Arts
Broadchurch, review: ‘unwatchable’
Probably the two greatest advances in western culture in my lifetime have been the Sopranos-style epic serial drama and the…
Radio 4’s War and Peace: almost as good as the book
To have listened to Radio 4’s marathon ten-hour adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace as it was being broadcast on…
Culture buff
This is a great time of the year to make progress with that stack of unread books. One of my…
Stolen pleasures
I’ve never been into shoplifting, though I once had a friend who was. And, no, before you ask, I’m not…
Stolen pleasures
I’ve never been into shoplifting, though I once had a friend who was. And, no, before you ask, I’m not…
Shirley Williams: Saving my mother from the scriptwriters
Jasper Rees talks to Shirley Williams about the forthcoming screen portrayal of her mother
ENB’s Swan Lake: the rights and wrongs of ballet thighs
There’s been heated disagreement over the past week about what’s right and wrong. Is the rocket-propelled ex-Bolshoi enfant terrible Ivan…
Geometry in the 20th and 21st centuries was adventurous - and apocalyptic
Almost a decade ago, David Cameron informed Tony Blair, unkindly but accurately, ‘You were the future once.’ A visitor to…
Royal Opera’s Orfeo, Roundhouse: shouts its agenda so loudly the music struggles to be heard
What a week to stage an opera about art’s power to challenge institutional authority, oppression — even death itself. Orfeo’s…
Old Vic’s Tree: Beckett plus Seinfeld - plus swearing
‘Fucking hell. You twat. Fuck off. Fuck. Fuck.’ These dispiriting words are the opening line of Tree, a newish play…
Wild made me want to puke
Wild is yet another film based on a true story, as currently seems to be in vogue for some reason.…
Channel 4’s Cyberbully: an unashamedly old-fashioned drama in being both well made and moral
Channel 4’s Cyberbully (Thursday), written by Ben Chanan and David Lobatto, turned out to be a brilliantly gripping drama, even…
Was Beethoven influenced by yoga?
How many digital radios have you bought over the years? How many are still working? Of the four I used…
Australia’s film awards – put your money on the pulpy stuff
If I were asked to name my favourite job over the past 15 years, since I took leave of my…
Culture buff
Wanting to love it was not enough; Mr Turner just didn’t quite do it for me. Mike Leigh’s new film…
Let the wrong one in
There’s been heated disagreement over the past week about what’s right and wrong. Is the rocket-propelled ex-Bolshoi enfant terrible Ivan…
What unites Churchill, Dali and T.S. Eliot? They all worshipped the Marx Brothers
Ian Thomson celebrates the anarchic genius of Groucho and his brothers
His lyrics are hopeless, his covers are catastrophic, yet I still love Bryan Ferry
There were two new albums I wanted for Christmas — the Bryan Ferry and the Pink Floyd — and to…
The tragic tale of the Two Roberts is a story of two artists cut off in their prime
In 1933, two new students met on their first day at Glasgow School of Art. From then on they were…
Foxcatcher: piercing, shattering, spellbinding
Foxcatcher is a crime drama (of sorts) that has already been dubbed ‘Oscarcatcher!’ as it barely puts a foot wrong.…
Young Vic's Golem: its status as a cult hit fills me with troubled wonder
The Young Vic produces shows that please many but rarely me. Its big hit of 2014, A Streetcar Named Desire,…
Royal Opera's Un ballo in maschera: limp, careless and scrappy
Whether by chance or bold design, the Royal Opera’s two Christmas shows were written at precisely the same moment, between…
Without childhood traumas, how did Alan Bennett ever become a writer?
‘So — take heart,’ said Alan Bennett, sending us out from his play, Cocktail Sticks, on a cheery note. The…
It's because Corden is such a dick that The Wrong Mans was so blindingly brilliant
God, it must be awful to have been at school with James Corden. As he sat fatly at the back…
Culture buff
Not many people would still argue that fashion, as in garments, has no place in an art museum. After all,…
