MARIA DUARTE, LEO BOIX and ANGUS REID review Brides, Dead of Winter, A Night Like This, and The Librarians
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What happens when the arts are democratised
GORDON PARSONS applauds a history of the US Federal Theatre Project, that brought political theatre to millions in the US
STUNNING: The arrival of King Duncan and his court at Macbeth's palace in Act I, Scene 2, of the Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth at the Lafayette Theatre in April 1936
[Federal Theatre Project/LoC/CC] ![REBELS: Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar in Nadia Fall’s powerful debut feature Brides [Pic: IMDb]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2025-09/round%20up%20web_0.jpg.webp?itok=41xI6jhN)
MARY CONWAY recommends an early Shakespearean tragedy that feels so contemporary that it mirrors our daily news
A ghost story by Mexican Ave Barrera, a Surrealist poetry collection by Peruvian Cesar Moro, and a manifesto-poem on women’s labour and capitalist havoc by Peruvian Valeria Roman Marroquin
DAVID NICHOLSON recommends a dazzling production of Bernstein’s opera set in a world where chaos and violence are greeted by equanimity
MARY CONWAY is frustrated by a new play that loses its drama amid the moral dilemma of re-settling children in the aftermath of WWII
Acclaimed as a masterpiece when it premiered, this study of story-telling in an Irish pub more than lives up to expectations, says MARY CONWAY
SYLVIA HIKINS relishes a comedy that dives deep into Liverpool’s divided loyalties
The Playbook
James Shapiro
Faber, £20
IF it is to attract the attention of readers other than those interested in plays and playmaking, Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro’s compelling book certainly needs its subtitle, “A Study of Theatre, Democracy and the Making of a Culture War.”
The author, recognising this, prefaces his opening with dictionary definitions of the term “playbook,” including “A set of tactics frequently employed by one engaged in competitive activity.”
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