New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
Telling their own story
PAUL DONOVAN applauds a good piece of political theatre that offers a glimpse of how badly children have been treated in the UK
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The Children’s Inquiry
Southwark Playhouse, London
THIS vibrant musical production from theatre company Lung offers a glimpse of how badly children have been treated in this country over the years.
The Children’s Inquiry, written by Helen Monks and Matt Woodhead, focuses on the stories of four children. Jelicia is viewed as a social worker’s success story, Frank has been through eight foster homes, while Angelica and Amber end up in care, after their parents are deported.
The individual stories fit against a backdrop of the fate of children over the past 150 years.
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ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
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A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
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ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
Similar stories
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A nervous year, showing that the theatre, like the world, stands on a precipice and seems uncertain where to jump
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/ballet_shoes_web.jpg.webp?itok=U7Yykaiy)
PETER MASON is moved by a striking production of Noel Streatfeild’s enduringly popular children’s book
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SYLVIA HIKINS rejoices at the confounding of evil property developers in a subversive re-telling of the fairytale
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LYNNE WALSH applauds an exceptional piece of theatre that pits the BUF against the heroes of Cable Street