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Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
The Straw Chair
SIMON PARSONS welcomes an atmospheric drama about relationships set in the remote Hebrides
ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
JOHN GREEN relishes photography that unfolds a longstanding and poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
The Straw Chair
Finborough Theatre
INSPIRED by a true, 18th-century story, Sue Glover’s play weaves together the lives of two distinctly different women stranded on the rocky and windswept Hebridean island of Hirta and the strange and dangerous relationship that develops between them.
Lady Rachel Grange has been abducted and held hostage for six years on the island after an acrimonious divorce. Her vicious treatment and isolation has driven her to the point of madness but her fiery spirit is undimmed. The arrival of a puritanical minister, Aneas, and his naive young wife, Isabel, after their recent, unconsummated marriage provides the imperious and blunt-spoken captive with an outlet for her disturbing narrative and candid views on sexuality.
Siobhan Redmond creates an intriguing Mrs Havisham-style creature in Rachel, parading around the barren island in her dishevelled finery, abusing her servant and clinging onto the past with a feverish determination. Her fierce passion, haughty manner and blunt sexual advice soon pull Isabel into her orbit.
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