MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review The Tasters, A Pale View of Hills, How To Make a Killing, and Reminders of Him
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Trivial pursuit
A play on the Litvinenko poisoning entertains but offers little fresh insight, says MARY CONWAY
Comic interlude: Tom Brooke, MyAnna Buring and Amanda Hadingue in A Very Expensive Poison
[Marc Brenner]
SYLVIA HIKINS celebrates the chance that a new memoir offers to explore Frieda Brewster’s remarkable life story
JOHN GREEN is intrigued by an explanation of irrational behaviour from the point of view of brain science
PAUL DONOVAN enjoys a somewhat rose-tinted survey of Brown’s achievements and legacy, as well as his moments of political cowardice
GUILLERMO THOMAS recommends an important, if dispiriting book about the neo-colonial culture of Uganda under Yoweri Museveni
SUSAN DARLINGTON applauds the sensuality and strong characterisation of an unconventional ballet about an unconventional woman
A Very Expensive Poison
Old Vic, London
AS DRAMA, the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko by the radioactive substance polonium-210 in 2006 is bound to draw the crowds.
The case was disturbing, not just because of the pain and terror for the individual but because it exposed a destabilising brand of international politics that impacts on all.
Writer Lucy Prebble, as in her earlier play Enron, again tackles a theme of huge public fascination and enormous complexity and the clarity of the story owes much of its detail to Luke Harding who wrote a book on the affair.
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