Arts

The genius of Joe Rogan

18 April 2020 9:00 am

Last month, just before coronavirus conquered the airwaves entirely, millions of Americans gave up two hours to hear a professor…

The marvel of Mozart’s letters

18 April 2020 9:00 am

It’s 1771, you’re in Milan, and your 14-year-old genius son has just premièred his new opera. How do you reward…

How to succeed in sculpture (without being a man)

18 April 2020 9:00 am

Whee-ooh-whee ya-ya-yang skrittle-skrittle skreeeek… Is it a space pod bearing aliens from Mars? No, it’s a podcast featuring aliens from…

Anne Glenconner

11 April 2020 9:00 am

It is said that Shakespeare wrote King Lear in quarantine from the plague. Some have been suggesting that this year’s…

Absorbing and meticulously researched play about Partition: Drawing the Line reviewed

11 April 2020 9:00 am

Theatres have taken to the internet like never before. Recorded performances are being made available over the web, many for…

Haunting and beautiful: Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus’s Songs of Yearning reviewed

11 April 2020 9:00 am

Grade: A It has taken 33 years — during which time this decidedly strange Liverpool collective have put out only…

The best recordings of my favourite Passion

11 April 2020 9:00 am

In the autumn of 1632, a man called Kaspar Schisler returned home to the small Bavarian town of Oberammergau. He…

The perfect film for family viewing: Belleville Rendez-Vous revisited

11 April 2020 9:00 am

The selection of a film for family viewing is a precise and delicate art, particularly with us all now confined…

Why do Radio 3 presenters adopt the tone stupid adults use when addressing children?

11 April 2020 9:00 am

Anyone who has listened regularly to Radio 3 over the decades — not to mention the Third Programme, which Radio…

An extraordinary tale: BBC2’s The Countess and the Russian Billionaire reviewed

11 April 2020 9:00 am

There can’t be many programmes that bring to mind quotations from both Henry Kissinger and Boney M., but BBC2’s The…

Watching dance online is an advantage, not a concession: BalletBoyz – Deluxe reviewed

11 April 2020 9:00 am

Another day in isolation, another bid to find joy in my lone state-sanctioned walk. (Pro tip: stay out longer than…

The life of Artemisia Gentileschi is made for Netflix, but it’s the art that really excites

11 April 2020 9:00 am

The life of Artemisia Gentileschi is made for Netflix, says Laura Freeman, but it’s her art that really excites

Welder, banjo player, comedian, actor, and now artist – Billy Connolly interviewed

11 April 2020 9:00 am

William Cook talks to Billy Connolly – welder, banjo player, comedian, actor, and now artist – about growing up in Glasgow, ditching the mike stand and living with Parkinson’s

Lloyd Rees Solitude 1978

4 April 2020 9:00 am

‘How much of our village do we burn to contain this?’. That was the chilling headline of an article in…

The joy of Haydn's string quartets – here are the best recordings

4 April 2020 9:00 am

As Joseph Haydn was getting out of bed on the morning of 10 May 1809, a cannonball landed in his…

Taylor Swift is fascinating – but you really wouldn't want to be her

4 April 2020 9:00 am

There had been some question about whether Taylor Swift’s Netflix special would actually appear. Last year it seemed that the…

Ill-disciplined and self-indulgent: The Guilty Feminist podcast reviewed

4 April 2020 9:00 am

With theatres shut, radio must lighten the darkness. The Guilty Feminist is a wildly popular podcast performed by Deborah Frances-White…

A Formula 1 doc for people who hate Formula 1

4 April 2020 9:00 am

Some years ago I was invited to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone courtesy of a watch manufacturer. As freebies…

Perfectly serviceable – at points even charming: Four Kids and It reviewed

4 April 2020 9:00 am

This film contains flying children, time travel and a sand monster that lives under a beach — yet the most…

Are there ways in which virtual exhibitions are better than real ones?

4 April 2020 9:00 am

Six months ago I published a book about travelling to look at works of art. One such journey involved a…

The art of the hermit

4 April 2020 9:00 am

Holed up in her sixth-floor London flat, Laura Freeman finds solace in the art of the hermit

Christos Tsiolkas

28 March 2020 9:00 am

This was not the ideal beach book for the Christmas holidays but now we are in different times, it has…

The grisly art of Revolutionary France

28 March 2020 9:00 am

There was a basket of thick red wool and two pairs of large knitting needles at the start of University…

Gorgeous and electrifying: And Then We Danced reviewed

28 March 2020 9:00 am

The film you want to see this week that you mightn’t have seen if you weren’t stuck at home is…

War and plague have menaced theatres before, but rarely on this scale

28 March 2020 9:00 am

War and plague have menaced theatres before, but rarely on this scale, says Lloyd Evans