Arts
Genesis of a Dreamcoat
Just the other day came the announcement that a new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat was to…
Everyone involved should be in prison: Netflix's Persuasion reviewed
You may already have read early reviews of Netflix’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion saying it’s ‘the worst adaptation ever’…
Stop tearing down controversial statues, says British-Guyanan artist Hew Locke
Rather than tearing statues down, Hew Locke believes in reworking them to highlight their place in our imperial history. Stuart Jeffries speaks to him
Hearing Percy Bysshe Shelley read aloud was a revelation
Last week I heard the actor Julian Sands give a virtuoso performance of work by Percy Bysshe Shelley to mark…
Hytner hits the bull's eye: The Southbury Child, at the Bridge Theatre, reviewed
The Southbury Child is a comedy drama set in east Devon featuring a distressed vicar, Fr David, with a complex…
An intense slab of religiosity: Nick Cave's Seven Psalms reviewed
Grade: B There has always been a seriousness and intelligence about Nick Cave quite at odds with that which usually…
A bleeding, inch-thick hunk of verismo sirloin: Royal Opera's Cav and Pag reviewed
One legacy of lockdown in the classical music world has been the sheer length of the 21-22 season. In a…
Who are these pathologically liberal rozzers? Channel 4's Night Coppers reviewed
Grizzled police officers of the old school should probably avoid Channel 4’s Night Coppers for reasons of blood pressure. Like…
Enthralled
The news that Germaine Greer had put herself into a retirement home in sight of the Queensland forest she had…
An intimate, lucid and unforgettable new James MacMillan work
On Tuesday night I was at the world première of a motet by Sir James MacMillan and I don’t think…
At her best when lightly ruffling the surfaces of things: Cornelia Parker, at Tate Britain, reviewed
Cornelia Parker wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but when she was growing up her German godparents…
From Leonardo to Hepworth: the art of surgery
Daisy Dunn on the art of surgery
Only traces of their eerie early spirit remain: Kings of Leon, at OVO Hydro, reviewed
A few years ago, I spoke to Mick Jagger and asked him which of the (relatively) new crop of rock…
A goofy, non-taxing delight: Brian and Charles reviewed
Brian and Charles is a sweetly funny mockumentary about a lonely Welsh inventor who is not that good at inventing.…
Right play, wrong place: The Fellowship, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed
Roy Williams’s new play is a wonky beast. It has two dense and cumbersome storylines that aren’t properly developed. Dawn…
A thrilling, pacy, well-acted drama: Amazon Prime's The Terminal List reviewed
‘The Terminal List is… a dated and drably made eight-part military thriller that offers little intrigue or excitement,’ says the…
A very polished performance
Sam Neill is one of those Kiwis we want to claim as we do everyone from Russell Crowe to Neill’s…
The definitive Diana doc? Possibly not: The Princess reviewed
The Princess, a new documentary film, is the first re-framing of the Princess Diana story since it was last re-framed,…
Glastonbury has become a singalong event for OAPs
‘Well, it’s just not Glastonbury, is it?’ said my daughter aggressively, when told that our yurt featured an actual bed,…
If you see this show you’ll want to see it again – directed properly: The Glass Menagerie, at the Duke of York's Theatre, reviewed
The Glass Menagerie directed by Jeremy Herrin is a bit of an eyeball-scrambler. The action takes place on a huge…
Had the air of a Blue Peter Christmas special: Grange Festival's The Yeomen of the Guard reviewed
The Yeomen of the Guard has been called the ‘English Meistersinger’ but the more you think about that, the dafter…
A very classy thriller indeed: C4's The Undeclared War reviewed
The Undeclared War has many of the traditional signifiers of a classy thriller: the assiduous letter-by-letter captioning of every location;…
The subtleties of her songbook were lost in this enormodome: Diana Ross at the O2 reviewed
When Motown first packaged up a roster of artists and songs that could be embraced by a non-black audience, no…
Paris's glittering new museums
The refurbishment of Paris’s galleries and museums continues apace, with money no object, finds Rupert Christiansen
Time takes a cigarette
June 16 was Bloomsday, the day we celebrate James Joyce’s Ulysses, and it was a special Bloomsday because 2022 is…
