WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Lava, Bush Theatre London
Impassioned exposé of pain and anger wreaked by racism and prejudice
MAGNIFICENT: Ronke Adekoluejo
[Helen Murray] 
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
MORE of a poetic discourse than a play, Ronke Adekoluejo’s monologue, written by Benedict Lombe, follows a young woman’s often happy but sometimes fraught journey from her birthplace in the Congo to South Africa, Ireland and then England.
Lava begins as an entertaining tale with a generous helping of humour. Yet its end is visceral in its challenging conclusions.
The first half is loosely framed around Adekoluejo’s quest to gain a British passport. But when that theme draws to a somewhat tame, if amusing, conclusion the way is paved for a more intense and deliberately disjointed second half.
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PETER MASON is wowed (and a little baffled) by the undeniably ballet-like grace of flamenco
PETER MASON is surprised by the bleak outlook foreseen for cricket’s future by the cricketers’ bible
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
PETER MASON applauds a thought-provoking study of the relationship between a grieving woman and her photographer
