GUIDE TO ENCHANTMENT: Omid Djalili
HENRY BELL is fascinated by the underlying curiosities and contradictions of one of the great poets of the Mediterranean
DAVID RENTON recommends a books that explores the ways in which disabled people are made to feel both of and not part of this world
JONATHAN TAYLOR is fascinated by the philosophical problems that permeate the art of life-writing
GORDON PARSONS steps warily in between the lines of Britain’s most famous diarist
SIMON DUFF recommends a recording of Arvo Part that takes the listener on a pilgrimage through seemingly distant times and events of the Bible
IN THE WAY OUT, a young woman — the Outsider — takes refuge in the seemingly empty Battersea Arts Centre at night and meets a mysterious guide who offers them an alternative way out.
Omid Djalili is the guide through the enchantment of the arts centre as he leads the silent Outsider (Blaithin Mac Gabhann), whose sombre garb and expression suggests the need for enlightenment or, at least, invigoration.
Djalili, dressed in an impressario’s red hat and coat, walks her through the labyrinth of the art centre’s rooms and corridors, past peeling walls and bared pipes, its romantic glory a reminder of the fire that devastated the building just five years ago.
