New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
Hitting the spirits
PETER MASON mixes with Shinto spirits that are eccentric and querulous rather than downright menacing
JAN WOOLF wallows in the historical mulch of post WW2 West Germany, and the resistant, challenging sense made of it by Anselm Kiefer
ANA ISABEL NUNES points to the empowering legacy of Augusto Boal’s Theatre Of The Oppressed
CARLOS MARTINEZ welcomes the publication of the writings of the great Palestinian author, political theorist and spokesman for the PFLP
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE review Cottontail, Memoir of a Snail, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, and Captain America: Brave New World
PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by an account of the long history of Catholic Church’s involvement in espionage
ROGER McKENZIE welcomes an important contribution to the history of Africa, telling the story in its own right rather than in relation to Europeans
Spirited Away
London Coliseum
MOUNTING a stage version of one of the most popular films of all time is a daunting challenge, but this John Caird-directed version of the Studio Ghibli classic pulls off the trick with poise.
Wisely faithful to the original and featuring all of the beloved characters that made the animated movie such a hit, it sticks firmly to the plot as 10-year-old Chihiro tries to rescue her parents from the spirit world into which they have become locked.
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
Similar stories
PETER MASON is moved by a striking production of Noel Streatfeild’s enduringly popular children’s book
The sonic possibilities of the violin are tested to their limits in new works, reports SIMON DUFF
PETER MASON applauds a new drama that looks at knife crime through the lens of a group of young south Londoners
