MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
Latest editorial
Girls in blue
SUSAN DARLINGTON is disappointed by a show that aims to highlight misogyny within the police but fails to arrest the audience's attention
(L to R) Eddie Ahrens, Rachel Hammond, Hannah Baker and Harvey Badger in A Force To Be Reckoned With
[Robling Photography]
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
A Force to be Reckoned With: Wetherby Whaler, Guiseley
INTIMATE community shows about big subject matters are something in which Mikron specialises, having previously tackled the suffragette movement and the NHS. An exploration of pioneering women in the police should be an easy win, especially at a time the force is under increasing scrutiny about institutional misogyny.
It’s therefore disappointing to find that Amanda Whittington’s A Force to be Reckoned With fails to arrest the audience’s attention.
The four-handed play centres on WPC Iris Armstrong (Hannah Baker), an eager-to-please new 1950s recruit who can quote passages of the law verbatim. Her dreams of walking the beat are challenged by the reality of typing and making drinks for her two male colleagues (Eddie Ahrens and Harvey Badger), until she teams up with ambitious and no-nonsense WPC Ruby Roberts (Rachel Hammond).
Similar stories
Conman conned in a twisty thriller, blind trust tested to the limit, cunning murder methods, and tip-top police procedural
GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
MARY CONWAY applauds the timely revival of Miller’s study of people fatally deformed by the economics of survival
MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class