MIK SABIERS savours the first headline solo show of the stalwart of Brighton’s indie-punk outfit Blood Red Shoes
Brilliance at the double from Ballet Black
Excellence in action: The Suit
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
The Suit + A Dream Within a Midsummer Night's Dream
Theatre Royal Stratford East/Touring
CATHY MARSTON’S inventive choreography informs the assured storytelling of Can Themba’s South African story The Suit. The first of Ballet Black’s excellent double bill, it's set to music by the Kronos Quartet.
No sooner has Philemon gone to work than his wife Matilda is joined in bed by her lover Simon. But Philemon catches them in the throes of love-making on returning for his briefcase and Simon escapes virtually naked, leaving his suit behind.
Philemon takes revenge by insisting that Matilda treat Simon’s suit as their honoured guest at all times and, with her repeated entreaties for forgiveness cruelly refused, Matilda is doomed to relentless humiliation by the suit’s constant presence in their domestic and social lives.
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