Arts
Hooray for Homeland - Carrie’s back blasting America’s enemies to pieces with drones
One of the more welcome and surprising things about television at the moment is that Homeland (Channel 4, Sunday) is…
Culture buff
A highly successful tour of European festivals is a great boost to an orchestra. Not just to morale but to…
Mike Leigh interview: ‘A guy in the Guardian wants to sue me for defamation of Ruskin!’
Hermione Eyre talks to filmmaker Mike Leigh about Mr Turner, Hollywood, and making films his own way
Tate Modern’s latest show feels like it’s from another planet
‘Some day we shall no longer need pictures: we shall just be happy.’ — Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter, 1966…
The drunk conductor who ruined Rachmaninov’s career
Would musical history have turned out differently if Alexander Glazunov hadn’t been smashed out of his wits when he conducted…
Opera North’s Coronation of Poppea: a premium-rate sex-line of an opera
Virtue, hide thyself! The Coronation of Poppea opens with a warning and closes with a love duet for a concubine…
Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies: when boys turn feral
GCSE Eng Lit pupils are doing well from dance this season with two set books told in the medium of…
Donmar’s Henry IV: Phyllida Lloyd has nothing but contempt for her audience
The age of ‘ladies first’ is back. Phyllida Lloyd reserves all the roles for the weaker sex, as I imagine…
The Best of Me is more of a sleepie than a weepie - especially when our old friend No Sexual Chemistry makes an appearance
Take tissues to The Best of Me, I’d read, as it’s such a weepie, so I took tissues, being a…
Fellow saddoes rejoice: BBC4 has made a comedy-drama about metal detecting
Detectorists (BBC4) is a sad git’s niche comedy that would never have been commissioned if it hadn’t been written and…
Can Radio 3 escape the digital squeeze?
The new controller of Radio 3 has at last been appointed. Alan Davey (not to be confused with the former…
Culture buff
Happy is the theatre company that can enjoy the regular services of a genuine international star, as admired on stage…
Boys alone
GCSE Eng Lit pupils are doing well from dance this season with two set books told in the medium of…
What iff?
Would musical history have turned out differently if Alexander Glazunov hadn’t been smashed out of his wits when he conducted…
What iff?
Would musical history have turned out differently if Alexander Glazunov hadn’t been smashed out of his wits when he conducted…
Without sci-fi, there would be no cinema
Without sci-fi, there would be no cinema, writes Peter Hoskin
All my doubts about Anselm Kiefer are blown away by his Royal Academy show
In the Royal Academy’s courtyard are two large glass cases or vitrines containing model submarines. In one the sea has…
ENO’s The Girl of the Golden West is irresistibly seductive
Puccini’s La fanciulla del West is, one suspects, one of those works that modern audiences struggle to keep a straight…
Ukip's logo is quite successful – in communicating a spirit of gung-ho crapness
Now that the conference season is over, we can compare not just the party policies, but their logos too. Last…
Were the cast of the Old Vic’s Electra clothed by Oxfam?
First, a bit of background. Conquering Agamemnon slew his daughter, Iphigenia, in return for a fair wind to Troy. This…
Effie Gray can effie off
Effie Gray, which has been written by Emma Thompson and recounts the doomed marriage of Victorian art critic John Ruskin…
Why Yes are still the funniest rock band in the world (although Radiohead are catching up)
My favourite comment about the Scottish referendum came from the eminent comedian and novelist David Baddiel. ‘What if Yes wins,…
We're great and baboons are losers: this week's lesson from Brian Cox
Anybody feeling a bit depressed about the shortcomings of humanity could do worse than watch Brian Cox’s new series Human…
Mary Beard vs Jeremy Paxman
‘Did you find it a good read?’ asked Harrriett Gilbert. An incredibly long drawn-out sigh from Mr Paxman. ‘I think…
Culture Buff
I’ve never entirely understood why big cities have arts festivals. Melbourne and Sydney are both big cities by any international…
