MARJ MAYO recommends a lyrical and disturbing account of the tragic suicide in Venice of Pateh Sabally, a refugee from the Gambia
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Malign performances
GORDON PARSONS is beguiled by an analysis of performance operates in theatre and plays a vital role in political power-play
THE BIG SLEEP: Donald Trump at his trial at Manhattan criminal court last Thursday
[Mike Segar/Pool Photo via AP]
In the face of Trump’s brutal aggression, DODIE WEPPLER and TRISH MEEHAN invite you to share some of the masterpieces of Cuban cinema
ANDY HEDGECOCK recommends an unflinching analysis of the billionaire class that celebrates collective resistance to it
MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review The Bride!, The King’s Warden, Sound of Falling, and Mother’s Pride
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Nicaraguan guitarist OMAR RIOS MELENDEZ
SIMON PARSONS applauds an outstanding one woman show that weaves real poems and narratives into the story of one girl’s flight
The Performer: Art, Life, Politics
Richard Sennet
Allen Lane, £25
“WHEN I started to write this essay on society and the performing arts, a cluster of demagogues had come to dominate the public realm. Donald Trump in America and Boris Johnson in Britain are skilled performers. Malign performances of this sort draw on the same materials of expression, though, as other kinds of expression.”
This is a promising start to leading US sociologist Richard Sennett’s entertaining and provocatively informative examination of the place and the nature of performance both on stage and in society at large.
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