PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
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Soft centre
YVONNE LYSANDROU sees a production of a Brian Friel play which ignores the anguished meditation on human frailty at its core
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
The Faith Healer
Donmar, London WC2
3/5
GIVEN Britain’s current sodden state, the sheets of rain in Es Devin’s design which precede The Faith Healer’s opening seem spectacularly apt, although their dramatic function is less so.
Brian Friel’s play, a series of monologues, is notoriously difficult to produce and in the past has come in for much criticism for its static, undramatic quality.
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ALAN MORRISON recommends a consummate, heart-warming collection about a working-class upbringing in the industrial north-east
MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class
PETER MASON applauds a stage version of Le Carre’s novel that questions what ordinary people have to gain from high-level governmental spying
WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb