GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
On not selling out
PAUL DONOVAN applauds a timely play that explores the resonances of McCarthyite nationalism in today’s US
SUPPING WITH THE DEVIL: Stanley Townsend (Mr Parks), Ivanno Jeremiah (Sidney Poitier) and Oliver Johnstone (Bobby) in Retrograde
[Marc Brenner]
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
Retrograde
Apollo Theatre, London
THIS fascinating play about actor and civil rights activist Sidney Poitier grips from start to finish.
Retrograde began life at the Kiln theatre in Kilburn, two years ago, prior to graduating on to the West End. Expertly directed by Amit Sharma, Ryan Calais Cameron’s sharp script is brought to life by some great performances from Ivanno Jeremiah (Sidney Poitier), Stanley Townsend (Mr Parks) and Oliver Johnstone (Bobby). The witty dialogue provides a great tempo to the essential plot, which revolves around temptation and betrayal.
Aged 28, Poitier is on the edge of making his acting breakthrough but in the fevered atmosphere of 1950s McCarthyite America, betrayal is required in order to make that leap. He must betray his friend Paul Robeson in order to prove himself a loyal American. The dilemma is nicely summarised with the biblical quote from Poitier as to “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul.”
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