JON BALDWIN recommends a provocative assertion of how working-class culture can rethink knowledge
Music of the haunted generation
Above a Gothic bar just down from Brighton station, something spooky is happening, suggests JAMES WALSH
These are vivid accounts of people’s experiences of far-right violence along with documentation of popular resistance, says MARJORIE MAYO
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE, JOHN GREEN and ANGUS REID review An Army of Women, Julie Keeps Quiet, The Friend and The Ugly Stepsister
GORDON PARSONS squirms at a production that attempts to update Shakespeare’s comedy to a tale of Premier League football
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
A NEW festival celebrating and showcasing folk culture, Once&Future is celebrating the uptick in interest in folk — especially the darker side of things. There are talks on the “haunted generation”, those who had their brains addled by sinister 1970s television, excellent, politically astute bands like The Witchcraft and Vagrancy Act, songs about death, and yet more songs about death.
“This tends to happen in times of political unease. When the world is crazy you look for something to hang on to. If you can’t make sense of the world politically then you look for other things to tether yourself to,” reckons Once&Future co-founder Hattie Snooks, who is performing songs inspired by tales of her native Hampshire on Saturday under her alter-ego of Queen Mab.
“Maybe if we can reconnect with the land, maybe if we can reconnect with each other, maybe if we can reconnect with our customs, then maybe we’ll gain some control over it, and learn that we don’t need control over everything and there is stuff beyond the capitalist agenda.”
More from this author
While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
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
