CATHERINE STEEL relishes a compelling novel about Augustus’s right hand man, but misses the politics, the cultural shifts, and more detail about his restoration of Rome
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Painfully instructive
KATHERINE M GRAHAM recommends a tragicomic exploration of a family in denial
Instructions For Correct Assembly
TONY BURKE speaks to JOEL McIVER, co-author of the biography of bluesman John Mayall
A misfit couple unhappily ever after, a dead man walking, dodgy journos, and trench art trucking
New releases from Javon Jackson, IZE Trio, and Mal Waldron Trio
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an intriguing multi-layered depiction, dominated by a stunning impersonation of Marilyn herself
EWAN CAMERON marvels at the impossible ambition, realised with dreamlike finesse of translating Italo Calvino to the stage
Instructions For Correct Assembly
Royal Court Theatre, London
THERE'S a comfort in banality — an ease and a simplicity. And there’s a pleasure in saying the “right” thing to your friends and having the “right” joke or truism to hand.
But learning the social rules — what to say, what not to say — is more complicated than we might expect and what lies beneath the banal is often pain.
At the centre of Thomas Eccleshare’s new play Instructions For Correct Assembly are Max and Harry, played brilliantly by Jane Horrocks and Mark Bonnar.
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