GORDON PARSONS is bowled over by a skilfully stripped down and powerfully relevant production of Hamlet
Lifting the veil
MARIA DUARTE is moved and outraged by a courageous undercover documentary that explores the plight of women in 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
Bread & Roses (15)
Directed by Sahra Mani
AS women in the US are having their health rights eroded, in Afghanistan, under the Taliban dictatorship, women are banned from working, getting an education, walking or travelling in a taxi on their own, singing or listening to music and they cannot even talk outside their homes.
The stark realities for Afghan women living in this so-called gender apartheid are shown in Afghan director Sahra Mani’s powerful and harrowing documentary which follows three women in real time as they secretly filmed guerilla-style their day-to-day plight and fight against the regime.
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
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