The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Sebastian, Four Mothers, Restless, and The Most Precious of Cargoes
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Best of 2019: Art, music and theatre
OUTSTANDING: David Judge in Sparkplug Pic: Alex Mead/Decoy Media
JOHN GREEN explores the argument that psychiatry needs to move away from the idea of just seeing and treating the individual
SYLVIA HIKINS applauds a polemic against “cleanfluencers” and considers radical alternatives to current inequalities of housework
RUTH AYLETT admires the blunt honesty with which a woman’s experience is recorded, but detects the unexamined privilege that underlies it
IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
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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