WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Haunting Julia, Stephen Joseph Theatre
Ayckbourn chiller makes for easy seasonal listening
Haunting Julia
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
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.
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