With reservations, RON JACOBS recommends a deep dive into the nature, history, and mindset of US intelligence
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Plotless musical flops
PETER MASON points out that it takes more than a string of poppy power ballads to make a satisfactory drama
CAUGHT IN THE CLUTCHES: John Robyns and Cayleigh Capaldi in Figaro
[Fahad Alinizi] 
JOHN HAWKINS wrestles with the anti-humanist fantasies of techno-feudalist thinking
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review 2000 Meters to Andriivka, Savages, The Legend of Ochi, and The Naked Gun
GORDON PARSONS advises you to get up to speed on obscure ancient ceremonies to grasp this interpretation of a late Shakespearean tragi-comedy
DENNIS BROE enjoys the political edge of a series that unmasks British imperialism, resonates with the present and has been buried by Disney
STEVE JOHNSON speaks to DJ and singer/songwriter Mark Radcliffe
Figaro: An Original Musical
London Palladium
NOTHING to do with The Marriage of Figaro, this new musical tells the story of an impressionable young female singer, Sienna, who is literally and figuratively hypnotised by a controlling, philandering impresario who wants to feature her as the prize act in his travelling show.
It turns out that Figaro – for it is he – has done this kind of thing before. When Sienna eventually twigs that he’s not really in love with her, she tries to release herself from his clutches.
Though a new storyline, it’s a rather confusing one, especially at the end, where we’re not quite sure which bits of it have been real or imagined.
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‘There's outrage aplenty in this production but we never quite get to the dark night of the soul,’ writes WILL STONE
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