LEO BOIX recommends a ravishing, full-bodied drama about the intensely demanding and emotional art of Kabuki theatre
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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
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: The cast of The Grapes of Wrath
[Richard Hubert Smith]
On the day of the election, MARTIN GOLLAN reflects on the perennial relationship between the far-right and the back-hander
MARY CONWAY is gripped by the powerful emotional journeys portrayed by the parents of the perpetrator and victims of a mass shooting
LEO BOIX reviews a novel where shadows deceive and mortality looms, and a poetry collection that refuses to dim
ROBIN STYLES welcomes a boundary pushing work of fiction exploring the life and ideas of the godmother of modernism
PAUL DONOVAN recommends an energetic adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel, that emphasises how psychiatry is a tool in the hands of a racist agenda
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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