STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
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Herself
MARIA DUARTE recommends a shocking and turbulent film about a mother’s struggle to escape her abusive husband and build a new home for her family
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis
The bard recalls advice received 50 years ago from his TRB muse, and sorts out appropriate legislation for football club ownership
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay
MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations
PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son
Herself (15)
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
A SINGLE mother of two embarks on a gruelling journey to escape her abusive partner and protect her daughters as she takes on the bureaucracy of the broken housing system in this uplifting yet heartbreaking drama, penned by actor turned writer Clare Dunne.
Set in Dublin, the film opens with a young woman (Dunne) dancing and singing with her two little girls (an impressive Ruby Rose O’Hara and Molly McCann) to Sia’s rousing Chandelier before swiftly turning into a brutal horror show as their father arrives and viciously beats their mother and smashes her hand. This scene continually haunts Sandra (Dunne) and her youngest daughter Molly (McCann), who secretly witnessed it.
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