Arts
Jeffrey Epstein really was a streak of slime
Did Jeffrey Epstein kill himself or was he murdered — and frankly who cares? Actually, having watched the four-part Netflix…
The art of the incel
The roots of incel subculture – and its magnificent memes – stretch back to Goethe’s Werther and beyond, says Nina Power
The power of cheap music: pop podcast round-up
Noël Coward was so right that his words have become a cliché: it is indeed extraordinary how potent cheap music…
The musical event of the year: Wigmore Hall BBC Radio 3 Special Broadcasts reviewed
Remember when 2020 was going to be Beethoven year? There were going to be cycles and festivals, recordings and reappraisals;…
Belgravia
Belgravia is the rather coldly beautiful residential part of London bounded by Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Buckingham Palace. It is also…
The best recordings of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges
‘I don’t want to do my work. I want to go for a walk. I want to eat all the…
The problem with mystery podcasts like Wind of Change
Did the US secretly write a power ballad in order to bring down the Soviet Union? That’s the question behind…
Skates on the edge of parody: The 1975's Notes on a Conditional Form reviewed
Grade: B+ Just what you wanted. An opening track that matches banal piano noodling to an address by Greta Thunberg.…
Privatisation is the best option for the South Bank Centre
I must have written about this subject 100 times in 30 years and I’m still having to restate the bloody…
Another drama about how women are great and men are rubbish: C4's Philharmonia reviewed
On the face of it, a French-language drama about a Parisian symphony orchestra mightn’t sound like the most action-packed of…
So good and so raw that avoiding it might be the wisest course: Sea Wall reviewed
Sea Wall, by Simon Stephens, is a half-hour monologue about grief performed by Andrew Scott. The YouTube clip has been…
How John Constable got masterpiece after masterpiece out of a tiny corner of rural Suffolk
John Constable’s paintings of a tiny corner of rural Suffolk teach us to see the beauty on our doorstep, says Martin Gayford
Why, Woody, why? A Rainy Day in New York reviewed
A Rainy Day in New York is Woody Allen’s 49th film and it’s not been without its troubles. When accusations…
Sydney Opera House during Vivid Sydney Festival
To state the obvious, these are extremely testing times for the performing arts and live entertainment generally. Although galleries are…
I'm still not wholly convinced by Kirill Petrenko: Berlin Phil's Digital Concert Hall reviewed
At the start of Elgar’s Second Symphony the full orchestra hovers, poised. It pulls back; and then, like a dam…
The Literary Disco podcast made me want to throw my laptop at the wall
One of the stranger things that happened in the period just before lockdown was the sudden disappearance of audiences from…
Like a project the BBC might have considered 30 years ago and turned down: The Understudy reviewed
Hats off to the Lawrence Batley Theatre for producing a brand-new full-length show on-line. Stephen Fry, with avuncular fruitiness, narrates…
I so wanted to enjoy White Lines but it's spectacularly uninvolving
If I could live my life over again my plan used to be that I’d make my fortune very early,…
Top of my must-watch mustn't-watch: Cats revisited
At the outset of lockdown I gave you my list of top mustn’t-watch films — that is, the ones that…
Dion, one of the last living links to the earliest days of rock ’n’ roll
He toured with Little Richard, sang with Van Morrison, inspired the Beatles and Paul Simon. Graeme Thomson talks to Dion, one of the last living links to the early days of street-corner rock ’n’ roll
The genius of Martha Graham
If eight weeks in lockdown have brought out my baser impulses (biscuits by the sleeve, total renunciation of waistbands), it’s…
Cover of May issue of Apollo
We are all being digitised one way or another. Performing arts companies, not able to perform, are gamely putting themselves…
I have never cared more about the price of milk in Iceland: The County reviewed
You may be asking yourself: have I reached that point in lockdown where I’m watching Icelandic dramas about the price…
The best Macbeths to watch online
The world’s greatest playwright ought to be dynamite at the movies. But it’s notoriously hard to turn a profit from…
Swanky, stale and sullen, the summer music festival has had its day
The summer music festival has had its day, says Norman Lebrecht
