GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Running with Lions
Lyric Hammersmith, London
SAD but uplifting, Running with Lions is the story of a British-Caribbean family struggling to come to terms with the death of Joshua — son of Maxwell and Shirley, younger brother of Gloria and uncle of Imani, Gloria’s 16-year-old daughter.
Joshua was killed as a young man in a hit-and-run accident many years back, yet no-one in the household has been able to process their grief.
Gloria has had several breakdowns, Shirley shuts down all mention of her son, and Maxwell, a preacher, is secretly paralysed by the idea that God could have done such a thing.
PETER MASON applauds a stage version of Le Carre’s novel that questions what ordinary people have to gain from high-level governmental spying
MARY CONWAY applauds the success of Beth Steel’s bitter-sweet state-of-the-nation play
MARY CONWAY revels in the Irish American language and dense melancholy of O’Neill’s last and little-known play



