MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
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549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War
Dynamic young theatre company commemorates the International Brigades
ON A JOURNEY: Wonder Fools
[Jassy Earl]
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
INCREASINGLY creating their own work, young writers, actors and directors are not afraid to tackle some hefty stories based on real life.
Bringing alive radical history and recalling the lives of ordinary people achieving extraordinary things is the mission of small companies such as Townsend Productions with their play Dare Devil Rides to Jarama and, pre-lockdown, acapella group The Young ’Uns were touring The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff.
Both pieces focus on a febrile time and complex events, when the Spanish civil war broke out in the summer of 1936.
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A champion motorcyclist, trade union organiser and communist, Clem Beckett went from Britain’s speedway tracks to the battlefields of Spain, where he gave his life resisting Franco’s forces at Jarama. GEOFF BOTTOMS pays tribute to this remarkable anti-fascist
Thousands of remarkable Britons left ordinary lives behind to join the struggle against Franco. Here is a snapshot of those who answered the call
![Meirian Jump with MML archivist Matt Dunne [Pic: Marx Memorial Library]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2026-07/image.png.webp?itok=EO4HHX_7)
The Marx Memorial Library’s Spanish Collection remains a powerful tool for the working-class movement today, writes MML director MEIRIAN JUMP
TONY FOX reports from a commemoration of the legendary Battle of Jarama in which four Stockton-on-Tees volunteers fell