Politics
Today’s highlights
Art
On fire in Venice: creativity in a changing landscape
A fire that destroyed a library in Venice
455 years ago has inspired a superb
Anselm Kiefer exhibition on loss and
retrieval
Fujiko Nakaya: A vision through the fog
Fujiko Nakaya: Nebel Leben is the first comprehensive survey exhibition of the visionary sculptor outside of Japan
The metaverse will alter our real lives
Yes, art can shape our reality. But the metaverse can show us what could be possible in our future
Repainting, one pixel at a time
Just as art allows us to expand our constructs, so does this new technological terrain. This is the future artists like myself paint
Can street art bring Europe together?
Can urban art build bridges instead of walls? Eleven artists across Europe have come together to prove just this
Multicultural Man: On Damien Hirst
Far more than the Britpop bands, it was the Young British Artists who best personified the Blair era
Books
The greatest characters in European literature
CHARLIE CONNELLY comes up with the first half of his rundown of the top 20.
HV Morton: Terrific writer.. terrible man
HV Morton was a pioneering travel writer of genius.. and also a philandering, racist snob
Homage to Orwell’s Jura
With Nineteen Eighty-Four more relevant than ever, a group of Orwell enthusiasts – in special company – visits the remote house on the Inner Hebridean island of Jura where he wrote his dystopian masterpiece
Sri Lanka in purgatory
As the country faces its greatest crisis, a writer has delivered one of its greatest novels
Novel ways to spend the summer
For many of us, holidays offer a chance to catch up on our reading and in our post-Covid, post-Brexit
world, so too does tortuous travel.
CHARLIE CONNELLY has you covered
Did Britain break the world?
There is a link between UK foreign policy and recent global traumas. So what is our place in the world, and what kind of country do we want to be?
Music
At home with Percy Bysshe Shelley, the traveller in an antique land
This year’s Lerici festival in Italy marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Percy Shelley with a celebration of British culture
Very liberal vikings: Amon Amarth’s metal with morals
If Amon Amarth’s Johan Hegg is a Viking, he’s one who is fully paid up to modern Scandi liberal values
Germansplaining: The song of the silly season
Why Germany is swaying to the sound of a controversial hit
Orchestral manoeuvres: Why we can’t risk radio silence
Public service radio orchestras have played far more than just a cultural role over the last century but they are now under threat
Genius in the house: Laurent Garnier hits the docs
In a new documentary, French superstar DJ Laurent Garnier recalls his part in the birth of dance music and traces his career all the way from Manchester’s Haçienda to Tbilisi’s Bassiani
Opera’s great awokening
Will Self on the new, colour-conscious Madama Butterfly
Film
Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever
Over half a century since her death, the “inner Marilyn” is still alive. I suspect we will never be done with the blonde bombshell
Fire Of Love: Inside the new documentary about a volcanic relationship
Director Sara Dosa on Maurice and Katia Krafft and their love triangle with volcanoes
Genius in the house: Laurent Garnier hits the docs
In a new documentary, French superstar DJ Laurent Garnier recalls his part in the birth of dance music and traces his career all the way from Manchester’s Haçienda to Tbilisi’s Bassiani
A refugee’s flight from war to spite
Flee is the best representation yet of what it really means to be a refugee
Rutger Hauer: The European who brought pioneering nuance to Hollywood
The Dutch actor brought depth at a time when the industry expected little more from roles than grunting henchmen, murderous Nazis or ring fodder for Rocky Balboa
The ultra right are turning our world into the last days of Cabaret
We are living in a world where we expect the worst and prepare to resist
Theatre
Theatre Review: This 101 Dalmatians is barking up the wrong tree
Kate Fleetwood plays a delectably wicked Cruella de Vil for all she’s worth, but this is otherwise a dog’s dinner
Theatre Review: Chasing Hares is a mediocre story acted extraordinarily
The story is improbable but star Scott Karim can make just about any character seem convincing
Bloody Difficult Women receives a warm welcome in Edinburgh
Up in Scotland, my play about Gina Miller’s court case against Theresa May’s government over parliamentary sovereignty is causing quite the stir
Theatre Review: Any joy went with this woeful recasting
Anything Goes was a lot of fun last summer but it now feels dutiful and robotic
Theatre Review: The Seagull is a corker
This pared-down production is very much a star vehicle for the Game of Thrones actor Emilia Clarke
Look to Ophelia for help
In Hamlet, Ophelia holds the promise that love doesn’t recoil in the face of reality. It is time we opened our arms to the idea
Great European Lives
Anna Piaggi: The fashion journalist whose style trumped even the most avant-garde designers
Celebrated as one of Europe’s leading fashion writers, the Italian was better known for her sheer presence on the scene
Henri Cartier-Bresson: The photographer always seeking the decisive moment
The Frenchman was no newshound but had a knack of witnessing some of the 20th century’s key episodes
Rutger Hauer: The European who brought pioneering nuance to Hollywood
The Dutch actor brought depth at a time when the industry expected little more from roles than grunting henchmen, murderous Nazis or ring fodder for Rocky Balboa
Arnold Schoenberg: The father of atonal music who feared the number 13
The Austrian-American composer was convinced atonality was the future of music. Sadly, his fear of the number 13 led to his death before this day could arrive
Raffaella Carrà: The TV personality whose midriff scandalised Italy
The presenter managed to stay at the top for six decades, winning hearts whether baring her monochrome midriff to a startled nation or holding that same nation’s
politicians to account in full colour
Philippe Halsman: The photographer who captured the 20th century
One of the greatest portrait photographers of all time, Halsman was able to easily win the trust of some of the greatest figures in modern cultural and political history