Reviews
Bluets, Royal Court review - more grey than ultramarine
Tuesday, 28 May 2024
When does creativity become mannered? When it’s based on repetition, and repetition without development. About halfway through star director Katie Mitchell’s staging of Margaret Perry’s adaptation of Maggie Nelson’s Bluets – despite the casting of the always watchable Ben Whishaw – I had the horrible feeling that this 80-minute show was on repeat. Moody words, repeat, moody visuals, repeat, moody mood, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Sphinx Organization, Wigmore Hall review - black performers and composers take centre stage
Monday, 27 May 2024
Kudos to the Wigmore Hall for continuing to make efforts to diversify its roster of performers and repertoire. Last year I reviewed the Kaleidoscope Collective, and noted how the different profile of their players attracted a younger and less universally white audience to the hall, and the same happened again last night when the American Sphinx Organization were given the stage.
Travels Over Feeling: The Music of Arthur Russell...
Monday, 27 May 2024
Last night’s Travels Over Feeling: The Music of Arthur Russell (a concert in part accompanying the recent publication of a book about his life by...
Music Reissues Weekly: Jon Savage's The...
Sunday, 26 May 2024
Jon Savage's The Secret Public How The LGBTQ+ Aesthetic Shaped Pop Culture 1955-1979 accompanies the titular author/historian/journalist’s book of...
Jerry’s Girls, Menier Chocolate Factory review -...
Saturday, 25 May 2024
Catchy even when the lyrics are at their cheesiest, the Jerry Herman Songbook serves up a string of memorable tunes: you’ll probably find that, like...
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Punt and Dennis, The Marlowe, Canterbury review - satire and sketches
Double act back on the road after a decade |
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga review - just as mad without Max
George Miller’s latest dystopian dust-up in the desert |
The Beach Boys, Disney+ review - heroes and villains and good vibrations
Stylish retelling of the Beach Boys saga could use sharper teeth |
Richard III, Shakespeare's Globe review - Michelle Terry riffs with punk bravado
A female cast rips into toxic masculinity in a rebalanced treatment of villainy |
Kolesnikov, Wigmore Hall review - celestial navigation through a cabinet of wonders
Quirky but brilliant programme finds connections between unlikely bedfellows |
Between Riverside and Crazy, Hampstead Theatre review - race, religion and rough justice
Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Pulitzer-Prize winner finally makes it to London |
Passing Strange, Young Vic review - exuberant pocket musical with a thoughtful core
Giles Terera excels leading a livewire cast in an irreverent look at Black identity |
Album: Samana - Samana
Hypnotic psychedelic folk from the Welsh valleys |
The Great Escape Festival 2024, Brighton review - 12 hours on the musical frontline of Day Three
Checking out gigs by Being Dead, Kneecap, Pip Blom, Looking Glass Alice and more |
Rebus, BBC One review - revival of Ian Rankin's Scottish 'tec hits the jackpot
Richard Rankin makes a compelling debut as the unorthodox Edinburgh cop |
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Sousa, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - Beethoven, younger than springtime
An exuberant cobweb-clearing symphony cycle |
Die Zauberflöte, Glyndebourne review - cornucopia of visual inventiveness eclipses everything else
An operatic feast for the eyes doesn't translate into conceptual satisfaction |
Hough, Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - affection and adventure
Sir Stephen Hough’s piano concerto receives its European premiere |
Clinton Baptiste, Touring review - spoof clairvoyant on great form
Character has life beyond 'Phoenix Nights' |
Music Reissues Weekly: Andwella - To Dream
How a cult psychedelic band laid the ground for a massive Demis Roussos hit |
Bavouzet, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - fun with abandon
Approaching the final goal of ‘Mozart, made in Manchester’ |
Carmen, Glyndebourne review - total musical fusion
Production tells the story, mostly, but it’s the lead and the conductor who electrify |
The Great Escape Festival 2024, Brighton review - a dip into day one and the elephant-in-the-room
An opening snapshot of Brighton's multi-venue showcase |
Fawlty Towers: The Play, Apollo Theatre review - lightning strikes twice
John Cleese's sitcom masterpiece makes seamless transition to the stage |
Laufey, Royal Albert Hall review - fans in heaven
The sequence of heartbreak songs sounded same-y |
Bermondsey Tales: Fall of the Roman Empire review - dirty deeds done dirt cheap
Michael Head's gangland drama is a bit of a dog's breakfast |
Dunedin Consort, Mulroy, Wigmore Hall review - songs of love old and new
First-rate chamber choir explore contemporary and Renaissance approaches to amour |
People, Places and Things, Trafalgar Theatre review - a scintillating shot in the arm
Duncan MacMillan’s riotous reflection on addiction and recovery returns |
Withnail and I, Birmingham Rep review - Bruce Robinson’s 1987 film makes for a theatrical hit
Withnail and Marwood fix up the Jag and head for Birmingham |
latest in today
Bluets, Royal Court review - more grey than ultramarine
When does creativity become mannered? When it’s based on repetition, and repetition without development. About halfway through star director Katie...
Sphinx Organization, Wigmore Hall review - black performers...
Kudos to the Wigmore Hall for continuing to make efforts to diversify its roster of performers and repertoire. Last year I reviewed the...
Travels Over Feeling: The Music of Arthur Russell, Barbican...
Last night’s Travels Over Feeling: The Music of Arthur Russell (a concert in part accompanying the recent publication of a book about his...
Album: Richard Thompson - Ship to Shore
Any Richard Thompson appearance comes with a hallmark guaranteeing quality produce – be that an album or a stage show.
...
Music Reissues Weekly: Jon Savage's The Secret Public -...
Jon Savage's The Secret Public How The LGBTQ+ Aesthetic Shaped Pop Culture 1955-1979 accompanies the titular author/...
Jerry’s Girls, Menier Chocolate Factory review - just a para...
Catchy even when the lyrics are at their cheesiest, the Jerry Herman Songbook serves up a string of memorable tunes: you’ll probably find that,...
Punt and Dennis, The Marlowe, Canterbury review - satire and...
Ten years after their last tour Steve Punt and High Dennis are back on the road with We Are Not a Robot. It comes after their long-...
Album: Jihye Lee Orchestra - Infinite Connections
Brooklyn-based composer and bandleader Jihye Lee’s story really does take quite some telling. Having been an indie pop singer in her native...
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga review - just as mad without Max
In the way of Batman being overshadowed by his villains, in his last outing, Mad Max: Fury Road, the erstwhile hero of George Miller...