Arts
Bleak humour, resourcefulness and wit: Budapest Festival Orchestra’s Quarantine Soirées reviewed
There’s a certain merit in bluntness. ‘Quarantine Soirées’ was what the Budapest Festival Orchestra called its response to the crisis,…
You’ll keep saying ‘I’m sorry, did I hear that correctly?’: Fiasco reviewed
Kevin Katke was quite a man. He had no military training, no political background and no espionage experience. Nonetheless, his…
Riveting documentary about a remarkable man: Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War reviewed
First shown on BBC Scotland, Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War (BBC4, Wednesday) was the documentary equivalent of…
Mozart’s Clarinet
A couple of friends have nominated it as music they would like played at their funerals. I’m not into programming…
Catherine Deneuve is at her most Deneuve-ish: The Truth reviewed
To tell you the truth about The Truth, even though it stars Catherine Deneuve at her most Catherine Deneuve-ish (i.e.…
What is driving the rise in extreme cinema?
Film-makers are increasingly turning to the violent, provocatively slow or viscerally repulsive.What is driving this rise in extreme cinema? asks Francesca Steele
A mesmerising piece of theatre: On Blueberry Hill reviewed
On Blueberry Hill sounds like a musical but it’s a sombre prison drama set in Ireland. Two bunkbeds. Above, an…
The musical vaccination we all need against the bleak times ahead: ETO’s Cosi fan tutte reviewed
Anyone familiar with Joe Hill-Gibbins’s work will brace instinctively when the curtain goes up on his new Figaro. He’s the…
Bigamists, lunatics and adventurers: the raucous world of 19th century British music
The world of 19th-century British music was raucous, but are there any masterpieces waiting to be rediscovered? wonders Richard Bratby
The director of Persepolis talks about her biopic of Marie Curie: Marjane Satrapi interviewed
The director of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, talks to Sarah Ditum about her new biopic of Marie Curie, exile from Iran and her fears for the future of democracy
Old-school Sunday-night family viewing: ITV's Belgravia reviewed
The world may be going to hell in a handcart but some things remain reassuringly unchanged: Julian Fellowes period dramas…
The magic of Bryan Ferry
The accepted line about Bryan Ferry is that his is one of the greatest reinventions in English pop culture: Peter…
The director that everyone loved to hate: David Thomson interviews Peter Bogdanovich
David Thomson talks to the director about Buster Keaton, falling out of favour with Hollywood, and his mentor Orson Welles
David Hallberg
The artistic leadership of a major performing company is, by definition, important. The Australian Ballet has a forthcoming vacancy of…
A lost opera from the most powerful musician you’ve never heard of: La ville morte reviewed
Who was the most influential figure in 20th-century classical music? Stravinsky? Pierre Boulez? What about Bernstein or Britten? John Cage…
Mother nature is finally getting the art she deserves
Exhibitions about fungi, bugs and trees illustrate the depth, range and vitality of a growing field of art, says Mark Cocker
Astonishing to think Miss World ever existed: Misbehaviour reviewed
Misbehaviour is a film about the 1970 Miss World contest that was disrupted by ‘bloody women’s libbers’ — that’s what…
Grimly compelling: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour reviewed
‘No matter what they take from me,’ sang Whitney Houston towards the end of a peculiar evening in Hammersmith, ‘they…
The creators of Breeders are locked into a game of How Far Can You Go
Sky One’s Breeders (Thursday) bills itself as an ‘honest and uncompromising comedy’ about parenting. To this end, the opening scene…
‘Irish writers don’t talk to each other unless they’re shouting abuse’: Sebastian Barry interviewed
Sebastian Barry talks to Robert Jackman about family folklore, the joy of writing playsand why he is not an ‘Irish’ novelist
Another triumph for Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young at Sadler’s Wells
It must have been hard for Crystal Pite and Jonathan Young to live up to the success of 2016’s devastating…
Corpse! really is as good as everyone says it is
Here’s the problem. Much communication is done online, especially by youngsters, and much drama focuses on communication. So how do…
David Williamson
‘That sinkhole of ambition and superficiality we call Sydney.’ That’s a direct quotation from the Melbourne Theatre Company’s promotion of…
Too edgy and clever to be wasted on kids: Netflix’s Locke & Key reviewed
One of my perpetual gnawing terrors is that I’ll recommend a series that looks initially promising but turns out to…
