MARY CONWAY applauds the revival of a tense, and extremely funny, study of men, money and playing cards
Strategies of resistance
SIMON PARSONS applauds the psychological study of prisoners dealing with a frighteningly oppressive world endured by far too many
Ross Tomlinson as Smash and Waj Ali as Valdez in The Unseen
MEHDI ACHOUCHE explores the constant fascination of cinema with Marxist alienation from Fritz Lang and Chaplin to Bong Joon Ho
FIONA O’CONNOR steps warily through a novel that skewers many of the exposed flanks of the over-privileged
MARY CONWAY applauds the study of a dysfunctional family set in an Ireland that could be anywhere
MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
The Unseen
Riverside Studios, London
CRAIG WRIGHT’s deft and thought-provoking script set in an isolation wing for political prisoners shows little evidence of its initial commission as a play about Jesus. Instead, the taut drama is based round the relationship of two contrasting prisoners and their violent yet troubled guard.
In near adjacent cells, Wallace, an articulate analytical doctor and Valdez, a reticent yet impassioned former actor have established a long-standing relationship based only on their verbal exchanges, frequently based around word games.
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SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
SIMON PARSONS applauds an insightful state-of-the-nation play that explores the growing class divide in South Africa
SIMON PARSONS applauds a tense and thoughtful production that regularly challenges our political engagement and prejudices
Similar stories
SIMON PARSONS applauds an expressive and delicate drama that depicts a deaf son’s Hindu funeral ceremony for his father
PETER MASON is disappointed by a clunky comedy that falls flat
Using magic realism to highlight the problems of migrants does not sit easily with the harsh reality, says SIMON PARSONS
SIMON PARSONS salutes drama that registers how the impact of the sexual assault ripples out through every element of a family’s existence