WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
A black and white issue
The word racism doesn't have to be mentioned in a thrillingly explicit exploration of inequality, says MARY CONWAY
SOUL BROTHERS: Daniel Ward (left) and Nigel Taylor in The Canary and the Crow
[Pic: The Other Richard] 
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
The Canary and the Crow
Arcola Theatre, London
THE CANARY and the Crow kicks off with an explosion of heavy hip hop and a challenge from actor Nigel Taylor to clap, stamp, wave our arms and chant. We love it and are undeterred, even when the chanting changes to the rugby favourite “oggy, oggy, oggy.”
It’s unsettling, though, to hear black music accommodate this white man’s chorus. What does it mean? That’s the point of the play, in which The Bird is a deprived black boy who finds himself winning a scholarship to a high-achieving school.
His single mother is ecstatic, while the boy is mystified. He's about to discover that being black and different in a community of patrician boys is a ceaseless struggle. “I see things differently from you,” he says to a largely white young audience. “There is nothing you can tell me about being black.”
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