Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
An unexpected and singular aberration
MARY CONWAY explains her disappointment with the ‘reconfigured’ classic
trio
PAUL FOLEY is disappointed by a production that encourages the audience to laugh at rather than with the characters
Odysseus’s homecoming myth is treated as a factual story, with strong resonances for our contemporary world. This is an implicit anti-war film that has an urgent relevance, writes JOHN GREEN
The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
PATRICK JONES recommends a vital anthology from Afghan and Iranian poets where the political and personal fuse into witness-bearing and manifesto-making
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
The Dance of Death
Arcola
AUGUST STRINDBERG’S hugely influential play The Dance of Death, in a new version by Oscar-winning writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz (for Best Foreign Language Film Ida, co-written with Paweł Pawlikowski) is a thrilling proposition at the Arcola. And when you add the intelligent, star-performance skills of the luminous Lindsay Duncan to the mix – not to mention the commanding confidence of acclaimed director Mehmet Ergen – you would expect a night to remember from this highly anticipated run.
So why the disappointment?
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A nervous year, showing that the theatre, like the world, stands on a precipice and seems uncertain where to jump
MARY CONWAY applauds a worthy revival of the US 1939 classic drama that studies the dehumanising consequences of affluence
MARY CONWAY relishes the revival of two classics for the naked expression of truthful thoughts and class anger