It is 1997. A train leaves Scotland bound for London. On board, John Josana, a journalist, is reading a book about Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for many years). The train is crowded. A tall man with a backpack takes the seat...
If I were to begin this review by telling you the stars of Birmingham Royal Balletâs revival of Cinderella are John Macfarlaneâs design and David Finnâs lighting (here honoured and adapted by Peter Teigen), you might infer that I was being...
On 4 August, 2011, a 29-year-old black man, Mark Duggan, was shot dead by police in Tottenham, London. Dugganâs death sparked a series of riots, beginning in Tottenham, spreading across London and on to other cities in England. From where he was...
The staging is simple: four straight-backed chairs, a backdrop for projections and, overhead, two rows of clothing hung on lines (theatre is a place for costumes and dressing-up, but also, we are reminded, the theatre we are here to pay our respects...
Immersive art shows have a chequered reputation, but Lightroomâs collaboration with David Hockney is something of a triumph. Perhaps it is that Hockney often works in light (quite literally, given his now famous iPad âpaintingsâ). Or perhaps it is...
Seven-(almost eight)-year-olds, Mickey and Eddie form an immediate bond when they meet by chance in a Liverpool park in the 1960s. Unruly, foul-mouthed Mickey thrills and appalls Eddie (âEdwardâ to his parents) with his unfettered language and...
Whenever âthe great and the goodâ turn out in numbers for a show, it is more likely they are anxious to be seen rather than to see. Laurie Andersonâs remarkable ARK: United States V provides a notable exception to this rule. Familiar faces are much...
I come away from Opera Northâs revived production of Benjamin Brittenâs adaptation of A Midsummer Nightâs Dream still trying to work out whether or not I enjoyed it. Those things that ON, almost without exception, do well, were a triumph. The...
When Punch magazine first printed its cartoon about a curateâs egg, the joke was very clear. Fearful of offending his superior, the bishop, the curate describes the egg he has been served for breakfast as having âexcellentâ parts. For reasons that...
I do not know and am not qualified to say if Huang Ruoâs newly commissioned piece, âCity of Floating Sounds,â is a great work of music. What I do know and can say, with gratitude and certainty, is that the event the âcomposer and conceptual artistâ...
Martin Thomasson