Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
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No love lost in this old v new Labour slug-fest
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
New releases from The Mountains Goats, Ed O’Brien, and YHWH Nailgun
ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review On The Sea, A Useful Ghost, Brunello: The Gracious Visionary, and Pinocchio Unstrung
RON JACOBS enjoys a great tale, told by a US communist, of the lives of working-class New Yorkers
BRENT CUTLER searches a new history of contemporary Iran for an understanding of the Islamic Republic, finding both interesting detail and glaring omissions
MARIA DUARTE recommends the true story of the remarkable woman who sued Donald Trump for sexual assault not once, but twice
THIS latest play from political playwright James Graham plots the career of Labour MP David Lyons.
An entertaining romp through Labour’s recent history, it highlights the party’s difficulties through the lens of one constituency office in Nottingham where Lyons (Martin Freeman), supported by his corporate lawyer wife Elizabeth (Rachael Stirling), has been in office since 1990.
Set throughout in the office, it opens as he is about to lose the previously safe seat in last June’s election. A ruminating Lyons pictures himself becoming the Michael Portillo or Ed Balls of election night and declares that he’d better polish up his paso doble.
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MATTHEW HAWKINS recommends three memorable performances from Scottish dance artists Barrowland Ballet, In the Fields Project, and Wendy Houston
Labour councillor PAUL DONOVAN wonders why the right-wing party gets so much more media attention than it seems to merit