DENNIS BROE enjoys the political edge of a series that unmasks British imperialism, resonates with the present and has been buried by Disney
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Ambitious plays in need of directorial editing
(L to R) Jade Ogugua as Vi, Joe Barber as Laurie and Tim Treloar as Mick
[The Other Richard] 
STEVE JOHNSON speaks to DJ and singer/songwriter Mark Radcliffe
JAMES WALSH takes advantage of an evening of comedy snippets to pick out which clowns will make it in Edinburgh
MAYER WAKEFIELD is swept up by the tale of the south London venue where music forged alliances across race, class and identity
MAYER WAKEFIELD applauds Rosamund Pike’s punchy and tragic portrayal of a multi-tasking mother and high court judge
FIONA O CONNOR recommends an unflinching depiction of child sexual abuse and its aftershocks, set in a working-class Liverpool family
O, Island
★★★
Ivy Tiller, Vicar’s Daughter, Squirrel Killer
★
The Other Place
Stratford-Upon-Avon
THE post-Covid re-emergence of the RSC’s Mischief Festival in its Stratford studio theatre, designed to introduce new writing, features a double bill of two ambitious short plays full of topical references, both in need of directorial editing.
O, Island by Nina Seagal is a dystopian parable set in a Home Counties village not a million miles from Ambridge, isolated by river floodwaters.
It moves from knock-about comedy, with the local Tory MP determined at all costs to snatch a publicity photograph of his heroic rescuing performance, being rejected by the villagers, who establish an independent islet state led by the articulate, grandmotherly Margaret.
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