MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Musical Review: Come from Away
An emotive musical set in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack veers away from answering some uncomfortable questions
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ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
Come from Away
Phoenix Theatre
WHILE the world’s eyes were focused on the atrocious 9/11 events in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, elsewhere there were many fascinating stories of communities pulling together.
One of them is what happened in Gander, Newfoundland, where 38 planes were forced to make emergency landings after the US closed its airspace following the attack, and it’s the subject of Canadian playwrights Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s Come from Away.
Focusing on the hope that so often springs from tragedy — classic musical fodder — the husband-and-wife team provide a heartfelt portrayal of how 7,000 passengers, more than half of the town’s population, were fed, clothed and looked after by locals.
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