ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
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A wise fool in bleak times
MARY CONWAY feels the timeliness of Dostoevky’s strange tale of a nihilist who corrupts an imaginary paradise
MASTERCLASS: Greg Hicks as Dostoevsky's Ridiculous Man
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
The Marylebone Theatre, London
LAURENCE BOSWELL’s stage adaptation of Dostoevsky’s short story couldn’t be more timely.
Set, not in its original 19th century Russia but in contemporary London, this new dramatisation testifies to the greatness of the source work, effortlessly crossing a divide of almost 150 years to capture at the deepest level our lives today.
In our time, we are reminded, hope for a brighter future defeats us, the planet is in freefall, mankind seems intent on self-destruction, governments behave with increasing contempt for the governed, depression and mental illness stalk our young and words of vitriol fill our airwaves. Indeed it’s hard to think of the universe as anything other than a speck of meaningless dust.
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