GORDON PARSONS is bowled over by a skilfully stripped down and powerfully relevant production of Hamlet
Leaving Kabul
DOC RITCHIE assesses an account of the disastrous evacuation by last British ambassador to Afghanistan
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
Kabul: Final Call: The Inside Story of the Withdrawal from Afghanistan August 2021
Laurie Bristow
Whittles, £18.99
IN February 2020 Donald Trump signed the Doha Agreement to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan but, like everything else he has said or done, it failed. The Taliban were invited, the Afghan government was not.
Laurie Bristow was the last British ambassador to Afghanistan and his book details the Kabul evacuation. It is part diary and part grim countdown to the inevitable as he attends ambassadorial drinks, lunches and dinners.
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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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