Arts
Where art and pleasure collide
The morality of art always seems like such a simple thing. The Greeks want back the so-called Elgin Marbles pilfered…
Our prison culture is more barbaric than it was in 1823: Elizabeth Fry ‘The Angel of Prisons’ reviewed
The Angel of Prisons dramatises the life of the penal reformer Elizabeth Fry, who lived near Canning Town. She married…
The joy of Franck’s Symphony in D Minor: BBCSO/Gabel, at the Proms, reviewed
In the Rodgers and Hart musical On Your Toes, a Broadway hoofer is forced to work at a community college,…
The new master of the American Whine: Ezra Furman, at Edinburgh Festival, reviewed
The American Whine is one of the key vocal registers in rock and roll. You can trace that thin disaffected…
Apocalyptic minimalism: Carl Orff's final opera, at Salzburg Festival, reviewed
‘Germany’s greatest artistic asset, its music, is in danger,’ warned The Spectator in June 1937. Reporting from the leading new-music…
A compelling, if pitiless, journey: The Forgiven reviewed
The Forgiven is based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne and stars Ralph Fiennes (terrific) and Jessica Chastain (ditto) as…
Shaping up nicely for some truly epic bloodletting: House of the Dragon reviewed
House of the Dragon got off to a pretty uninspirational start, I thought: no major characters brought to a shocking…
Are bankers really as bad as they're portrayed on screen?
Is the onscreen portrayal of investment bankers as monsters true to life? Martin Vander Weyer talks to the writers of Industry
His lightning art
The combinations and permutations of different forms of artistic activity are always weird. Stacks of people will want to see…
The company has a hit on their hands: Scottish Ballet's Coppélia reviewed
With the major companies largely on their summer breaks, the Edinburgh International Festival struggles to programme a high standard of…
Why we must defend Radio 3 from threatened cuts
Who doesn’t love Eurovision? All that razzmatazz. The ghastly frocks and gloopy pop songs, the false bonhomie and bare-faced bias…
The show works a treat: Globe's The Tempest reviewed
Southwark Playhouse has a reputation for small musicals with big ambitions. Tasting Notes is set in a wine bar run…
The fiasco of Operation Yewtree: C4's The Accused – National Treasures on Trial reviewed
At 4.38 a.m., one morning in October 2013, the radio presenter Paul Gambaccini was understandably asleep when the doorbell rang.…
Full of unexpected delights: Green Man Festival reviewed
One learns the strangest things at festivals. That, for instance, this summer has been a bit of a blackcurrant disaster…
Schlocky and silly but fun: Beast reviewed
Beast is, the blurb tells us, a ‘pulse-pounding thriller about a father and his daughters who find themselves hunted by…
There's much more to Winslow Homer than his dramatic seascapes
Winslow Homer may be too all-American for British tastes but a forthcoming retrospective could change all that, says Laura Gascoigne
Don’t be routine
It’s a marvellous thing that the great Indian conductor Zubin Mehta will be wielding the baton for that illustrious group…
In praise of character actors
If you want real acting in films, forget the leads – it’s in the supporting roles that you’ll find true talent, says Tanya Gold
Guston is treated with contempt: Philip Guston Now reviewed
Philip Guston is hard to dislike. The most damning critique levied against the canonical mid-century American painter is that he…
Identity politics is in retreat in Hollywood
‘Diversity is woven into the very soul of the story.’ If those words of praise from a rave review in…
A four-way race between poet, actor, video artist and sound engineer: Edinburgh Festival's Burn reviewed
In a new hour-long monologue, Burn, Alan Cumming examines the life and work of Robert Burns. The biographical material is…
Absolutely nuts: My Old School reviewed
My Old School is a documentary exploring a true story that would have to be true as it’s too preposterous…
An electrifying, immersive thrill: Scottish Opera's Candide reviewed
The first part of the adventure was getting there. Out of the subway, past the tower blocks and under the…
Sensational: Herbie Hancock, at the Edinburgh Festival, reviewed
‘Human beings are in trouble these days,’ says Herbie Hancock, chatting to us between songs. ‘And do you know who…
Trash and treasure
It’s cheering to see that the new head of Melbourne’s Arts Centre is Karen Quinlan. For years now, she has…
