MAYER WAKEFIELD applauds Rosamund Pike’s punchy and tragic portrayal of a multi-tasking mother and high court judge
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Theatre: Richard III, Bristol Old Vic
A new version of Shakespeare’s history has more style than substance in its search for contemporary relevance
Two-faced: Stefan Adegbola as Buckingham
[Marc Brenner] 
FIONA O CONNOR recommends an unflinching depiction of child sexual abuse and its aftershocks, set in a working-class Liverpool family
New releases from Paul Weller, Wet Leg, and Dino Saluzzi
PAUL DONOVAN relishes the spectacle of a 1950s detective in pursuit of a 500-year-old murder mystery
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
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
DIRECTOR John Haidar’s new version of Richard III starts with the killing of Henry VI and streamlines the text so that voices merge, characters are cut and Richard totally dominates proceedings.
The intention is to show a pragmatic world of mercenary values that has modern relevance and to focus on Richard’s self-made reality.
The end product, akin to a graphic novel with the protagonist something of a Marvel villain, sees Tom Mothersdale going to town as the deformed Duke of Gloucester. Twisted internally and externally and existing entirely in his own evil universe, few other characters manage to engage with his self-obsessed creation.
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