WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Transform 19, Leeds citywide
Transform 19, Leeds
Issues of gender, identity, state repression and digital surveillance figured large in a major festival of experimental theatre and dance
Absurdist: bYOB
[JMA Photography] 
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
OVER its two-week run, Transform hosted groups from all over the world to provide their perspectives on some big global themes.
One is a perceived “crisis of masculinity” and different notions of it are touched upon in bYOB, a new piece from Britain’s 70/30 Split. It starts chillingly, with a man in black combat gear silently outstaring the audience.
But before long matters turns increasingly absurd. The cast of four variously go on to reference the Milk Tray Man, the rose petals in American Beauty and the giant teddy bears of Jeff Koons while reappropriating morris dancing, military training and slumber parties in what’s a humorous yet pointed piece exploring the need to belong and the dangers of this being misdirected.
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