WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
McKellen’s tour de force mesmerises
Ian McKellen (right) as King Lear
[Johan Persson] 
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
King Lear
Duke of York’s Theatre
London WC 2
★★★★
HOWEVER many times I see King Lear, my first instinct is always to marvel yet again at the wild and fearless excesses of the original play.
It takes us right to the sharp end of human life where power crumbles to nothing, where the blind lead the blind, where folly rules and where the Fool — a creature of oblique instincts, waywardness and caprice — stumbles on essential truths that seem somehow off limits to the reasoned mind.
It’s a powerhouse of imagination and an unparalleled penetration of the human condition in a godless and structure-less world.
More from this author
MARY CONWAY applauds the success of Beth Steel’s bitter-sweet state-of-the-nation play
MARY CONWAY is blown away by a flawless production of Lynn Nottage’s exquisite tragedy
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
