MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Best of 2019: Performance
EARTHBOUND MOVEMENT: Dada Masilo's Giselle
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
INVENTIVE adaptations of old favourites were the order of the year, perhaps in response to political and social uncertainties.
Wise Children, the new company set up by Kneehigh's Emma Rice, was responsible for two of the year's highlights, with Malory Towers (York Theatre Royal) turning Enid Blyton's somewhat dated story about a girls' boarding school into an uplifting piece of musical theatre that addressed bullying and the value of community with humour and a big heart.
Those elements were also present in the company's production of Angela Carter's Wise Children (HOME, Manchester). A love letter to the theatre, it used bawdy comedy, song and dance and puppetry to address heavyweight subjects and emotions.
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SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys, with minor reservations, the Northern Ballet’s revival of its 1992 classic
SUSAN DARLINGTON revels in an exhilarating adaptation of the gruesome fairytale that invokes the real-life horror of women lost to male violence
SUSAN DARLINGTON is disappointed by a show that aims to highlight misogyny within the police but fails to arrest the audience's attention
SUSAN DARLINGTON revels in a band that know their own continuing relevance
