Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones
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Exuberant anti-fascist musical
LYNNE WALSH applauds an exceptional piece of theatre that pits the BUF against the heroes of Cable Street
The cast of Cable Street, the musical
[Jane Hobson]
SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US
In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre
JOHN GREEN doubts the motivations of a US war photographer who never questions why, or for whom, she is producing images of imperialist conflict
MARIA DUARTE reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Hedda, The Mastermind, and Regretting You
TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice
PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK
Cable Street, a new musical
Southwark Playhouse
THIS retelling of an iconic story manages to be exuberant and inspirational, while delivering a chilling reminder of the easy rise of the far right.
The Battle of Cable Street defined an era; as Franco, Mussolini and Hitler savaged democracy, Britain’s own tin-pot dictator, Oswald Mosley, targeted the East End. Some 5,000 zealots from the British Union of Fascists (BUF), with a buffer zone of 6,000 police, would be confronted by 300,000 anti-fascists.
Similar stories
MAYER WAKEFIELD laments the lack of audience interaction and social diversity in a musical drama set on London’s Underground
JAN WOOLF doubts that soft-core musical is the best way to transmit an important story of heroism and resistance
An attempt to give the church credit for the mobilisation of 30,000 anti-fascists in Leeds in 1936 is an insult to the communists and socialists who fought the fascists, writes SAM KIRK
A nervous year, showing that the theatre, like the world, stands on a precipice and seems uncertain where to jump