GORDON PARSONS is bowled over by a skilfully stripped down and powerfully relevant production of Hamlet
Film round up: September 12, 2024
Iranian late-bloomers, holiday chums, the poison pen, and Pakistani lesbians: The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews My Favourite Cake, Speak No Evil, The Critic, and The Queen Of My Dreams
In which we accompany the Bard into Cymru to meet his musical accomplices, young and old
SUE TURNER is inspired by the example of a librarian’s struggle to confront the book-banning movement
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews I Am Martin Parr, September Says, The Monkey, and The Gorge
RITA DI SANTO applauds a touching and witty opener that touches a hot topic in Germany: the future of the immigrant population
SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
My Favourite Cake (12A)
Directed by Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha
★★★★
THIS beautiful and tender love story lifts the lid on the life of women behind closed doors in Iran as they battle discrimination in a patriarchal society which considers them second-class citizens.
More from this author
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
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Vegan sermons, undercut snobs, fake messiahs and mash-up horror. The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews I Could Never Go Vegan, Jeanne Du Barry, The Book of Clarence, and Abigail