MATTHEW HAWKINS applauds a psychotherapist’s disection of William Blake
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] 
New releases from Christina Alden and Alex Patterson, Odette Michell, Clementine Lovell
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America
Strip cartoons used to be the bread and butter of newspapers and they have been around for centuries. MICHAL BONCZA asks our own Paul Tanner about which bees are in his bonnet
GORDON PARSONS acknowledges the authority with which Sarah Kane’s theatrical justification for suicide has resonance today
RON JACOBS welcomes a timely homage to one of the IWW and CPUSA’s most effective orators
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 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
MARY CONWAY recommends a play that some will find more discursive than eventful but one in which the characters glow
