GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Flaws undermine case for the defence
MAYER WAKEFIELD witnesses a powerful Isis courtroom drama marred by stereotyped characterisations
[Pete le May]
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an excellently crafted new musical that explores the life and death of Ruth Ellis
PAUL DONOVAN is tickled by the excruciating take-downs of one of the funniest, wittiest, political writers around.
RON JACOBS points out, via a transcription of Kissinger’s secret recordings, that Trump could never have existed without Nixon and Kissinger
ELLIS RAE is persuaded that the advantages of the ‘talking cure’ are superior to the treatment of mental illness with drugs
JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey
Faceless
Park Theatre, London
“AMERICA wants blood,” proclaims Federal Prosecutor Scott Bader in Faceless. The blood it's after is that of the supposedly studious Susie Glenn who's been seduced into travelling to Syria to join Isis by her virtual boyfriend.
“How 2015,” I hear you say, and it's true that it seems a long time ago that Isis teenage recruits were dominating the headlines. Luckily, Selina Fillinger's debut play has enough depth to keep it on track in 2018, but it’s not without some major flaws.
Largely a courtroom drama, the five-hander is undoubtedly at its best when it's on legal terrain. The relationship between the slippery misogynist Bader (Matt Mella) and his chosen “face of the prosecution” Claire Fathi (Paige Round, pictured) entices. Harvard-educated, hijab-wearing and of French-Iranian heritage, Fathi is razor-sharp and easily the most well-rounded character in the show.
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