MARJORIE MAYO recommends an accessible and unsettling novel that uses a true incident of death in the Channel to raise questions of wider moral responsibility
For this (comic) relief, much thanks
GORDON PARSONS is glad to have his mind taken off the election by a perfectly pitched farce
SUPERB: Samantha Spiro as Mistress Page and Ian Hughes and Sir Hugh Evans in The Merry Wives of Windsor
MIK SABIERS wallows in a night of political punk and funk that fires both barrels at Trump
Reasonable radicalism, death in Abu Dhabi, locked-room romance, and sleuthing in the Blitz
SIMON DUFF recommends a new album from renowned composer and oud player Anour Brahem.
JAMES WALSH has a great night in the company of basketball players, quantum physicists and the exquisite timing of Rosie Jones
A New Awakening: Adventures In British Jazz 1966 - 1971, G3, and Buck Owens
JAMES WALSH is moved by an exhibition of graphic art that relates horrors that would be much less immediate in other media
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
SHAKESPEARE is notable for spicing his tragedies with touches of comedy and, conversely, his comedies with tragic grace notes. Right on key with our ongoing election shenanigans, the RST launches arguably the playwright’s only true farce.
Blanche McIntyre knows that the essence of successful farce depends on pace and timing and her perfectly pitched production carries the play’s well-worked content of what were, even for the Bard, old gulling jokes with confident energy.
But even this wouldn’t work without a team of actors who can handle the improbabilities of the plot convincingly.
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SIMON PARSONS questions whether a dark take on Shakespeare’s Seasonal comedy is in harmony with the original text
GORDON PARSONS hails a magnificent performance by a cast who make sure that every word can be heard and understood
GORDON PARSONS relishes a Shakespearean comedy played at pace for sheer delight
GORDON PARSONS relishes a fast moving production of Sheridan’s comic masterpiece