Arts

Angry, cold, self-centred, opaque, disconnected and brutalising: Bronx Gothic reviewed

15 June 2019 9:00 am

Sometimes it’s hard to describe a play without appearing to defame the writer, the performer and the theatre responsible for…

Dark masterpiece: ‘Two Figures’, 1953, by Francis Bacon

There is a jewel of a painting at Gagosian’s Francis Bacon show

15 June 2019 9:00 am

‘It is no easier to make a good painting,’ wrote Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo, than it is…

Where was the sex? Opera Holland Park’s Manon Lescaut reviewed

15 June 2019 9:00 am

Where was the desire, the frisson, the flicker of attraction? Hell, where was the sex? I ask because a week…

Ball boy: Maradona and his parents

Gripping and heartbreaking but I wanted to know more: Diego Maradona reviewed

15 June 2019 9:00 am

Diego Maradona, Asif Kapadia’s take on the poor boy from the slums of Buenos Aires who became a footballing god,…

Easily the best thing I’ve seen at the Grange Festival: Falstaff reviewed

15 June 2019 9:00 am

‘Tutto nel mondo e burla’ sings the company at the end of Verdi’s Falstaff — ‘All the world’s a joke’…

On the Beach at Trouville 1870. Bequest of Michel Monet 1966

15 June 2019 9:00 am

A magnificent Empire-style townhouse near the Bois de Boulogne contains a remarkable collection of paintings. On rue Louis Boilly, the…

The miracle of Longborough – the company that broke the mould for summer opera

8 June 2019 9:00 am

At Longborough Festival Opera, Richard Wagner is on the roof. Literally: his statue stands on top of the little pink…

Accidental hero: one of the Chernobyl liquidators

Blast from the past

8 June 2019 9:00 am

How many people do you think died at Chernobyl? 10,000? 50,000? 300,000? The correct answer, according to the never knowingly…

Poetic and profound: The Starry Messenger reviewed

8 June 2019 9:00 am

Kenneth Lonergan, who wrote the movie Manchester by the Sea, shapes his work from loss, disillusionment, small-mindedness, hesitation and superficiality,…

The extraordinary life of 104-year-old dancer Eileen Kramer

8 June 2019 9:00 am

It’s not often you hear the voice of a 104-year-old on the radio. You’re even less likely to hear one…

Virtuosic exploration of paint: Frank Bowling at Tate Britain reviewed

8 June 2019 9:00 am

‘The possibilities of paint,’ Frank Bowling has observed, ‘are endless.’ The superb career retrospective of his work at Tate Britain…

Entitled white men won’t like it – which is why I did: Late Night reviewed

8 June 2019 9:00 am

Late Night is a comedy starring Emma Thompson as a chat-show host in America whose ratings are in decline and…

The ideal summer opera: Garsington’s The Bartered Bride reviewed

8 June 2019 9:00 am

So it’s the start of the summer opera season at Wormsley and we’re sitting there in evening dress in the…

Much as I admire Morrissey’s refusal to conform, I don’t much like his music

8 June 2019 9:00 am

Grade: B Rock stars who utter something a little gamey, something a tad right-wingish, are usually coerced by the lefties…

Alyona Kovalyova and Jacopo Tissi in Diamonds Act 3 of Jewels

8 June 2019 9:00 am

The name is a byword for exacting standards and grand tradition. The Bolshoi Ballet, at the peak of the ballet…

Sergio Leone’s 1968 Once Upon a Time in the West

Quentin Tarantino on how spaghetti westerns shaped modern cinema

1 June 2019 9:00 am

The movie that made me consider filmmaking, the movie that showed me how a director does what he does, how…

The stuff of nightmares: ‘The Five Firemen’, 1938, by Grace Pailthorpe

British surrealism at its most remarkable and nightmarish

1 June 2019 9:00 am

Holding the International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936 was a coup for the British avant-garde, putting newbie surrealists such…

What would you do if you were a Syrian migrant?

1 June 2019 9:00 am

‘Put yourself in their shoes,’ says Zahra Mackaoui, a British-Lebanese journalist who has been following the stories of refugees from…

Igor Levit’s Goldbergs were transcendental

1 June 2019 9:00 am

Igor Levit has rapidly achieved cult status, as he certainly deserves. He has already reached the stage where he can…

Pam Tanowitz’s Four Quartets is a revelation

1 June 2019 9:00 am

T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets is full of music and movement. The players, such as they are, slip, slide, shake, tumble,…

‘True Love’, 1981, by Posy Simmonds

The quiet genius of Posy Simmonds, Hogarth’s heir

1 June 2019 9:00 am

‘It’s no use at all,’ says Posy Simmonds in mock despair, holding up her hands. ‘I can’t tell my left…

Addled, horrible, uproarious brilliance: Sebastian Murphy of Viagra Boys

Deeply unpleasant and thrilling: Viagra Boys make Primal Scream look antiseptic

1 June 2019 9:00 am

May was a cruel month for those middle-aged liberals who treasure their old alternative rock heroes. There was Morrissey, appearing…

Good hats – shame about the film: Sunset reviewed

1 June 2019 9:00 am

Sunset is French-Hungarian writer-director Laszlo Nemes’s follow-up to his astonishing Oscar-winning debut, Son of Saul. This time round the film…

Bog-standard spy mystery with a gimmicky appeal: Anna at the Dorfman Theatre reviewed

1 June 2019 9:00 am

Arts Council England takes money from almost all of us and spends it on culture for almost none of us.…

Earth dying in five billion years I can deal with, but not a world-weary Brian Cox

1 June 2019 9:00 am

When you see the opening caption ‘4.6 billion years ago’, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re watching a programme…