MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long
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Best of 2024: Theatre with Mary Conway
A nervous year, showing that the theatre, like the world, stands on a precipice and seems uncertain where to jump
MASSIVELY RELEVANT: The company in Cable Street
[Jane Hobson] 
PAUL DONOVAN recommends three new books that explore the human relationship with nature
Doomed adolescents, when the missing person is you, classic whodunnit, and an anti-capitalist eco-thriller
WILL STONE takes a ticket to indie disco heaven, but misses the rarely performed tunes
Reviews of new releases by Jens Lekman, Big Thief, and Christian McBride Big Band
TOM PIERSCIONEK recommends a remarkable series of interviews with those few and brave Israeli citizens who refuse to do military service
THE year 2024 has seen the march of the mighty throughout the world. Right-wing demagogues, warmongers, business tycoons, financial dealers, investors in cryptocurrency, company directors, the rich and famous have not only filled our news but dramatically ridden roughshod over the more real and gritty lives that most of us live… which is why we need the arts to free us from the prevailing dogma and give us voice.
And, while the West End often reflects – rather than challenges – the status quo with its commercially driven subject matter and celebrity casting, it does throw up some gems, while the smaller fringe theatres burst with energy.
More from this author
MARY CONWAY admires a study of environmental idealism that aspires to Chekhov but is arrested in a deluge of middle-class opinion
MARY CONWAY applauds the success of Beth Steel’s bitter-sweet state-of-the-nation play
MARY CONWAY is blown away by a flawless production of Lynn Nottage’s exquisite tragedy
MARY CONWAY revels in the Irish American language and dense melancholy of O’Neill’s last and little-known play
