Lady Cooper Anita Dobson and Hilton MCRae
[Manuel Harlan]
HENRY BELL is fascinated by the underlying curiosities and contradictions of one of the great poets of the Mediterranean
DAVID RENTON recommends a books that explores the ways in which disabled people are made to feel both of and not part of this world
JONATHAN TAYLOR is fascinated by the philosophical problems that permeate the art of life-writing
GORDON PARSONS steps warily in between the lines of Britain’s most famous diarist
SIMON DUFF recommends a recording of Arvo Part that takes the listener on a pilgrimage through seemingly distant times and events of the Bible
The Shadow Factory
NST City
Southampton
IT WOULD be difficult to conceive of a more resonant production to open Southampton’s new 450-seat theatre than The Shadow Factory.
The Battle of Britain may be the context for this premiere of Howard Brenton’s play but the subject matter is the battle between locals in the city and the wartime government’s authoritarian approach to its people and their property.
After the 1940 bombing of the nearby Spitfire factory, homes and businesses were requisitioned under the Emergency Powers Act, to enable production to continue in a “shadow factory.”
SIMON PARSONS is taken by a thought provoking and intelligent play performed with great sensitivity
MARY CONWAY recommends a play that some will find more discursive than eventful but one in which the characters glow
GORDON PARSONS meditates on the appetite of contemporary audiences for the obscene cruelty of Shakespeare’s Roman nightmare
