The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Sebastian, Four Mothers, Restless, and The Most Precious of Cargoes
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Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis, Park Theatre London N4
An alternative treat to the usual Christmas collection
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
THE theatre at this time of year is inevitably awash with so many children’s pantos and Christmas shows, so it’s a relief to sit back and enjoy an “alternative” play which has nothing in common with either.
Surprisingly, in its 21-year history, this is the first time that Charlotte Jones’s amusing and poignant play about a gathering of quirky and kooky characters for Josie’s landmark 40th birthday is on stage in London. And Finsbury Park’s Park Theatre is an ideal location for its belated London debut.
Written and set in a cramped living room in Bolton in the 1990s, dominatrix Josie (a perfectly casted Kellie Batchelor) is in no mood to celebrate her birthday, but, persuaded by her client and dry-cleaning-business owner Lionel — likeable if dim — along with her ice-skating-obsessed daughter Brenda-Marie and her OCD cleaner Martha, she gives in. And so, with much entertainment from an Elvis impersonator — characterised brilliantly by Matt Lim who really is the star of the show — a night of fun, laughter and tears takes off.
While the subject matter is sobering and serious, this isn't your run-of-the-mill polemic, write INDIE PURCELL
An absolute must for those who love film and graphic novels, writes INDIANNA PURCELL