The bard rests on his laurels, and swipes left and right
Best of 2019: Art, music and theatre
OUTSTANDING: David Judge in Sparkplug
[Alex Mead/Decoy Media] 
MARIA DUARTE cherishes the flashes of absurd humour and theme of community healing in a documentary set in a Soviet-era Black Sea sanatorium
ANGUS REID and MARIA DUARTE review The Courageous, The Cut, Christy, and On Swift Horses
TOM STONE sings the praises of one of the oldest open-air festivals in Britain
Chris Searle speaks to accordionist KAREN STREET
MAYER WAKEFIELD speaks to Urielle Klein-Mekongo about activism, musical inspiration and the black British experience
AWAY from my home city of Manchester, this year I greatly enjoyed the colour and form of the wonderful New Times, New Pleasures exhibition of Fernand Leger’s work at Tate Liverpool and the new insights provided by Van Gogh in Britain at Tate Britain earlier in the year.
There was a great musical treat in the capital from the superb The Gloaming at the Union Chapel, a showcase of Irish traditional music at its very best. The band create an unusual sound by the harmonising of fiddle, guitar and piano with an overlay from the haunting voice of the exceptional Iarla O Lionaird.
For sheer spectacle it was hard to beat the version of the opera Carmen I saw in the ancient Roman arena in Verona.
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PAUL FOLEY picks out an excellent example of theatre devised to start conversations about identity, class and belonging
PAUL FOLEY applauds a faultless musical that tells the tragic real-life story of working-class winners of the football pools
PAUL FOLEY is blown away by a Brazilian band at the top of their game
