JENNY MITCHELL, poetry co-editor for the Morning Star, introduces her priorities, and her first selection
Salutary significance in this Shebeen
Set in a 1950s Nottingham drinking den, Mufaro Makubika's play on the Windrush generation's experience has an acute contemporary relevance, says MAYER WAKEFIELD
Shebeen at Nottingham Playhouse (L-R) Chloe Harris, Theo Solomon, Karl Collins and Martina Laird.jpg
HENRY BELL is sceptical of the notion that ‘progress’ is an ideology that the ruling class uses exclusively to camouflage appropriation
In search of political understanding, MATTHEW HAWKINS welcomes a critique of anti-semitism as codified by the Israeli state
BEN CHACKO welcomes a masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution
JOHN GREEN is intrigued by the ethereal, ghostly quality of images of a London unobscured by the bustle of humanity
JENNY FARRELL relishes an outstanding Palestinian novel that immerses readers in the sensory reality of Gaza, then and now
AI-induced murder, last rites for the mob-dog, a gullible common herd, and an exemplary Christmas chiller
Shebeen
Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
IN HIS programme notes, writer Mufaro Makubika claims that Shebeen “was written in Nottingham for Nottingham” and, although you can understand his sentiment, it’s impossible not to read a wider significance into his debut play.
Set in the St Ann’s neighbourhood of the city in 1958 on the eve of the often overlooked riots and 10 years after the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury, Pearl (Martina Laird) and her ex-boxer husband “the Kingston bomber” George (Karl Collins) are making a living by opening up their home as place of merriment for the community.
Unwelcome in traditional drinking establishments, such “shebeens” became what would now be referred to as safe spaces for the Caribbean community and some of their more open-minded neighbours.
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PETER MASON is beguiled by a fascinating account of the importance of cricket to immigrants from the Caribbean to the UK
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an adaptation that draws out the contemporary relevance of George Orwell’s satire
‘There's outrage aplenty in this production but we never quite get to the dark night of the soul,’ writes WILL STONE