SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
An absolute ramshackle treat
JAMES WALSH happily capitulates to a master of DIY depression and despair
PAUL FOLEY recommends an extraordinary double bill that packs a punch and leaves you reeling
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a play about AI that results in a deadening disconnect for its audience
SIMON PARSONS applauds an insightful state-of-the-nation play that explores the growing class divide in South Africa
MATTHEW HAWKINS pays tribute to the performance artist and costumier, Leigh Bowery
SIMON DUFF reviews a new composition by German composer and pianist Florian Weber that blurs the line between where improvisation ends and composition begins
New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage + David Cronenberg’s Wife
The Crescent, York
IN a workingmen’s club turned community venue in Old York, indie kids young and old are out in force to see Jeffrey Lewis: New York’s finest, and possibly only, comic-book artist, perma-touring troubadour, DIY garage-rock musician, and anti-folk songwriter.
What is anti-folk? Tom, singer in support band David Cronenberg’s Wife, is on-hand to explain: ”It’s acoustic punk, of course, and it’s about things that are true to life. Like this next song, which is about when I met a mermaid.”
More from this author
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
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ANGUS REID is transported by a relentless and double-bass-swingingly great set of punkfolk classics
Chilly Gonzales’ music is interspersed with much thoughtful and comedic storytelling and philosophising, writes GEORGE FOGARTY
James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Art Tatum Trio and Kevin Figes
PAUL FARMER relishes, and recommends a magisterial set from one of the great singer-songwriters