Britain has never had much time for power pop, seeing…
‘I feel compelled to be disgraceful’: Miriam Margolyes interviewed
Miriam Margolyes chews the fat with Tanya Gold about mother love, anti-Zionism and too much shagging
Antonio Pappano on diversity, a new Ring cycle and defending Verdi from dodgy directors
After a record 18 years – and counting – as music director, Antonio Pappano talks to Norman Lebrecht about life after Covent Garden and how opera is beyond younger audiences
Grimes has talent – but not for writing songs: Miss Anthropocene reviewed
Grade: B The old axiom no longer applies. In modern popular music, it is possible not only to gild a…
Eurotrash Verdi: ENO’s Luisa Miller reviewed
Verdi’s Luisa Miller is set in the Tyrol in the early 17th century, and for some opera directors that’s a…
Sharp family saga with a thriller uneasily attached: ITV’s Flesh and Blood reviewed
As in many thrillers, the characters on display in Flesh and Blood (ITV, Monday to Thursday) often seemed locked in…
Comedy gold: The Upstart Crow at the Gielgud Theatre reviewed
A Moorish princess shipwrecked on the English coast disguises herself as a boy to protect her virtue. Arriving in London,…
A bruising encounter: Pina Bausch's Bluebeard reviewed
Pina Bausch’s best work always hovered between the familiar and the unknown. The late choreographer revelled in borders and thresholds,…
Strange, sinister and very Belgian: Léon Spilliaert at the Royal Academy reviewed
The strange and faintly sinister works of the Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert have been compared — not unreasonably — to…
Deeply romantic and wildly sexy: Portrait of a Lady on Fire reviewed
Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is set on a remote, windswept Brittany island in the late 18th…
Trent Dalton
He’s barely in his forties. He’s married with two nearly teenage daughters. He lives in Brisbane. He’s a staff journalist…
Bruce Beresford at home in Birchgrove 2018
Sydney’s Archibald has the name and the fame, but there is a new kid on the block: the Darling Portrait…
I regret my bust-up with the Bee Gees: Clive Anderson interviewed
Mark Mason talks to Clive Anderson about mistaken identity, Macbeth and making a career out of being a bit of a smartarse
Weill's Broadway opera is made for telly: Opera North's Street Scene reviewed
It’s a sweltering night in Manhattan, circa 1947, and on the doorstep of a brownstone tenement three women are waiting…
Slight: Steve McQueen at Tate Modern reviewed
Steve McQueen’s ‘Static’ (2009) impresses through its sheer directness — and it’s very far from static. A succession of helicopter-tracking…
Why foreign-language series will always have the edge over American ones
An office worker stands on the ledge of an open window about to leap. Two colleagues enter, ignoring him completely.…
The appeal of psychopaths
Ever since the end of Gomorrah season four (Sky Atlantic) I have been bereft. I eked it out for as…
