MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Brilliant exposure of Tory entitlement
PAUL FOLEY relishes a superb production that plays Wilde’s farce as a contemporary dissection of the rich and ridiculous ruling class
RULING CLASS WARRIOR: Abigail Cruttenden as Lady Bracknell and Phoebe Pryce as Gwendolen
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
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
The Importance of Being Earnest
Royal Exchange Manchester
OSCAR WILDE’s perennial classic, The Importance of Being Earnest is as popular with audiences today as it was back in 1895 (apart from the odd homophobic lord, of course).
Despite Wilde’s wonderful manipulation of language, a wit that cuts to the bone and throwing a satirical punch at the ruling class, does it hold up in today’s fast-moving world? I had my doubts. Surely the absurdities of the ruling class which Wilde so enjoyed poking fun at no longer exist?
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