MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long
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Wonderland, Hampstead Theatre London
Powerful reminder of the war against the miners in 1984-85
PAUL DONOVAN recommends three new books that explore the human relationship with nature
Doomed adolescents, when the missing person is you, classic whodunnit, and an anti-capitalist eco-thriller
WILL STONE takes a ticket to indie disco heaven, but misses the rarely performed tunes
Reviews of new releases by Jens Lekman, Big Thief, and Christian McBride Big Band
TOM PIERSCIONEK recommends a remarkable series of interviews with those few and brave Israeli citizens who refuse to do military service
BETH STEEL'S Wonderland, the second of Hampstead Theatre’s trio of free online productions, was originally performed in 2014.
Even then, its hard-hitting political message — presented through a mixture of song and documentary commentary — must have reminded those with long memories of John McGrath’s innovatory 7:84 touring company of the 1980s.
Dealing with Thatcher’s carefully pre-planned and ruthless 1984-85 war against the miners, Edward Hall’s production takes us down the pit, where we meet the Iron Lady’s “enemy within” — the men who worked in an environment and under conditions that for most people would be viewed as a daily hell.
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GORDON PARSONS advises you to get up to speed on obscure ancient ceremonies to grasp this interpretation of a late Shakespearean tragi-comedy
