DENNIS BROE observes how cutbacks, mergers and AI create content detached from both reality and history itself
Latest editorial
River runs deep
DENNIS POOLE recommends a disturbing play about the traumatic consequences of a homophobic murder
SAHAR MARANLOU explores a novella, newly translated and republished in English that tells the history of Iran through women’s bodies
DAVID NICHOLSON applauds the revival of a joyous production that deals with choirs, competitions and communism
New releases from Peruvian Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical, Leve Leve: Sao Tome & Principe, and South African BCUC
MARY DAVIS welcomes a remarkable documentary about the general strike — politically spot on, and featuring accounts from the strikers themselves — that is available for screenings
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review The Stranger, Undertone, and Outcome
Vincent River
Park Theatre, London
VINCENT RIVER is the eponymous subject of this harrowing but compelling narrative by Philip Ridley. Directed by Robert Chevara, it's an almost forensic analysis of the circumstances of Vincent River’s death at the hands of a homophobic gang in a disused toilet at a derelict east London train station.
Vincent’s mother Anita (Louise Jameson) has recently been stalked by Davey (Thomas Mahy) and is now confronted by him in her living room. Unaware of the precise circumstances surrounding her son’s death, it transpires that the person who reported his murder was Rachel, Davey’s girlfriend.
As the discourse between the two characters unfolds, it becomes evident that Davey had independently encountered Vincent prior to his death in the local hospital where both Anita and Davey’s mother had been receiving treatment.
Similar stories
ANGUS REID squirms at the spectacle of a bitter millennial on work experience in a gay sauna
MARIA DUARTE recommends the creepy thrills of David Cronenburg’s provocative and macabre exploration of grief
FIONA O'CONNOR recommends a biography that is a beautiful achievement and could stand as a manifesto for the power of subtlety in art
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket