RITA DI SANTO draws attention to a new film that features Ken Loach and Jeremy Corbyn, and their personal experience of media misrepresentation
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Strange tales, then and now
Separated by centuries and countries of origin, ANGUS REID sees two quirky plays with a common thread in confronting social and political issues
LIGHT TOUCH: Luna Dai and Robin Khor Yong Kuan in Strange Tales.
[Tommy Ga-Ken Wan]
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson
KEN COCKBURN guides us through a survey of Chekov’s early short fiction, and the groundwork it laid for his later masterpieces
ANDY HEDGECOCK revels in a hugely enjoyable but deadly serious examination of the 1930s, that is an indictment of our own era
The bard distills our hellish times into fiery words
Strange Tales
★★★
I Can Go Anywhere
★★★★
Traverse Theatre Edinburgh
WHILE other theatres offer panto, the Traverse is serving up two helpings of bold new writing that chime as much with the political season as with Christmas.
What can you do when a man has no heart? is a topical question to ask about any number of Tories and it comes to mind watching GridIron Theatre’s adaptation of Pu Songling’s 17th-century Strange Tales, which gives a Chinese twist to this Dickensian dilemma.
What is done to resolve it here is to seek out the poorest and most despised beggar on the streets, prostrate yourself, endure their insults and eat their phlegm.
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