MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Counter-terror alert
MAYER WAKEFIELD sees a timely reminder of the threat posed by an unfettered surveillance state
MAKING WAVES: Rona Morison as Cora Preece
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
The Haystack
Hampstead Theatre, London
AL BLYTH’S debut play may have hit the stage over six years on from the release of Edward Snowden’s National Security Agency leaks that inspired it but it still manages to shock.
In it, Neil (Oliver Johnstone) and Zef (Enyi Okoronkwo) are two graduate whizz-kids whose technological prowess sees them rapidly progressing up the ladder at GCHQ’s Cheltenham spy base by impressing their officious boss Hannah (Sarah Woodward).
Dressed in hoodies and tracksuit bottoms, they find themselves “getting the keys to the Ferrari” as they are recruited onto a counter-terror case. They casually intrude upon conversations, trace medical records and relationship histories with chilling ease while munching Maltesers.
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