WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb
Latest editorial
Best of 2018: Culture
by MIKE QUILLE
Real life: Tish Murtha photograph in the exhibition Women by Women
RITA DI SANTO points out the social experience of exploitation and oppression that inform the popular winners at this year’s festival
PETER MASON is tickled by a new book and exhibition that mine the rotten anachronism of the monarchy for laughs
A Nazi zeppelin whodunnit, death amidst detoxification, a twistaholic’s delight, and noir fiction for criminals
STEVE JOHNSON salutes the mellifluous tones and clear-minded political message of a uniquely relevant Birmingham-born singer-songwriter
STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
“EVERY document of civilisation is also a document of barbarism,” said Walter Benjamin, for behind castles and cathedrals lie histories of violence and oppression. Yet paintings, plays, poems, and films can all express and protest against — as well as deny and legitimate – the exploitation and barbarism of ruling elites that fuel class struggles throughout history.
Benjamin’s insight seems particularly relevant to many exhibitions, plays and films that have come out this year, an example being The Political History of Smack and Crack by Ed Edwards. A brilliant drama about personal relationships, it also exposed the shameful story of the British state’s collusion in our drugs problems.
Similar stories
GEORGE FOGARTY is captivated by a brilliant one-man show depicting life in HMP Strangeways
MIKE QUILLE applauds an excellent example of cultural democracy: making artworks which are a relevant, integral part of working-class lives
ANGUS REID calls for artists and curators to play their part with political and historical responsibility
NICK WRIGHT delicately unpicks the eloquent writings on art of an intellectual pessimist who wears his Marxism lightly