WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Machine for living
LYNNE WALSH swoons over a remarkable musical that charts the changing occupiers of a brutalist block in Sheffield
SHEFFIELD HIGH-RISE: The cast of Standing at the Sky's Edge
[Brinkhoff-Moegenburg] 
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
Standing at the Sky's Edge
Gillian Lynne Theatre
THERE is such joy in this piece that it’s possible to get carried away by the sheer optimism and exuberance of it. That makes the concomitant howl of despair all the harder to bear.
This award-winning musical, with songs from the genius of modern-day bard Richard Hawley, spans six decades. The post-war years of the 1950s bring irrepressible hope that working-class folk are to be rewarded with better lives, in the form of swish new flats, in their “streets in the sky.”
Loving couple Rose (Rachael Wooding, a breathtaking talent) and Harry (Joel Harper-Jackson, in a sensitive portrayal of a broken man) frolic in their new space: Sheffield’s Park Hill estate, a 1,000-flat complex, inspired by the brutalist work of architect Le Corbusier. Their slum days are over, there are all mod cons to enjoy, a blissful married life beckons, with Harry boasting he will be the youngest foreman at the steelworks.
More from this author
Caroline Darian, daughter of Gisele Pelicot, took part in a conversation with Afua Hirsch at London’s Royal Geographical Society. LYNNE WALSH reports
This year’s Bristol Radical History Festival focused on the persistent threats of racism, xenophobia and, of course, our radical collective resistance to it across Ireland and Britain, reports LYNNE WALSH
LYNNE WALSH previews the Bristol Radical History Conference this weekend
With most of recorded history dominated by the voices of men, LYNNE WALSH encourages sisters to read the memoirs of women – and to write their own too
