JAMES WALSH is moved by a provocative and original take on the relationship between ecology and architecture, and a plea to work with, not against, the materials and minerals of our world
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Soft centre
YVONNE LYSANDROU sees a production of a Brian Friel play which ignores the anguished meditation on human frailty at its core
An immersive, participatory display by a queer Australian Aboriginal performer, and a rebellious unravelling of traditional Scottish dance
EWAN CAMERON witnesses a political farce that lacks a clear message
EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
The Faith Healer
Donmar, London WC2
3/5
GIVEN Britain’s current sodden state, the sheets of rain in Es Devin’s design which precede The Faith Healer’s opening seem spectacularly apt, although their dramatic function is less so.
Brian Friel’s play, a series of monologues, is notoriously difficult to produce and in the past has come in for much criticism for its static, undramatic quality.
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MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class
WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb