The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan
No sex in the Whoniverse
HARRY GALLAGHER relishes a poet who bares her soul under a microscope’s lens
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Here, Vermiglio, William Tell and Wolf Man
New releases from Thorpe and Morrison, Daria Kulesh, and Will Finn and Rosie Calvert
RINA ARYA confronts the brutal operation of Francis Bacon’s approach to portraiture
Emphasising his continuous engagement in labour movement struggles, ALISTAIR FINDLAY salutes John Foster’s contribution as activist, strategist, intellectual and defender of the Morning Star
ANDY MIAH advocates the use of AI to assist people by expanding access to global literature and culture
EWAN KOTZ relishes a veteran Glasgow band that have lost none of their verve for live performance
Bigger On The Inside
Kate Fox, Smokestack, £7.99
BIGGER On The Inside has its roots in a spoken word show and addresses neuro-diversity, principally autism and ADHD with precision, warmth and some humour. In this way, it’s both personal — Kate Fox has an autism diagnosis — and universal. It takes its title from a Doctor Who quote about women being “bigger on the inside,” as of course is the great Doctor’s home The Tardis.
I’ve seen Kate Fox live; she’s funny, clever and likeable, and it’s obvious she has spent enough time doing live shows to know what audiences like. So live, she delivers in spades. But not having read much of her work “on the page,” I wasn’t sure what to expect.
I needn’t have worried. Witness from the title poem: “White space speaks/ while the fonts stay quiet./ I called the counselling group women/ midwives of silence/ because they let words/ hang in the air”.
And later in the same piece, addressing live performance from the poet’s point of view:
“The stories we tell and hear/ will abide/ to make us bigger on the inside.”
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