WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Poignant reflections on being Jewish
SIMON PARSONS recommends a production in which experiences of war and life as an immigrant become horrifyingly contemporary
WARMTH AND VITALITY: Maureen Lipman as Rose
[Park Theatre] 
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
Rose
Park Theatre
London
MAUREEN LIPMAN is the perfect actress for Martin Sherman’s outstanding monologue. Her two-and-a-half-hour narrative is a powerfully captivating account of Rose, an 80-year old Jewish woman and her journey through some of the harrowing events of the 20th century.
Sat on a bench throughout the show, honouring the Jewish tradition of mourning for a close relative’s death (shivah), Rose’s personality, sense of humour and her remarkable life story engage the audience from the outset.
Her epic journey from a Russian Ukrainian village childhood to survival in the Warsaw ghetto, British rejection from Palestine and a financially successful if emotionally damaged married life in US with reflections on her troubled son’s life in an Israel that no longer recognises her relevance, has recurring echoes throughout.
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