RON JACOBS recommends a book that charts the disparate circumstances that defined the lives of two prominent black Afro-Americans — one a communist, the other an anti-communist
WELSH actor and activist Michael Sheen brings big-name clout to online monologues Mum and Dad from Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre but the guts of the pieces is in the writing, thanks to Gary Owen, author of the superb Iphigenia in Splott.
Quite apart from the obvious advantage of having a name which describes a strategic rugby kick, Owen’s other writing credits include the dark and brutal Killology. He’s donated the two monologues to the Sherman and the struggling theatre asks only for donations to view them.
shermantheatre.co.uk/performance/interval/mum-dad/
Sheen is joined by Lynn Hunter, always authentic and hugely watchable, in these near-verbatim records of stories told by Owen’s parents about their lives growing up in Pembrokeshire.
Fiery words from the Bard in Blackpool and Edinburgh, and Evidence Based Punk Rock from The Protest Family
STEVE JOHNSON interviews with Martin Green about his love affair with brass bands
A New Awakening: Adventures In British Jazz 1966 - 1971, G3, and Buck Owens
DAVID NICHOLSON applauds the return of Azuka Oforka’s stunning drama about slave plantation politics



