Releases from Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Maggie Nicols/Robert Mitchell/Alya Al Sultani, and Gordon Beck Trio and Quintet
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Mr E’s adventures in Cartoonland
SUSAN DARLINGTON applauds a play that explores the role that imagination can play for children growing up through trauma
Stefan Davis in Please Right Back
[Andrew Perry]
The Bard stands with the Reformers of Peterloo, and their shared genius in teaching history with music and song
SUE TURNER is fascinated by a book that researches who the largely immigrant workforce were that built the Empire State
MARIA DUARTE and MALC McGOOKIN review Sirat, The Testament of Ann Lee, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, and All You Need Is Kill
STEVE ANDREW recommends a Marxist analysis of the long chains of production that global corporations exploit
MARY CONWAY relishes the period detail but misses the drama in this unsatisfactory dramatisation of the subjugated life of George Eliot
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a mainstream scholar to the ranks of left-wing critique of US foreign policy
Please Right Back
Leeds Playhouse
TWO people in dunce’s caps mutely hand out pencils to the audience. A voiceover explains that the story we’re about to watch could be based on real life, or it could be a work of fiction. It’s unclear how, or indeed if, the various elements relate but if you sit back and let 1927’s “dysfunctional family show” wash over you, it does begin to make sense.
Framed within the tropes of film noir, the multimedia play opens with Mr E (Stefan Davis) being instructed to hand over a briefcase to a mysterious Mr Jones. In scenes reminiscent of classic Hitchcock, the case is stolen and he must go on a special mission to retrieve it before he can return home to his family.
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GORDON PARSONS is disappointed by an unsubtle production of this comedy of upper middle class infidelity
SUSAN DARLINGTON is bowled over by an outstanding play about the past, present and future of race and identity in the US
JAMES WALSH has a great night in the company of basketball players, quantum physicists and the exquisite timing of Rosie Jones
MARY CONWAY admires an accomplished drama that explores the consequences of a fatal punch on a desolate housing estate