MARK TURNER is thrilled by the the British singer’s tribute to the late great Sarah Vaughan
Latest editorial
Belfast’s finest
Belfast’s finest
An unexpected favourite at Sunday’s Golden Globes, JENNY FARRELL inspects the political context of the film Kneecap and its ferocious advocacy of the Irish language
RITA DI SANTO speaks to Laura Carreira about her study of workers in an Amazon warehouse, On Falling
MATTHEW HAWKINS appreciates an interpretation in dance of James Baldwin’s landmark novel of doomed homosexual desire
NICK WRIGHT delicately unpicks the eloquent writings on art of an intellectual pessimist who wears his Marxism lightly
STEF LYONS is swept along by the infectious energy of an ex-con single mother’s dreams of Nashville
New releases from Jenn Butterworth, Liz Overs, and Gigspanner Big Band
SUSAN DARLINGTON applauds the translation of Jane Eyre into a ballet that preserves the drama of her formative years
THE Irish language is often relegated to the past — a relic of rural idylls or historical dramas. Kneecap, directed by Rich Peppiatt, smashes this notion with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, delivering a brash, hilarious and poignant quasi-biopic of Belfast’s working-class Irish-language left-wing rap trio, Kneecap.
Mo Chara (Liam Og O Hannaidh), Moglai Bap (Naoise O Caireallain), and DJ Provai (JJ O Dochartaigh) star as fictionalised versions of themselves, portraying their riotous rise in a city grappling with its post-Troubles identity.
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
Similar stories
A government disinterested in making serious economic and social interventions for native speakers of the Irish language, coupled with a neoliberal housing policy, is killing off Ireland’s last Gaelic strongholds, writes MORGAN DE MOINBHIOL
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE salutes a frenetic and funny political comedy drama whose battleground is Belfast and where the weapons are words
Dozens of bands withdrew from the prestigious music showcase in Texas, denouncing its sponsorship by the US Army and military ties to a defence manufacturer that arms the murderous Israeli state, reports TONY BURKE