MARIA DUARTE, LEO BOIX and ANGUS REID review Brides, Dead of Winter, A Night Like This, and The Librarians
Nightmare in the sun
MAYER WAKEFIELD finds himself caught in the crossfire during a riveting piece of activist theatre
IS THERE AN IMPERIALIST IN THE ROOM? Davinia Hamilton in Blanket Ban
[Ali Wright] ![REBELS: Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar in Nadia Fall’s powerful debut feature Brides [Pic: IMDb]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2025-09/round%20up%20web_0.jpg.webp?itok=41xI6jhN)
MARY CONWAY recommends an early Shakespearean tragedy that feels so contemporary that it mirrors our daily news
A ghost story by Mexican Ave Barrera, a Surrealist poetry collection by Peruvian Cesar Moro, and a manifesto-poem on women’s labour and capitalist havoc by Peruvian Valeria Roman Marroquin
DAVID NICHOLSON recommends a dazzling production of Bernstein’s opera set in a world where chaos and violence are greeted by equanimity
MARY CONWAY is frustrated by a new play that loses its drama amid the moral dilemma of re-settling children in the aftermath of WWII
Acclaimed as a masterpiece when it premiered, this study of story-telling in an Irish pub more than lives up to expectations, says MARY CONWAY
SYLVIA HIKINS relishes a comedy that dives deep into Liverpool’s divided loyalties
Blanket Ban
Southwark Playhouse
BLANKET BAN is as much activism as it is theatre.
Marta Vella and Davinia Hamilton, two Maltese Londoners, have created a startling call to action for abortion rights which is funny, illuminating, a little uneven and at points devastating.
With some of the most liberal social laws in Europe, 300 days of sunshine and a “party all the time” attitude to life, the Mediterranean island of Malta is initially painted as a paradise. That illusion is quickly shattered for one member of the audience in particular — this sheepish reviewer himself — who is jokingly chastised for Britain’s 150-year colonial rule.
More from this author
MAYER WAKEFIELD recommends a musical ‘love letter’ to black power activists of the 1970s
MAYER WAKEFIELD speaks to Urielle Klein-Mekongo about activism, musical inspiration and the black British experience
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
