ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
Gizza job!
PAUL DONOVAN recommends a skilful adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s 1980s epic TV drama
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
PAUL FOLEY recommends an extraordinary double bill that packs a punch and leaves you reeling
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a play about AI that results in a deadening disconnect for its audience
SIMON PARSONS applauds an insightful state-of-the-nation play that explores the growing class divide in South Africa
Boys from the Blackstuff
National Theatre, London
THIS excellent adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s 1980s epic drama has great resonance for the insecure working environment of today.
The play, about five men struggling to find work in Thatcher’s 1980s Britain, brings out the desperation of the time but not without a little humour.
James Graham’s skilful adaptation compacts what was a five-part serial TV drama into just two-and-a-half hours.
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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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