Arts
Wholesome, intimate and suspiciously vague: The Michelle Obama Podcast reviewed
Back in March, I made a long-odds bet that Michelle Obama would be the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nominee. I knew…
American road trip
Like a lot of Australians I look at what is happening in America with sad bemusement if not alarm. Over…
A.N. Wilson
Kathy Lette says that during lockdown she has been reading Dickens. Her choice illustrates the enduring appeal of Charles Dickens…
‘Where I grew up, classical music was diversity’: an interview with conductor Alpesh Chauhan
Richard Bratby talks to Birmingham Opera Company’s new music director Alpesh Chauhan about his Brummie roots, Bruckner and how his BAME heritage is a non-story
Hats (and knickers) off to the hosts: The Naked Podcast reviewed
I spent half an hour this week listening to a woman make a plaster cast of her vulva. Kat Harbourne,…
Why have they made Pinocchio look like Freddy Krueger?
Matteo Garrone’s live-action version of Pinocchio is visually sumptuous and there are some enchanting characters (my favourite: Snail). And unlike…
Takes us deep into an unknown world: Channel 4’s Inside Missguided reviewed
If it’s a test of a good documentary series that it takes us deep into an unknown, even unimaginable world,…
Looking at Barnett Freedman makes me weep at the government's dismal graphics
Among the spoils of a lockdown clear-out was a box of my grandmother’s books: Woolf, Austen, Mitford and The Complete…
There's scarcely a dull track: Deep Purple's Whoosh! reviewed
Grade: B+ Less deep purple than a pleasant mauve. Ageing headbangers will note a lack of the freneticism that distinguished…
The New Normal Festival shows how theatre could return
So the madness continues. Planes full of passengers are going everywhere. Theatres full of ghosts are going bust. My first…
Australian arts
Back in my now rather distant days of regular residence in Britain, I listened regularly to a radio program called…
James Darling striding the shores of Limebuners’ Bay
‘Just as I am’ is the recurrent opening line of a hymn written in 1835 by Charlotte Elliott. It was…
Why imperfect operas like Don Carlo are more interesting than perfect ones
In the 62 years since I first heard and saw Don Carlo, in the famous and long-lasting production by Visconti…
Figurative painting is back – but how good is any of it?
An oxymoron is a clever gambit in an exhibition title. The Whitechapel Gallery’s Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium…
Heavy-handed satire and schmaltz: American Pickle reviewed
American Pickle is a comedy based on a short story by Simon Rich, originally published in the New Yorker, and…
Vigour and verve from a unique new Rite of Spring: Dancing at Dusk reviewed
Dancing at Dusk captures the final rehearsal of a new version of Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring. It’s only…
'Cocaine addiction is time-consuming': the rise and fall of Kevin Rowland and Dexys
Michael Hann talks to Kevin Rowland about Dexys, insecurity and the cocaine years
The only things left worth watching on the BBC are foreign buy-ins like The Last Wave
Soon, very soon now — even sooner than I imagined, if A Suitable Boy turns out to be as lacklustre…
From riveting Hitchockian melodrama to bigoted drivel: BBC’s Unprecedented reviewed
Back to the West End at last. After a four- month lay-off, I grabbed the first available chance to catch…
Victorian burglars
Spare a thought for Victorian burglars. Just when they thought they could go back to ransacking South Yarra mansions while…
Different words
If you’d been in our house during the Coon cheese debacle you would have heard me shouting at the TV:…
Art tackles social distancing and, for once, actually wins: Philharmonia Sessions reviewed
First there were the home recitals: musicians playing solo Bach in front of their bookshelves, wonkily captured on iPhones. Next…
The people who were idiots at gigs in early March are still idiots
Is the world ready for the return of live rock music? On the evidence of the first gig in London…
Fine tunes and spacey, quiet grandeur: Taylor Swift’s Folklore reviewed
Grade: A- This is worrying — like listening to a speech by David Lammy and finding yourself, against your better…
Sumptuous and very promising: A Suitable Boy reviewed
Nobody could argue that Andrew Davies isn’t up for a challenge. He’d also surely be a shoo-in for Monty Python’s…
