MARK TURNER is staggered by a gifted jazz pianist from the Welsh Valleys
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The great wine press of the wrath of God
PAUL DONOVAN admires a brave attempt to stage John Steinbeck’s epic tale of poverty-stricken 1930s America
JESSICA WIDNER explores how the twin themes of violence and love run through the novels of South Korean Nobel prize-winner Han Kang
SARAH TROTT explores short fictional slices of life in the American midwest from a middle-aged and mostly female perspective
New releases from Black Country, New Road, Anouar Brahem, and Jaywalkers
RICHARD CLARKE recommends a hugely valuable text for those seeking theoretical analysis and practical action to defend public services
JOHN HAWKINS is moved by an oral history that examines five black families pushed into homelessness in the US
BOB NEWLAND recommends an outstanding study of how images have shaped narratives of identity, resistance and power in South Africa
The Grapes of Wrath
National Theatre
IT is a very difficult task to adapt John Steinbeck’s brilliant 1939 book, the Grapes of Wrath, for the stage. It is a brave dramatic act to even try, let alone achieve.
This attempt at the National Theatre, using Frank Galati’s adaptation, makes a great effort, encapsulating many of the moods of desperation and defiance of adversity, but whether it totally gets there is open to question.
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