The School for Scandal (RSC)
I hope that more theatre companies take note of what the RSC has done with this production: I would love for it to spark more smart, confident, and above all, hilarious eighteenth-century revivals.
Criticks – BSECS online reviews
The eighteenth century was the first great age of criticism. In this spirit, the Criticks website provides entertaining, informative and provocative reviews of events and media that are of interest to scholars of the eighteenth century. These complement the reviews of books that are published in the journal of the Society, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies.
Plays, concerts, operas, exhibitions, films, broadcasts and online resources are here considered in depth by experts in the field. If there is an event that you would like to see reviewed in these pages, or if you would like to review for us, please contact one of the editors below:
Criticks Editor
Criticks Subject Editors
Fine and Decorative Art: Miriam Al Jamil
Media: Gráinne O’Hare
Music: Brianna Robertson-Kirkland
Theatre: Katie Noble
Doctor Who – Rogue
As a Whovian I found much to enjoy in this episode, but as a historian I couldn’t help feeling that the lack of contextual engagement was a bit of a missed opportunity.
The School for Scandal (Tilted Wig)
This School for Scandal is indeed a tonic and I thoroughly recommend that you see it.
“Curatorial Conversation” – Black Atlantic (Fitzwilliam Museum) & Entangled Pasts (Royal Academy)
The Fitzwilliam Museum’s Black Atlantic exhibition and the British Museum’s Enlightenment Gallery offer other ways of confronting curatorial complicity in colonialist and racist violence... With
Renegade Nell
Renegade Nell may not be a memorable enough ballad to bear repeating, but it is certainly a ballad worth hearing.
Entangled Pasts 1768–now: Art, Colonialism and Change
The Royal Academy have largely achieved their aim for this exhibition by starting a courageous conversation about ‘art and its role in shaping narratives of empire, enslavement, resistance,
Napoleon (dir. by Ridley Scott)
The glaring problem with Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is not the historical inaccuracy, but that it is never quite sure what kind of Napoleon Bonaparte it wants to depict.
Angelica Kauffman
This modest exhibition is narrowly focussed on Angelica and her career leaving many questions still to be explored.
William Blake’s Universe
an ambitious attempt to set Blake and his ideas and works within broader contexts: of his artistic circle, of European classical traditions and of the wider, creative ‘background mood’ of his
The Divine Mrs S
The Divine Mrs S is an urgent appeal for women to externalise their feelings of injustice and emotion. It’s a call for release.