ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
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Some mothers won’t leave ‘em
MARY CONWAY marvels at the totally engrossing revival of a little-known classic that speaks volumes to interpersonal relationships today
RAW POSSESSIVENESS: Jemma Carlton, Dario Coates and Sophie Ward in Sidney Howard’s The Silver Cord
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
The Silver Cord
Finborough Theatre, London
ARTISTIC director Neil McPherson proves his weight in gold, again, as he pursues his mission to bring forgotten gems back to the London stage.
The Silver Cord by US writer Sidney Howard is one such find. Last seen in the West End in 1927-28, it’s been gathering dust for a century as new fads and fashions grip the theatre world.
But it’s a worthy revival. For, though set in a traditional New England home in a long-gone era, it skewers our hearts now with its unswervingly profound central theme: that of the umbilical bond between mother and son.
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