SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
Not somebody that I used to know
WILL STONE gets a little lost in a play about memory that misremembers another production of itself
PAUL FOLEY recommends an extraordinary double bill that packs a punch and leaves you reeling
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a play about AI that results in a deadening disconnect for its audience
SIMON PARSONS applauds an insightful state-of-the-nation play that explores the growing class divide in South Africa
MATTHEW HAWKINS pays tribute to the performance artist and costumier, Leigh Bowery
SIMON DUFF reviews a new composition by German composer and pianist Florian Weber that blurs the line between where improvisation ends and composition begins
New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
Mnemonic
National Theatre, London
MEMORY is a fascinating thing. How is it that we can remember what we did on New Year’s Eve last year but most of us will struggle to recall what we were doing on Wednesday evening two weeks ago?
Big occasions like new year, birthdays and holidays act like mnemonics, something that aids memory, which is usually associated with rhymes, patterns or acronyms such as ROYGBIV for the colours of the rainbow.
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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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