The 2004 prize-winning novel by Andrea Levy, who sadly passed away earlier this year, has been beautifully translated to stage by adaptor Helen Edmundson and NT head honcho Rufus Norris, using thrilling theatrical solutions to honour Levy’s epic – and still urgent – … Continue reading
Women’s football, immigration and multiculturalism: Gurinder Chadha’s new musical couldn’t be more pertinent, right? Well, yes and no. Like her original film, writer/director Chadha keeps the action in 2002, meaning there’s no UKIP, no IS and no FIFA meltdown. Threats … Continue reading
Highlights of my July MoveTo Town and Country Arts page: Pick of the month: Dig deep Take an active role in uncovering London’s history during the Festival of Archaeology Don’t miss: Picture perfect It’s girls on top in the Prize for Illustration, responding to the theme London … Continue reading
Morris Honeyspoon is a monster. In editorial conference, he halts objections with a blast of his air horn, and when a puppyish staffer challenges his blanket anti-immigration policy, Roman helmet-clutching Morris takes sadistic pleasure in ritually humiliating him. It’s not … Continue reading
“Fury Over Sharia Law For Toddlers!” No, not a prime example of spoof headline generator Daily Mail-o-matic, but the latest piece of fantastical scaremongering from the Clarion, a 125-year-old (semi-)fictional rag that’s upped sales by splashing on immigration every day … Continue reading
Actor-turned-playwright John Hollingworth’s debut isn’t so much ripped from the headlines as startlingly prescient. Developed four years before the Paris attacks and Jihadi John’s gruesome antics, Multitudes tackles immigration, Islamic conversion and multicultural discord with a passion that fires up … Continue reading
Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, David Edgar’s 1990s Iron Curtain Trilogy is staged together for the first time, offering wry, nuanced dramatisation of political and social upheaval. Middle play Pentecost addresses post-Soviet reconstruction and the complexity … Continue reading
Following a deluge of film-to-stage transfers, Rudy’s Rare Records takes a more unusual route from Radio 4 sitcom to semi-musical theatre. The cosy formula remains intact – creaking plot mechanics more apparent in a meandering two and a half hours … Continue reading
