ANDY HEDGECOCK is entertained by a playful novel that embeds a fictional game at its heart
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By the people, for the people
MARY CONWAY is inspired by a community theatre project that explores the remarkable life of Ada Salter
(left) Ada opens a playground by planting a tree, Alfred is on her left
[(L to R) Grahamcoleridge/CC and public domain]
Death comes for Liberals, entitled murder, Vatican hit squads, and fraternising with the Blitz killer
New releases from Public Image Ltd, William Basinski, and John Luther Adams
GABRIELE NEHER draws attention to an astoundingly skilled Flemish painter who defied the notion that women cannot paint like men
The Bard pays homage to Hull’s finest promoter and venue, and awards Douze Points to Laibach
KEVIN DONNELLY outlines how the bourgeois institutions inhibit our ability to to view art in revolutionary ways, and suggests some tactics to overturn it
Bermondsey Revolution
Southwark Playhouse Elephant
Until January 28
COMMUNITY theatre at its most dynamic is a profoundly transformative experience as Bertolt Brecht has vouched. And it bodes well for the future that the spanking, brand new Southwark Playhouse Elephant theatre has kicked off with this hugely relevant offering from director John Whelan’s splendid brainchild: People’s Company.
To watch this project at work is to experience at first-hand something of the reformative zeal the play aims to capture. And it’s by watching the faces of the wonderfully diverse, volunteer cast – drawn entirely from the locality – that the soul of this artistic venture is realised.
Ada Salter – iconic social activist and central figure in this play – would have approved.
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