Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Albion, Almeida Theatre London
State of the nation takes root in an English country garden
EXCELLENT: Victoria Hamilton as Audrey in Albion Pic: Marc Brenner
PAUL FOLEY is disappointed by a production that encourages the audience to laugh at rather than with the characters
Odysseus’s homecoming myth is treated as a factual story, with strong resonances for our contemporary world. This is an implicit anti-war film that has an urgent relevance, writes JOHN GREEN
The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
PATRICK JONES recommends a vital anthology from Afghan and Iranian poets where the political and personal fuse into witness-bearing and manifesto-making
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
THIS fine play from Mike Bartlett is wonderful theatre.
As the audience settles around the protruding set of a country garden, a first world war soldier wanders around the lawn and, picking up the soil of his country, inhales it like dope — a metaphor for what’s to come.
Enter 21st-century Audrey (Victoria Hamilton) who has left her business life in London to return and live in the place which has nostalgic connections with her childhood — its seductive comforts and reluctance for change — despite her constantly professing its importance.
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