Culture
European culture: art, music, film, books and ideas.
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Cleansed review – Sarah Kane’s visions of brutal torture resonate more intensely than ever
Almeida theatre, London Rebecca Frecknall pulls off this notoriously difficult 1998 play, in which appalling cruelty and violence …
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‘It’s the Meryl Streep of the orchestra’: why cinema loves the cello
From Audrey Hepburn to Pedro Pascal, cellists have become a movie shorthand for sensitivity, intensity and emotional depth. But wh…
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Helm by Sarah Hall audiobook review – a breath of fresh air from the Pennines
Louise Brealey teases out the playful and poetic moments of these shapeshifting stories, told from the perspective of the northeas…
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BBCSSO/Wigglesworth / Booth review – Brett Dean’s song cycle is rich and strange
Royal Albert Hall Soprano Clare Booth, Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish gave the world premiere of Dean’s theatrical and eng…
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Die Fledermaus review – Strauss staging has flourish and froth, but not enough fizz
Opera Holland Park, London Liam Steel relocates Johann Strauss’s operetta to London 1929 to create the feel of a Noël Coward-style…
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Dedicated followers of passion: the Kinks’ 40 greatest songs – ranked!
To coincide with a new exhibition in London about the Davies brothers, we rate the best of a band who brought a sociologist’s eye …
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‘Amazon-style’ conditions: Prospect union members overwhelmingly vote to strike at London's V&A museums
V&A staff represented by the Public and Commercial Services Union are also considering industrial action
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Love’s Labour’s Lost review – paella, bullfighting and flamenco make Shakespeare’s farce a fiesta
Shakespeare’s Globe, London Choreographer Carmen Igarza deserves to take a bow as spectacular dance and movement add passion to th…
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Marianela: Timeless review – perfect ballerina shows off a leg-whipping, frictionless mastery
Royal Opera House, London In what is officially her first solo show, the star principal marshals technically peerless performances…
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‘The crude language of Maga folks’: Joyce Carol Oates criticises Emily Wilson for criticising Nolan’s Odyssey
The novelist suggested Wilson should have been ‘a wee bit more thoughtful and respectful’ towards a film-maker who may have helped…
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Lessons from Notre-Dame inform reconstruction of Copenhagen Stock Exchange building
After fire destroyed half of the historic red-brick structure in 2024, its owners’ ambitious goal is to rebuild even faster than t…
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Freudian trip: how psychoanalysis and skydiving are helping Aurora orchestra open up Mahler’s First
When Mahler premiered his first symphony, it left audiences baffled. For their latest Prom, Aurora are bringing it to life – with …
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Shaboozey: The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales review – a striking addition to the rich canon of country concept albums
(American Dogwood/Empire) Beneath the Hollywood narrators, Pink Floyd-y interludes and accompanying comic books lies songwriting t…
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Giordano: Marina album review – a fascinating resurrection of an unsung early opera
Buratto/De Tommaso/Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali/Milletarì (Decca) The long-lost score, finally premiered 138 years after it was …
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A Line Held Tight – miners, mechs and mismanagement on a distant planet
Deep underground the player joins a colony of ruthlessly exploited pit workers who could be taking on the bosses. How things play …
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Zendaya and Tom Holland's decade-long Spider-Man romance in pictures
A look back at 10 years of Spider-Man movie premieres for the newlyweds.
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Treasures from Ancient Egypt’s ‘Golden City’, and the stories of the people who made them, revealed in San Francisco show
Twenty artefacts from Pharaoh Amenhotep III's abandoned city, discovered on Luxor’s west bank in 2021, are part of the exhibition …
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Artist starts legal case against Meta for deleting her Instagram account
Emma Shapiro and her lawyers are fighting the “loss of her artistic archive, audience, professional visibility and space for publi…
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‘We have to become warriors’: the fight to save the world’s only women’s sculpture park
With most monuments in London made by men, Claire Mander envisaged the Artist’s Garden as a way to redress the balance. Now, she s…
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‘Kind of like a fairytale’: documentary tells the unusual tale of Flaco the Owl
Wild Inside looks back on the incredible year when an escaped zoo owl managed to bring New Yorkers together Flaco the Eurasian eag…
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Paul McCartney becomes first-time nominee for Mercury prize, up against Olivia Dean, Dave and more
Big names including Raye and Suede face off against smaller artists such as Knats and Nia Archives for prestigious album award A f…
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Olivia Dean nominated and Lily Allen missing from Mercury Prize list
This year's best album shortlist includes several returning nominees - but Lily Allen misses out.
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How Harlan Coben became the king of potboiler TV
The prolific crime author’s latest Netflix thriller I Will Find You has become one of the streamer’s most-watched shows of all tim…
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'Rienzi': Why this Wagner opera is so relevant today
The opera sparked controversy long before its Bayreuth Festival premiere, and the debate hasn't died down since it came to the sta…