MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Raya, Hampstead Theatre London
Affecting tale of mid-life crises
VULNERABLE: Claire Price and Bo Poraj in Raya
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
AFTER a student reunion, ex-lovers Alex and Jason, played with vulnerable intensity by Claire Price and Bo Poraj, return to their old flat.
In Moi Tran’s spot-on set design, it’s now a spare space of packed-up boxes, dodgy standard lamps and ghastly red carpet.
Their prevaricating and elliptical dialogue has another “character” in tow — or rather undertow — Alex’s menopause. This disorientating state is fantastically well conveyed by Price, who wants to sleep with Jason, not just for old time’s sake but to make her feel real.
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