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theartsdesk.com - a daily serving of incisive, well-informed arts coverage. Enjoy criticism at its best.

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★★★★ THE HIVES @thehives.com #O2AcademyGlasgow - The Hives were on typically brash, sweaty form, and the old tricks were still going down a treat, says Jonathan Geddes www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/hi...
November 28, 2025 at 7:33 PM
★★★★ THE BEAST IN ME @netflix.com - Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in addictively twisty mystery of power, corruption and lies on Long Island - review by Adam Sweeting www.theartsdesk.com/tv/beast-me-...
November 26, 2025 at 9:42 AM
'Music is like the air we breathe, like oxygen' RIP JIMMY CLIFF #JimmyCliff - Remembering one of #reggae's breakout stars, in a full 2012 Q&A from Thomas H Green www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/th...
November 25, 2025 at 9:38 AM
THE ROLLING STONES - BLACK & BLUE turns 50 with a new reissue - one of their best-sounding classic LPs comes with live sets, rare film and dodgy studio jams, says @timcumming.bsky.social www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/ro...
November 12, 2025 at 11:09 AM
#Britten Weekend 2025, #Snape and #Aldeburgh - White Rose, red poppy: superbly sequenced memorials balancing anger and reflection - @davidnice.bsky.social appreciates two of the finest small-scale concerts he's heard this year, on the theme of remembrance www.theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...
November 12, 2025 at 10:50 AM
#RizAhmed and #LilyJames soulfully connect in sly, lean corporate whistleblowing thriller RELAY - director #DavidMackenzie and cast keep the conceit’s heart beating, says Nick Hasted www.theartsdesk.com/film/relay-r...
November 11, 2025 at 6:12 PM
FATHERLAND #HampsteadTheatre - #NancyFarino's debut is a meditation on responsibility and emotional heritage - it's psychologically convincing, but lacking fullness, says @sierz.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/theatre/fath...
November 11, 2025 at 5:57 PM
★★★★ #PeterMoore #BBCPhilharmonic #ElenaSchwarz @bridgewaterhall.bsky.social - Rich rewards in heavyweight works, with a look back to the Covid experience in #DaniHoward’s approachable and attractive #Trombone Concerto - review @robertbealemcr.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...
November 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
#FirstPerson: KEREM HASAN on the transformative experience of conducting #JakeHeggie's DEAD MEN WALKING - #EnglishNationalOpera #ENO production of a 21st century milestone has been a tough journey, says the musician www.theartsdesk.com/opera/first-...
November 4, 2025 at 11:36 AM
'Audiences won’t regret their ride on #Glyndebourne’s hi-tech, high-speed and expertly-steered train' THE RAILWAY CHILDREN - This talent-loaded #MarkAnthonyTurnage opera excursion heads down a mistaken track, into a Cold War-era updating, says @boydtonkin.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/opera/railwa...
October 31, 2025 at 7:52 PM
'A quiet marvel of a film' ★★★★★ WENDY AND LUCY - Down-and-out in rural #Oregon: #KellyReichardt's third feature packs a huge punch, says @grahamrickson.bsky.social - now on @secondrun.bsky.social Blu-ray theartsdesk.com/film/blu-ray...
October 27, 2025 at 10:03 PM
★★★★★ LE QUAI DES BRUMES - Love twinkles in the gloom of #MarcelCarné’s fogbound French poetic realist classic - review by Miriam Figueras - now on @studiocanal.co.uk Blu-ray theartsdesk.com/film/blu-ray...
October 20, 2025 at 7:38 PM
★★★★ GESUALDO PASSIONE #LesArtsFlorissants #AmalaDiorCompany @barbicancentre.bsky.social -
At times like watching an anarchic religious procession, this inspired collaboration excavated the music's humanity, says @hallibee1.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...
October 17, 2025 at 3:40 PM
'A beaten-up, dilapidated nation that’s a long way from the promised postwar utopia' ★★★★★ THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT - Ealing Studios' prescient black comedy, as sharp as ever - and Burnley looks like Berlin, says @grahamrickson.bsky.social - now on @studiocanal.co.uk blu-Ray
October 13, 2025 at 8:06 PM
The latest #ClassicalCDs from @bernardhughes.bsky.social @seb-scotney.bsky.social @grahamrickson.bsky.social - Voice flutes, flugelhorns and froth in Baroque sonatas, English orchestral music and an emotionally-charged vocal recital www.theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...
October 4, 2025 at 10:29 AM
★★★★★ #FrancesWilson ELECTRIC SPARK - THE ENIGMA OF #MURIELSPARK - Frances Wilson employs her full artistic power to keep pace with Spark’s fantastic and fugitive life - review by Claudia Bull @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social www.theartsdesk.com/books/france...
September 16, 2025 at 9:45 AM
'You’d swear you were looking at an outtake from #JohnFord or #HowardHughes' ★★★★ THE SONS OF GREAT BEAR - #DEFA's first #RedWestern: a revisionist take on colonial expansion - the accustomed judicious appraisal @grahamrickson.bsky.social - now on #Eureka Blu-ray www.theartsdesk.com/film/blu-ray...
September 15, 2025 at 7:54 PM
'#TheSweeney was one of the great TV dramas. Get this set, its newly-remastered images & sound pin-sharp, and find out why' ★★★★★ THE SWEENEY Series One - Influential and entertaining 1970s police drama, handsomely restored - review @grahamrickson.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/tv/blu-ray-s...
September 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM
September 7, 2025 at 9:24 PM
'When he gets it right, it’s quite a thing' #JoshRitter - I BELIEVE IN YOU, MY HONEYDEW - The alt-country singer's latest isn't consistent but does hit highs, says Thomas H Green www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/al...
September 5, 2025 at 10:29 PM
‘Flawed & a little muddled, its freshness has wilted a fair bit, and it comes with a clutch of trigger warnings’ #THEGRADUATE Post #MeToo can #MikeNichols' film still lay claim to Classic Film status? asks @realjohncarvill.bsky.social - now @criterion.bsky.social www.theartsdesk.com/film/blu-ray...
September 1, 2025 at 11:08 PM
★★★★ #TheHives @thehives.com - THE HIVES FOREVER, FOREVER THE HIVES - No power ballads, no acoustic interludes - just speedy rock’n’roll all the way, and that’s just what Guy Oddy needs www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/al...
August 27, 2025 at 10:24 PM
'Alker depicts a wide range of creative artists, trying to respond to the triumphs and tragedies of the last century' ★★★★ @elizabethalker.bsky.social EVERYTHING WE DO IS MUSIC - A compelling journey into a surprising musical kinship - review @jonturney.bsky.social theartsdesk.com/books/elizab...
August 27, 2025 at 9:07 AM
★★★★★ FINIS TERRAE - Bleak but compelling semi-documentary, filmed on location in #Brittany - @grahamrickson.bsky.social on #JeanEpstein's 1929 neglected gem, one of the last French silent films - now on #EurekaFilms Blu-ray theartsdesk.com/film/blu-ray...
August 25, 2025 at 6:35 PM
THE GATHERED LEAVES @parktheatrelondon.bsky.social - A dated script is lifted by nuanced characterisation, says @hallibee1.bsky.social, as its actors skilfully evoke the claustrophobia of family members trying to fake togetherness www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/gath...
August 25, 2025 at 12:32 PM