Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones
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‘Throwing shade’ on Gandhi
MAYER WAKEFIELD recommends a play which asks who is allowed to be radical and what does radicalisation really mean in a world overflowing with injustice?
POLAR OPPOSITES: Safiyya Ingar and Anoushka Chadha
[Alex Brenner]
SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US
In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre
JOHN GREEN doubts the motivations of a US war photographer who never questions why, or for whom, she is producing images of imperialist conflict
MARIA DUARTE reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Hedda, The Mastermind, and Regretting You
TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice
PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK
Two Billion Beats
Orange Tree Theatre
WHEN the only two items in the programme are biographies of BR Ambedkar and Sylvia Pankhurst, you know you are in for a production packed with revolutionary fervour and Two Billion Beats delivers in compassionate, understated fashion.
Asha (Safiyya Ingar) and her younger sister, Bettina (Anoushka Chadha), are polar opposites. While the fiery sixth former Asha is fuelled by ideas and dreaming of studying at SOAS, her sibling is the embodiment of adolescent vulnerability and saving up her lunch money to buy a hamster.
They struggle to connect as the single-minded Asha would rather keep her nose tucked inside the works of Arundhati Roy than placate the needy overtures of her admiring little sister.
Writing her latest essay, Asha has immersed herself in the struggle for Indian liberation and the life of Ambedkar, including his many battles with Gandhi. Ingar brings their 1936 “boxing match” over the issue of caste to life, springing around the stage with jabs and uppercuts abounding.
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