MARJORIE MAYO recommends an accessible and unsettling novel that uses a true incident of death in the Channel to raise questions of wider moral responsibility
A memorably stimulating production despite information overload
CONUNDRUM: Pierro Niel-Mee as Victor
MIK SABIERS wallows in a night of political punk and funk that fires both barrels at Trump
Reasonable radicalism, death in Abu Dhabi, locked-room romance, and sleuthing in the Blitz
SIMON DUFF recommends a new album from renowned composer and oud player Anour Brahem.
JAMES WALSH has a great night in the company of basketball players, quantum physicists and the exquisite timing of Rosie Jones
A New Awakening: Adventures In British Jazz 1966 - 1971, G3, and Buck Owens
JAMES WALSH is moved by an exhibition of graphic art that relates horrors that would be much less immediate in other media
Once Upon a Time in Nazi-occupied Tunisia
Almeida Theatre, London
THE key question set by this intriguing new Josh Azouz play is just how close to the surface our prejudices lie – and how much it takes to bring them to the fore.
Azouz tries to supply some answers through the experiences of two young Tunisian couples, one Jewish (Loys and Victor) and one Arab (Faiza and Yussef), whose previously harmonious relationships are deeply unsettled by the invading Germans in 1942.
As rifts open up and the malign presence of the Nazis drives a wedge within and between them, Loys (Yasmin Paige) declares to Victor (Pierro Niel-Mee) that “the occupation has made us not ourselves,” while Victor, in gloomier frame of mind, asks: “What if it has revealed who we are?”
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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
PETER MASON is moved by a striking production of Noel Streatfeild’s enduringly popular children’s book
PETER MASON reckons the NYT’s production of Shakespeare’s comedy is the pick of the Christmas shows on offer in London
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MARY CONWAY recommends you to see an outstandingly acted production of a great play that resonates with modern life