ANDY HEDGECOCK is entertained by a playful novel that embeds a fictional game at its heart
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Theatre: A Lesson from Aloes, Finborough Theatre London
Athol Fugard's play is an acute reminder of the horrors of apartheid-era South Africa
Frightened people: Dawid Minnar and Janine Ulfane
[Alixandra Fazzina]
Death comes for Liberals, entitled murder, Vatican hit squads, and fraternising with the Blitz killer
New releases from Public Image Ltd, William Basinski, and John Luther Adams
GABRIELE NEHER draws attention to an astoundingly skilled Flemish painter who defied the notion that women cannot paint like men
The Bard pays homage to Hull’s finest promoter and venue, and awards Douze Points to Laibach
KEVIN DONNELLY outlines how the bourgeois institutions inhibit our ability to to view art in revolutionary ways, and suggests some tactics to overturn it
THE opening of A Lesson From Aloes lulls you into false sense of security.
Piet and Gladys Benzuidenhouts are having a lazy afternoon in their isolated Port Elizabeth back yard, awaiting a visit from his old friend Steve and his family. There’s talk of sunburn, the resilience of aloes and the significance of names — underlined by a Romeo and Juliet quote — but little more.
Fortunately, when you are in the hands of South Africa’s master dramatist you know you won’t be underwhelmed for long and, slowly, Athol Fugard begins to turn up the heat.
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