WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb
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Stunning circus sights
TOM KING recommends a visual history of one of the oldest forms of entertainment
RITA DI SANTO points out the social experience of exploitation and oppression that inform the popular winners at this year’s festival
PETER MASON is tickled by a new book and exhibition that mine the rotten anachronism of the monarchy for laughs
A Nazi zeppelin whodunnit, death amidst detoxification, a twistaholic’s delight, and noir fiction for criminals
STEVE JOHNSON salutes the mellifluous tones and clear-minded political message of a uniquely relevant Birmingham-born singer-songwriter
STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
BREAD and circuses, readers of this paper won’t need reminding, were said to be the two ways the Roman elite appeased the citizens of its vast empire. With their appetites sated and minds distracted, there was little risk of an uprising until, of course, Spartacus came along.
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