MIK SABIERS savours the first headline solo show of the stalwart of Brighton’s indie-punk outfit Blood Red Shoes
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A Taste of Honey, Trafalgar Studios London
Excellent revival of Shelagh Delaney's classic Salford drama
COMPELLING: Gemma Dobson, Tom Varey and Jodie Prenger
New releases reviewed by IAN SINCLAIR
STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
CAILEAN MCBRIDE welcomes a refreshing and timely study of the way officialdom creates structures that exclude LGBT+ rights and humanity
The bard mourns the loss of comrades and troubadours, and looks for consolation with Black Country Jess
CHRIS MOSS relishes the painting and the life story of a self-taught working-class artist from Warrington
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a star-studded adaptation of Ibsen’s play that is devoid of believable humanity
SHELAGH Delaney’s most successful play, written at the age of 19 and first staged in 1958, is so good that it would be difficult to make a bad job of it.
It needs to be staged with the minimum of fuss and Bijan Sheibani, resisting any urge to take liberties with characters, plot or script, has taken great care to invest this National Theatre production with a grittily intimate atmosphere that chimes with the compact surrounds of Trafalgar Studios.
Hildegard Bechtler’s set brilliantly captures the sad, shabbily claustrophobic post-war Salford flat in which mother Helen (Jodie Prenger) and daughter Jo (Gemma Dobson) wage their battles. It’s almost possible to smell the dirty old town outside, with its noxious gasworks, slaughterhouse and canal.
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