Arts
Skins in togas
I’ve been looking at the reviews so far of Sky’s new Romans series Domina and none seems to have noticed…
Live and kicking
There is a reason music writers tend to stick with music writing rather than transferring their manifold talents to the…
Land of milk and money
Kelly Reichardt’s First Cowstars John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones, and a Jersey cow listed in the credits as ‘Evie’,…
The Dry
It’s a hard thing, harder than it should be, to film a detective story. Is Billy Wilder’s version of Agatha…
Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert series
Last weekend’s sports pages told us that ‘the crowds have not yet been flocking back to the footy with pre-pandemic…
Teenage Fanclub: Endless Arcade
Grade: B– Advancing age has smoothed the edges of Bellshill’s finest lads, once — back in the early 1990s —…
The best of British
There was certainly no lack of variety among new TV dramas this week, with a standard British thriller up against…
Turner Prize shortlist
In 2019 I was asked to be on the jury for the Turner Prize. I was pretty happy about this.…
Saint or sinner?
The verdict is still out on Thomas Becket, says Dan Hitchens, but there’s no doubting the brilliance of the art he inspired
Rabbit redux
The cinemas finally reopened this week and what better way to celebrate than with Peter Rabbit 2? You’ll probably be…
The two Popes
A party of disorderly couples has gatecrashed the Picture Gallery at Bath’s Holburne Museum, climbing on to the antique furniture,…
Big hooks but no mackerel
The narrative podcast remains a form in search of a genre. The template set by the hit show Serial —…
Zoom’s last hurrah
Lockdown is about to end but some theatres are gripped by cabin fever and want to explore the two new…
Ulysses
If you wanted a college at the University of Melbourne that had no hint of imitation Oxbridge you would turn…
The Truth About China by Bill Birtles
As news came through of China’s suspension of high-level trade dialogue with Australia, I read The Truth About China by…
Off-the-peg ire
Over the decades, Van Morrison’s role within the tower of song has shifted from chief visionary officer to head of…
The neglected, the niche, and the uncool
When this whole mess is over, there’ll be a shortish MA thesis — or at least a blog post —…
Bring me my spear
Manet’s ‘Botte d’asperges’ are probably the most famous asparagus in the world. The artist painted the delicious white- and lilac-tinged…
Shades of Fleabag
A new work by Alan Bennett features in Still Life, a medley of five ‘untold stories’ from Nottingham Playhouse. The…
Utopia or Pleasantville?
Some Kind of Heaven is a documentary set in The Villages, Florida, which is often described as a ‘Disneyland for…
Under the radar
I’d been expecting the BBC to make a dreadful hash of The Pursuit of Love, especially when I read that…
‘I’m not interested in moral purity’
Michael Hann talks to St Vincent about Sheena Easton, Stalin and performing in five-inch heels
Reese Witherspoon
There are moments when the very idea of live entertainment including its high cultural expression, thrills the soul. On 6…
Francesco Cavalli’s The Loves of Apollo & Dafne
Venice in the 17th century was the birthplace of opera. Its dominant and most successful exponent was Francesco Cavalli. Once…
Great Scottie
On eBay I have an alert set for ‘Scottie Wilson’. Nine times out of ten, it’s a diamanté Scottie dog…
