SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
To re-enact, or not to re-enact?
MATTHEW HAWKINS revels in the metaphor — and the spectacle — of a group of argumentative medieval re-enacters caught at a crossroads
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
I LIKED this show before it started. Crystal Pite is known for her insight into the resources of big theatres. She mobilises these with assurance and flair. The powers-that-be rightly queue up to engage her. Here she is at Edinburgh International Festival vaunting a piece of dance-theatre in which “a group of medieval re-enactors gather for their annual general meeting.”
On paper alone, this is priceless.
More from this author
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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WILL STONE applauds a quartet of dance vignettes exploring the joys and sorrows of the human condition
MATTHEW HAWKINS applauds two evocative new productions that have premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe before touring nationwide
MATTHEW HAWKINS savours the brilliant dynamism of Brazilian contemporary dance, and Leicester’s own virtuoso of Indian dervishery
Trans perspectives, opposites attract, washed-out noir and white-knuckle fridging: the Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Orlando, My Political Biography, The Nature of Love, What Remains, and Kill