MARY CONWAY applauds the revival of a tense, and extremely funny, study of men, money and playing cards
A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Rep, Birmingham/Touring
Khaled Hosseini’s evocative fiction is lost in translation to the stage
At the mercy of the plot: Sujaya Dasgupta, Pal Aron and Amina Zia
MEHDI ACHOUCHE explores the constant fascination of cinema with Marxist alienation from Fritz Lang and Chaplin to Bong Joon Ho
FIONA O’CONNOR steps warily through a novel that skewers many of the exposed flanks of the over-privileged
MARY CONWAY applauds the study of a dysfunctional family set in an Ireland that could be anywhere
MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
KHALED HOSSEINI’S 2007 bestselling novel is a powerful story that follows the fortunes of two indomitable Afghan women over three decades.
Forced together by circumstances, their increasingly dependent relationship, set against the harrowing disintegration of Kabul under Taliban rule, is suffused with the sense of daily Afghan life.
Unfortunately, this production sacrifices most of the texture and sensory elements of the novel for mere narrative. Traditional costumes, cursory dances, recorded Afghan music and patrolling Taliban militia are no replacement for how the book submerges the reader into another world.
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SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
SIMON PARSONS applauds an insightful state-of-the-nation play that explores the growing class divide in South Africa
SIMON PARSONS applauds a tense and thoughtful production that regularly challenges our political engagement and prejudices
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SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
MARIA DUARTE is moved and outraged by a courageous undercover documentary that explores the plight of women in Afghanistan
SIMON PARSONS salutes drama that registers how the impact of the sexual assault ripples out through every element of a family’s existence
DOC RITCHIE assesses an account of the disastrous evacuation by last British ambassador to Afghanistan