Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones
Latest editorial
Haunting Julia, Stephen Joseph Theatre
Ayckbourn chiller makes for easy seasonal listening
Haunting Julia
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
A Christmas treat from Stephen Joseph Theatre, this audio recording of Haunting Julia by Alan Ayckbourn is a simple ghost story.
Ayckbourn, an abiding favourite with audiences, voices the three male parts as well as directing a narrative in which a grieving father tries to establish why his musical-genius daughter Julia took her own life. It’s seasonal, intriguing and a potential collector’s item.
Always deeply rooted in an English middle class whose ways go largely unchallenged, his comedies are an easy escape from grim reality.
Similar stories
MARY CONWAY revels in the Irish American language and dense melancholy of O’Neill’s last and little-known play
MARY CONWAY recommends a play that some will find more discursive than eventful but one in which the characters glow
MARY CONWAY is stirred by a play that explores masculinity every bit as much as it penetrates addiction
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by characters so un-nuanced as to be unreal, a stereotypical plot and a conceptual vampire