GUILLERMO THOMAS recommends an important, if dispiriting book about the neo-colonial culture of Uganda under Yoweri Museveni
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No real catharsis offered
This production’s bland ‘let’s not offend anybody’ approach could not be less appropriate in a work with such piercing and targeted acumen, writes MARY CONWAY
(L to R) Sophia Brown (Tituba), Fisayo Akinade (Rev. Hale), Alastair Parker (Thomas Putnam), Martin Johnston (Ensemble) and Zoe Aldrich (Ann Putnam)
[Johan Persson]
SUSAN DARLINGTON applauds the sensuality and strong characterisation of an unconventional ballet about an unconventional woman
BRENT CUTLER admires the plotting but takes issue with the politics of a new Scottish crime thriller
Tyrannosaurs in Thailand, colonialism as videogame, and a feminist gem from 1936
PAUL FOLEY steps gingerly through an exhibition that purports to show east and south-east Asian culture, and questions its intentions
New releases from Alex Wilson and Omar Rios Melendez, Hello Cosmos, and Harry Christelis
The Crucible
National Theatre
PLAYWRIGHT Arthur Miller is a towering figure of the 20th century. The Crucible is one reason why.
Written in 1953, the play transports us to late 17th-century Massachusetts and the infamous Salem witch trials. It’s a magnificent tale, rooted in those early years of the American dream when the quest for religious tolerance and individual freedom clashed with the tyranny of the big idea and the spawning of new authority figures. The quintessential struggle between those who would impose order and obedience and those who instinctively fragment it is the source of all frenzy here.
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