The Bard stands with the Reformers of Peterloo, and their shared genius in teaching history with music and song
Latest editorial
Acute parliamentary question from Fritz
The playwrights interrogation of why people are driven to acts of terrorism is a pressing one for those in power, says PAUL FOLEY
SUE TURNER is fascinated by a book that researches who the largely immigrant workforce were that built the Empire State
MARIA DUARTE and MALC McGOOKIN review Sirat, The Testament of Ann Lee, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, and All You Need Is Kill
STEVE ANDREW recommends a Marxist analysis of the long chains of production that global corporations exploit
MARY CONWAY relishes the period detail but misses the drama in this unsatisfactory dramatisation of the subjugated life of George Eliot
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a mainstream scholar to the ranks of left-wing critique of US foreign policy
PETER MASON is disappointed that the eponymous Count fails to put in an appearance
Parliament Square
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
WHAT drives someone to commit an act of complete desperation in the hope that it will change things for the better? Given the senseless events that have happened at Manchester Arena and elsewhere so far this year, that simple question, posed in James Fritz’s Parliament Square, makes it a timely and necessary play.
Its protagonist, Kat, can no longer sit by and watch the world descend into chaos. The relentless despair pouring form the news bulletins has seeped into her bones.
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MARY CONWAY revels in the Irish American language and dense melancholy of O’Neill’s last and little-known play
PAUL FOLEY picks out an excellent example of theatre devised to start conversations about identity, class and belonging
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
PAUL FOLEY is disappointed by a production that encourages the audience to laugh at rather than with the characters