ANDY HEDGECOCK is entertained by a playful novel that embeds a fictional game at its heart
Rouse, Ye Women!
Touring
TELLING historical truths, driving a drama, involving the audience and providing a damn good night out — it’s a tall order.
But for Townsend Productions, it’s what they do. Their provenance, and their commitment to radical history, has fast become a hallmark. So it proves with this story of Mary Macarthur and the female chainmakers’ strike.
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
MAYER WAKEFIELD relishes a witty and uplifting rallying cry for unity, which highlights the erasure of queer women
GORDON PARSONS is disappointed by an unsubtle production of this comedy of upper middle class infidelity
TUC Midlands marks 20 years of celebrating the 1910 chainmakers’ victory with a festival that connects historical lessons to modern struggles — because working-class history should inspire action, not just nostalgia, writes STUART RICHARDS



