MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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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
Fair Play
Bush Theatre
FAIR Play, the new work by Ella Road famed for her success with The Phlebotomist, takes us into a very current, but rarely explored, world of top-class athletics. Two young women, Ann and Sophie, meet in training, bond and spur each other on, only to see their burgeoning prowess – and with it their relationship – sabotaged by the unfairness of life and factors beyond their control.
It exposes the important role of luck as well as graft in competitive activity.
The play is performed in the round; the stage is adorned with fitness apparatus; the floor is a running track, and much of the early part of the action involves the two characters in brief demonstrations of fitness training and the act of running.
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